29 November,2020 10:50 AM IST | | Jaison Lewis
So there have been talks for a while now about the new consoles coming to India relatively quicker than it has in the past. While Sony is still dillydallying with the PS5, Microsoft has gone ahead and launched the consoles here. It has been hard to get one, though. There has been a crazy shortage of the Series X in the market, with lots of preorders being cancelled and very few units making it out. The Series S is the easier one to get, but knowing hardcore early adopters, I doubt the cheaper console with significantly lower specs will sell out any time soon.
First impressions
The box that the console came in is crazy tiny. When you open it up, you see that the console is also very small even when compared to a PS4 Pro. In contrast, the PS5s are supposed to be massive. Looking at the size of this, I would only have to imagine how much smaller the Series S is. Though small the Series X is heavy and it feels like things have been packed in there to the max.
Even though this would fit in the palm of my hand, I doubt I can carry it with one hand. The controller is similar to the previous-gen controller, though things have been given a once over for better feel. I like the rough textures, they feel good on the hands. Mechanically, the controller works a lot like the previous gen. There are no adaptive haptic feedback triggers here like the PS5.
Games
I tried a few games on the console, including Forza Horizon, Watchdogs Legion and Dirt 3. All of them looked good and performed well. The console was not connected to a 120hz screen, but I can see how that would make the games look better. The quick resume function was incredible in the games that had it enabled.
I could switch between games without a loading screen. Dirt 3, unfortunately, did not have that and the loading screens though quick, did get tedious. Watchdogs also looked a little better than the PS4 version I had recently reviewed, I found it hard to adapt to the controller here because I was used to the game on the PS4. Forza looked and handled itself beautifully, however, this was the only game that crashed and I had to figure out how to quit the game because restarting the console did not work, thanks to the quick resume function.
The legacy games library is huge, though it should be noted that Microsoft has not included support for the Kinect or included any Kinect games in Games Pass. I know because I tried to get it to work. That said you need to get yourself a game pass if you are buying this console. It gives you access to all the Microsoft exclusive games and EA games without paying anything extra. Not to mention a huge library of legacy games.
Interface
The interface is possibly the worst thing about the Xbox. It is a nightmare to find things and load up, something as simple as YouTube though installed has to be searched for. Most of the tiles there are completely useless. They need to work on the interface because this is not next-gen at all. Microsoft needs to dump this, get a UI expert and start over.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, I was impressed overall with the Xbox Series X, though they still need to iron a bunch of kinks, especially with their interface and legacy games. I am disappointed that they are not supporting the Kinect anymore. The best part of the Xbox Series X is the price to performance; you get a decent gaming machine for the very reasonable price of Rs 49,990 add the Game pass to that and you have a winner.
Despite this winning formula, it is an uphill battle for Microsoft, because India has a lot of PlayStation enthusiasts. It won't be helped by the fact that there are almost no Series X units available anywhere, with preorders being cancelled and not enough units making it to our shores. Microsoft and Sony both have supply issues globally right now, which is unlikely to solve in this year, but this will possibly affect Microsoft in India more than Sony.
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