Stop waiting. If you can afford it, it’s time to get a new-gen console, and the Xbox One is a worthwhile one to get.
It’s been a year since the console’s launch, and Microsoft’s third home console finds itself in an interesting spot. On the one hand, many of its initial promises — to unite the devices beneath our televisions and reimagine how we consume home entertainment — remain unfulfilled. On the other, the Xbox One now has a broad library of terrific games that offer hours and hours of good times to just about any sort of gamer.
You do have a choice between two consoles of similar cost and horsepower — the Xbox One and the PS4. (The consoles are similar enough that in this article, I’m going to be striving to achieve parity with Stephen’s earlier, similar update about the PS4.) We’ll address that choice in a separate post later this week, but if for some reason you’ve been wondering specifically about upgrading to an Xbox One: Yeah, go for it. The Xbox One, like the Wii U and more recently the PS4, is now a console worth owning.
A year ago, I both lauded and criticised Microsoft for their towering Xbox One ambitions. Here was a device not meant to merely be a gaming console. Rather, it was intended as the one mighty box to unite and rule over all of our living room. With the press of a button or a word from our voice, the Xbox One would effortlessly flip between games, TV shows, movies, sports programming, and Skype chats.
The problem, at the time, was that too many of the console’s most-hyped functions didn’t work like they were supposed to. Each small frustration or minor incompatibility exposed another weak spot in the great beast’s armour, and any one of them could be reason enough for a user to remove the Xbox One from the center of their operation and plug it in like any other gaming device. The Xbox One didn’t actually function as the revolutionary convergence device that Microsoft so wanted it to be. It seemed more like a gaming console with delusions of grandeur, and it wasn’t clear whether it was as good at fulfilling that core function as a gaming console ought to be.
Last May, six months into the console’s life, I felt less sure about it than ever. The Xbox One had lost its footing, I felt. Microsoft was in the midst of a course-change, and everything about their console reflected that. Thanks to the Kinect sensor array’s own inconsistent performance, I now thought of the previously-bundled add-on as a gimmick. The operating system still felt like a work in progress. I’d stopped using the console’s “snap” split-screen multitasking feature, which felt unresponsive and unnecessary. And the games… the games were stronger, but back in May, there still just weren’t enough of them.
Today, one year after it launched, The Xbox One still hasn’t delivered the world-changing, unifying experience it promised to back when it was first announced. It has, however, made significant improvements as a video gaming device, and over the last couple of months in particular, my estimation of it has considerably improved. If the Xbox One of May was a console in flux, the Xbox One of November is a console that feels much more complete.
Surprise, It’s A Video Game Console
Microsoft has spent much of 2014 repositioning the Xbox One as a pure gaming device. Along with that, one of the cool things about the console this year has been watching Microsoft gradually improve it by slowly and steadily upgrading their console’s OS, and most of those improvements are designed specifically to improve the experience of using the thing to play games.
Every month or two, there’s a new Xbox One software update, first issued across a contained number of users signed up for a preview program, and eventually pushed out to all users. This approach has served Microsoft well, allowing them to thoroughly test the stability of each update and make sure that users aren’t inconvenienced.
Several software features that were missing at launch, like the ability to output 5.1 audio to a gaming headset, better storage management, and the freedom to mute the volume on a snapped app, have been added. The recent October update, in particular, brought with it a number of welcome improvements.
The October update made it much easier to flip between multitasking apps, accessing the built-in DVR functionality or Achievement-monitoring tools without needing to yell at your Kinect. It also (finally!) added full DLNA streaming support, making it possible to use your Xbox One as a fully-fledged streaming media station. Granted, DLNA support isn’t exactly a new feature, but its inclusion in the October update was good news.
Several of us at Kotaku have also recently fallen in love with a feature that isn’t brand-new to the Xbox One: The ability to put the console to sleep with a game running, boot it back up, and find that your game is still paused right where you left it, without needing to load. It’s a small but lovely feature.
