Xbox One + Games Experiences / Review

[deathman20]

The Console

The console is physical large. Its bigger than the 360 width wise, and height wise. I believe its pretty close to the same depth though. Its a vary heavy beast, and can see that MS didn't cut itself short on probably making the unit staying cool and quiet. Solid construction, seems to have very good airflow on the unit and its quiet. The disk drive is a little noisy but its only running when you are installing the game, otherwise it is off. Doesn't even spin that I notice after installation. A big fan is venting at a very low speed out the top. Couple side vents I'm guessing is sucking air into the system. Nice overall, will have to figure out a way to place it with the rest of my gear since I don't want anything on top of it, and sitting on my X360 right now won't cut it when I want to play with that.

Now for Kinect. The unit as a whole its heavy. The sensor alone has to be 2 lbs + its cable. In a relatively dim room and picked me up no issues being in the room. The sensor was offset on the TV as right now have from left to right; Xbox One Kinect / Xbox 360 Kinect / Wii Sensor Bar, and the Xbox 360's is center of the screen. Had no issues picking me up on a dark couch nice and relaxed. Even with just the TV for light and some stair lights (not near me but did add some light in the room) it still picked me up on the couch without any issues. So it doesn't have the problem it did before with being in a dark room, which is great. Do I think it should of been included with the console, well that's debatable right now, so far its limited in use but did find that can be used in a few games so we'll see.

The controller, seems odd at first. Just the way it is vs the previous controllers for the last 2 consoles. Just slight differences that throw you off. Overall very comfortable to hold, nice not having the big bulge on the bottom for the batteries that its actually built into the physical body. The fixes to the D-Pad is wonderful and the sticks feel more responsive and not as hard to push down, which is an added plus. The triggers, are interesting. So use to the X360 or even the PS controllers with how the triggers act that it does have a more rounded feel and doesn't dig into the fingers when playing games, specifically racing ones when your on the accelerator nearly all the time. The feed back system in the controller is really cool as well, gives more of a feel in the game. Guess we'll wait and see how it does on battery life. Was surprised it actually included 2 name branded batteries with it... shocked.

Can't comment on the HDMI in as haven't used it yet. I don't have a cable box that you would use for it so it really has a very limited use for me. Nice in the aspect that if you do have one you don't have to have 2 HDMI ports chewed up by the two devices and that it can share just 1 port. Or if your lacking HDMI ports you can share it, just a nice added piece.

The OS - Sorry lacking stuff here right now, not sure what to really touch yet. More to be added over time.

Seems very similar to the X360 in most respects. Menu's, the pin system, how its all laid out. Its very smooth and responsive, its nice to jump out and back in games quickly without exiting them. Really nice added feature on that.

App wise, not many apps for the console yet. Just did some quick installs of basic ones, Skype, Netflix, Vudu, Skydrive, etc. Waiting on hopefully some others to come out or seeing what some of the other few apps (only saw maybe 20 or so right now) actually do. Maybe I'm blind and didn't see more of them, with limited time haven't had much to look into this area yet. I know I have to play with the DVR Game Clip system... some reason I couldn't edit anything last night so have to wait and see hopefully its working tonight.

The auto log in feature with Kinect seeing me, haven't tried it since really im the only one on the console, no biggy if someone else tries to use it. Might hook my daughter up with it eventually when some kid games come out. I also haven't tried to turn on the console with it yet, even if I have it setup that way.

Split screen function, well only works with Skype and if you have HDMI pass through if not mistaken currently. I'll be looking into that a little more. Really be nice if MS allowed google to put hangouts on this as that is what I use and majority of the family if we want to video chat. Skype is nice because its already tied into the system and MS in the aspects for gaming at least.

Update 1:
Wanted to add tried out Skype tonight on it. Flawless. Worked great was easy to setup and showed very decent video on it. Camera is 1080p, quality I'm guessing was closer to 720p ish but voice was crystal clear. As well the camera tracks you around the room so if your talking it will zoom in on the area where you are. Pretty slick setup. Happy it worked good, and might be looking forward to this working within games via split screen maybe? We'll see.

