My Xbox One experience

Free merchandise.

So as I said in the last post, I got the chance to play the Xbox One before release and I must say that I was surprised. In more ways than one. I would like to just say that I have nothing against Microsoft and I have no preferences toward any of the consoles. Also, my photography is terrible, so I apologise for my images.

I would like to just mention my initial thoughts of the console as a whole:

1. The Controller is very easy to use and is very comfortable
2. The Console really is THAT big. It's really chunky.
3. The Kinect is also big, but it does actually work. However, you still look like a fool while using it.
4. The loading times for every game were pathetically slow. Even for demos. It's supposed to be next gen and Forza 5 took 2 minutes to load the race. An absolute shambles. 

I warn you now, if you are a fan of Microsoft and Xbox and I went to this event with an open mind. So I'm going to be very frank and honest in my opinions. I apologize in advance if you do not agree.

The Controller -

The room was too dark for me to get a good picture.

Overall the controller is good. It's a lot like the 360 controller, which isn't a bad thing. It has a flat back instead of a battery pack sticking out . Which makes it fit in your hands a lot more comfortably. It's surprisingly light and small. However, during my play sessions, the face buttons felt flimsy and loose and the triggers and the shoulder buttons were stiff and unresponsive at times. The D-pad is somehow still terrible. It just doesn't work. At all. But even in light of these small problems. It's a nice controller.

Forza 5 -

 

I love Forza and it's the one of the games I would get Xbox One for. I really like the controls and the attention to detail. I have to say that Forza 5 lives up to the high expectaions of the rest of the series.

The McLaren P1.

The attention to detail was astounding and the graphics were very impressive. That being said, it wasn't particularly a great leap ahead of Forza 4. Maybe in terms of lighting, but that was it. In terms of controls, it was identical to Forza 4 (which I liked) but due to the Xbox One having impulse triggers, they would rumble throughout and it felt nice, but once you really start playing and become immersed in the game, the novelty wears off and it becomes a little bit annoying because the rumble never stops and it became uncomfortable. But all things considered, Forza looks very promising and should be a great launch title. 

Ryse: Son of Rome -

I was pleasantly surprised by Ryse. It was easily the most attractive game there (apart from Forza). In the demo I played I got the sense that the game might not be as expansive as I thought might be.

I know it's blurry.

The demo I played was limited to a single arena in which I fought hordes of enemies. It was fun, for a while. Then it quickly got boring. I thought to myself: Is this it? I mean, it's supposed to be next gen and I'm already tired of it. But the worst thing about Ryse is the camera control. It was terrible. It didn't feel responsive at all. Not to mention it was somehow inverted in a way that no direction corresponded with input from the analogue stick. In my opinion Ryse has to do a lot more to impress me. As an exclusive to Xbox One it needs to be of a higher standard that i just don't think it has reached yet.

Dead Rising 3 -

I liked this game for one main reason. The customization. It was truly unique and the possibilities felt endless. However, that's where the positives end. Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed the game, but I had to constantly remind myself that I was playing Xbox One and not Xbox 360. The graphics were almost identical to 360. The game also lagged at times when there were large amounts of zombies on screen at one time. I thought this was embarrassing. This game has been in development for some time now and it's lagging? That's not very impressive for a 'next gen' game or console. Also in terms of game mechanics, the inventory system was poorly executed. It required you to have hold the trigger button whilst simultaneously pressing either A or X and moving the right analogue stick. It just felt like unnecessary amounts of input to do something as simple as combining items. On the bright side, I did manage to kill 1,000 zombies within two minutes. So I guess that counts for something.

Killer Instinct -

This game felt very familiar. Maybe because it plays a lot like Street Fighter. I must say that it played very smoothly and characters that were available were easy to play as and overall the game was fun. However, when I looked at the game, I thought it looked impressive, but it didn't look 'next gen' I'm pretty sure 360 could run this game. In terms of actually gameplay, the game is ridiculously unbalanced. Some characters can attack you without even having to move or come near you. Others have big combos that do very little damage. What hurt me the most about this game was that I remembered it's free-to-play which means that you have to pay for more characters. It was at that point I decided this game wasn't for me.

Battlefield 4 -

I don't really play Battlefield so this was a new experience for me. Initially I was impressed by the scale of maps and the detail. I also liked the fact that I was playing against other players  in the room. It just felt a bit more atmospheric. However, I thought the game didn't look like it had a real aesthitic advantage over its current gen rivals. Don't get me wrong, it looked amazing. But considering all of the hype surrounding next gen graphics, it wasn't very evident in this game.

Fifa 14 -

In a nutshell, this is just a direct port of the 360/PS3 version of the game. It looks exactly the same, plays in exactly the same way. It made me wonder what EA spend their time and money on in between each Fifa game. Especially after EA showed the Ignite Engine demo of Fifa and it looked like real football and EA claimed that it was what next gen Fifa would look like. Well, I can tell you firsthand. EA lied.

Overall I think that the Xbox One shows a lot of promise, I think that anyone buying one at launch will have some great games to choose from and the console will improve over time. But I personally won't be getting one. I don't object to anyone getting one though and I think if you do buy one then you will enjoy it. But I think I'll stick to the PS4.

Well, that was my Xbox One experience. What are your next gen plans? Xbox One? PS4? SteamOS? PC? Current gen? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!