Well, I just want to tell the forum about my experiences with Xbox. Yes, I was part of the Xbox badmouthing crowd and mocked it because of it's huge controller size and 'lack of quality games' and also the reports of it crashing every other second.
Well I have gotten the oppertunity to play an Xbox personally for extended periods of time, and from a gamers standpoint, here is what I found.
Graphically, it looks like PC graphics. You know what I'm talking about. It looks like someone slapped Direct3D onto a console. Not a bad thing initially, mind you, but games played on an Xbox had that 'PC' feel. You know what I'm talking about. As opposed to the GC and the PS2 which have engines designed for consoles that ultimately yield...different graphics. Not necisarily better...just different.
As for the controller...to be quite honest playing on the twin sticks was a dream for me. However, when it came time for me to press buttons, I would often press the incorrect one due to the boneheaded way they were laid out on the somewhat oversized (but still usable to me) controller. I can see where complaints would come from.
The built in Hard Drive was handy for storing games without a memory card. Brings back the good ol' days of the N64 where only a few games needed a memory card.
As for the games, I have played both Perfect Dark and Halo to the end. In fact, I was so used to PD style controls that I switched to legacy controls in Halo so it would function more like an N64 would (c buttons would be the right stick)
All in all, I am qutie pleased with Halo as a game. The storyline was nothing new, but it was engaging, and the vehicles are just plain cool and somehow they got it down pat. The second half of the games lagged behind in terms of interest (you went through places you already been before, with weather changes and more enemies) and some levels (the library) were uninspired to say the least. I was also disappointed that multiplayer did not support bots. However, other than that the game is very well done. The melee fighting works a lot better than one would expect it to, and the ability to throw grenades at will and jump made me miss those abilities enough for me to notice when playing Perfect Dark the other day.
Due to problems with the Xbox, however, it would occationally freeze up for ten seconds at a time on one playthrough at random intervals. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I know of no other game on any other system that does that, and the problem corrected itself after a reboot.
On to Dead or Alive 3. The game was a standard fare beat em' up, immediatly accessable yet very in depth if you practiced, similar to how VF4 is. However, I noted that the music durring the select a charactor phase would skip after a while. The owner of the Xbox attributed it to the upgrade that he got in the official Xbox magazine that added more charactors to DOA3. Something that NEVER should have happened...
Upgrading video games? What next?
Either way, I was quite surprised by the Xbox. Enough for me to buy one? No, because I have no intention of giving money to an orginization that invades my privacy and that I know would not give a flying fuck about their customers anymore if they ended up dominating that market. Also, the problems with the Xbox were just enough to remind me who the Xbox was made by. It was a shame that such good games had to come out on such an awfully designed system.
On another note, I have heard a lot of flak from the Xbox junkies and even some of the Nintendo fatefuls that were bashing the new 'Celda' or Zelda GCN game because of it's look, and giving vague information about why they think it sucks otherwise. I personally am looking forward to it...
[ July 22, 2002: Message edited by: AlexMax ]
