"Xbox Is Teh big! Xbox Is Also Teh Awesome."

Ah, the Xbox. Remember the days when people made jokes about it? That kind of died off when the N-Gage came out, which is good, because people really need to realize how good the Xbox really is. For 170 something dollars and coming with 2 games (As of January '04) it is well worth it.

Technical Specs

The Xbox is the newest, and most powerful of the next generation consoles. Contained within that large black box is a very good game system. The Xbox has a very fast processor, 733 MHz. Having a fast processor may not seem as important as some other features, but in the long run, the Xbox's powerful CPU makes for a very smooth gaming experience. The box contains 64 MB of RAM. In the age of modern computers, this may not seem like a lot, but the Xbox is not a computer, is it? (Though it seems like a lot of people think that it is) The system also has a hard drive (20 GB I believe) so that you do not have to buy memory cards, and you can upload your music to play during certain games (Tetris Worlds or the Grand Theft Auto Double Pack, for example.) However, technical specs alone do not make a good system, so on to the rest of the review.

Graphics

The graphics on the Xbox are simply amazing. Textures look clean and realistic, character movement is smooth, many of the terrain and water effects are very realistic. Compared to the other next generation systems, the PS2 and the Gamecube, the graphics are superior. All around, the graphics are much better than the PS2 and the textures look noticeably better than on the Cube. Frame rates are excellent, at a max of around 55 or 60 frames per second. That is FAST. The system also supports Progressive Scan and S-Video (Although I think you need an adaptor) 10/10

Sound

All of the next generation consoles have great sound, I hardly notice any difference between them. The Xbox, like the others, supports Dobly Digital surround sound. An added bonus is the music drive, which lets you upload your songs into the system to play alone or during the games. 10/10

Controller

As you may know, there are 2 types of controllers for the Xbox, the normal controller and the controller-S. Both have 2 analog sticks, a D-Pad, Start/Back buttons, A, B, X, Y buttons and 1 black and 1 white button. Also, there are 2 ports for an optional memory card, not required for games.

Normal Controller: OUCH! This thing gives me hand cramps! The controller is mostly taken up by a big ''X'' right in the middle, the way you have to hold it feels strange, and some of the buttons (Like the white and black) are hard to reach. The only people who would want this controller are people with very large hands. 2/10

Controller- S: Now THAT's better. The controller-S is a big improvement. The white and black buttons have been moved to the bottom left, easily reachable by thumb, the start and back buttons have been moved to the bottom right, and the ''X'' in the middle has been made much smaller. The controller-S feels nice and solid, and the sticks are very stable. The only improvement that I think could be made is if the A, B, X, Y buttons were different shapes and sizes, like a Gamecube controller, to make them more easily identifiable by touch, but that isn't a huge problem. All in all, the Controller-S is nice and simple, and effective. 8/10

The System Itself

Many people will joke about how the Xbox is huge. It IS the largest system I've ever had, but so what? It still fits on the entertainment center just fine. When did the size of something that sits on a shelf and seldom moves start to matter? The system may be big, but that doesn't stop it from being great. The Xbox has 4 controller ports, which is pretty much standard on the next generation systems, except for the PS2. As I said before, the built in hard drive is a nice touch, which means you don't have to waste money on memory cards. The DVD player functions as well as any other DVD player, although you have to buy a DVD playback kit for it, which, at around 20 dollars, is annoying, since the system plays DVDs anyway, you just need to buy the kit for the remote control (The controller doesn't work the DVD menu for some reason). The game disc/CD/DVD is loaded via the disc drive, which is a tray type drive, similar to the ones found on a computer. This seems to annoy people, but I fail to see the problem with it. Now, another review mentioned that the Xbox is self diagnostic, meaning that it can tell you if it is broken or overheating, etc... I'm not sure if that is true, since I have not had any problems with my Xbox yet, but if it is, excellent. It's always a pain to have a system break and not know what is wrong with it. 9/10

Games

Games, not technical specs or graphics, are what make or break a system. The Xbox has plenty of great games to back it up. Microsoft has been lucky in getting developers for the Xbox, that means good games. The Xbox seems to have a lot of good first person shooters, such as Halo, Red Faction II, Rainbow Six 3, etc... It also has plenty of racing games, but is lacking in the RPG section. Not saying the Xbox has no RPGs, it just doesn't have nearly as many as, say, the PS2. 8/10

Xbox Live

Xbox live is Microsoft's all broadband online play network. Needless to say, all broadband means it works perfectly, and fast too. Many people love online play, I'm not one of them, I'm perfectly happy to sit for hours with Tetris Worlds and a hard drive full of good music, but anyway, for being fast and fun if you like that kind of thing, Xbox Live gets a nice 9/10

Overall 9/10

To Buy It or Not?

If you don't already have an Xbox, get one. It's well worth the price for a great system.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/07/04