Microsoft didn't mean to take over your living room. When it launched in 2005, the Xbox 360 was just a device for games — "the Holy Grail of gaming," in the immortal words of MTV's Sway. It would show your pictures if you plugged in a thumb drive, but it was designed to be the best way ever for gamers to play. Read on for the full review.
Introduction
The XBOX One is Microsoft’s BigPlay for America. Its got football, its got TV and did we mention football! And its also continuing a tradition Microsoft started with the first Halo on the original XBOX. Major blockbusters like Call Of Duty, Titan Fall and Halo ofcourse, ensure that casual gamers and the most hardcore gamers are both happy. Unlike Sony’s laser instinct on gaming with the PS4, the XBOX One is an all-in-one entertainment box. This is apparent from the moment you turn it on. The setup is streamlined to getting you towards Windows 8 esque dashboard doing it as humanely as possible. After grabbing the Day 1 update which you will need to do literally anything with the XBOX One including play games, the console sets up Kinect for face and audio recognition and that’s it you’re in. If you want to skip any of it and do it later, that’s an option.
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What You Need To Know About The Gamepad
The emphasis is clear, the user first everything else second and that’s the whole story of the XBOX One from the gaming experience to kinect to the paired down Windows 8 OS. Let’s start with the good. Microsoft’s XBOX One Gamepad is excellent, its comfortable, its nice looking and its got particularly 2 nice touches – rumble on the triggers which Microsoft is calling Impulse Triggers and textured thumbsticks. Despite being gimmicky, the rumbles make a real difference. Exclusive launch game - Forza Motorsport 5, provides perfect example why. The trigger rumbling provides feedback from rumble sticks in the game when on the road and its not hard to think of other used cases. Moving on to the textured out thumbsticks, they are the refinement of XBOX 360’s gamepad. Your thumbs are not leaving these sticks. Period. The One’s thumbsticks remain significantly better the rest of the competition. The thumbsticks are definitely smoother than the 360’s and leaves more room. The four key buttons are just about the only unchanged aspect. The Dpad is a major step up from the 360. Feels extremely digital. Over all, the gamepad is an improvement.
Kinect 2.0
The Kinect 2.0 is the same bulky camera masquerade from the XBOX 360. Visually it’s a pretty thing but its still the same black box sitting infront of you. The lengthy thick wire extending from it isn’t helping either. Its works, ocassionally, which Microsoft claims otherwise.
The Console Itself
The XBOX One console itself is big, heavy and kinda ugly. People joked about it how it looked like it was a futuristic VCR. The One looks like a device that should be hidden inside your mediacenter and never to be touched once setup. Thankfully Microsoft designed the console around just that. The XBOX One, needless to say takes in the Blu-Ray disc.
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The Interface
The XBOX One dashboard is cleaner than ever. There are just 3 large sections: Pins, Home and Store. You can jumb between any of these very quickly and switching or loading apps is fast or faster than your smartphone. Like with the PS4, using the One makes you feel like you’re using a modern piece of electronics. Pins operate just like the ones on any Windows product. From games to music and TV shows to apps, everything that you love and need to get fast access can be pinned. The homescreen displays the 5 recently used applications. Its where you will be spending majority of your time quickly jumping and swapping between apps, gaming, music and live TV. Its also a good way of telling which apps are running at any given moment. If you jump from one game to another, the previous game shuts down. Sadly like the PS4, the One doesn’t warn you. The speed of multi-tasking is truly visible. On the flip side, the One’s own content filtering and organizing is terrible. Everything is layed out front and despite our best efforts, we can’t see what eats up the storage and how much is left. It will tell you when you are running low.
Gaming Experience
Prettied up versions of multiplatform blockbusters like Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag and BattleField 4 offer the best fleshd out gaming experience. Microsoft’s first XBOX One exclusive –Forza Motorsport 5 and Ryse: Son Of Rome act as graphic showcases and tech demoes offering new console’s horsepower and its new Kinect. In constrast to Sony’s Mac and Killzone ShadowFall, Forza Motorsport 5 and Ryse are stronger selling. Ryse may be the best looking game on any console we’ve ever played. Dead Rising 3 and LoCo Cycle round up the XBOX One’s exclusive lineup and neither is very exciting. Smartglass in Dead Rising 3 feels impressive but for the most part it feels under-done. Loco Cycle is exciting but from system seller. Just like its competitor, the XBOX One has a short list of games. For now.
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Conclusion
As an entertainment device, XBOX One claims to do it all and it nearly does. TV works and the setup is simplified for even the most technophob. Switching between games, apps and the store is a snap, if not as quick as Microsoft originally claimed. Games, the most important aspect of the new gamebox, look and play great though the selection is limited. Atleast for now. In so many words, Microsoft’s main stream is dead set on America, the most hardcore gamers will find the XBOX One quite pleasing and capable. For that mainstream’s Microsoft’s coveting, they’ll find a pricey set top box, make no mistake the XBOX one is a game console first and foremost. For $500, it’s a hard sell but rest assured, the XBOX One is no dud. If you are willing to shell out the $100 for Kinect that only occationally works which was otherwise promised, the XBOX One is a perfecty good game console. If that isn’t enough however, Microsoft is hoping that games like Ryse and Dead Rising 3 will convince you, well there’s always that other console right?
Author : Nadeem Ansari
Designation: Senior Editor
Bio: A gadget freak who can't make a day without his tiny little toys and is constantly trying to keep himself up to date with the latest events in tech history. Loves to read and write articles.
Bio: A gadget freak who can't make a day without his tiny little toys and is constantly trying to keep himself up to date with the latest events in tech history. Loves to read and write articles.
