Xbox 360 XBOX 360: My Hands-On Account

N.B: This was written as a result of a combined 30-40mins spent watching and using an XBOX 360 in the Newcastle branches of GAME and Virgin. I've tried to be as fair and unbiased as possible, but take into account the effect of Excited Bloke Under Bright Lights In A Busy Game Shop Syndrome. I thank you.

The Console

It looks very special in the flesh/plastic/rubber. Unlike the hideous monolith that is the first Xbox, this one looks totally 21st century and would look completely at home in a TV stand in the living room. The only bit I didn't like was the chrome disc tray as it was a tad too shiny imho. The fact they've set the kiosks up to display the console in it's upright position helped to show off it's curves quite nicely - although I will be storing my horizontally to avoid the chances of a repeating the infamous incident of my PS2 eating my SSX disc from a similar stance.

Apple-esque white casing was perfectly complimented by the darker, steeley (?) sides. All set off quite nicely with the now trademark green halo of light. The lack of straggling cables helps.

The oft talked about but seldom confirmed brick sized powersupply was not within sight of my prying eyes. The kiosk was pretty much just a bubble with a 360 standing in it, two wireless pads on those Robbie The Robot arms, a nice looking (but in both cases) greasey fingerprint covered Samsung LCD TV (26" I would say?), and some flyer dispensers. It really stood out thanks to the massive white panelling and the gaudy green XBOX logos. Couple that with the halogen glare of modern shop lighting and you could almost smell the smoke coming from the insides of your eyes.

The Pads

The pads were considerably smaller to hold than the standard XBOX S pads we're used to, but much bigger than standard PS2 pads. Comparisons to DreamCast pads aren't really valid as they're a totally different shape and size - think S pads on the Atkins diet.

The coloured buttons felt very nice indeed. Solid and not too plastic-y. The big, glowing, silvery X was cool although it functionality wasn't obvious on the kiosk. The white Start and Select buttons felt a tad small for these sausage sized fingers, and to be honest blended into the pad a little too much for my liking. The triggers had a similarly robust feel to the current S pad's, although any analogue functionality was lost on the games I played (see below). Something like PGR3 will reveal how good they really are.

The thumbsticks felt the same as the current XBOX (imho the best of any console bar the N64) and were stiff enough to give excellent control and feel for the aiming and looking in CoD2. The d-pad was just a d-pad.

Overall, a refinement (rather than a next gen) version of an existing controller.

The Games

I had the chance to watch others play, and then also try two games myself on two consoles.

First, in GAME I tried CoD2. Now as I've already mentioned, I don't see CoD2 as a flagship title for the 360 due the fact it's already on the PC and in other version on current-gen titles. However, I can see it fulfilling it's role as a headturning title in the early days of the console.

Let me explain.

On the build and kiosk I played it on, the game did have some of the jagged edges that a number of people have complained about. Whether that was down to the way the kiosk was set up, the display mode used, or just the coding of the game I don't know. Certainly I've seen other games that don't have those jaggies. BUT! Despite this, it was still miles ahead of anything on any current home consoles and imho was easily a match for the PC version in almost every respect.

The colours and sheer depth of lighting on the game was terrific. I've played the same section on my PC and to be honest I prefer the 360 version. The fps was incredible though, and I feel 1UP rightly compared it to the Virtua Cop arcade games of old in that regard. Even in the heat of big battle with Germans in a tight street with grenades, bullets, and helmets flying all over the place, it never dropped below the realm of Super Slick and Dreamy It had all of the same fancy effects such as blurring and what not that my 6800GT provides, and the shadows, bump mapping, and lighting effects were all in attendence. Additionally, close up, the textures look fantastic. There's none of the murky muddy colours that you get on even the XBOX, and I would venture to suggest they looked slightly clearer better than on my own PC. It was quite cool to zoom in with the sights and not have surrounding textures blur into browny grunge.

As a game, it seemed to make much more sense than on my PC. The silly new health system felt spot on played on a pad, adding a much greater challenge to the game than the mouse driven aiming of the PC. In my own mind, it's gone from being a game that I hadn't even considered buying, to one I might very well pick up at launch (budget allowing!).

The second game I tried was King Kong. Like CoD2 this was not a game I really gave a toss about, and tbh I still don't. It looks very good indeed, in action it looks like it's running on a very decent gaming PC. Fabulous atmospheric graphics, loads of nice effects and smoke, and the fps again was more than adequate! What was interesting was the jaggys in CoD2 weren't as obvious in KK. Suggesting CoD wasn't the build it should/could be. The disappointing thing was how average it felt to play. It was very episodic, with lots of set-piece action interspersed with first person action. As a tech demo it worked very well as it looked terrific. As a game, it felt very much like the multiformat non-entity it was designed to be. Not one for me I'm afraid.

Conclusion

After today I can't wait for December 2nd. Neither game really blew me away, but neither is the console the duffer some people have made it out to be either. If a pair of third party, unexceptional games can look that good, then things are very rosy indeed for it's future graphics-wise. The jaggy criticism is a source for concern as it was indeed in evidence, although until I see AAA games running on it I'm not totally sure if it's not infact a problem with particular software than the console itself.

*phew*

 

Had a play with one in a game in nottingham the other day, I have to be honest, I was completely underwhelmed. Was expecting more prettiness tbh

 

Which game was it? TBH neither of the games I mentioned were mindblowing.

