Pros: Amazing graphics, speed, and accessories
Cons: Price
The bottom line: The XBox 360 is the best system out there. You can have the best gameplay, graphics, and all around visual experience - if you are willing to pay for it
Let me begin by saying that I am neither an engineer nor a technical specialist of any sort. I am simply someone who likes to play video games and definitely someone who likes to play on the latest systems. As such, this review will not include all the hard to follow intricacies of how the Xbox works, nor its quantum capabilities, it will merely be a perspective of the laymen who enjoys a good gaming system.

As I have mentioned before, I am a 22 year old medical student and spend most of my time studying. As much as I do that, I always require some down time away from the books. This time is normally filled with novels, movies, computer games and the like, but now, thanks to a very lucky friend, I have been able to fill that time for the last few days on the new Xbox 360.

On first examination the Xbox looks incredible. I always liked the look of the Xbox but the new sleeker box and silver color takes the aesthetics of the machine to a whole new level. Of course, with the wireless controllers, we don’t even have to see the console while using it. And further, we aren’t that interested in what it looks like as much as how well it works.

On that topic the machine is great. We have played a number of different games so far and have not run into any of the glitches that we have been hearing so much about. So far every game has loaded and played flawlessly. While I don’t know what the errors were exactly or what caused them, I do know that we used the box for pretty much everything that it can do and never ran into an error.

The game play itself is in another level. There is no way to describe the graphics and their quality without seeing them. Sufficed to say that they are so good, you completely forget that it isn’t real.

A major contributor to this immersion is the fact that all the games are high definition. This may not have made a difference in the last few years but now that TVs are so much larger, and so many more are HD, the dissimilarity between Xbox 360 and even consoles like PS2 is enormous. To really test this out my friends and I brought the console to school where the classrooms are fitted with a high definition projector shining on a ~40’ screen and multiple ~42” HD LCD TVs. The room is also setup with ~12 speakers set all around the room. We used the included cable to plug in to this setup and the experience was almost unimaginable. The picture was incredible on the TVs as well as on the 40’ screen. The colors are very vivid and with such a wide screen taking up my field of view, I forgot where I was and became totally immersed in the game.

The sound of the Xbox, although retarded by the unfortunate quality of the speakers, still came through impressively. With so many speakers placed all around the room, the surround sound effect was beyond real. I felt like I was inside the game rather than in front of it. Of course, this added quite a bit to feeling of the game and my loss of awareness of my surroundings.

We played some amazing games. Titles like Amped 3 were fun and included some well put together cut scenes. The scenery and cinematography are integrated into the game and really enhance the game play unlike previous games where they were a bothersome pause in the action. My favorite game was Call of Duty. I am a big fan of the Medal of Honor series and historical war games in general, and this game is no exception. The action was so real that I was almost scared to be shot. I could almost, but not quite, feel the pain as my character was shot down.

The accessories that came with the console are a nice step up from previous versions. The most important of these are the controller and hard drive. The hard drive is more than adequate, for now, with 20GB. I have no doubt that in the future we will be encouraged to upgrade that to some outlandishly large SUV-sized drive but for now we had no trouble saving everyone’s game when it was the next persons turn to play.

The controllers, as already mentioned, are a nice upgrade from the previous versions. While the look and feel is fairly similar, the wireless capability is far improved. Up to 4 wireless controllers are compatible with the unit although we only had two to test for any interference. We were glad to see that there were no problems with that as well as impressed by the distance at which the controllers worked. Although I have no idea why you would ever be 50’ from the Xbox while trying to play with it, our test (playing from the back of the classroom), showed that if you would like to be 50’ away, you can. If we were much further away we found that the controls didn’t respond as well, but since that is far beyond the distance that would normally be used, the wireless capability is far more than adequate.

As with every new electronic device coming out these days, the Xbox can do more than one thing. Far beyond a simple gaming console it can really function as a computer. It is essentially a computer without a keyboard. The USB allows you to plug in a variety of plug and play devices and use them easily. You can also connect to your other computers with or without using XP Media Center (easier and better if you do). Of course, you can use the system to play all types of media and you can output them through the variety of low and high definition ports. Although this is a nice feature to include, it seems a bit superfluous when many people already have a stand alone DVD player or even an entire entertainment cabinet.

The biggest complaint I have about the system, as always, is the price. The most cost effective version, the Xbox 360 (as opposed to the core version) is $400. That is a lot of money to spend on a gaming system no matter how many features it has. I understand that MS loses $126 on each system they sell, and I am sure that the price will go down, but for now, it is simply a lot of money.

Another issue with the box is its weight. I remember when the newer version of the Playstation came out and the factor could not have been smaller. All of the sudden, it was as simple to bring to a friends house as a game boy. Any night with friends with friends could be transformed into a gaming night. The Xbox 360 is a far less likely item to be found in a child’s backpack. My guess would be that it weighs in somewhere between 15 and 18 pounds. This makes for a far less than portable system. This is mitigated though, by the excellent Xbox Live online game play.

The Xbox Live is another feature that brings console gaming closer to PC gaming. Historically only PC users have been able to challenge each other online. Now, anyone with a broadband connection can get in on the fun. It did not setup the online account but I am told by my friend that that is the most difficult part of using the system. This is simply because some account information must be entered and that can be cumbersome without a keyboard. One difference between the PC and consoles is that in general, PC games must be registered individually (except for services like gamespy), whereas on the Xbox you register your console once, and that is it. Every game is played under (or a guest) console name. Once the registration has been completed, the interface is very simple and I was able to figure it out on my first try without any questions to the experienced users. The interface allows you to join a game or create your own and customize its settings and environment.

The Xbox comes with a one year free subscription to the online service. Even without this I think I would be willing to pay $5-10 a month for it. It is very simple to use as I have already mentioned, and on top of that it works very well. We noticed that some games would lag when a lot of players were involved and sometimes the connection would get dropped. When we tried limiting the players to 10 we had no lag at all. In addition to normal playing, the online arena also allows for audio transmission between players. Players talk to each other through an earpiece that attaches to the controller. It comes with a number of voice disguises. One recommendation: some of them get pretty annoying to your counterpart after a while so use with care.


All in all, this system shows what the next generation of gaming systems can and will be able to do. Microsoft has set the bar very high for all future systems and we are reaping the benefits. As amazing as these systems are, I hope I can, and want to, remember which is the real world.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks for reading!