 

[deathman20]

The Games
This is a general overview of all the games I've either played or in general watching. Might have to expand the thread after a while but we'll start with one main post.

Day One: - 12-11-13

Forza 5:
Got to play this a little, very little at that, 2 quick races. 10% installed on the drive and what ever portion of the 6GB update that is for it not sure how far it got but was 50% installed when I had to call it a night. Racing, the force feed back in the controller is interesting, in a nice way. Gives it a better feel of the controller when driving. Its not exact but gives something to it. Graphics... well watch a video its wonderful.

AI/First race. Looks like they altered the typical 1st, 2nd, 3rd place (gold, silver, bronze) thinking. Gold (3rd place and higher) / Silver (7th place and higher) / Bronze (10th place and higher). Not sure if the amount of money changes if you get higher, but placed 3rd in my first race, AI was on above average / with running simulation for damage. Got to say, AI was nice much more challenging and at least not yet not slamming me all over the place on purpose. They seemed to respect my space well as I tried to respect theirs. They seem to get the same damage issues I get if I slam into a wall, screwed up steering, bad breaking, etc. I hope, would be nice to see AI drivers suffer like I do if I screw up. And for the racing in general I was trying to hold 2nd place but the AI well did me in Overall for the 15-20min of play very well done. Looking forward to more races.

Dead Rising 3:
Haven't had a chance to pop the disk in yet, but hopefully in the next day or two I will. Heard good things on this one too.

Ryse: This is the one I think I will be returning. Don't think I can bring it on myself to pay $60 just yet for a game for maybe 6 hours of play. Its graphically great but very repetitive... I'll have to think hard on this one after reading more reviews of it. I have it in hand but jury is still out on it... wait and see.

Need for Speed - Rivals: (Do not have yet)
Just looks sweet! Haven't done a NFS game for ages and finally looks like one that actually has gotten nice reviews about. Something I'll look into for sure.

Day Two: 12-12-13

Killer Instinct:
Ok yes I tried it Small download, but one of the first things noticed when loading it up, of course its only 1 character and 1 arena I can fight in, but can fight multiple AI characters at least. You do have to buy a pack to unlock the other arena's and characters and even outfits. Just a FYI, price not sure since I don't know how far it has to go for purchasing process yet.

Since I've never really enjoyed this type of game hard to really say. Its a fighting game lol. Graphics seem decent but nothing spectacular. Not as jaw dropping as I'd hope from seeing other games out there. Sorry didn't get any video's of it ingame but im sure you can find stuff online of it, probably better reviews than me on this one

Forza 5 - Update
Updating more information on this game from my previous post.
I got a lot more racing in, actually the only game I played really this day. Got a good 2 more hours into it, and a good feel of how it works.

More information on the races itself, I was questioning if there was a real advantage to be in first place, found out that there is a rating system (as mentioned above) that following that for which ever particular race you won't benefit from going betting anyone else higher than that. So if gold is 3rd place and up, getting first place yields no difference in money earned or standing. While odd, its actually quiet nice because now I can tune up the AI just a little more to give a more competitive feel. I'll get into that in a second.

Now with driving the force feedback on the wheel is great, getting use to it and helps get a more finer feel of the car IMO. Going into the other aspects of car handling. Not sure if some of it feels off but its vastly different than previous games. They must of changed how cars respond to different surfaces ALOT more now. On grass you really slide ALOT, even if 2 tires are on the grass you can really feel the pull on the wheel and that your slipping. Even on curves with the noise ridges, you can feel the car skipping on them. Its a nice feel and really does give that much more of a good feel to the game.

