Xbox One X lends itself very nicely to the acronym XBOX. Does this mean Microsoft has come full circle with the console and this will be the last dedicated piece of gaming hardware we will see from the company?
Firstly, Xbox Live
With their 2nd attempt to have an Xbox Live type service on the PC and it going for the most part relatively well (you’ll never get PC gamers away from Steam), you would think that this is a real possibility.
All of their first party Xbox games are now playable on the PC. You buy it once (digitally, very important) and you have it on both Xbox One and Windows PC. There have been some teething issues, but nothing compared to “Games for Windows – Live” which was a complete flop.
With this potentially being one of the last Xbox consoles you may own, what’s it like?
Xbox One X is a decidedly boring name
I understand having to let users know that it’s still part of the Xbox One family of consoles, plays the same games etc, but come on now. I’ve got a few suggestions: Xbox Stallion (because it is a beast, never to be tamed, obviously). Xbox: Finally Options, Untold Riches Knightly (Xbox FOUR K).
Seriously though, Xbox Project Scorpio was bad ass! Why didn’t they just stick with that (not just for the pre-orders)? So much cooler! Name aside though, it’s pretty freakin’ sweet.
How games look amazing on the Xbox One X
I look back on my time with the Xbox One X with 4K fondness. Assassin’s Creed Origins was gorgeous, you’ve never seen such beautiful water ever, even real life doesn’t compare to how amazing they made the water look. Buy it, look at the water, report back to me. Besides that though, it’s a pretty standard AC game, it plays well but I bore easily.
Next off the ranks was Call of Duty: World War II. I’m not a COD fan, let’s just get that out there straight off the bat, but I was pleasantly surprised! OK, so I couldn’t actually get into multiplayer, to be honest, I wasn’t fussed. The reason I don’t usually enjoy COD is that it is a twitch shooter. I’ve never been good at twitch shooters, but single player was astounding!!! The story mode is gritty and realistic (especially at 4K resolution) and everything any FPS fan could want in World War II game. It is incredible!
I grew up with FIFA, so naturally, I played a few games of FIFA 18 in 4K and ooooooh snap does it look good! The trans-Tasman rivalry was in full force when I played as the All Whites against the Socceroos. Playing it at such high resolution it’s extremely easy to tell which players ply their trade in Europe. The amount of All Whites who unfortunately just look like generic footballers is a bit disappointing but nonetheless, it was good fun. There’s also NBA 2K18 (my go-to game at the moment), Forza 7 and Quantum Break just to name a few that are 4K compatible with the Xbox One X.
Final thoughts
With 6 Teraflops of graphical processing power handling 4K gaming at 60 frames per second, you will be blown away by how well this machine works.
It was a sad day when I had to send this back to the lovely people who look after Xbox in NZ. The week was a good one… one that I wished wouldn’t end. It was a Wednesday; the sun was shining but all I could see was grey. Mood sombre I handed the package over to the courier, and that was it, affair over, back to my original Xbox One, not the same, never the same.
If you went out today and picked up an Xbox One X you would be in no shortage of quality games to play. So, should you? Buy one I mean? It all depends. Yea, cop out, I know.
If you have a 4K capable screen and are on a budget then hells yea you should! A gaming PC capable of 4K resolution at 60 frames-per-second is going to really cost you. For less than half the price you are getting a solid piece of hardware worthy of your hard-earned cash. But it does come at a hefty price in another way. You’ll never want to play at anything less than 4K again.
Image: Xbox
