Xbox 360 “slim” – first impressions review

Impressions, or, BSCreview’s Gaming Editor Nabs An Xbox 360

It’s a sad state of affairs when a Gaming Editor doesn’t have all of the hardware and tools available to provide the best coverage of an ever-growing industry. Namely, these tools include the three next-gen gaming consoles on the market today: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii. I’ve had the PS3 and Wii since launch, but it took a trip to E3 2010 to realize that I needed an Xbox 360 to complete the trinity of gaming platforms. Now that I finally made the jump into Microsoft’s ship, what do I think? How are the exclusives I’ve played thus far? How good…really…is XboxLive compared to PSN? How does GamerScore compare to Trophies? What do I think about the new design of the 360 and the inclusion of wireless and a 250GB hard drive? Keep reading.

OUT OF THE BOX

Between birthday money and a few other gifts, I made the Xbox 360 purchase. I’m an online shopper, and I hate paying sales tax, so Newegg.com was my choice destination. Free shipping, no sales tax, and the new Xbox 360 “slim” (unveiled at E3 2010) began its journey to me. Two days later, it arrived, but I was unable to play it much because I was watching my son alone for about four days. It’s difficult to consume video games with a six-month-old to take care of, but I did get a little bit of play in after I put him to bed, minus my Astro Gaming Headset so I could hear if he woke up.

Out of the box, I was highly impressed. The new design of the 360 is sleek and shiny, and the controller has a glossy black strip where the gray one is on the standard black 360 controller (bottom and top respectively). There are big fins on the sides of the consoles to manage heat soak, and you can see a rather large cooling fan where the processor rests. Two USB ports hide behind a front spring-loaded door, with three more on the back (total of 5 USB ports). The console itself is much smaller and lighter than the fat 360, which makes lugging it around easier (I have to switch rooms sometimes…long story). I’m not a traveling gamer, so that part doesn’t bother me, but it is nice to see a smaller form factor.

I was immensely surprised by the controller. Being a native PS3 junkie, the 360 controller takes some getting used to, but it fits wonderfully in my large hands and feels VERY solid. I mean, it’s really solid and heavy, which equals quality. My PS3 controller feels cheap by comparison. If I threw the 360 controller, it would stare back and laugh at me. The PS3 controller would shatter and sob all over the floor.

Of course, the big improvement with this new 360 is the inclusion of wireless and a 250GB hard drive. The Microsoft proprietary USB wireless device is a $100 investment, or highway robbery as I like to call it. Seriously, Microsoft? $100 for a USB wi-fi adaptor? I would say that wifi being built-in should’ve been a no-brainer from the outset, but that’s beside the point. The bottom line is that it’s here now, and I benefitted from it in a huge way since I didn’t need an extra $100, which, being that I have to use wireless at the house, was a big reason why I didn’t own a 360 prior. The larger hard drive is nice, because I can run installs for all the games without worrying about running out of space. There’s still no capability to swap out the proprietary drive for a larger one, but that’s Microsoft’s way.

EXCLUSIVES

This is an argument that has raged on for years between the console fanboys/fangirls. I love exclusives because, more often than not, they showcase the console and are almost always higher in production value than multi-platform titles. Being that many exclusives have been out a while, a few of them were very inexpensive and came with a lot of DLC previously not included. Gears of War 2 was my first purchase, a fantastic title that really pushes the 360 in terms of graphics. Impressive. I picked up Fable II Platinum Hits, but haven’t played it yet. Mass Effect 2 and Halo 3 rounded out the exclusives, but I also picked up Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 because my brother and many friends begged me to buy it to play online. Relunctantly, I did, but it has been good times thus far. Mass Effect 2 is a triumph of a game, but since I played the first game on the PC (Steam), I expected nothing less. I’m a bit disappointed that the graphics aren’t quite up to par since it’s an exclusive title for the 360, but the gameplay, story, and characters certainly put any angst over graphics to bed. That one has been taking up most of my 360 play time. Next will come Halo 3 and Fable II.

Overall, the exclusives are just what I’d expect from any of the consoles. Superb, high production value, and addictive to play. I see no major difference between 360 and PS3 exclusives, since they are directly comparable.

REWARDING EFFORT

GamerScore was the first time we as gamers were virtually rewarded for all the time and effort we put into our games. Achievements act as incentives, but ultimately mean nothing other than, “Hey, I spent more time at this game than you.” Some are difficult to achieve, but all are achievable if you put enough time and effort into them. Personally, having experienced both systems of reward–360 and PS3–I like Trophies on PS3 better. Why? Because they’re not just a bland point value that tallies up linearly to a GamerScore. Trophies add to your overall player level, like an RPG system does with XP. It takes more Trophies to move from level 10 to level 11 than it does from level 2 to level 3, so the higher the level you are, the more games you’ve played and/or the more Trophies–especially higher worth ones like Gold and Platinum–you’ve earned. Perhaps it’s because I’ve been used to the PS3 system for so long, but I do see where it’s improved the reward system over the competition.

Does it really matter in the end? No, it doesn’t. I don’t judge the 360 against the PS3 in terms of GamerScore or Player Level. It’s all preference, and really it means nothing if you’re having fun on both consoles.

PSN vs. XBL

So the real question for me is: Does XBL live up to the expectations I had? Is it worth the $40 per year (Newegg.com, baby!!)? Does PSN suffer at all due to its free-to-play nature?

In short, no. I have seen no major benefit to XBL over PSN and vise versa. Both have their good points, both have their bad points. Modern Warfare 2 still suffers from matchmaking issues on XBL as it does on PSN. The same videos, demos, arcade-style games, and other content appears to be the same between the two, but in terms of overall offerings, XBL has more content from what I can tell. Setting up an in-game chat is cool, but I haven’t even used that feature yet, so yes, feature-wise XBL may be richer, but if it’s not being used, what does it matter?

In the end, XBL works, PSN works, and $40 wasn’t so bad to part with in order to experience the Xbox 360 to its fullest.

I’m impressed with the 360, but I wasn’t expecting to not be impressed. It’s the final tool in the box, and now the 360 games I’m going to be reviewing in lieu of E3 will not be played at a friend’s house, they can be played at mine. Kudos to Microsoft for stepping up and offering the new 360 with wi-fi and a large hard drive.

Oh, and I can officially announce that my GamerTag is Drothghight (this is a creature of my own making that appears in my novels: Chronicles of the Planeswalkers).

About B.T. Robertson

B.T. Robertson is a writer, published author, and avid gamer, and has been playing video games his entire conscious life. Currently, he resides in Pittsburgh, PA with his family and is awaiting the launch of his third fantasy novel. Visit him online at www.btrobertson.com.