Now I'll dive into the AI a little more. I know people are complaining about it and how it response etc, but it does give that more realistic feel to the game with it. Them having errors is interesting, its even better when you do rewind and you start seeing the AI doing things totally different then what was going on previously. Best one wish I recorded it (playing with that) is going into a curve I totally botched it but all AI was doing decently with it. Rewinded and then seeing 4 cars slide off the track and struggling to get back on it, then when they do one car coming out of the curve (S-Curve) basically T bones the cars coming back onto the track. Was a great sight to see. I'll have to get better with video recording as there is some really neat things that do happen. Besides all the AI and stuff, I haven't seen this covered before is the Driver Sync thing. Its basically an "AI" of yourself that races in other races to get realistic feel for others. Well it does do that, and can actually earn you some credits when your away. I know since I split the day up and its a daily thing when racing, in 1 race I had earned 3,000 some credits, but by the time I went to bed 40min after midnight, my AI was already in 7 other races. Gives stats and all for him as well. Kinda cool. The more you race on the track the better feel I guess the AI gets for it and its ranked as such. One track I had a 2% rating for the completion of the AI but on another track it was 40%. I'm sure I'll figure more out on that later.

Graphics... what can I say, its great. Smooth, relatively crisp. I can see some jaggies but its 1920x1080 on a 55" screen at 7-8' away. I'd expect to see some just due to the pixel size. Though it was an impressive sight to see driving around on some of these tracks. Probably my only beef on it is the bloody sun... damn thing has to be on the track in the right spot when doing some fancy curves and can really screw you up from the glare. I am driving for the drivers point of view so gives it a little more realistic touch, not sure if you can drive in another view or not. It looks good at the way its done don't get me wrong, just that it can be annoying just at the right points

Kinect feature I found in the game right before shutting it down so I will have to test it is a looking feature. If I understood it correctly if you sit straight up and lean to the left or right it will turn your head in the car. Added bonus instead of moving your thumb on the other stick to see around. I'll have to report back on that and how it works/feels when playing the game.

Day Three/Four/Five: 12-13-13 - 12-15-13

Forza 5:
Played some more, nothing game feature wise really to report. Though since there was a big stink on the credits earned, how much cars costed and how much was given during races it was revised a bit. I believe it was done prior to me getting the game.

On an added note they gave something back to us players that have played past games. Extra credits! Depending on how much or what we did in previous games (dating back to the first if not mistaken) they give us credits and can be a bit of them. So far earned 3mil credits. Might get another million depending if I complete things prior to December 31st.

Dead Rising 3:
Ok back at it...
The game played maybe 3 hours of it already. Controls seem good, the use of at least the Microphone is unique in the game to attack zombies. Kinda cool IMO. Massive amounts of possibilities is always good.

Since its really my first in the series I've played. I did try a demo for Dead Rising 2, just never purchased it. Now this one, no regrets here. Solid game, many hours of fun and even from some of the reviews I had to take a look at to just make sure I would have enough time to do everything made my mind go at ease. If you don't know, there is a timer til total destruction of what ever area. Previous games I guess is was really tight on time and multiple play through where required to get all the goodies. This time I guess there is time to do everything and still have a buffer. Good news to me

So playing around, its always fun to kill loads and loads of zombies all at once. The weapon combo's are sick... little unbelievable but, who cares its all in good fun. Gotta let lose once and a while. Just in the short period of time, managed to unlock nearly 1/3 of the weapons, but only a few vehicles so far, probably more to come in later missions.

Graphic wise, really can't disagree really with anything. Sure maybe the textures could be higher res, maybe a little more variety in zombie models, but overall for a day one release game I think they did a very good job with the system. On screen you can see a few hundred zombies at once, and clipping range is really far, as I haven't even noticed one.

Would I recommend the game? Oh hell yeah, who doesn't like to kill some zombies in the most gruesome way?

 

[rainless]

Killer Instinct:
Ok yes I tried it Small download, but one of the first things noticed when loading it up, of course its only 1 character and 1 arena I can fight in, but can fight multiple AI characters at least. You do have to buy a pack to unlock the other arena's and characters and even outfits. Just a FYI, price not sure since I don't know how far it has to go for purchasing process yet.