The upshot of all of this: The Xbox One now has inner workings that feel almost as sturdy as its (still too-bulky) physical frame suggests. And, true to their game-centric E3 press conference this year, Microsoft has begun releasing a bunch of great games for their system. On top of all those improvements, this fall, Microsoft temporarily cut the console’s price a second time, all the way down to $US349. That price may only last through the holidays, but even the standard Kinect-less price of $US399 is a big improvement over the console’s $US499 launch price (which was $US100 more than the PS4’s).
The Games Make The Difference
It isn’t too difficult to pinpoint where my feelings on the Xbox One flipped from frustration to fondness. It happened pretty recently, really: I was switching back and forth between the excellent racing game Forza Horizon 2 and the equally-excellent music game Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved. Here I was, playing games on my Xbox One, and having a great time. I looked through my game library and realised that there were even more games that I wanted to play, and took a moment to reflect on how content I was to use the console for the rest of the night.
This year has been kind to the Xbox One’s game library, particularly in its back half. The console has gotten unexpectedly terrific cross-platform games like Wolfenstein: The New Order and Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, the latter of which feels like a new-gen showcase that goes beyond pretty graphics. We’ve gotten a pair of great loot-happy action RPGs, in the form of the superb console port of Diablo III and Bungie’s new unhealthy-relationship-simulator Destiny. That second one, Destiny, is a maddening, flawed, still-somehow-fun game that has attracted and maintained interest from more simultaneous Kotaku staff members, over a longer period of time, than any other game I can think of. In between larger games there has also been a smattering of smaller, more personal games, like the JRPG-influenced Child of Light or the time-warping, mind-warping Super Time Force.
More recently, the Xbox One has gotten a superb, redone version of Grand Theft Auto V that, thanks to its slick new first-person mode, transforms how GTA looks and plays. It’s gotten the terrific, surprisingly experimental horror game Alien: Isolation, which cheekily used the Kinect to let you peek your head around corners, the better to see the alien that was about to kill you. There’s Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, which not only has one of the most whiz-bang Call of Duty campaigns in recent memory, it also has digital Kevin Spacey. And just this week, the console got an exciting open-world action game in Far Cry 4 as well as the wonderful fantasy RPGDragon Age: Inquisition, the latter of which eagerly steps up to become the console’s first genuine role-playing epic. All of those games are easy contenders for our list of the best games on the system, which is now due for a healthy, exciting update.
Pause. Something that cannot be left unsaid: I, and most of my colleagues at Kotaku, play the majority of those games on PlayStation 4 or PC, not on Xbox One. That complicates this article somewhat. However, I hesitate to think of the Kotaku staff as some sort of representative sampling of the tastes and tendencies of all gamers — after all, we get sent copies of a lot of these games for free, and our play habits are often dictated by whichever copy arrived first. Furthermore, while the fact does remain that the PS4 generally holds a small but notable power advantage over the Xbox One, these games still look great and run well on Xbox, and are as easy to recommend for Microsoft’s box as they are for Sony’s.
This year, PC gamers have gotten delayed ports of several former Xbox One exclusives, including Ryse: Son of Rome and Dead Rising 3. But while it’s certainly true that PC gamers will always have the broadest library and the best-looking games, the Xbox One’s comparatively low price cannot be overlooked. All of which is to say that the Xbox One has become a potent, complete-feeling gaming device, independent of its various competitors.
This fall has also given us a number of good Xbox-only games, each of which have greatly helped the console’s library feel distinct. The aforementioned Forza: Horizon 2 (likely the most fun I’ve ever had with a racing game) and the Kinect-centric Disney Fantasia (likely the most fun I’ve ever had with a Kinect game) are both also available for the last-gen Xbox 360, but find their definitive versions on Xbox One. The open-world grind/shoot shenanigan-simulator Sunset Overdrive is a lot of fun, and while it initially turned us off a bit with its trying-too-hard tone, the game has won us over with its joyful gameplay. And finally, there’s Halo: The Master Chief Collection, which is close (so close!) to being one of the most impressive works of video-game archiving we’ve ever seen….but it’s not quite there yet. While the included campaigns of Halos 1-4 are still exhilarating to rip through on your own, the game’s multiplayer remains a mess, full of connectivity issues and missing features. Microsoft is promising a big patch to address the game’s problems, and given how crucial a functional Master Chief Collection is to their fall lineup, I’d be surprised if they failed to deliver. All the same, they haven’t delivered yet. The Master Chief Collection could well become the Xbox One’s current crown-jewel exclusive…if and when they patch it.
