Xbox One review, by our resident Xbox editor Kavita Rawal, after the break.
“I love my new console and would hug it every day if there were not a fear for dropping it and the effort of unplugging it.”
I was a very lucky girl this Christmas when I received the Xbox One console from my parents as a gift. I had already been saving up for it previously and knew that I would definitely want it. Take into account that I had to do several tasks to receive my Xbox One on Christmas Day, that had it been in public I may have been fairly embarrassed. Tasks included singing the Fireman Sam theme tune (I enjoyed the program when I was two) and doing the hair flick that ‘Jet’ the gladiator had once done back in the day which I used to impersonate when I was little. It was all extremely worthwhile to find out the present in store at the end of these challenging tasks.
I knew I would want the Xbox One before any of the announcements had been made for the next gen consoles. The controversy included in these announcements knocked me slightly, but then I realised Xbox 360 has been my main console I have never been a fan of its main competitor and would not feel comfortable spending that much money on something I have never liked before. Now looking through the release titles for the next year I am pleased with my decision. Looking forward to titles such as ‘Titanfall’ and ‘Halo’ which are exclusive to Microsoft. Other titles to look out for within the next year which are coming out on various consoles are: Destiny, Dragon Age Inquisition, Plants vs Zombies – Garden Warfare, Thief and Elder Scrolls Online.
The console itself has a very sleek and smart design plus it is very shiny. The Kinect for the Xbox One is automatically included with your purchase of the console as well as HDMI cable, headset and controller. When initially starting up your console it goes through various tests to make sure your Kinect is set up in accordance to it’s surroundings and your personal set up. Now as I am combing my hair or putting on my make up I can tell my Xbox to turn itself on as well as load up my game so it is ready there waiting for me to sit down and play. All I need now is to get an automatic make up application system and a hair brushing robot and I will be sorted.
Recommendation if you own an Xbox One and fancy recording your gaming sessions is to download the Upload Studio application. You can then instruct your Xbox to record 5 minutes (or whatever you prefer) of your game play and share it with your friends.
I love my new console and would hug it every day if there were not a fear for dropping it and the effort of unplugging it. There are a few downsides to it at the moment which will most likely be fixed in time, like with all releases of new consoles but here they are:
- Choices of games on release to show off the console’s graphical and game play ability. I am not a driving or sports game fan, I use gaming as a form of escapism so it has to have content which generally I wouldn’t be able to achieve in my day to day life. I purchased Ryse Son of Rome which is an Xbox One exclusive and is excellent. The other choices you have are also on the previous consoles and you cannot see that much of a difference in graphics as you would expect to.
- You can no longer go to the Xbox Avatar store on Xbox One. You have to access it through the website if you wish to buy your Xbox self a new outfit. Microsoft have stated this is because there are better gamerpics available than before. I would just like to point out my argument to Microsoft, so far out of all my friends who own an Xbox One, 95% of them are still using gamerpics with their Xbox avatar as the centre point. I have also checked out the pictures available and none of them are personally worthy to fulfill the task of being my gamerpic.
- Final negative is the other day I took part in online gaming on my Xbox One for the first time. Attached my headset to my controller to talk to my friend whilst saving the world. Headset is comfy and like the new mute and volume functions on the headset. Only problem now is, I cannot disconnect the headset from my controller, without fear of breaking it. I am going to take this back to the store from where my console was purchased so they can try for themselves and if anything goes wrong it can be replaced.
I am not one to mega complain about issues with new release consoles. I expect things to happen and as long as it is fixed that is fine by me. I look forward to the games coming out later on this year so I can put my new console to more use and see more of its performance capabilities.
