I
can tell you now, the Xbox Series X is genuinely a fantastic piece of kit. Of course, there s a lot more to know about it but that's really the overarching feeling you'll get from this review.
Here, you'll be able to watch me unbox the Xbox Series X for the first time as well as find out my considered take on everything from its features to how it feels to play on. This review started out at launch and I've been updating it as and when I discover new things.
As well as the core Xbox Series X review, which is broken down into a series of easy to digest sections, you can find out more about the pricing and availability of the console as well as what equipment I used while testing it out.
REASONS TO BUY
+The most powerful console
+Strong backwards compatibility
+Easy expandable storage
REASONS TO AVOID
-Console design is uninspired
-Only about 800GB of 1TB drive useable
-Launch line-up of games is underwhelming
The Xbox Series X is Microsoft's next-gen flagship console, and as it comes with a host of powerful display options and features, we wanted to do it justice in terms of the TV we used. We needed the best gaming TV on the market today.
The natural choice was the T3 Awards 2020-winning LG CX, which has not only received a maximum score of 5 stars from us in our LG CX review, but is also top of our prestigious best gaming TV guide, too.
This is a panel that was perfect for making use of the Series X advanced gaming features, with its 120Hz refresh rate, HDR support, 4K resolution, and AMD Freesync compatibility which is ideal for making games look amazing.
The Xbox Series X launched at $499.99 in the US, £449.99 in the UK, €499.99 in Europe and AU$749 in Australia to buy outright up-front.
Microsoft is running its Xbox All Access program, too, which let's you pay $34.99 a month for 24 months to get the system with a 2-year sub to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Here at T3 we think this purchase program is excellent, if hamstrung right now at launch due to a lack of available consoles.
Microsoft deserves a hat tip, though, for offering it to gamers, as it makes a very expensive piece of gaming hardware much more affordable.
As evidenced by T3's Xbox Series X pre-order guide, getting hold of an Xbox Series X over the past few weeks has proved very difficult, as official stock at the Microsoft Store, as well as retail partners like Amazon, and Walmart, has run dry.
As can be seen in the below Xbox Series X unboxing video, the console comes very securely packaged. The contents of the box include the console itself, as well as the new model Wireless Xbox Controller, batteries for the controller, a power lead, HDMI cable, and product and quick start guides.
The console itself is a black rectangular prism that's more than twice as fat as the Xbox One X console that proceeded it. In terms of design, there is no doubting that the Series X is clean and minimalist, and I can see it blending into a lot of setups quite easily. In that sense, I think Microsoft has succeeded. This is a console that will not offend the eye.
Equally, though, from my personal perspective, I feel the design is really uninspired. This is basically the safest play I can think of, and can't help feeling just a little underwhelmed when looking at it. This is the most powerful games console on Earth – but it looks even more dull than a NAS drive.
Naturally, for you it could look amazing. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, after all.
As can be gleaned from the tech spec listed above, the Xbox Series X is a video game console powerhouse. Indeed, it's the most powerful console on Earth on paper, bested only by very powerful gaming PCs.
When you turn the Xbox Series X on, this is the screen you are greeted with.
(Image credit: Future)
Packing 12 teraflops of processing power, which is delivered thanks to a combination of AMD's latest Zen 2 and RDNA 2 architectures, and paired with a custom 1TB NVME SSD storage drive, the Series X absolutely smokes Xbox's last flagship, the Xbox One X.
The Power House
Microsoft has absolutely nailed it with the Xbox Series X's hardware in my opinion. This is a console that has enough power to really go the distance and power, in my mind, an entire generation of great gaming experiences.
To start tapping into the console's power, though, it first needs setting up. Now, interestingly this is almost entirely handled not on the console itself, but through the companion Xbox app, which must be downloaded on a mobile device or tablet.
Through this app you can setup an Xbox account (or log in if you already have one), link the device to the console for setup, and then be guided through a setup wizard.
As can be seen in the nearby screengrabs from the app, this setup entails everything from updating the console's firmware, through setting up an internet connection, dictating privacy and communication settings, allowing or blocking automatic game updates, establishing an energy profile, and much more besides.
