Xbox Series X review: Microsoft takes a firm step without leaving its comfort zone

• Unboxing.Xbox Series X: a first look at Microsoft's new console

• Services.EA Play is coming to Game Pass Ultimate on November 10

• Companies.Microsoft buys Bethesda for $ 7.5 billion

Xbox Series X

has a more appropriate form factor, more efficient ventilation, and much greater power than its predecessor, Xbox One X;

but it is not a dry cut with its past, but an evolution of a concept that Microsoft has well defined in its head: the console is the least of it.

In this sense, the

is what in the PC world is called a 'component update', so much so that the interface is almost identical to that of its predecessor and the controller has hardly undergone slight changes in this new incarnation.

It is as if we had changed graphics and processor in a PC, but Windows was still there when I turned it on.

I have to say that this is a bit disappointing to me, but I understand that other players find

.

I prefer that a new console introduce major changes, others may prefer that the changes are reduced to be more powerful and have a better design to last longer.

The Xbox is not small, but it is not as big as its competition

I don't want to say that

seems like a bad console to me, as it is quite the opposite: it is the most attractive game console in design and the one that can best fit most players, since almost all the games in the Xbox One and Xbox catalog 360 will be able to continue playing as if nothing and you do not need to buy games separately: a subscription to

to have hundreds of them.

Like who pays Netflix, go.

Microsoft's subscription service

continues to earn points with every interesting game you put in, be it Destiny 2 and its new expansion, Rainbow Six Siege and half of its character catalog or Doom Eternal,

.

This is the biggest draw of

: You have a ton of games in there, paying a Netflix-style subscription, and now on top of it they work much better than before.

But much better.

Games that run at 120hz on Xbox Series X

Drop down

• Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War

• Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition

• Dirt 5

• ExoMecha

• Gears 5

• Halo Infinite (multiplayer)

• Halo: The Master Chief Collection

• Metal: Hellsinger

• Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom

• Ori and the Will of the Wisps

• Orphan of the Machine

• Rainbow six siege

• Second Extinction

• The Falconeer

Being so powerful,

providing higher resolution, greater stability, better textures or more fluidity (frames per second or FPS in English), so Gears of War 5 now works at 120fps with textures taken from its PC version, for example.

You are going to leave your fingers marked on the console every time you take it

4K, 120hz, HDMI 2.1, VRR ... what is this?

If you play in the living room, you are going to need a TV capable of getting all its juice, I already warn you, because the new consoles are capable of

which only high-end

can do right now.

In two or three years, they will all do it, relax, so you don't have to update right now.

Just stick with one thing:

, because it is the new standard on which both Xbox Series X and PS5 work best.

Like Xbox One X, the

, so you may not even need a new TV, but just a good computer monitor to take advantage of its power.

But at the moment, I do not know that there are monitors on the market that can get the same performance as a high-end TV.

For starters, because technologies such as automatic low latency mode (ALLM) enhancements or variable refresh rate (VRR) technologies are tied to televisions for the most part.

If at some point

(in 2021, several are launched), they may also include them and be a good option to play in your room.

Improvement patches, not always necessary

A point in favor of

is that these improved versions do not cost more money in most cases and that they take place without an improvement patch released by the studio, although there are games, such as Destiny 2 or Cyberpunk 2077 or Doom Eternal, they need that patch to work better.

But even these benefit from the

.

The ass of the Xbox, with its connection ports.

The cables won't show as much as previous consoles

The new hard drive is undoubtedly one of the most important components and the first that

.

Well, perhaps the first is the new network card that allows you to download the necessary updates with higher Internet speed as soon as you turn on the console;

but the SSD is more impressive overall.

Menus that are going to jerk?

It's over.

.

There is no going back once you play an Xbox Series X, all the other consoles of the past generation seem like they go on pedals.

It is thanks to this SSD that the games load at full speed and the updates are copied and installed much faster, it is as important an advance or more than the new more powerful processor.

Lying down, the Xbox Series X doesn't have as much 'sex appeal'

Much faster and quieter

Game volatility is a surprising factor in

, and by volatility I mean you fly from one to the other like you blink.

: if the game is compatible with it, you can even turn off the console, even unplug it, that when you run that game again, you will resume it at the same point where you left it, without saving game or milk.

I give you a practical example: you are playing a game that takes you many hours, like

, but suddenly you decide that you want to play another game of Doom Eternal, a game that you wear all the nights to relax.

Well, since you played last night, the game will continue at the same point where you left off.

And if you get tired and decide to return to The Witcher 3, Geralt will still be there where you left off.

Nothing to go back through the menus and load saved game, seriously, and so on with up to four games that you play regularly.

As we said, the interface has hardly changed

And to this add that it is a console that cannot be heard.

