I was fortunate enough to get an Xbox Series X on launch day last week and since I've spent a week with it I wanted to give my initial thoughts on the console as a whole. I tend to prefer Xbox over PlayStation to play most third party games but I do love most of the PlayStation exclusives. I mainly like the controller better and like going for achievements. I will say though, Game Pass is a behemoth and is the future of gaming in my opinion so it's nice to have that on Xbox as well! I get that Xbox gets slammed all the time for not having games but I've never understood that cause 90% of the games that comes out during the course of a year comes out on everything so...everyone has games haha! So I want to break this up into a few sections: The look of the console, the features/how games look/run on it, and overall feeling on the system so far!
Let's get into how the system it self looks first. It got nicknamed the Xbox fridge when people first started seeing it cause well...it kinda looks like a little black mini fridge! It is smaller than I thought it would be after watching some unboxing videos. It's really heavy though and was easily the heaviest console box I've ever gotten. The packaging for this was different but so user friendly and the console was presented in a way that I've never seen before. Like it was this treasure you've discovered with the message "Power Your Dreams" written on a wraparound on the consoles when you first lift the box up. It was very cool and different. Now the actual look of the console, I like it. It's simple and some may say it's boring but I guess I prefer that. I will admit that I love the look of the Xbox Series S but this one is cool as well. I am standing it up like the way it looks in all the promo materials you've seen and I had to rearrange my entertainment center to do that. I have my PS4 slim next to it and it looks like it's going to eat it cause it's so much smaller. But overall I think it looks slick and looks nice under my tv.
This console has a lot going on under the hood. You can tell that by how heavy it is but I guess it needs to be cause this is basically a mini PC at this point. The user interface is exactly the same as Xbox One because of an update Microsoft did a few weeks before this console launched. I kinda like that but can understand wanting an all new interface. It does add an option to have a dynamic theme that looks pretty cool but is just basic as of now and I'd imagine more options will be there in the future. The big thing about this console is that most games optimized for it runs the games at 4K and 60 frames per second. Some games can run at 120 frames but I haven't experienced that yet cause my tv can only go up to 60. But to be fair only a few games even do 120 as of right now. I've been playing a lot of Assassin's Creed Valhalla and it looks amazing! I did test out Forza Horizon 4 as well and it's the best that game has looked and it looked great on the Xbox One X. It will also run Xbox One games in a higher frame rate and that's so nice. So games that may have had some frame problems last gen will run in 60 if it can but otherwise will run at a solid 30. It's nice to play those games and have them feel that smooth to play!
A huge thing about this console though is its backwards compatibility. Pretty much any game that has been released on an Xbox system can run on it and it looks and runs better than ever. For Xbox One games it does this thing called auto HDR if your tv has HDR available and it looks incredible. So even if the game didn't have HDR before it will just add it and it makes the colors pop like you've never seen before with those games. HDR is high dynamic range and it basically improves the lighting and colors on the screen and really needs to be seen to believe how big of a different it makes. Now I get that some of this stuff has been available on the PC for years and some people are like big deal. But I'm a console player and being able to play an entire library of console games on here and have them run this well is something I've always wanted and it's awesome! It also has a feature called quick resume that lets you jump between several games super quick. So you can basically leave a game running in the background and you will just pick up right there the next time you play it. And the SSD makes everything move and load so fast! Like the console boots up and you're on the dashboard in less than 5 seconds!
I've used this system heavily since I got it and it runs super quiet. The Xbox One X would get pretty loud when running certain games in 4K but this one hasn't made a peep. The top does get warm but that's where the fan is and it's supposed it. Cause if you use any electronics on for a long period of time it gets hot. The only problems I've had was a few games freezing up but I kinda think that was on the games and not the console cause stuff like that just happens with games. The setup process was the easiest for any new console I've gotten. I used the Xbox app on my phone and it just automatically signed me in and connected to my wifi. I had to download all the games again but all the saves and stuff was just in the could and super simple. I also want to touch on the controller a bit before we finish here. It's basically the same but it feels just a bit smaller and it might be my new favorite controller. They added some textures to the triggers and all across the back of it so it's easy to hold. They also added a share button in the center of the controller so getting a screenshot is super easy. It works a lot like the screenshot button on the Switch. You just press it and it instantly gets the shot and hold it to get a video.
Now I've praised this console, and for good reasons because I think it's an awesome console, but it's by no means something you need. These are going to be hard to get in the coming months. Apparently there are going to be some on Black Friday but who knows how many each store will have. Every game that is coming out for the foreseeable future is going to come out on the other systems so you won't miss out on any games. Cyberpunk 2077 will look and play just fine on the Xbox you already own so it's fine if you can't get one of these. I wasn't able to get to get a PS5 so I'll be playing Spider-Man: Miles Morales on my PS4 Slim and I'm cool with that. Please don't get one from a scalper and feed these assholes who get them and sell them for double what they are worth, These new systems will be available next year at some point and most games are doing the thing where you can but the game once and play it on both the old system and the new one. So I overall love this system but don't freak out if you can't get one right now.
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