The Video Game Critic

I've had my Xbox One since about a week prior to E3. This means that while I knew about the Kinect-less $399 model, I still wanted the model with Kinect so just decided to buy at what I felt was a strategic time. For $499, I got the unit with Titanfall, Kinect Sports Rivals, Killer Instinct, and the first round of Games with Gold (Max: Curse of the Brotherhood & Halo Spartan Assault).

The setup for me didn't seem very complicated. The few problems I had were strictly my fault for trying to figure if the system could do more than I thought. The Kinect setup took only a few minutes and I didn't have any problems. Subsequently, there have been some problems in starting the system using my voice but for the few times it doesn't work, I know what to say the second time and it has been almost flawless since then. I've been enjoying using the voice system since then. I also like the way the system integrates with my TV and cable ("Xbox on", "Xbox Watch TV", "Xbox Watch TBS"). Also, while not everyone has this option, I'm able to use my Surface tablet as a remote control. It may sound stupid since the regular remote control is right next to me but when you use that control, the TV listing or other things get in the way. That doesn't happen when using the Surface.

What about the games? Generally, I don't like Multiplayer but I do play it on occasion. So, I thought I would try Titanfall first. It's actually very good and a lot of fun. What I had read in reviews was true and that was that new players can easily fit in and feel like they are making a difference in the games. I was on the winning team about 50% of the time and I wasn't in last place all the time. I'll be going back to this one. Killer Instinct was next. With this game, it is not a matter of not liking it but I am so bad at these games, so I gave up after less than 10 minutes. I'm disappointed this was one of my free games although I think others who like these games will love it because it is well done. Then I wanted to try Kinect Sports Rivals. I have and love both prior Kinect Sports and was eager to try this one especially after reading the comments, including some on these forums. The first thing I wanted to try was to see if I could just start playing without having to do story mode. It turns out I had no problem with this and the controls do seem improved over all. As soon as my roommate gets a break from school, this game will see a lot more action. Next was Halo Spartan Assault. I had this game on my Surface and Xbox 360 so as long as it was free, I decided to get it again. I love this game. I like the style and the short missions. I've also got a friend to play online with which was a lot of fun. Max: Curse of the Brotherhood was next and I loved this game a ton. I have a bad tendency to not complete/finish a game but this was so good, I found myself with one of my few complete games. Since then, I purchased Peggle 2 and in August, Crimson Dragon and Strike Suit Zero as my free games. I was a little nervous about what I had read about Crimson Dragon, but again, I loved it and finished it. I like playing on Easy levels and with as much help as I can get. I like the idea of using a dragon from someone in your friends list as a co-op partner that AI controls with some control from me. I used ActRaiser's dragon a few times until I noticed one of my other friends had a stronger one. This game is highly rated for me. Strike Suit Zero is just ok. I like and will probably go back to it later but it seems too hard for me. The next and only game I really paid for was Ryse at $30. From the way people described it, I was nervous but I must say, I am loving it after going half way through. It is repetitive but that does not bother me if it is fun repetitive. The Kinect voice controls in this game work great and I've used it to great advantage to save myself. Ryse is also the first game I've that really takes the companion app to great use. I've been using it to find collectibles and track achievements. I know people use YouTube for functionality like this but it is nice to actually see your progress and when the collectibles are coming up along with a short video.

Overall, I am very happy with my Xbox One. I even helped my roommate study on the big screen using IE to look up the structure of a neuron. Again, it can be done on a computer but it was nice to see on the big screen and surprisingly easy to control. I'm definitely looking forward to quite a few games this fall.