tranCendenZ
Newbie
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2004
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Well, here is my comprehensive review.
First off, the hardware used to test the system:
XBOX 360 Premium Package w/ hard drive
XBOX 360 Wireless controller x 2
XBOX 360 Play n Charge kit x 2
XBOX 360 Wireless Network Adapter
D-Link DI-784 802.11a/b/g router
Sony 57WS520 57" CRT HD-ready HDTV @ 1080i
Parasound AVC-2500u
Parasound HCA-2205
PSB Stratus Goldi/C6i/Mini
Velodyne SPL-1200R
Next, some of the basics.
HEAT
The XBOX 360 gets significantly hotter than the XBOX or PS2. Most of the heat seems to emit from the rear of the device. Placing this device in an open rack would be a smart idea.
NOISE
The XBOX 360 is a relatively loud console. That being said, it is not a high pitched buzz or white, rather a "whooshing" sound that does not distract significantly from gameplay.
DURABILITY
The XBOX 360 feels like it is made very well.
GLITCHES/CRASHES
I played each of my five games for approximately 1 hour, except for Perfect Dark Zero which I played around 3 hours total. The console did not crash, although one time when I ejected PDZ during a loadscreen it seemed to confuse the console, and the dash did not load properly (instead just presenting a black screen after disc eject). Resetting the console remedied this, and I was not able to duplicate it again. The XBOX 360 appears to drop digital signal between the splash screen and the load screen, and sometimes my preamp does not lock on to it fast enough, resulting in brief white noise. This is not uncommon for digital devices. I left the xbox on for over 4 hours and it did not crash or overheat.
DEFECTS
The hardware I have includes: 2 wireless controllers, 2 play & charge kits, 1 media remote, 1 live headset, and 1 xbox360 console w/ hard drive. All hardware appears to be defect free, except for one wireless controller which I purchased seperately which would not "wake up" when it was not connected via the play and charge kit. A replacement of the controller worked fine.
MEDIA
One of the touted features of XBOX 360 is being able to stream music and photos off your XP machine, and video as well if you have Media Center Edition. I tested this out using an 802.11a wireless connection and it worked flawlessly. The XBOX 360 very much becomes a set-top ipod with the media remote used for navigation of the sorted music playlist (or you can use a controller). Setting up XP for streaming music is easy; simply download and run media connect, have the XBOX 360 look for the PC, give the X360 permissions in media connect, then select the folders you want to share on your PC. The XBOX will then display the contents of these folders sorted by artist, song, album, etc. At any time, even during a game, you can hit the guide button and pick files to be streamed off your PC for music; note that you must use the ingame menus of the game you are playing to mute the game's music, however. If you want to copy MP3s to your X360's hard drive, you will need to do so via CDs; you cannot copy MP3s off your PC, for instance - however, setting up media connect is much easier anyway, as it will not eat up your X360's HD space and also takes less time to setup. DVD quality seems very good, and the player is very fast at dynamic branching - nearly as fast as a buffered PC DVDROM. Also, unlike XBOX1 you can actually quit a game to the full dashboard while leaving the game in the console, then selecting "play disc" onscreen to go back to the game.
CONTROLLERS
--
The controllers for the XBOX 360 are the best 3D controllers I have ever used bar none. They are the 3D equivalent of the 2D SNES controller - near perfect for its job. My only complaint is that the dpad is not fighting-pad calibur, but that is a bit much to ask considering the quality in all other departments. The front of the XBOX console only has 2 USB ports for controllers/devices, so it is clear Microsoft is looking towards wireless for this machine. There is also a USB port in the rear above the ethernet port, but I used this one up for the XBOX 360 wireless adapter. The play and charge kits do the job, but are a bit clunky and sometimes can be difficult to remove - it would have been nice if they had some release mechanism other than yanking them out. Wirelessly the controllers work just as well as wired.
INTERACTIVITY
--
The "blade" system that makes up the xbox guide is excellent and gives you all you need at your fingertips both inside and outside of a game. It allows you to seemlessly transition your XBOX between media station and game console, or even doing both at the same time. Also, it is clear this console is centered around XBOX Live. Though you don't need XBOX Live, you will be missing out on huge parts of the game and the experience without an XBOX Live account.
ANTI-ALIASING
--
It appears most games had 2xAA applied. Still, on my 57" HDTV, games will definitely benefit once devs begin to utilize tiling and hence get near-free 4xAA.
BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY
--
BC is not perfect but damn close to the original XBOX titles being emulated. Some games even have improved graphics. Looking forward to when this is completed for all titles.
Live Marketplace
--
With X360 on Live, you can download actual game demos, trailers, custom avatars, wallpaper, and more on XBOX Live marketplace. I have not tried any transactions yet, but there is already quite a selection available which is cool.
Customize it!
--
XBOX 360 looks to be very customizable from your avatar to the theme/wallpaper of the console all the way up to the faceplate itself! In other words, you can make it look how you want to look. You can even use your own wallpaper instead of being forced into pre-made themes.
GAMES
--
Here is the part you've been waiting for. Listing in order from most- to least-gripping, the games that really grabbed a hold of me. Note that all five of these games are excellent, I am just ranking them based on how cool I felt they were.
#1 - Perfect Dark Zero is the killer app for the XBOX 360 IMO. Like Halo1 for XBOX, PDZ received much negative hype prior to its release. Also like Halo1, however, PDZ seems to have come out tops, earning a 9.0 at Gamespot and providing tons of excellent gameplay for the user. The art style of this game is interesting; it has sort of a comic book look, but with a more computerized edge - graphically almost like a modern day Out of This World. Several shader innovations are brought to the table with PDZ including full displacement mapping and motion blur. Displacement mapping really makes the game pop out at you, and can really suck you in and play tricks on your eyes - as does the motion blur. It's almost like you are seeing realistic motion of your surroundings and realistic depth all in a techno-comic-book world. Art and shader effects aside, the game looks good most of the time, though cutscenes sometimes have framerate drops for some reason unlike actual gameplay. I have not had the chance to play extensively on Live, but the single player gameplay is excellent. It's objective based like TimeSplitters, except PDZ actually is fun and feels like it has a point unlike the aforementioned game. Any fan of the original PDZ must pick this up - Rare successfully evolved the Perfect Dark franchise to the next generation.
#2 - Condemned: Criminal Origins is an fantastic title published by SEGA and developed by the team that made F.E.A.R. The atmosphere is incredible in this game and the approach of the game is interesting - its almost like playing someone from the show CSI, except you get to kill more people. You investigate crime scenes, collect evidence, and confront serial killers in the dark. Immersion, immersion, immersion is what makes this game so great... and so creepy! An excellent twist on the FPS genre.
#3 - Kameo: Elements of Power is Microsoft's first excellent action adventure/platformer that will sell well. Rare again saved the day providing XBOX 360 with this great title which probably has the biggest "fun factor" of all the launch titles. Meaning if you just want to hop into a next-gen game and mess around with fun stuff, this is the game to go for. Kameo revolves around the player completing stages by utilizing different creature forms. Puzzles and difficult enemies often require you to use more than one form to defeat them, so using strategy to determine what your best course of action is is a must here. Some standout technologies in this game include liberal usage of depth of field shaders, HDR, and Geometry Instancing to enhance gameplay. A great title all around for all ages! If you liked Mario when you were younger, now would be a great time to upgrade to Kameo.
#4 - Project Gotham Racing 3 brings back the addicting gameplay of the PGR series with the most amazing graphics seen on a console to date. For graphics lovers, this game puts out the overall best graphics out of any game on the system. And as a result, driving with a cockpit camera is much more immersive, making you really feel like you are in that cockpit driving as the inside of the car is intricately replicated, as is the windshield and debris that may land on it! PGR3 also uses a blur effect when you are going very fast, making it feel even more realistic than it already is.
#5 - Call of Duty 2 is one of the few PC games that runs better on XBOX 360 than even a moderately high end PC. While a year-old PC struggles to run this game at medium detail at 30fps, XBOX 360 churns out high detail graphics at 60fps - something today's $1500 PCs can't even accomplish. Infinity Ward definitely made good use of the X360's hardware with this one. The game is excellent too. So why is it last in my book? Because its a WWII shooter, and to be honest that's a bit "been there, done that" in my book even if it is the best WWII shooter to date. Still, I will definitely play it through for outstanding gameplay it offers. It just wasn't as exciting as the other titles because I knew exactly what to expect.
CONCLUSION
Microsoft not only delivered a killer game console here, but also a cohesive media package as well. It all is very cohesive and solid. My girlfriend was over and I was using the media remote to select playlists for my home theater that were streaming off my PC. It's a lot more than a game machine and in XBOX 360's case those extra features actually can be used in-game.