Since I've never really enjoyed this type of game hard to really say. Its a fighting game lol. Graphics seem decent but nothing spectacular. Not as jaw dropping as I'd hope from seeing other games out there. Sorry didn't get any video's of it ingame but im sure you can find stuff online of it, probably better reviews than me on this one

HOORAY!

I'm sorry... I didn't read anything else you wrote. I'm sure it had something to do with the Xbox One.

Either it's good or it's bad... I don't know... BUT HE PLAYED KILLER INSTINCT!

WOOHOOOOOOOOO!

 

[Janus67]

Thanks for the mini-reviews!

I think I would personally return Ryse and then just red-box it for a weekend, probably a lot better money spent elsewhere. I've heard really hot or miss things about NFS: Rivals. Some really like it, and others have said that as a multiplayer game it is lacking because of the lack of people (6 per map) that can actually play together, with no real way to get everyone in the same place to do things with them.

For your statement about KI - I believe for $25 you can buy the whole game and all of the characters to go with it. Or you can pay $5/character if you don't like playing as Jago.

 

[deathman20]

Thanks for the mini-reviews!

I think I would personally return Ryse and then just red-box it for a weekend, probably a lot better money spent elsewhere. I've heard really hot or miss things about NFS: Rivals. Some really like it, and others have said that as a multiplayer game it is lacking because of the lack of people (6 per map) that can actually play together, with no real way to get everyone in the same place to do things with them.

For your statement about KI - I believe for $25 you can buy the whole game and all of the characters to go with it. Or you can pay $5/character if you don't like playing as Jago.

Your welcome. Figure someone had to do it eventually. Might as well be me being the sucker

Actually Janus thats a good idea about Ryse, probably have to do that. Heck of a lot better than spending $60 on it for something I'll play for 6 hours or double that if play it 2 times, at most. Sort of picky about that ... unless its something i REALLLY want. Though me I play games, and I keep them rarely get rid of them, but think its time to clean down my X360 collection a bit Only a few games left on that console that I will play.

HOORAY!

I'm sorry... I didn't read anything else you wrote. I'm sure it had something to do with the Xbox One.

Either it's good or it's bad... I don't know... BUT HE PLAYED KILLER INSTINCT!

WOOHOOOOOOOOO!

LOL its a fighting game, what can I say No but really it was smooth and played well, just would of expected better graphics is really all. Maybe they will come out with a KI2 and have stuff updated in the future.

 

[rainless]

LOL its a fighting game, what can I say No but really it was smooth and played well, just would of expected better graphics is really all. Maybe they will come out with a KI2 and have stuff updated in the future.

Well it's not ready yet. They had to GUARANTEE that it would be a launch title. And the only way to do that was to only release a few characters/stages at a time. Doing it this way also meant it was one of the first Xbox One titles to be developed and there really won't be much in the way of a graphics update.

That said... if I'd had a better financial year then I would already have the Xbox 1 and the Ultra Edition ($39.99 and includes two versions of the original Killer Instinct) of KI as well as either an adapter to use my PS3 fighting stick, or the all new KI Tournament Edition 2 stick for Xbox One.

That would've tided me over until my birthday in March...

 

[deathman20]

Well at least you know not to blow your rent on something like this if you can't afford it.

Anyways large update coming, including Dead Rising 3. Started some of it just ran out of time for right now.

Edit: Updated post 2.

As well picked up another game. Its been out for a while but another first in the series for me. Returned Ryse got Assassins Creed IV. Always wanted to play the series but this game got my attention a while back. Sure yes I could get it for the PC, probably be cheaper, but there is just something playing a game on the big screen. Yes yes, I can hook my PC up to the big screen, but this is just different. There is PC games, there is Console games. Weather you like it or not they just seem to have a specific platform that you should play it on.