I had a bunch of birthday cash so I figured I would take the dive on one of the new consoles. I had been 50/50 on whether I wanted a PS4 or Xbox One for a while now, but the new EA Access thing coming out where you get a bunch of games for $30 bucks a year, and the exclusive lineup for Xbox compared to Playstation in the next 6 months or so sold me. I wanted so baddly for Sony to convince me at E3 that their console was the right one to get this time around and when they pretty much said that LBP3 is the only big exclusive coming out this year, I was disapointed. Microsoft sold me on a few games, but the EA Access thing only being on Xbox One really put it over the top. I like sports games like FIFA and Madden, I just don't like paying $60 at launch for them and have no problem playing the versions that are a little older. Same deal with Battlefield. I like it, but it's more of a $20 buy to me ussually. $30 for the year for all of those and Peggle 2 just looked like a great value. It ran me $300 for a Day 1 edition barely used minus the Kinect with AC4 and COD Ghosts so it didn't break the bank by any means either.
Heres my 1st impressions
- The menus have a little bit of a learning curve. When I got the Wii U, I understood how to use it and most of the features within a few minutes and it was very user friendly. The X1 took me a little while to get the hang of though. Just random stuff like how to exit games and get rid of stuff snapped in to the screen. Everything is very crisp and clean on the menus though and looks very professional, which I like.
- New controllers are a solid upgrade. Nothing groundbreaking but they are nice. Love the new triggers. The new shoulder buttons have to be pressed from towards the outside of the controller so IMO they are just ok. I don't mind for shooters but when playing Killer Instinct having a very responsive button on top is important. I may just have to get used to it though.
- COD Ghosts X1 is a marginal upgrade over the Wii U version. I have played both now and while the X1 version looks better, it's not by much. If it didn't come with my console I wouldn't have bothered. Pretty weak 1st "next-gen" COD game and I think the pre-order numbers on the new one are showing that most people agree.
- Killer Instinct is extremely fun. This is one of the reasons I choose X1 and I am glad I did. The graphics are not mind-blowing or anything but who cares. It's a blast to play and that's all that really matters.
Overall I think it's a solid console with alot of potential but needs a few killer apps to show off what it can do. I said the same of Wii U before and now that MK8 and SM3DW are out, plus Smash coming soon the consoles future looks bright. The bottom line is Xbox needs Halo. That's what truely separates Xbox from Nintendo and Playstation and until it's out, it's a fun 3rd party toy with a B-level exclusives thrown in. As of now though it's a fun thing to mess around with.
- I still may get a PS4 down the road but not for 2 - 3 years but it's going to take more then LBP3 to get me to spend the money.
