Pros
Gorgeous 4K visuals
Quiet running
Improves performance in some games
Cons
Quality of graphics enhancements vary by game
Small and slow hard disk
Relatively high price
Xbox One X – Graphics and performance
The Xbox One X’s lifecycle hasn’t even begun yet, so it’s little surprise that in the short time I’ve had with the console, I only had three Enhanced games to test. These games are likely fairly representative of the ecosystem, but it’s still too early to come to a firm conclusion on how strong the One X will be in terms of graphics-intensive titles.
At this point it’s worth remembering that there will be no Xbox One X exclusives for the time being. Xbox One is a platform, and the consoles are merely different ways to enjoy the platform. That’s the theory, anyway.
I did all my testing on Samsung’s 49-inch KS7000 TV. This set supports full 4K pictures and HDR, making it an ideal choice for this test. It also happens to be Trusted’s TV of the Year 2016.
Get Deal: Xbox One S with AC Origins, Call of Duty WWII, Quantum Break & Halo 5 at Currys for £199.99
Buy Now: Xbox One X at Amazon from £8.99
The following screenshots were all captured on the Blackmagic Decklink 4K Extreme, a capture card that supports up to 60fps uncompressed 4K footage over HDMI 2.0. The only thing you won’t see is HDR.
The first game that received an update was Gears of War 4. Given it’s a Microsoft exclusive, you won’t be surprised that it’s probably the best example of what the console is capable of. That is to say, it’s gorgeous. The huge range of colours now available to the devs shines through, giving scenes more depth than anybody’s ever seen from a console game. The way light falls from both artificial light sources and the sun looks accurate and natural, and while many of these eye-candy features fade into the background when you’re hurling frag grenades at massive underground-dwelling insects, it’s undeniably beautiful. Even when playing at Full HD resolution you can’t fail to spot the extra details.
(Temp) Affiliate Test Div
And yes, even if you only have a Full HD television, you’ll still benefit from the extra power: the console will “super-sample” your games, meaning it’ll render them in Ultra HD and then scale it down to Full HD for extra sharpness.
Like Rise of the Tomb Raider and Shadow of War, Gears allows players to choose how to utilise the power of the One X. If you prefer, you can enabled Performance mode, which dials down the resolution while keeping all the graphical prettiness and bumping up the game’s frame rate from 30fps to 60fps. That’s a massive leap, and both I and several other members of the Trusted Reviews team would take extra performance over higher resolution any day of the week, especially in a game like Gears of War. It’s a great compromise, that lets you get the lovely light rays and whatnot alongside a game that feels far more fluid and responsive. You lose a little sharpness, but not as much as you might think. For me, it’s worth it.
Get Deal: Xbox One S with AC Origins, Call of Duty WWII, Quantum Break & Halo 5 at Currys for £199.99
Read more at https://www.xbox.com/en-us/xbox-one-x