Speaking of the future, the outlook for 2015 and beyond seems bright. There’s Halo 5, of course, which should get the many fans of that series excited, though we know very little about it at this point. There are other exclusives, including Fable Legends, Remedy’s interesting/risky experiment Quantum Break, a new Crackdown, as well as Rise of the Tomb Raider, which Microsoft managed to snag as an at-least-temporary exclusive and keep out of the hands of PlayStation owners (lame, but advantage: Microsoft). There are also smaller but no-less-interesting games like Ori and the Blind Forest and Below, as well as whatever games will be announced next year for a fall release. (We can at least hope that some of those games won’t be delayed to 2016, though given how this year went, that hope might be in vain.)
There’s Still Plenty Of Room For Improvement
While its strong game collection has made the Xbox One recommendable, plenty of other weak points remain. At this point, the Kinect camera has been relegated to the same status as its Xbox 360 predecessor — it is a curiosity, a tech-bauble that you can show to your friends but which doesn’t have all that much utility beyond switching apps and pausing videos without setting down your pizza. The console still doesn’t ask if you’re sure you want to switch to a new game, meaning that the Kinect can still mishear you, immediately open a new game, and unceremoniously quit the one you were playing. The gameplay-recording software still needs an overhaul, and the console still desperately needs a screenshot function. And while the revised snap interface is easier to use, it still feels a bit like a feature in search of a compelling reason to exist.
The hardware itself remains as much a of a mix as it has always been. The controller is generally an improvement from the Xbox 360 controller, but its thumbsticks still feel too tall and wobbly, at least to me. (Some people love it.) The sold-separately media remote still manages to significantly improve the console as a whole, and is the main reason that I still use my Xbox One as my primary streaming-media device. The Kinect camera is a big dumb eyesore atop your television, and there’s no unobtrusive way to set one up so that it works. And while I still enjoy the chunky retro design of the console itself, it remains much too large. It seems almost certain that at some point in the near future Microsoft will introduce a smaller, sleeker Xbox One, and that announcement can’t come soon enough.
For a year, we’ve been telling you “not yet” on both of the new consoles. It wasn’t quite time to upgrade. We always anticipated that that both verdicts would eventually become a “yes” — almost all game consoles become worth owning eventually.
I wasn’t expecting the Xbox One to come as far as it has in so short a time. If you’d asked me even as recently as August what I made of Microsoft’s console, I would have told you to hold off. It’s a testament to Microsoft’s confident, consistent execution over these past three months that my estimation of their device has risen as much as it has.
Is the Xbox One a worthwhile game console for those who have yet to make the move to the new generation of hardware? If you have been considering buying one, is it finally time to make the leap?
My enthusiasm for the Xbox One is higher than it was one year ago, or indeed even three or four months ago. That’s not saying much in and of itself, since my enthusiasm for the box hasn’t been all that great for the majority of the last year. All the same, I’m happy to find myself using my Xbox One so often, primarily to do the thing that I’ve always wanted to do with it: Play games. The Xbox One has come a long way in a year, and is now worth your time and money.
Get an Xbox One… unless you’re deciding between it and a PS4, or are considering getting a gaming PC. If you’re deciding between an Xbox One and a PS4, you should check out our comparison post about the two, since the choice between them is somewhat complicated. We’ll be running that comparison later today.
Comments
38 responses to “Xbox One Review Update: One Year Later”
I have all three latest gen consoles. I find myself on the Xbox One most of the time. Yeah I know some multiplats look better on the PS4 but for some reason the controller and social side to MS’s big black box keep me coming back.
Not to underwhelm the PS4, it is a fantastic machine and I will play those exclusives until the cows come home. But combine the easy way to buy international digital games a little easier than how it is done on the PS4 and the simple fact thats where my friends play, the X1 is an awesome device.
Plus there have just been more exclusive games I have wanted to play on the X1. Come next year though, the PS4 will see some exclusive game time for sure.