At last.

After the noise of the Xbox One and the PS4, which sometimes seemed like turbines in the living room, especially the latter;

it seems that in the new generation the norm

.

Yes I have noticed that the Xbox Series X gets a bit hot and gives off its good heat from the upper heatsink, but at no time has it come to worry me or it seems that it will be something to consider in the future.

Although we will see how much this shows in summer ...

The fact is that the best graphics are very good, but that a game session minimizes the waiting time between menus, updates and games is what the new generation really is for me along with the console not being heard more than the game I'm playing.

Let's talk about the new command

If you had an Xbox One controller, congratulations: you already have an extra controller for Xbox Series X. The compatibility between both consoles is total as far as the controller is concerned.

That is a good thing, what is not so good is that both are so, so, so alike.

They are excellent, comfortable and the new model is rougher in triggers and grips, includes a dedicated button to record and share videos and images and has an improved crosshead that, although it makes a lot of noise, works like a charm.

But I would have preferred something more innovation or some more relevant aesthetic change.

I understand that it is difficult to improve what is already excellent, but if PlayStation has been able to make a totally new controller, why hasn't Xbox done it?

Again, I insist that this is my personal perception and that the command is fantastic in itself, but a little more change would have been better received.

And, man, they could have put a battery in it instead of running on batteries.

The new games are conspicuous by their absence

You may have noticed an important omission in the text at this point:

.

And this is because Xbox does not have any great launch exclusive and because there is no game developed by third parties that is only next generation.

On the one hand, this is due to

: all in theory will work, with lower quality and different performance, both on Xbox Series S and Xbox One.

was the example of this way of launching new exclusive titles, but it was delayed by the disastrous reception that there was of its first gameplay.

And on the other, because neither EA nor Activision nor any other great video game developer is going to make games right now that do not work as much in the current as in the next generation.

Do you have small children?

Well, be careful not to leave them alone with the console, because the ventilation holes are very large

There is a whole year ahead of 'mixed' games that will

, so the launch of these new consoles, as far as totally new games are concerned, is something sour.

PS5 does have titles that seem like they will only work on PS5, like Demon's Souls, but it is still a single great launch title for a console, when in the past it was just the opposite.

It is something both good and bad, because those who make the leap will have games to play and will be able to do better while those who do not will be able to continue playing the main novelties of the year;

but with a new console in hand, server at least, there is something missing titles that make me hallucinate by how they look, how they are played and how they get the most out of the console.

My complaint, in short, is that

(Gears 5, Gears Tactics, Forza Horizon 4 ...), although I appreciate that those games that I had in the pipeline now are go see much better.

No, I have not been able to test the external SSD

If you wonder why I am not talking about the official hard drive that Seagate and Xbox market for the Xbox Series X, the answer is simple: I do not have it.

At the time of this analysis, neither is it marketed nor Xbox Spain has been able to give me one to see how it works.

I have tested my 4TB Western Digital external SSD and I can say that it recognizes and runs Xbox One games without problem, as if it were part of its own hardware.

Thanks to the so-called 'Smart Delivery', if you had the Xbox One games installed on an external hard drive, or transferred them to it, you can instantly play them on Xbox Series X as long as they work with this technology

In the future, when I have access to the Xbox Series X SSD, I will write about how it works.

A new Xbox that looks very familiar

I guess this is a thing of the past and that deep down it's not such a bad thing.

, something positive for Microsoft fans and for more casual gamers who, without buying games and pulling GamePass, have plenty to be entertained .

For those who prefer Sony exclusive titles, the PS5 is there to suit your needs.

Those who prefer the Xbox ones, because here is Series X. And for third-party games, which are released on both consoles, I highly doubt that the graphical differences are going to be important and I would at least guide myself where my friends are, yes in one or the other.

If you're curious, know that the sound when pressing the power button is the same as in its predecessor

It is not so difficult to choose and it is not necessary to throw the deals to the head, as some madmen do on social networks.

and the important thing is that in both there are great games already available and to come.

Xbox Series X costs 500 euros

to launch, while its little sister for digital games and with less power, the

.

If you have no interest in 4K or 120fps graphics, maybe this one is better for you.

Whichever you choose, paying for

because suddenly you have the most interesting titles published by Microsoft and by almost all the major companies in a single menu.

It is a monthly payment that must be applied to the cost of the new console, but it compensates a lot.

What's in the Xbox Series x box?

• Xbox Series X console with 1TB of storage (about 820GB available)

• 1 High Definition HDMI cable (valid for HDMI 2.1)

• 1 power cord

• 1 Xbox Series X controller

• 2 AA batteries for the controller

• Instruction and warranty documents

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

• Xbox

• Microsoft

• Xbox series x

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