First off, the hardware used to test the system:
XBOX 360 Premium Package w/ hard drive
XBOX 360 Wireless controller x 2
XBOX 360 Play n Charge kit x 2
XBOX 360 Wireless Network Adapter
D-Link DI-784 802.11a/b/g router
Sony 57WS520 57" CRT HD-ready HDTV @ 1080i
Parasound AVC-2500u
Parasound HCA-2205
PSB Stratus Goldi/C6i/Mini
Velodyne SPL-1200R
Next, some of the basics.
HEAT
The XBOX 360 gets significantly hotter than the XBOX or PS2. Most of the heat seems to emit from the rear of the device. Placing this device in an open rack would be a smart idea.
NOISE
The XBOX 360 is a relatively loud console. That being said, it is not a high pitched buzz or white, rather a "whooshing" sound that does not distract significantly from gameplay.
DURABILITY
The XBOX 360 feels like it is made very well.
GLITCHES/CRASHES
I played each of my five games for approximately 1 hour, except for Perfect Dark Zero which I played around 3 hours total. The console did not crash, although one time when I ejected PDZ during a loadscreen it seemed to confuse the console, and the dash did not load properly (instead just presenting a black screen after disc eject). Resetting the console remedied this, and I was not able to duplicate it again. The XBOX 360 appears to drop digital signal between the splash screen and the load screen, and sometimes my preamp does not lock on to it fast enough, resulting in brief white noise. This is not uncommon for digital devices. I left the xbox on for over 4 hours and it did not crash or overheat.
DEFECTS
The hardware I have includes: 2 wireless controllers, 2 play & charge kits, 1 media remote, 1 live headset, and 1 xbox360 console w/ hard drive. All hardware appears to be defect free, except for one wireless controller which I purchased seperately which would not "wake up" when it was not connected via the play and charge kit. A replacement of the controller worked fine.
MEDIA
One of the touted features of XBOX 360 is being able to stream music and photos off your XP machine, and video as well if you have Media Center Edition. I tested this out using an 802.11a wireless connection and it worked flawlessly. The XBOX 360 very much becomes a set-top ipod with the media remote used for navigation of the sorted music playlist (or you can use a controller). Setting up XP for streaming music is easy; simply download and run media connect, have the XBOX 360 look for the PC, give the X360 permissions in media connect, then select the folders you want to share on your PC. The XBOX will then display the contents of these folders sorted by artist, song, album, etc. At any time, even during a game, you can hit the guide button and pick files to be streamed off your PC for music; note that you must use the ingame menus of the game you are playing to mute the game's music, however. If you want to copy MP3s to your X360's hard drive, you will need to do so via CDs; you cannot copy MP3s off your PC, for instance - however, setting up media connect is much easier anyway, as it will not eat up your X360's HD space and also takes less time to setup. DVD quality seems very good, and the player is very fast at dynamic branching - nearly as fast as a buffered PC DVDROM. Also, unlike XBOX1 you can actually quit a game to the full dashboard while leaving the game in the console, then selecting "play disc" onscreen to go back to the game.
CONTROLLERS
--
The controllers for the XBOX 360 are the best 3D controllers I have ever used bar none. They are the 3D equivalent of the 2D SNES controller - near perfect for its job. My only complaint is that the dpad is not fighting-pad calibur, but that is a bit much to ask considering the quality in all other departments. The front of the XBOX console only has 2 USB ports for controllers/devices, so it is clear Microsoft is looking towards wireless for this machine. There is also a USB port in the rear above the ethernet port, but I used this one up for the XBOX 360 wireless adapter. The play and charge kits do the job, but are a bit clunky and sometimes can be difficult to remove - it would have been nice if they had some release mechanism other than yanking them out. Wirelessly the controllers work just as well as wired.
INTERACTIVITY
--
The "blade" system that makes up the xbox guide is excellent and gives you all you need at your fingertips both inside and outside of a game. It allows you to seemlessly transition your XBOX between media station and game console, or even doing both at the same time. Also, it is clear this console is centered around XBOX Live. Though you don't need XBOX Live, you will be missing out on huge parts of the game and the experience without an XBOX Live account.
ANTI-ALIASING
--
It appears most games had 2xAA applied. Still, on my 57" HDTV, games will definitely benefit once devs begin to utilize tiling and hence get near-free 4xAA.
BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY
--
BC is not perfect but damn close to the original XBOX titles being emulated. Some games even have improved graphics. Looking forward to when this is completed for all titles.
Live Marketplace
--
With X360 on Live, you can download actual game demos, trailers, custom avatars, wallpaper, and more on XBOX Live marketplace. I have not tried any transactions yet, but there is already quite a selection available which is cool.
Customize it!
--
XBOX 360 looks to be very customizable from your avatar to the theme/wallpaper of the console all the way up to the faceplate itself! In other words, you can make it look how you want to look. You can even use your own wallpaper instead of being forced into pre-made themes.
GAMES
--
Here is the part you've been waiting for. Listing in order from most- to least-gripping, the games that really grabbed a hold of me. Note that all five of these games are excellent, I am just ranking them based on how cool I felt they were.
#1 - Perfect Dark Zero is the killer app for the XBOX 360 IMO. Like Halo1 for XBOX, PDZ received much negative hype prior to its release. Also like Halo1, however, PDZ seems to have come out tops, earning a 9.0 at Gamespot and providing tons of excellent gameplay for the user. The art style of this game is interesting; it has sort of a comic book look, but with a more computerized edge - graphically almost like a modern day Out of This World. Several shader innovations are brought to the table with PDZ including full displacement mapping and motion blur. Displacement mapping really makes the game pop out at you, and can really suck you in and play tricks on your eyes - as does the motion blur. It's almost like you are seeing realistic motion of your surroundings and realistic depth all in a techno-comic-book world. Art and shader effects aside, the game looks good most of the time, though cutscenes sometimes have framerate drops for some reason unlike actual gameplay. I have not had the chance to play extensively on Live, but the single player gameplay is excellent. It's objective based like TimeSplitters, except PDZ actually is fun and feels like it has a point unlike the aforementioned game. Any fan of the original PDZ must pick this up - Rare successfully evolved the Perfect Dark franchise to the next generation.
#2 - Condemned: Criminal Origins is an fantastic title published by SEGA and developed by the team that made F.E.A.R. The atmosphere is incredible in this game and the approach of the game is interesting - its almost like playing someone from the show CSI, except you get to kill more people. You investigate crime scenes, collect evidence, and confront serial killers in the dark. Immersion, immersion, immersion is what makes this game so great... and so creepy! An excellent twist on the FPS genre.
#3 - Kameo: Elements of Power is Microsoft's first excellent action adventure/platformer that will sell well. Rare again saved the day providing XBOX 360 with this great title which probably has the biggest "fun factor" of all the launch titles. Meaning if you just want to hop into a next-gen game and mess around with fun stuff, this is the game to go for. Kameo revolves around the player completing stages by utilizing different creature forms. Puzzles and difficult enemies often require you to use more than one form to defeat them, so using strategy to determine what your best course of action is is a must here. Some standout technologies in this game include liberal usage of depth of field shaders, HDR, and Geometry Instancing to enhance gameplay. A great title all around for all ages! If you liked Mario when you were younger, now would be a great time to upgrade to Kameo.
#4 - Project Gotham Racing 3 brings back the addicting gameplay of the PGR series with the most amazing graphics seen on a console to date. For graphics lovers, this game puts out the overall best graphics out of any game on the system. And as a result, driving with a cockpit camera is much more immersive, making you really feel like you are in that cockpit driving as the inside of the car is intricately replicated, as is the windshield and debris that may land on it! PGR3 also uses a blur effect when you are going very fast, making it feel even more realistic than it already is.
#5 - Call of Duty 2 is one of the few PC games that runs better on XBOX 360 than even a moderately high end PC. While a year-old PC struggles to run this game at medium detail at 30fps, XBOX 360 churns out high detail graphics at 60fps - something today's $1500 PCs can't even accomplish. Infinity Ward definitely made good use of the X360's hardware with this one. The game is excellent too. So why is it last in my book? Because its a WWII shooter, and to be honest that's a bit "been there, done that" in my book even if it is the best WWII shooter to date. Still, I will definitely play it through for outstanding gameplay it offers. It just wasn't as exciting as the other titles because I knew exactly what to expect.
CONCLUSION
Microsoft not only delivered a killer game console here, but also a cohesive media package as well. It all is very cohesive and solid. My girlfriend was over and I was using the media remote to select playlists for my home theater that were streaming off my PC. It's a lot more than a game machine and in XBOX 360's case those extra features actually can be used in-game.
