Review: Xbox Series X

With the highly anticipated release of the next generation consoles this holiday season, everyone was desperately trying to get their hands on one. Microsoft’s Xbox Series X, an upgrade from the Xbox One, was one item that caused a buzz. The new product, which retails at $550, has a plethora of new features and has many Xbox users wondering if they need to upgrade.

The Series X has been advertised as the most powerful home entertainment system ever; it seems at least two years ahead of its time. This is an immediate upgrade from the Xbox One’s release, as it was behind the cutting-edge, and studios had a harder time developing games for it. The Series X boasts the ability to run games at 120 frames per second at 4K. There is, however, a catch: both of these features can only be used through an HDMI 2.1 port, which many TVs and monitors do not yet have. However, the loading times are close to instant for most games, which is a life-changing feature. Microsoft also added a feature they call “Quick Resume,” which allows users to seamlessly switch between multiple games at once and pick up right where they left off.

Despite the new features, the Series X did not release with any true exclusive games. Microsoft’s flagship franchise, Halo, was supposed to release a game with the console, but the game was unfinished and unpolished, so the release was delayed into late 2021. However, the console supports backwards compatibility for games dating back to the original Xbox, expanding the game library to all Xbox games released in the last 19 years.

With many new features and a much more powerful console overall, an upgrade to next-gen is recommended to all Xbox users despite the lack of launch titles.