"Good for Microsoft's first try, but definitely could use some work."

XBOX. Probably made big news when word came out that the widely successful Microsoft Corporation was now investing in the video game console department. After all, with rivals Nintendo and Sony things would definitely be tough, despite the company's reputation. However, the system was indeed managed into a success. I myself felt the need to buy one, mainly due to the XBOX release of Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance. Having owned it for a little over two years, I've been wondering--- has it been worth all that hype? Interestingly enough, I'm doing this review with the current 'BOX on its "death-bed," so to speak, as the XBOX 2 is looming in the horizon

I've decided for this review I'll rate everything from what I like best to least. And my favorite aspect is most definitely the audio. It is crisp, clear, and absolutely wonderful to listen to. With surround sound it makes the audio a real treat to listen to. On a scale of 1 through 10(being the highest), it definitely gets the 10 it deserves.

Next up are the Graphics(and for the DVDs, video). These take second place, with fresh, detailed textures and smooth, refreshing graphical models. The video on each DVD is also quite good, though not as good as the video games. Although the picture is extremely clear, on DVDs it will sometimes freeze for a few seconds. This can be extremely annoying, and the one thing that gets this category from gaining a perfect 10 like the audio did. Still, it does receive a very high 9/10.

The Game Library... oh how I wish that I could give this a better rating, but, well, it just doesn't cut it. There are few quality titles, some notable ones, that range from at least rentable to must buy, include Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive games, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, ports of the Grand Theft Auto games, the Splinter Cell series, which are arguably the best versions compared to Gamecube and Playstation 2's copies, and the moderately fun, though I also feel VASTLY overrated Halo series. There just aren't enough good games though, compared to Sony or Nintendo's consoles. Some multiplatform titles aren't even for the XBOX, such as Capcom's Resident Evil and Viewtiful Joe titles, despite releases on the GC and PS2. Companies like Rare, despite now being exclusive to Microsoft, don't haven't even had that many releases(we're just now getting the Conker remake, and there still hasn't been ANYTHING on the new Perfect Dark). Hopefully though with the new XBOX 2 on the market soon things will be getting a vast improvement. Overall, I'd rate that about 6/10

One quirk of the XBOX that is both positive and negative is the system's save feature. Unlike both Playstations, Sega's Dreamcast, and Nintendo's Gamecube, XBOX can actually save data from video games on its own hardware instead of you being forced to spend extra money on multiple memory cards to save everything. However, this blessing, as stated before, also includes a curse. Because of this feature you can't take game data from console to console via a memory card, and thus everything is trapped on 1 specific XBOX each. This will be quite a pain with XBOX 2 if it can play previous XBOX titles, since you will thus need to replay data all over again.

If there is one truly disappointment when it comes to this system, the controls definitely take the cake. I am not joking when I say that the XBOX's controls are quite possibly the worst for any system I have ever played, let alone owned. It does not matter which game I am playing, often the controls will become unresponsive, and even if I press a button no action will occur. A freeze in controls like this can be very costly; since the very moment they freeze up and don't respond may be the one time I need to move my controlled character and make him/her respond to something, which will result in me being very ticked off. Also disappointing is how many XBOX games have similar control functions. For example, in Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden the main attack button is the same one that allows you to open doors. Because of this, you may end up performing an action that you were not trying to. Thus, the controls get a low 2/10.

On another disappointing note is the DVDs. I've already mentioned the other stuff, but there was one aspect I did not care for at all. In order to play DVDs on this system, you WILL need an XBOX DVD remote, as opposed to the Playstation 2, which allowed you to just use the game controller to play DVDs if you wanted to. The extra pressure of having to keep another remote around can be quite annoying, and I'd prefer not to deal with that hassle.

Overall, I would say this is indeed a good system. For some part, it has indeed lived up to its hype, but in other areas it falls flat on its green X. It is worth owning if you can look past it's negatives and the fact that it definitely has a weaker game library. Still, I hope for the XBOX 2 Microsoft will be able to take the faults in this console and fix them. If they are able to do just that, than the XBOX will truly become the evolution in console gaming that it should be.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/05/05