Review: Xbox One

Microsoft’s Xbox One is not just a games console; it’s part of an entire company-wide strategy. It’s all about being one big happy family, working together. For the Xbox, that means it will be your home entertainment centre, controlling everything from gaming - naturally - to your live TV.

It's a little ambitious, but if Microsoft executive get their way, it won't be long before we're all hooked into the company's way of thinking. But with the PlayStation 4 snapping at its heels, can the Xbox establish itself as the must-have console for Christmas?

Looks wise, the Xbox One is solid. There’s nothing massively distinguishing about it, apart from the logo; it will blend in with your home cinema kit, you DVD player and your set top box. Because if you missed Microsoft’s whole point, that’s just it - the Xbox One is one of them. It’s not just a games console, it’s a home entertainment hub. Hence the name. It reminds me of an old video recorder I used to have, only 100 times better, because it doesn’t chew up my stuff, and it connects directly to a HD set top box.

And it’s so quiet. You barely know it’s turned on, which makes a change from the previous generation of consoles. That’s partly due to a massive vent, which allows the heat to dissipate quickly. So far, so good.

Setting it up is a little painful though, mainly because there’s an instant update to be applied. So settle yourself in, it’ll be a bit of a wait.

Once you get cracking though, it’s an easy(ish) ride from there on in. The Xbox interface has been cleaned up a bit, but it can take some getting used to. If you’re a Windows 8 user you’ll recognise a few elements: you can snap programmes to the edge of the screen, allowing you to multitask while playing a game; things can be ‘pinned’ to the main menu; and the tile-based interface is also a familiar sight.

A big part of navigating this interface is Kinect. Not everyone is keen on the Kinect, and the resentment for paying for it - Microsoft hs made it an integral part of the system - can be quite high as a result. But for aspiring couch potatoes who don’t even want to hunt for the games controllers, the Kinect is a godsend. Sure, you feel a bit daft talking to it. And you might feel a little stupid waving around in front of it to get it to move between menus. But it quickly becomes natural, the self consciousness dissipates, and before long you’re wondering why your TV doesn’t obey your frantic hand gestures when you try to change the channel. And you can command the box to turn on, so you don’t even need to try to figure out where the power switch is.

The Kinect is certainly more responsive this time around, although the voice commands have to be weirdly precise to be recognised, and at time, it feels like your Kinect is just ignoring you. On a happier note, the peripheral’s low-light capability has been ramped up too, so you won’t have to use the local football team’s floodlights to get it to pick up your movements in an otherwise well-lit room.

Best of all, using it for gaming doesn’t require every item of furniture to be moved to the furthest corners of the room, thanks to a wide-angle HD camera. And it actually recognises you, automatically signing you in to your profile when it finds your face.

You can also use the Kinect for Skype, so you can conduct large screen video chats on your home TV. Once again, we’re back to that point that Microsoft is an all encompassing box of tricks, and not just about games.

But let's face it, games are the reason 99 per cent of people will buy this. Sure, it's nice to have Netflix (and it does) and you can use it for everything from music to movies, but games are at the heart of this system.

Games install to the hard drive, at least in part. This is one area where the Xbox One falls down; some games seem to take forever to install the first time you put them in the console. And you’ll still need the game disc to play them, so don’t make the mistake of thinking that installed means you can ditch the physical disc. That was a trade-off to keep people concerned about Xbox’s policies on trading in games happy.

Although load times have been decreased dramatically, they’re still present, which is a little disappointing. I dream of a world where load times disappear completely, especially when I’ve waited longer than five minutes for a game to install.

The controllers have also been changed, although not hugely. They’re more streamlined and fit better in your hand. However, I did come across a few problems with the trigger buttons; they just didn’t feel as easy to use as the Xbox 360 controller did. That may just be a matter of getting used to it though; a few more weeks should give a better idea.

There has been much made of the specs of both the Xbox and its rival, the Playstation 4. Although both consoles are fairly well powered, the PS4 manages a higher resolution than its rival on some third party games. But compared to its predecessor, graphics on the Xbox One are noticeably better for some games, though quite how much will be teased out in the coming weeks. And it’s worth remembering that we’re starting out at the very beginning here. Go look at early 360 graphics, compare them with the last few Xbox 360 games. There’s a very noticeable gap there; imagine what games on the Xbox One will look like in a few years.

But inevitably people will only be concerned with now. Ryse: Son of Rome looks good, as does Dead Rising 3 - the sheer volume of zombies in the latter is mind boggling. Forza Motorsport 5 is breathtaking at times, and definitely worth a race or two, if only to get distracted by the scenery.

Of course, it will ultimately come down to price. And the price tag is a little steep - €500 before you even start buying the fancy extras. That’s partly because you get the Kinect included (you have to buy the Playstation camera as an extra), so if you’re planning on using it quite a bit, the extra money may not matter quite so much.

Verdict: Although there are a few kinks to work out, the Xbox One has potential. Watch this space.