It had to happen - all the talk of E3 failure and a disappointing launch games selection had to come to this - hands on gameplay of the new XBox One... and that's exactly what we did this evening!
Games
There were quite a few games on offer, and there were good and bad:
Killer Instinct - A basic fighting game. Not unlike Streetfighter but without the dynamic effects and responsive handling. Not very impressive frankly, and as a launch title... meh!
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag - Now this was pretty. Great graphics, some neat scenarios and what seemed like a really nice development of the franchise. If you're a fan, you will love this game. Oh... and naval battles, 'nuff said!
Battlefield 4 - Now I've played Battlefield 3 on the PC and the Beta of Battlefield 4 (lag left me underwhelmed) and find them quite nice as far as FPS goes. More challenging than CoD and getting used to the classes after CoD is a bit hard, but Battlefield definitely brings the "pretty". Battlefield 4 is no less impressive on XBox One and I would say looks even better! There's new tricks and gadgets, my only real complaint is some of the moves were awkward on the controller and not entirely clear. Great looking and a great gaming experience all around.
Call of Duty: Ghosts - As you may know I LOVE CoD. It's my game and I've held off buying CoD Ghosts purely because I wanted to play it on the XBox One. Tonight I did, straight after Battlefield 4.. and it sucked! The graphics were flat, the controls comparatively unresponsive, the lighting was flat and artificial looking - a total disappointment! I'm sorry, but no!
Dead Rising 3 - If you like killing zombies - get this game! Unrelenting mass slaughter. Great graphics, but as someone who hasn't played one before, a tad confusing - are you just supposed to kill stuff?
FIFA 14 - Ever wanted to play a game that looked exactly like the game looks on TV - well this is the game for you. From scoreboards to instant replays to the angle of the camera - for a soccer nut you will enjoy this game. The graphics are amazing!
Forza Motorsport 5 - I'm not into racing games, but this had other people thoroughly enthralled. Looks great and seems to play really nicely too.
NBA Live 14 - Another visually stunning sports game that looks just like TV. A few floaty graphics issues, but really nice looking.
Ryse: Son of Rome - Now when I first saw the trailer for this I thought "you suck". Having now played it, I was wrong! This is a stunning game. Multi-layered, mulit-challenging - this was the surprise game of the night. Ryse: Son of Rome is a cool game. Combining the upgrabability of FPS traits, the combat dynamics of the new Batman game and a really intuitive camera that you can move but doesn't end up behind some guy you're trying to kill or pointing in the wrong direction - this game is the package for me and I wasn't the only one! This game seemed to get everyone a little bit hooked.
Killer Instinct - A basic fighting game. Not unlike Streetfighter but without the dynamic effects and responsive handling. Not very impressive frankly, and as a launch title... meh!
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag - Now this was pretty. Great graphics, some neat scenarios and what seemed like a really nice development of the franchise. If you're a fan, you will love this game. Oh... and naval battles, 'nuff said!
Battlefield 4 - Now I've played Battlefield 3 on the PC and the Beta of Battlefield 4 (lag left me underwhelmed) and find them quite nice as far as FPS goes. More challenging than CoD and getting used to the classes after CoD is a bit hard, but Battlefield definitely brings the "pretty". Battlefield 4 is no less impressive on XBox One and I would say looks even better! There's new tricks and gadgets, my only real complaint is some of the moves were awkward on the controller and not entirely clear. Great looking and a great gaming experience all around.
Call of Duty: Ghosts - As you may know I LOVE CoD. It's my game and I've held off buying CoD Ghosts purely because I wanted to play it on the XBox One. Tonight I did, straight after Battlefield 4.. and it sucked! The graphics were flat, the controls comparatively unresponsive, the lighting was flat and artificial looking - a total disappointment! I'm sorry, but no!
Dead Rising 3 - If you like killing zombies - get this game! Unrelenting mass slaughter. Great graphics, but as someone who hasn't played one before, a tad confusing - are you just supposed to kill stuff?
FIFA 14 - Ever wanted to play a game that looked exactly like the game looks on TV - well this is the game for you. From scoreboards to instant replays to the angle of the camera - for a soccer nut you will enjoy this game. The graphics are amazing!