 

I was at wallmart tonight, and sadly there xbox 360 kiosk was dead. :/ I wanted to play to see how the games looked.

 

ah, my 360 experience thus far, taking a gander at a display booth in an EB Games - incredible visual experience tbh, i loved how the games looked. Unfortunately they had Peter Jackson's King Kong in, and the little **** who was playing it refused to save this one loud little tart off a ledge, which resulted in high definition, 5.1 "help meeeeeeeeee" screaming every 5 or so seconds for minutes on end. Until an attendant unplugged it.

 

if you thought the xbox360 graphics were better then the pc on COD2 your smoking crack...

COD2 1600X1200 4XAA 16XANIS max details , Textures set to Extra

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d73/marcdaddy/shot0097.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d73/marcdaddy/shot0104.jpg

thats what im talking about.

 

dont work mate.

 

So polite, aren't you? Maybe try reading what I said next time:

"I've played the same section on my PC and to be honest I prefer the 360 version."

Notice the word 'my'? And the use of 'I prefer'? Also notice the lack of me saying "The Xbox360 has better CoD2 graphics than any PC ever made"

Certainly my PC runs CoD2 in a most attractive, and generally decently fast manner. However, I personally preferred what I saw on the Xbox360 for the reasons I stated. For a start it ran it much more smoothly and more quickly than my PC can. See, the use of 'my' again?

 

Hey man i have played it aswell today and it looks great but it is on a HD TV..how much difference will the crossover make? As i dont have a HD TV

Ice

 

i think these are th pics phantomxc wanted to post
xbox 360: http://img486.imageshack.us/img486/2672/92772520050930screen0070sh.jpg
PC: http://img434.imageshack.us/img434/1397/shot00973jv.jpg

 

Wow, the pc version completly pwns the xbox360 version in those pictures. I would however like to see a proper 360 picture thats actually in 720p or 1080i.

 

Nice review mate. Gonna pop up town and see if they've set one up local tbh

 

Had a quick go on one in Game yesterday and I can't say I was overly impressed, COD2 was playing and it looked good but nothing really special.

The pads didn't feel very comfortable to me, the old S pad was much better IMO. Oh and I couldn't work out how to use the shoulder buttons and the analogue trigger things, it made it really uncomfortable.

As for the looks, it's pretty cool looking, but I thought it would be smaller. Especially considering the size of the power pack that looks like something out of Ghostbusters.

I only had a quick go on it, but those were my impressions of it.

 

I think I would agree about CoD2. It's not a jaw dropper or a AAA title gameplay wise. But it's a hell of a lot more fun to play than I thought it would be. It defo loses out in the resolution department compared with the PC, but when you see it running I think the main thing that catches the attention is the smoothness and high fps, with graphics that could hardly be called shoddy too.

I do agree about the pad thing. Thinking back, compared with the larger more weighty S pads, the new one isn't (at the moment) as good to hold. Funnily enough I didn't even notice the shoulder buttons when I tried it... gah. Have you seen the power pack up close? I couldn't see it at either store. The rumours and pictures suggest it massive, but other people have suggested that was something to do the televisions used instead.

 

Call of Duty didn't look bad and it was very smooth, I think I was just expecting more from it, plus the level I was on I couldn't work out what to do

I'm not sure about the powerpack now, I've seen pictures of the huge one, but other people have said they don't come with them, maybe it's onyl for demo pods. I couldn't see it in Game though.

 

CoD2 is a hell of a lot better on PC prettiness wise
But considering the price of the 360 and the cost of a PC you'd need to run it nicely, 360 version is an awesome compromise

 

the big silver buttons are for accessing the Xbox Live extra funky toys, if you look closely they have a ring of LED's round it, labled 1-4, this if so you know which ones which when they are wireless. I though they were more comfortable than the s controllers. However a longer test will be needed to confirm this. The only real gripe I had was about the stands themselves they seemed perposefully disigned to be uncomfortable, too low to stand at, too high to sit at. I guess they want to ensure plenty of traffic though the booths.

they had a big stand at last weekends I-series, must say the consoles do look the biz, after all the hype the games were a little underwhelming quality wise, however I will say the Samsung screens there were NOT High Def, so I shall reserver judgement on that one, also its all pre-release code I suspect with all the debuggin code turned on as well.

PGR3 and NFS:MW (although thats availble for current gen consoles and PC's) were the ones I got most time in with, and they are very fun games to play, especially NFS with its TimeBreaker thingie for ultra precise handbreak corners.

 

the game that impressedme the most was PGR3 everything else wasnt amazing or made me want to buy it

 

I had a chance to play CoD2 on the 360 the other day. I played up until the point where you have to raid that house after killing the germans that were manning the big guns. I thought the textures we'ret quite on par with what a high end PC could pull off and still make it playable. However, it was all just as fun and exciting as it was on the PC, but without the hassle of the many obstacles that PC gaming presents.

I've been playing with a keyboard and mouse for so long though, I could barely stand to use the sticks.

After I got killed I let the antsy looking 14 year old behind me have a go at it.

A couple of days before that I had the chance to play Kameo. It was fun, but pretty much looked like a Zelda rip-off, with even some aspects of Metroid in it. You could turn into an armidillo like thing and roll around a-la morph ball. Tbh, this part really seemed "borrowed." Still, the game was fun, but I probably wouldn't buy it.

I'm sure after about a year the 360 will start to show it's real muscle (Gears of War type quality on most games) and it will be right in time for the PS3s launch. That should be interesting.