Overall, I found the setup procedure of the console on the Xbox app very straightforward. It's slightly different at first to be directed away from the new piece of hardware you've bought to a secondary device, but the app works well and I had no problems in terms of linking my phone with the console.
One thing that did throw me for a second, though, was that as part of the setup procedure you're tasked with updating the controller's firmware, and the on-TV prompts direct you to press the controller's power button to initialise the sync with the console (the controller at this point has not been turned on).
For me, though, the controller would not sync wirelessly, which for a moment left me stuck. After retrieving a USB Type-C to USB cable to plug the controller directly into the Xbox Series X, though, and pressing the power button, it was detected, updated, and then synced for wireless use.
This was quite odd, though, as when reviewing the Xbox Series S for T3, and going through the same setup procedure, I could just press the power button and wirelessly sync the controller out of the box. Odd, but worth bearing in mind if you face the same issue when setting up.
XBOX SERIES X REVIEW: GAMES AND PERFORMANCE
Let's deal with performance on the Xbox Series X first. The Xbox Series X target for gameplay is 60fps at 4K resolution, while also offering a 120Hz refresh rate and theoretical maximum framerate of 120fps, and as you can see from the image below, this is delivered out of the box.
I enabled a 4K UHD resolution, HDR and 120Hz refresh rate on my LG CX55 TV straight away and, let me tell you, there's no going back (even to the Xbox One X) after you've sampled this smoothness and fidelity.
I test a lot of T3's high powered gaming PCs and laptops, as well as mobile phones, so high refresh rates, framerates, and resolutions aren't new to me by any means, but there was still no escaping the immediate sense of upgrade I had when transitioning from Xbox One X to Xbox Series X.
And, aside from visual fidelity and smoothness (more on that soon), the biggest upgrade is the speed at which everything loads – especially games.
There was no escaping the immediate sense of upgrade
I'm a huge fan of Forza Horizon 4 on Xbox One, but even on the last-gen flagship, the loading times on that title were absolutely appalling. For the uninitiated, I'm not exaggerating – gamers around the world often reported waiting up to 5 minutes for the game to load initially and that, quite frankly, was not acceptable.
It lead to a position, for me at least, where I always was second guessing if something had gone wrong and the game had hung, so guess what I did when I got the Xbox Series X? Yep, that's right – installed Forza Horizon 4, which is one of the games that has been optimised for Xbox Series X.
And – as you can see from the loading video above – on Xbox Series X, Forza Horizon 4 launched from title screen to in-game in just 30 seconds; multiple minutes to just 30 seconds – now that is an improvement.
And that improvement is thanks to the Xbox Velocity Architecture and, even more specifically, its NVMe SSD.
Unlike the outgoing Xbox consoles, which were shipped with HDD storage, the Series X comes with SSD storage as standard, and it's much quicker. As can be seen with Forza, this doesn't just relate to new games, either, with older titles benefiting from the quicker read and write times the SSD offers.
XBOX SERIES X REVIEW: FEATURES AND CONTROLLER
The Xbox Series X comes with the new design wireless Xbox Controller, which anyone who has spent any time with an Xbox One console will be very familiar with. The new controller essentially shares the same design as the previous model, but has a few more design elements from the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller 2, which grants it a slightly more premium and mature aesthetic.
In the hand, this controller is as comfortable as ever, and comes with nice details like textured triggers and bumpers (great for keeping a firm hold when the action gets intense), and an updated hybrid D-pad that has been optimised for faster and smoother inputs.
As before, too, you get share, menu, and options buttons on this new wireless controller, which quickly allow you to record your gaming sessions, and access options. Naturally, the Xbox power button on the controller remains, as too do the XYBA button config, and dual thumbstick design.
The controller's finish is the same, slightly coarse, matte black that past Xbox controllers have used, which looks clean and mature and isn't too slippery. It does tend to attract finger smudge marks though, so for those gamers who like to keep their kit looking box fresh, regular cleaning will be in order.