Forza Motorsport 5 - I'm not into racing games, but this had other people thoroughly enthralled. Looks great and seems to play really nicely too.
NBA Live 14 - Another visually stunning sports game that looks just like TV. A few floaty graphics issues, but really nice looking.
Ryse: Son of Rome - Now when I first saw the trailer for this I thought "you suck". Having now played it, I was wrong! This is a stunning game. Multi-layered, mulit-challenging - this was the surprise game of the night. Ryse: Son of Rome is a cool game. Combining the upgrabability of FPS traits, the combat dynamics of the new Batman game and a really intuitive camera that you can move but doesn't end up behind some guy you're trying to kill or pointing in the wrong direction - this game is the package for me and I wasn't the only one! This game seemed to get everyone a little bit hooked.
Controller
 | In the ever increasing world of competitive console game play, the controller can mean the difference between a comfortable game and a challenge you have to overcome to even play the game. When Razer came onto the market, they were really the first ones to take XBox's controller and make it better. Now XBox have come back with the XBox One controller and taken it back! |
The controller is slightly bigger than the XBox controller in size, but the hand grips are thinner and the triggers more comfortable. XBox definitely took a leaf out of razer's book and basically built their version of a Razer controller.
The buttons feel better, deeper and more responsive, the joysticks don't feel brittle and you can give them a thrashing, and the bumpers are smooth to touch and responsive.
The adjustable D-pad is gone, replaced with their old traditional one though, so if you liked that... well I don't know what to say.
For me, if XBox did nothing else, this controller is the bomb!
The buttons feel better, deeper and more responsive, the joysticks don't feel brittle and you can give them a thrashing, and the bumpers are smooth to touch and responsive.
The adjustable D-pad is gone, replaced with their old traditional one though, so if you liked that... well I don't know what to say.
For me, if XBox did nothing else, this controller is the bomb!
Console
 | Okay, so it all comes down to this - the console itself. Much has been touted about this next gen console - and yes, the graphics are great, but you know what...? It's slow! Game load times are ridiculously long! |
It took Ryse: Son of Rome over 6 minutes to load the game from the start. That is way too long when Sony have proved some of their games load in 30 seconds or less.
The graphics are very nice yes, but in doing so they are cooking the box - in the under 2 hours of play time, the boxes were hot... not just warm hot.
Sure this was continuous play, but we would all play more than 2 hours in one session and thes machines didn't seem to be up to the task.One of the machines stopped responding and needed to be restarted. Was this heat or continuous game play?
Either way, again, we all play for longer than 2 hours!
The interface on the XBox One is nice - very similar to what we have now frankly, but the machine itself?
Underwhelming!
I'm a big XBox fan, but for a next Gen console... this isn't it!
This is an upspec-ed Xbox 360.
Yeah the graphics are amazing, really they are - but can it take the heat? I'm thinking hardware issues are in the pipeline very soon!
My advice?
Wait for the XBox One 1.5 or even 2.
The release version is likely not exactly what you want.
Certainly not what I was hoping for!
Yes, some of the games look amazing, the controller is great - but will the console let you down?
From my experience tonight? I'm thinking yes...
The graphics are very nice yes, but in doing so they are cooking the box - in the under 2 hours of play time, the boxes were hot... not just warm hot.
Sure this was continuous play, but we would all play more than 2 hours in one session and thes machines didn't seem to be up to the task.One of the machines stopped responding and needed to be restarted. Was this heat or continuous game play?
Either way, again, we all play for longer than 2 hours!
The interface on the XBox One is nice - very similar to what we have now frankly, but the machine itself?
Underwhelming!
I'm a big XBox fan, but for a next Gen console... this isn't it!
This is an upspec-ed Xbox 360.
Yeah the graphics are amazing, really they are - but can it take the heat? I'm thinking hardware issues are in the pipeline very soon!
My advice?
Wait for the XBox One 1.5 or even 2.
The release version is likely not exactly what you want.
Certainly not what I was hoping for!
Yes, some of the games look amazing, the controller is great - but will the console let you down?
From my experience tonight? I'm thinking yes...
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