Xbox One X Review

This will be an "experience review" rather than a technical analysis of the Xbox One X. I don't have the necessary tools to go in-depth about performance, noise, thermals etc. So, it'll be more about how my experience gaming on Xbox One X compared to PlayStation 4 Pro and PC.

Context - I play most games on a PC, hooked to a 4K FreeSync monitor. I also use a PlayStation 4 Pro for games availably exclusively on the Sony platform. I have no real need for an Xbox as today all Microsoft Studios games release simultaneously on Xbox and PC. However, given the insane GPU and memory prices, I thought it would be an opportune time to check out what the fuss around the One X is all about. I didn't actually intend to do a review, but I was so pleasantly surprised that I was compelled to later. Due to this, I never took any pictures - apologies for that omission.

This will be another in-depth rant. I'll assume you're an enthusiast who understands how gaming hardware works. If you just want to play games, feel free to jump directly to conclusion.

Setting up and software

The setup process was seamless. I signed in with my Microsoft account, the same that I use for Windows. I own Forza Motorsport 7 and Gears of War 4 from the Microsoft Store on Windows, which are Play Anywhere titles. Play Anywhere means if you buy a game on Xbox or PC, it would also be available on the other platform.

I logged in and found those games ready to download. I did so, and an incredible 210 GB later, I was able to play both. Not only that, it synced with my progress from PC, and I could continue where I left off. It truly is a brilliant experience, one I had no expectation would be quite this seamless!

Next, I set up a different account on the Xbox, and indeed - that account could play the games too.

The OS has changed a lot since I last used the original Xbox One. It's a lot faster, but the home screen is still a bit cluttered for my tastes. Overall, it's well done, and superior to the PlayStation 4 interface. Particularly, the quick launch menu available from anywhere is a great idea for consoles.

Unlike the PS4 Pro, however, the Xbox interface runs only at Full HD - one-fourth the resolution of Ultra HD. The experience is positively blurry in comparison. I'm aware that this was done to allocate more RAM for gaming, but it still makes for an disappointing first impression.

Xbox Game Pass

Xbox Game Pass is a brilliant idea! In a nutshell, it's Netflix for games. As someone who is just experimenting with the console, I have no intention of spending a lot of money buying games. For a $10/month subscription fee (cancelable at any time) Xbox Game Pass gives you access to over 150 games, and it's a great way of getting started with the console. There are plenty of impressive games featured, but most of it is indie titles, and some old Xbox 360 titles. Fortunately, the catalogue is growing, with Rise of the Tomb Raider now available, and all Microsoft Studios available at launch. Whether the major publishers join Game Pass remains to be seen.

Backwards compatibility

Notice that Xbox 360 titles are available on Game Pass? This is a key differentiation versus PlayStation 4. Xbox One X offers full backwards compatibility with select Xbox 360 and original Xbox games. Not just that, many of them are enhanced for Xbox One X! You can actually play Halo 3 at full 4K, for examples. Granted, many of the assets are not quite up to scratch for 4K, but it is indeed a massive upgrade over Xbox 360.

Of course, this may not matter to many, but for some it's a pretty amazing feature to relive some old classics. I have Red Dead Redemption queued before Red Dead Redemption 2 releases this fall.

Graphics and performance

We know how it is - a high-end PC will always offer far superior graphics to any console. Xbox One X is the closest a console has got to achieving PC graphics in a long, long time.

I've compared Forza Motorsport 7, Hitman and Gears of War 4 with the respective PC versions. They look very similar. There are subtle refinements - like a smoother anti-aliasing on PC for Forza 7 and Hitman; deeper LOD transitions and some extra detail on Gears of War 4 and Hitman. But both run at a full, fat, native 4K just like on PC. Without comparing them side-by-side, they look pretty much identical, and I'm willing to bet no one will be able to tell a difference in motion.

Other games I have tested on Xbox One X, though not on PC, are Halo 5 and Battlefront II. Both look incredible, particularly Battlefront II - and importantly, pin sharp on a 4K display. Some of these games may be running a dynamic resolution, but to me, it all looks perfectly fine for 4K.

Then there's a question of performance. Surprisingly, Forza 7, Halo 5 and Battlefront II run at 60 fps at 4K. It's all perfectly smooth and stable performance too - it's hard to notice any dips at all.

Gears of War and Hitman can only muster 30 fps, so PC has a distinct advantage there. However, both have 60 fps modes, where resolution drops down to 1080p and 1440p respectively.

