Xbox One Review Round-up
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Xbox One reviews are now up online. All leading technology blogs have posted their reviews. Overall, the reviews of Xbox One seems positive. For example, Polygon rated Xbox One ahead of Sony PS4. Read the conclusions of Xbox One review from few websites below. Click the title of the websites to read their full reviews.
Microsoft has insisted it has the software gamers want. But it’s also maintained that this generation is about more than that. It’s repeatedly outlined a vision for a console based around entertainment, apps and connected experiences, tied together by Kinect, which has been met with apprehension by the enthusiast audience.
To be clear, Kinect isn’t a fully realized product yet. Gesture support is functionally non-existent, and there’s a lack of good examples of how Kinect can contribute to games. There are certain elements of Microsoft’s strategy that are missing at launch, like support for Twitch streaming and HBO Go. And the console’s television functionality impresses … if you watch television.
But in many ways, the Xbox One’s bold direction for the future is well in place. The integration of voice controls and its media strategy are a boon to everyone, and the ability to run apps while playing games is something we now want on every gaming console we have. That it has a handful of strong, exclusive games at launch only supports its legitimacy as a gaming console and not just an entertainment hub.
The Xbox One is an impressive marriage of software and hardware that raises the bar in terms of what we expect from a living-room machine. Looking forward more than it looks back, the Xbox One feels like it’s from the future.
The Xbox One may not be exactly what Microsoft thinks it is, but it’s still a strong start for a powerful game console. Its sheer speed, versatility, horsepower and its ability to turn on and off with words make it a relatively seamless entry into our already crowded media center. What determines whether it stays there is the next 12 months: Exclusives like Titanfall and Quantum Break will help, as will gaining feature parity with the competition (we’re looking at you, game broadcasting!). For broader success beyond just the early adopter’s living room, the NFL crowd must buy in to Microsoft’s $500 box. But will they? That remains to be seen. What’s there so far is a very competent game box with an expensive camera and only a few exclusive games differentiating it from the competition.
- Wake-on-voice is very impressive
- The best multitasking on any game console
- Games are beautiful; console remains quiet
Cons
- The most expensive console available
- Limited selection of exclusive titles worth playing
- Missing key promised functionality at launch
Bottom Line
The Xbox One is quick, quiet and capable of handling live TV and gorgeous games, all at the sound of your voice. $500, is a lot to ask, but it’s much more than just a gaming
When Microsoft says it’s building a console for the next decade, it’s not lying. Where the PlayStation 4 is designed to simply become an ever-better version of itself, the Xbox One is poised to turn into an entirely different, entirely unprecedented device. It may not only supplement, but replace your cable box; it could have a rich, full app store; games are only going to get better, more impressive, and more interactive. The blueprints are all here. Virtually everything Microsoft is trying to do is smart, practical, and forward-thinking — even as they’ve undone some of the Xbox One’s most future-proof innovation over the last few months, Marc Whitten and his team at Microsoft have clearly kept their heads in the future.
But nearly everything that could be great someday isn’t great right now. The Kinect is an incredible piece of raw machinery and engineering, but it’s not implemented well into games, nor does its voice control provide a truly fast, seamless way to navigate the operating system. The TV integration is an awkward hodgepodge of menus and overlays and dead ends. There’s a massive opportunity for Windows apps to turn the Xbox into something no one could have imagined, but it’s as yet gone unexplored. Some of these are easily solved problems, but others — cable integration in particular — are a much steeper uphill climb.
Good Stuff
- Strong launch lineup
- “Snapping” video apps perfect for multitaskers
- Kinect voice commands can be powerful
Bad Stuff
- Clunky TV integration
- Uninspired design
- Kinect voice commands are unreliable
As a video game console, the Xbox One offers about what you’d expect from a new Microsoft console: a big, heavy box (though quieter than you might expect), more impressive specs (though less than what you might expect after eight years), an improved controller (though still with a few odd oversights), and some good exclusive games (more reviews are coming but look into Dead Rising 3, Forza 5, Powerstar Golf, and Zoo Tycoon). As the central hub of a living room entertainment complex, though, Microsoft has a much harder sell. The company needs to prove the Xbox really adds enough value to be worthwhile and to justify the extra cost of the included Kinect over its similar competition.