The last point of note – and something that I've never been a big fan of – the Series X controller is still powered by removeable AA batteries.
Now, look, I know that Microsoft's official stance on this is that the company speaks to many gamers, and they say that they want controllers with removable batteries as it supposedly gives them a longer shelf life because they're easier to replace than fixed-in cell stacks like on PlayStation consoles.
However, I personally have never had a single controller with fixed batteries die on me and need to be written off due to it costing too much to fix. I've used PlayStation 3 and 4 controllers consistently for over a decade, and every single one is still delivering the power I need to game wirelessly. And when the controllers do run low on juice, I simply plug them in.
Again, like with my opinion on the console's design, you may disagree, but I personally find it a bit annoying to make sure I constantly have to buy batteries to feed into Xbox controllers.
There's also something not particularly advanced about it in my mind, something where the seams are visible so to speak. I want my controller and console to work as one, and not be reliant on batteries like a Nintendo Game Boy was in 1989.
Another feature that I think is really well implemented is its storage expansion. This comes courtesy of a rear-mounted expansion port, which when fed with an expansion card (check out T3's Seagate Storage Expansion Card for Xbox Series X|S review for a great choice at launch) immediately injects the system with more room for games and media.
What makes it so useful is that there is no painful installation procedure requiring tools, and no extra software or updates needed for it to work. It is purely plug-and-play, and while the Xbox Series X does deliver about 800GB of room for games out of the box, hardcore gamers will definitely benefit from more storage in my opinion.
Especially as proper next-gen games start to emerge, which almost certainly will demand even more installation space than games do now.
Lastly, in terms of standout features, the Xbox Series X's ability to play games going back three console generations – even back to the original Xbox console – is definitely something that Microsoft needs to be applauded for.
This ability to play the lion's share of past-gen Xbox games is buoyed by Xbox Game Pass, and while the service isn't free ($14.99/ £10.99 per month), it does mean that, for very little money each year, you can have access to a truck-load of great games to play at any time, from any past generation going all the way back to the original Xbox.
Truth be told, this is one of the hardest console reviews I've ever done. That's because I feel the Xbox Series X raises raises the question of what we should expect from a video game console in 2020 and, what's more, I think the answer probably runs contrary to what a lot of gamers have grown up being used to.
I think it's fair to say that, historically, traditional gen-switching video game console launches have come with order of magnitude leaps in graphical fidelity, gameplay, and features. When, for example, the Nintendo 64 launched, it was sold alongside Super Mario 64, which comprehensibly raised the bar in terms of what was possible on a video game console.
That leap from the 2D side-scrolling Super Mario World on Super Famicom, to the fully 3D Super Mario 64 on N64 communicated the generational leap incredibly vividly. Equally, the jump say, from Sega Saturn to Sega Dreamcast, was marked thanks to Sonic Adventure.
And who can forget the original Xbox launch title, Halo: Combat Evolved, the game that would go on to spawn one of the most beloved and played series of all time. That game looked amazing for a console game at the time, and changed the landscape at the console's launch.
In the most reductive terms, these consoles were sold by astounding new games that delivered graphics, gameplay, and audio that was orders of magnitude greater than anything the past gen delivered. It was an easy, very direct sell.
With this generation, and specifically with the Xbox Series X, those games don't exist.
The Xbox Series X launch line-up of new, exclusive games is (by traditional standards) underwhelming; the reason to upgrade not so obvious.
And, when the console costs half a grand, that does throw doubt into the decision making process in my mind. Xbox All Access does soften this a bit, but due to the lack of consoles available at launch, not enough gamers will be able to take advantage of this.
Instead, the system is launching with a bunch of optimized past-gen games and a few new cross-platform AAA third-party titles, which are cross-gen and, in the nicest possible way, tied at their core to last-gen consoles. The experiences they deliver benefit from the extra eye candy, loading times, and framerates that the Series X is capable of, and – as I've written before – these do enhance immersion and gameplay. But what they don't do is shift the video game bar significantly.
Comments