Versus PlayStation 4 Pro, it's night and day. I compared Battlefront II and Hitman. While the Xbox One X was running those games at 4K - or near enough 4K - the PS4 Pro was chugging along at 2560x1440 or below. Moving from Xbox One X to PlayStation 4 Pro is like someone applying Vaseline on your spectacles. Battlefront II also had distinctly better textures and shadows, on top of the massive 2x+ resolution boost. Furthermore, Hitman doesn't have a 60 fps mode at all.

This is a small selection of titles, to be sure, but I researched through Digital Foundry's many analyses. The trend is clear. Xbox One X is going to offer Ultra HD gaming at 30 fps in a majority of games. Not always 2160p, but somewhere in the ballpark in almost all cases, to the extent that it's quite alright on a 4K display. Meanwhile, PlayStation 4 Pro is going to offer 2.5K / 1440p gaming at 30 fps.

In some games, Xbox One X can do 4K at 60 fps - but this is a rarity. Some games have a mode with 60 fps at a lower resolution, but this is also a rarity. Of course, there are outlier exceptions always.

The difference between graphics on PC and Xbox One X is now negligible. The only differentiating factor remaining is pushing higher frame rates on PC.

Finally, Xbox One X is the first console to support variable refresh. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to test this as my monitor supports FreeSync over DisplayPort, while Xbox One X outputs over HDMI 2.1. Either way - this is another massive step forward for consoles.

The era of 100 GB games

Halo 5, Gears of War 4, Shadow of War, Forza 7 and many others clock in at around 100 GB. Battlefront II was the smallest game at 60 GB. Yes, this is the cost to true 4K gaming - those 4K textures and assets eat up a lot of space.

The 1 TB internal hard drive the Xbox One X ships with isn't going to cut it. Be prepared to buy an external hard drive if you are the kind that likes to keep several games ready to play.

Design

There's common wisdom in hardware design - choose two out of compactness, performance and noise. The original Xbox One was massive, mediocre performance, but it was whisper quiet. The original PlayStation 4 was much more compact, offered better performance, but paid the price in being very loud.

The PlayStation 4 Pro took things further with an obnoxiously loud, jet engine like fan.

Somehow, the Xbox One X beats the PlayStation 4 Pro on all fronts, and by massive margins. It's much smaller than the PS4 Pro - I'd say about 2/3rds in volume. It offers far superior performance. But the real clincher is that it's ridiculously quiet - just as quiet as the original Xbox One, despite being less than half the size!

The design is clean and understated as well, far more elegant than PS4 Pro's clumsy chassis. This is a marvel in engineering design.

Media

Xbox One X features a 4K Bluray player. The PlayStation 4 Pro's player is limited to Full HD Blurays. Just finished watching Blue Planet II at 4K - absolutely the most spectacular thing I've ever seen! Moving forward, I fully expect 4K content to be dominated by streaming, so it's not such a big deal. The Xbox does have a much wider range of media apps. For most people just using Netflix, Amazon Prime or YouTube, it's basically even. Then there's the infamous TV thing. I have read the Xbox does that far better, but I couldn't care less, I have no idea how TV works anymore.

The exclusives debate

Thus far, it has been a pretty sorry showing for PlayStation 4 Pro. It just seems like a cheap toy compared to the Xbox One X. But it may have one trick up its sleeve - exclusives.

Looking at games this generation, it is true that PlayStation 4 has by and large the better exclusives. Xbox One has pretty cool games too - but PlayStation 4 commands a narrow win here. There's promise of more brilliant PlayStation games coming in 2018 and 2019 as well. Mind you, Xbox VP Phil Spencer has committed to investing in first party games, so it's not as if Xbox is giving up on the exclusives battle.

What I would say, though, is that the vast majority of games are multi-platform, and Xbox One X simply commands far too significant a lead over PlayStation 4 Pro. It's well worth giving up on the 2-3 exclusive games per year, on balance.

Conclusion

To put it simply, Xbox One X is the finest gaming console ever made. As a PC gamer, this is the first time a console has impressed me, and this is the first time a console can offer similar graphical quality and resolution as a high-end PC.

That it does so at only $500 makes it arguably the greatest bargain in the broader consumer electronics space today. Particularly with the sky high prices on graphics cards and RAM, this is absolutely a fine alternative to PC gaming. I can't stand gaming at 30 fps, so I'll be heading back to my PC. For games that do run at 4K / 60 fps, the experience is basically identical. Mind you, PC does allow higher frame rates still, going up past 100 fps. But 60 fps is "good enough" for me, with variable refresh enabled.

If you have bought a 4K TV or monitor, the Xbox One X is the only console worth buying. If you're on a strict budget and only have a Full HD display, PlayStation 4 Slim is still a pretty good option. These are the only two consoles worth buying today - you can safely ignore Xbox One S and PlayStation 4 Pro.