At this point, the voice control and multitasking functions that are meant to really set the Xbox One apart are just shy of being good enough to really push the system over the top. They’re nice conveniences, to be sure, but there are enough kinks in the execution to limit their effectiveness. Even if those are smoothed out with future updates, it’s unclear that these features are worth $100 (though that reason is separate from any compelling exclusive games or visual/computational powerhouses).
In short, buy an Xbox One if and when there are enough exclusive games to convince you it’s worth the expense. At that point, the extra media features that the Xbox One brings to the table will be nice fringe benefits, and these options may be more stable and usable than they are right now. If you can live without those platform exclusives, though, and if you can do without fancy picture-in-picture and voice commands, look into saving some money on a PlayStation 4 instead.
The good: Microsoft’s new console integrates live TV in an innovative fashion and can control your cable or satellite cable box, TV, and receiver. Most games present noticeably improved graphics over those on the Xbox 360. The One has a slightly better roster of exclusive launch games compared with the PS4’s.
The bad: The live TV integration is fraught with frustrations: Kinect voice commands don’t always work, the new dashboard is more confusing than it needs to be, and the system lacks full DVR integration. It costs $100 more than the PS4, and the additional Xbox Live Gold membership fee is required to use nearly every cool feature. The lineup of launch games lacks a Halo-caliber must-have title.
The bottom line: The Xbox One goes beyond gaming with its ambitious live TV integration, but at launch it can’t deliver a knockout blow to the PS4 due to a higher price and uneven voice control. We suggest you wait for improvements, but for now, the Xbox One is better suited to forgiving early adopters.
What Microsoft has on its side is a growing mobile ecosystem, a huge existing user-base of devoted Xbox fans, and dominance on the desktop. That’s a lot of technology the company can leverage, which will allow to Microsoft to offer unique synergies and experiences across many devices, that no one else can. There is still lots of work to be done on the software side (the SmartGlass App for Xbox One just became available as we were writing this, for example), but the foundation is there for some really cool stuff. Regardless of whether or not Microsoft pulls it all off in the long run, the Xbox One is here today and it’s an impressive piece of gaming and general entertainment gear. We may have access to all of the latest cutting edge PC technology around here, but we’ll be glued to this Xbox One for a while, and that’s saying something.
Good:
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Great Controllers
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Kinect 2.0
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Multitasking
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HDMI Pass-Thru w/ TV Control
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Some Great Games
Bad:
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Voice Commands
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Some Launch Titles
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Fledgling App Store
Should You Buy It?
Not yet. It’s generally dumb to buy any new console right at launch. PS4’s have been having issues with a “blue light of death,” and for all we know the Xbox One could have its own issues as well; the sting of the red ring of death is still fresh in most memories. Besides, the launch line-up of games—while a little better than the PS4’s—is a bit soft. The real gotta-play system-sellers like Watchdogs, Destiny, and Titanfall, are still a few months out. Halo 5 is a mere glint on the horizon.
The software is still in flux too. We experienced a little jank with a few apps. Twitch streaming isn’t coming until sometime early 2014. HBO Go is “coming soon” but hasn’t shown up yet. These consoles are coming in hot, so just chill. Theoretically all will get fixed with time; hopefully right around when a game you just have to have finally gets released.
For now, the Xbox One is one impressive living room box machine—and it more than justifies its $500 dollar price with the inclusion of at least $100-worth of set-top boxitude—but you’re going to be better off waiting for a little while to see how things shake out.
But—and this is admittedly a sizable but—if the Xbox One can straighten the few little quirks it has with some software tweaks, this thing is going to be unstoppable in a way the PS4 could never touch. It’s too versatile, too feature-ridden, too future. So wait, yes. But while you do, go ahead and start clearing out plenty of space underneath your television.
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