In the end, with all the current deals (especially on the X1), you can’t go past it.
Yep this, apart from owning a WiiU.
I have a PS4, and a PC. PC takes up 99% of my gaming time at the moment, which is pretty usual. Waiting for a decent PS4 only game at this stage.
I wish I had the money to do what you have done. there are so many games coming out on the Wii U that I want to play, and there are some games on the PS4 i want to play but I just can’t afford them
It’s all about the Super Smash Brothers!
damn right
I wish I could afford to do that, but right now I think I’ll just get the Xbox. Mostly because I like Halo.
My lack of willpower in the face of retail therapy ran out when there was a bundle on the MS store for 24 hours a few days ago with $332 of crap chucked in, most of which will get used.
I’m still butthurt about their reveal.
and besides, those games you listed can be found on 360 😛
I’ve just purchased an XBONE because frankly, i didnt want updates that brick my console (i’m looking at you SONY)
You didn’t need to pluralise the word “update”.
I’ll put this to the Kotaku community – I am thinking, this very day, of picking up a PS4 or XBone bundle and I’m completely torn between the two.
I REALLY want the Halo MCC but have been turned off slightly by the multiplayer matchmaking issues (my main reason for wanting it). I know it will be patched and fixed eventually however I’m concerned the community numbers won’t be as sizable due to this issue.
I REALLY want GTAV as I didn’t play it the first time, and it seems like the definitive version on next gen consoles.
Mostly, I miss playing online games on consoles. I’ve stuck to my laptop for the better half of a year and thoroughly enjoyed it, but it doesn’t have the grunt I’d like for the AAA games coming out.
Well both of those are on the Xbone. GTAV might have a slight visual edge (#GrassGate) on the PS4 but it’s one of the closer to parity titles available. So based on that, I’d totally get an X1. Plus the MCC at least has 4 epic 60fps campaigns to play while matchmaking is fixed. Btw, I can’t wait for it to be fixed either!
I’m actually more interested in it for the campaign, I’d happily pay the full price for just Halo 2 anniversary.
I’m currently on the fence, probably going to eventually get a PS4 as I think it’s going to end up with better exclusives. That said, if someone put a gun to my head and made me pick one for right now, XB1 is definitely a better option. The graphical differences are basically negligible and XB1 has had a decent year for exclusives (even though they seem a bit rushed). PS4 has had an awful year for games. Worse than WiiUs first year.
IT’s hard to understand why the PS4 has the mindshare yet really has not many exclusives. Oh wait, that’s right…MS couldn’t announce a new console to save itself. Man, how things have changed from the reveal.
It wasn’t the announcement that was bad, it was the console. Fortunately MS have realised the error of their ways and they’ve turned most of it around.
Incidentally, the PS4 had a bundle at JB at the moment which is GTA5, Far Cry 4, and COD: Ghosts.
Personally I’ll be getting a PS4. But I’m not all that interested in the Master Chief collection, or much else on XB1, to be honest. Looking long-term, I need to balance out what I’d get from both, and whether or not I’ve got the time to invest in gaming to the extent where I’d need all 3 platforms. But I can’t argue that Microsoft don’t have a couple of AAA franchise that would justify owning the console – if you’re already fan of them, that is.
If wanting the MCC and GTA5 are the only deciding factors then get an XB1. If there’s more to it than that (and there must be) then do a little research on what’s in development for the next two or three years and make the decision based on what you want to be able to play.
From what you’ve told us, XB1 would seem like the smart move…
Do you play with friends online? If so, buy what they have
While in a lot of ways it’s superior to previous consoles when it comes to multiplayer games prepare yourself for a little culture shock. It’s awesome being able to just have a digital copy of MCC installed ready to go the instant someone sends you an invite, but it comes at the expense of some of the little things that made the 360 smooth. You’re going to spend the first night getting used to it’s quirks. You’re probably going to say ‘damnit, my 360 does a better job of this’ more than once.
It works well enough now but the core of the system was designed with everything, from party chat to YouTube, being intended as apps so some things don’t flow the way you’d expect them too. They also built the thing with a social media mindset of broadcasting to a group of followers rather than matching making with a group of friends. The shift in priorities resulted in some weirdness. You sort of have to navigate around recommendations and what your friends have been doing for the last few months in order to get to simple functions.
