Ziss
The Three Amigos
A couple of people have asked for my first impressions on the Xbox One and how the games play.
Xbox One
So far, I'm liking it. In fairness to MS, there haven't been too many issues that I've seen (I appreciate some users have had faulty disc drives, problems isntalling the Day 1 update etc). The friends list and party chat were down several times yesterday; I only experienced it once, and it lasted about half an hour.
The dashboard is nice, quite similar to a Nokia Lumia Windows phone where you can move tiles, pin tiles, change colour layout etc. I like how the Xbox button takes you to the dashboard no matter what you're doing, without forcing you to re-boot the console to resume the game where you left off. During such time, you can go into pretty much any area of the Xbox, take still photos of your game etc etc.
I haven't tried it, but apparently you can say something like "Xbox, record that" to the Kinnect, and it'll record the last piece of gameplay. So far I've only seen it record random (I suppose "key") parts of gameplay, such as ranking up a level in Battlefield 4.
Battlefield 4
I played Battlefield 3 on the PC for about 10 hours, so I've had a little experience of the better graphics, higher frame-rate and huge player servers before, so I thought this would just be Battlefield 3.5...on a console.
In some respects it is. This is the game that Battlefield 3 was supposed to be. That said, the game really is remarkable. The attention to detail only adds to the enjoyment, beit falling from a chopper in Shanghai, or manoeuvring a jetski through a flooded town.
I avoided playing BF4 on the Xbox 360, and I'm glad I did. Not sure why DICE decided to change the button layout from BF3. I've managed to change my vehicle controls to what they were, but I still find myself knifing thin air when really I want to go prone to take cover. That never ends well.
I'll be asking for Ghosts for Xmas, but there won't be a chance for hype to build because this game really is superb.
FIFA 14
I think it was [MENTION=58263]TH[/MENTION] who last night said in the BRILLIANT GOALbox that he hopes for better graphics in future releases. I think the jump from X360/PS3 to X1/PS4 is pretty big. Whilst a lot of it might appear to be the animations and the new Ignite engine, when combined the game really does look beautiful.
I know a lot of you buy the FIFA title for Pro Clubs, and sadly there appears to be issues playing online (can't finish a game without someone disconnecting and forefeiting the game). But what I have played, looks promising. Shooting doesn't feel like you're kicking a balloon, and it looks like you might be rewarded for trying something different. I'll give another assessment after I've been able to complete a few full games.
A lot of the menus look the same as old-gen, just with a new skin, but the new skin is refreshing. Also, loading times seem to be down (very noticeable when trading on FUT).
If you tend to mainly play FIFA, and you're putting off buying a new console until FIFA 15, you might want to reconsider. Try get your hands (perhaps at a GAME shop, or a friend's) on the game, have a few goes, and see how you feel. I wasn't expecting huge things from FIFA 14 on the next-gen, but am pleasantly surprised. You might be too...
Xbox One
So far, I'm liking it. In fairness to MS, there haven't been too many issues that I've seen (I appreciate some users have had faulty disc drives, problems isntalling the Day 1 update etc). The friends list and party chat were down several times yesterday; I only experienced it once, and it lasted about half an hour.
The dashboard is nice, quite similar to a Nokia Lumia Windows phone where you can move tiles, pin tiles, change colour layout etc. I like how the Xbox button takes you to the dashboard no matter what you're doing, without forcing you to re-boot the console to resume the game where you left off. During such time, you can go into pretty much any area of the Xbox, take still photos of your game etc etc.
I haven't tried it, but apparently you can say something like "Xbox, record that" to the Kinnect, and it'll record the last piece of gameplay. So far I've only seen it record random (I suppose "key") parts of gameplay, such as ranking up a level in Battlefield 4.
Battlefield 4
I played Battlefield 3 on the PC for about 10 hours, so I've had a little experience of the better graphics, higher frame-rate and huge player servers before, so I thought this would just be Battlefield 3.5...on a console.
In some respects it is. This is the game that Battlefield 3 was supposed to be. That said, the game really is remarkable. The attention to detail only adds to the enjoyment, beit falling from a chopper in Shanghai, or manoeuvring a jetski through a flooded town.
I avoided playing BF4 on the Xbox 360, and I'm glad I did. Not sure why DICE decided to change the button layout from BF3. I've managed to change my vehicle controls to what they were, but I still find myself knifing thin air when really I want to go prone to take cover. That never ends well.
I'll be asking for Ghosts for Xmas, but there won't be a chance for hype to build because this game really is superb.
FIFA 14
I think it was [MENTION=58263]TH[/MENTION] who last night said in the BRILLIANT GOALbox that he hopes for better graphics in future releases. I think the jump from X360/PS3 to X1/PS4 is pretty big. Whilst a lot of it might appear to be the animations and the new Ignite engine, when combined the game really does look beautiful.
I know a lot of you buy the FIFA title for Pro Clubs, and sadly there appears to be issues playing online (can't finish a game without someone disconnecting and forefeiting the game). But what I have played, looks promising. Shooting doesn't feel like you're kicking a balloon, and it looks like you might be rewarded for trying something different. I'll give another assessment after I've been able to complete a few full games.
A lot of the menus look the same as old-gen, just with a new skin, but the new skin is refreshing. Also, loading times seem to be down (very noticeable when trading on FUT).
If you tend to mainly play FIFA, and you're putting off buying a new console until FIFA 15, you might want to reconsider. Try get your hands (perhaps at a GAME shop, or a friend's) on the game, have a few goes, and see how you feel. I wasn't expecting huge things from FIFA 14 on the next-gen, but am pleasantly surprised. You might be too...
