Xbox One X Review – A bright future and a tough sell

Multiplatform and Microsoft-exclusive games are eventually going to be the Xbox One X’s biggest strength, but right now there’s a struggle.

The Xbox One X is launching with almost nothing dedicated, thanks in part to the delay of Crackdown 3 until next April. Super Lucky’s Tale is about the only thing hitting the Xbox platform alongside the One X, and unless we’re back in 1992 again, a mascot platformer isn’t a system seller for anyone but Nintendo. So we’re left with all the other games.

Right now, at this very moment, only a few games are Xbox One X Enhanced. Microsoft executives expect the number of enhanced games to approach 70 or 80 by the end of launch week, and that includes both Microsoft exclusives like Gears of War 4 and new titles like Forza Motorsport 7 and Assassin’s Creed Origins. With souped-up consoles on both sides of the fence, we can expect to see just about every game that comes out from here on how to have some kind of enhancements, even if it’s just running at higher resolution. Which, for many games, that’s what it will be.

But this is a powerful system, and as developers get the hang of the power, games are going to look better and better on the Xbox One X.

Right now, it’s hard to give an unequivocal recommendation for the system, especially for those thinking about upgrading.

There’s no question, you are getting the best Xbox yet. It’s a compact, dense system capable of running many games at 4K and yet others at increased resolution. There’s no question that, for multiplatform games, it’s going to be the best place to play them. And if you have a 4K television set, there’s almost no contest. At $500, I’m not going to tell you this thing is cheap, but it is a stellar deal. It handles UHD Blu-ray discs like a champ. Seriously – check out Planet Earth II. It’ll melt your brain. It plays games at high resolutions and with buttery-smooth frame rates for much cheaper than an equivalent computer. And it’s a great-looking piece of hardware. It’s the perfect companion to a 4K set.

(All footage captured using the Xbox One S and Xbox One X on-board capture software)

With that said, don’t get a 4K set for the Xbox One X. There’s still benefits to be had on a 1080p television. The supersampling effects look great in motion, even if they’re tough to capture right now – though I recommend staying tuned as we look to correct that as more games with Xbox One X enhancements hit shelves in the coming weeks. It’s also hard to recommend upgrading from the Xbox One S. If you don’t have an Xbox and were thinking of getting one, the One X is as good as it’s ever been.

Make no mistake – the Xbox One X is worth the price tag if you want to get your game on with a console, but this awkward launch timing doesn’t do the system any favors. A few games that really show the system off would’ve been appreciated whether from Microsoft or otherwise. We’re waiting to get a good look at Forza Motorsport 7 and Assassin’s Creed Origins in particular as two of the lead titles that are meant to show off the system, but the Enhanced patches for those games aren’t quite yet available.

If there’s one thing I can say about the X, it’s that it has a bright future. There’s a lot of power to exploit, and developers are going to get better at using it. And if Microsoft’s performance with the Xbox One has been any indication, the company will continue to optimize the software, both giving developers more room to work and better tools to work with. In other words, games are likely to look better and play better.

The Xbox One X is a great piece of hardware, and it lives up to both the promise of being the most powerful gaming console and of being the best Xbox yet.

Article source: https://www.technobuffalo.com/reviews/xbox-one-x-review/