Xbox One Review: A Rocky Start That Found Its Feet
6/10 — Microsoft Xbox One
Pros
- Large library of great games
- Excellent backwards compatibility with Xbox 360 and original Xbox
- Game Pass started here
- Very cheap second-hand
Cons
- Big, boxy VCR-style design with an external power brick
- Less powerful than the PS4
- Slow hard drive
- Kinect-era baggage and a confused launch
- The One S and One X are better buys
Few consoles have had a rougher launch than the Xbox One. Announced in 2013 as an all-in-one entertainment box with mandatory Kinect, always-online checks and restrictions on second-hand games, it faced a backlash before it even went on sale. Microsoft reversed most of those decisions, but the console launched at £429, £80 more than the PS4, and with less graphical power. It spent the generation catching up.
Design
The original Xbox One is a large, glossy black box that looks more like a VCR than a games console, with a huge external power brick to match. It’s quiet in use and well built, but it’s a lot of hardware to fit under a TV. Kinect, the camera and microphone bar it originally shipped with, was dropped from the bundle within a year and is now little more than a curiosity.
Performance
The Xbox One’s GPU is noticeably weaker than the PS4’s, and many multiplatform games ran at a lower resolution, often 900p rather than 1080p. Its 500GB mechanical hard drive is small and slow by today’s standards. It doesn’t support 4K or HDR, which arrived with the later One S and One X models.
Games and features
Where the Xbox One improved was its software. Backwards compatibility, added in 2015 for Xbox 360 games and in 2017 for original Xbox games, let it play hundreds of Xbox 360 and original Xbox games, often better than they ran originally. Game Pass launched on Xbox One in 2017 and changed how many people played. The library includes Forza Horizon 4, Gears 5, Halo 5, Ori and the Will of the Wisps and many great multiplatform games.
Buying one today
The original Xbox One is very cheap second-hand, but it’s rarely the best buy. The Xbox One S is smaller, adds HDR and 4K Blu-ray, and costs little more. The One X is far more powerful. And newer games increasingly skip the Xbox One generation altogether.
Verdict
The Xbox One recovered from a disastrous start to become a solid console with a strong library, great backwards compatibility and the beginnings of Game Pass. But the original model is the weakest version of it. If you want an Xbox One today, buy a One S or One X instead.