That said, I’ve got all three and the XBOX One gets the most love. You won’t go wrong with a PS4 and there are plenty of reasons as to why it’s a superior machine, if I had my chance I’d definitely buy an XBOX One with the PS4’s lightning quick installations and interchangable hard drives*, but even with it’s flaws I’d choose my XBOX One over my PS4.
*The XBOX One can do some funky stuff with an external USB hard drive running over USB 3.0, but I’d still rather swap the original hard drive for a large solid state drive.
Thanks for the advice DogMan (and all really, cheers). I’ve discovered Harvey Norman are having a a sale this weekend with the following bundles which are quite tasty:
XBone (with Kinect) – Assassins Creed Unity and Black Flag (code only), Just Dance 2014 and COD Advanced Warfare – $499
PS4 with GTAV – $448
If anyone is tossing up between the two, well, I don’t think the prices get much better than that. I’m actually leaning towards the XBone and selling the Assassins Creed games on Gumtree then trading in Just Dance toward Halo MCC. That’s a pretty sweet money saver. I will let my impulsiveness decide for me when I’m at the store tonight (I called them up and they said they’d be happy to offer me either deal tonight in advance of the sale).
The AU Microsoft store has some very good deals going ATM as well. I suggest you check them out before going to HN.
By what you’ve said I’d say the XB1 is the right choice for you.
I’d say get an XB1 since you want Halo.
I haven’t purchased Halo MCC yet, I can’t bring myself to pay $100ish, (I think all the $70 deals are gone) for games I already own. I’m hoping to get it for $50 later. Also Halo 5 is coming too.
But if you see a good deal on either machine I’d buy that. I personally prefer XB1 over the PS4, but it’s basically trying to choose between two really great machines.
Due to the current nature of the Games industry there will be a lot of BS on both sides of the Cross Platform games where one gets exclusive content the other doesn’t. Be it Destiny where the PS4 gets more maps until Spring 2015 or The Witcher 3 where the ultimate XB1 version comes with playing cards that have no effect on the game and protects you from Tigers like that rock Lisa had in the Simpsons.
I love my Xbox One. It gets used all the time. Dat controller tho! So comfortable!
My PS4 doesn’t get much action these days, and probably won’t until the new Uncharted is released. And crossing fingers for a new God of War!
It’s off to the game merchant’s place with my fistful of cash…
I had an XBone, got suckered in by Halo nostalgia.
I took it and the game back after a frustrating week of not being able to play, having to download massive updates etc.
I expect that crap on my PC, but not on a console (and I really should not put up with it on the PC either).
Until the MS gets its shit together with releasing games that actually work, I am giving it a miss.
‘Cos Sony don’t do that… Driveclub…
This gen to me is more about the devs – I care more about the games than the system I’m playing them on.
But DriveClub was never expected to be a killer app that sells game systems.
Yes… it was.
Drive club was one of the centrepieces of their either their announcement, or first year Gamescom (I don’t remember which, maybe it was at both). Don’t you remember the conference where the super serious, depressed looking dude came out to talk about inFamous, and the Killzone Shadowfall announcement? They showed videos where they fetishised seat stitching, remember?
It was an interesting announcement because people were asking why it wasn’t going to be a GT game at launch.
Nah. I’m seriously time-poor during this gen and simply don’t have the time to spend getting stuck into everything.
PS4 and Wii U have the games I’ll make time for. I’ve got nothing against the XB1, I just think I can go without it.
Hmm. I look forward to a “Is it time to ditch my console and buy a gaming PC?” article, in which I will supply my opinions there 🙂
I’m just happy even after all the hours I’ve played on it my X1 is ticking along without any issues No matter how hard I tried I still had memories of sending my launch 360 back 3 times to get repaired in the first year. Kudos Msoft.
I have all 3 and the XB1 gets the most love. Got GTA on the PS4 as hadn’t touched it for ages.
I’m gonna wait for the State of Decay sequel and Phantom Dust.
im so looking forward to state of decay 😀
Underspecced.