I played the Xbox One at the Xbox One Tour Event in Atlanta. Here are my thoughts.
I went to the Xbox One Tour in Atlanta last night and I played the Xbox One. It was pretty awesome, I didn't win anything, but it was still cool I guess.
Here are the games I played:
Battlefield 4 Killer Instinct Ryse Peggle 2 Loco Cycle Zoo Tycoon Fortza 5 Kinect Sports Rivals
Here are my impressions on all the aspects of the machine.
1.) Games
I suck at fighting games, but Killer Instinct felt GREAT. It is fast and fun, almost a mix of Smash and a traditional fighting game (I never played the original game). Also, I am not a fan of Battlefield, but BF4 was pretty fun. We played a territories match for the first game and the final score was 2-0, so it was pretty fun, but it is just another Battlefield game. Ryse was better than expected. It was the most visually pleasing of all the games I played. It starts by putting you into a coliseum, and you feel like you are there. It is a mix of Assassin Creed and Batman combat. I never figured out executions, but I saw other people doing them and it was pretty awesome and I never saw the same one twice. I then hit the Arcade area. Peggle 2 is Peggle, but 2-ier. But honestly it isn't a next gen game, but it is amazing. I then hit up LocoCycle. It was a ton of fun, it was pretty much a button masher, but it was still crazy fun. Again, not a next-gen game, but still fun. Zoo Tycoon....... I was actually pretty excited about this game. Me and my wife loved the computer game, and now you can pet the animals. I didn't finish the demo because I couldn't figure out how to clean the animals. It was the best looking arcade game tied with Crimson Dragon, which I skipped. I then played Fortza. It is the most realistic (graphically) game I have ever played. There was some uncanny valley moments, but overall, awesome. I am bad a driving games, but still fun. I will talk about Kinect Sports when I talk about Kinect later. A little foreshadowing, mind-blowing.
2.) Controller and interface
The controller is the best I have ever played, but there are cons. First let me go over the interface/dashboard real quick. The jewel button on the controller is farther out of the way so no accidental pushes (as compared to the 360). Once pressed you do not go to the guide, you go to the dashboard. The dash looks great, your game continues in the back as you navigate the dashboard. It was very very cool. Now controller. Smaller. Everything is smaller, which is a good thing. The controller itself is the same size, but the thumbsticks, ABXY buttons, and D-pad are all smaller for the better. The thumbsticks smaller size makes it feel like it has more motion. They also uped the resistance in the sticks making it feel more satisfying for small movements, think shooters. The D-pad is completely upgraded. It fits better with my thumb and the directions click, similar to a computer mouse. The best game to show this was Killer Instinct. I played it once with the stick and once with the d-pad, and the d-pad is my favorite since the Dreamcast. The ABXY buttons are a tad smaller, but are moved to fit much better to the controller. The triggers are great great great great great. The rumble in the triggers was crazy. The rumble only was used in Fortza (because eveything was still in beta). When I peppered the break I got little shakes back, by far the best experience playing a driving game. Now the cons. The bumper buttons look like they are part of the controller, which is fine, but the click of the button is so subtle I sometimes didn't feel like I did anything. Also, the distance from the d-pad and left stick is too far for me. I love using my D-pad in menus and I can see the distance being a small annoyance. Overall, crazy good controller.
3.) KINECT
To start, I liked the 360's Kinect, it was not very good, but it was a ton of fun to play with my wife and especially with big groups. The new Kinect is more responsive, faster, and more precise. I played the only game available, Jet Ski Race. To play you hold out your hands to go forward, pull in the left had to go left, right hand to go right, bend your knees to go faster, and when going over a ramp you stomp your foot and pull both hands back to do a back flip which activate a boost. The flips were fun to do and it was a good squat workout bending the knees to go faster. But the highlight was that the smallest movements of my hands immediately made the Jet Ski turn. I pulled back an inch and I felt like I was really controlling something. I was able to make precise turns and felt like it was a real game. No disconnection of my movements to the actions on the screen. Is it going to be anything other than a party gimmick? No, but it is the best gimmick ever. The lighting in the Kinect zone was the best in the area, but not that great. The only thing lighting you is green, no real color (from what I can remember). I was about 4 to 5 feet away, I wish I tried moving closer, but hindsight is 20/20. At one point someone stepped in front of me and there was a quick second of confusion, but there were plenty of people behind moving around and there was no interference from them.
Overall, the system is sexy and fun to play. When you play it and see and play the games, you know it is time for a new generation.
Edit: FIxed wording about the controller size.
