Finally! Fresh blood has been added to the gaming mix! A void left behind after Sega's Dreamcast faded away, time was that another company butted heads with Console gods Nintendo & Sony. Say hello to the X-box, the long awaited new console from Microsoft.
Notorious Monopolizing monster, Microsoft came crashing through the gates of gamer's homes in order to put a stranglehold on yet another industry. Using its "influence", Xbox got ahold of some highly anticipated titles right off the bat such as Halo, DOA3 and even Munch's Oddyse! Many games which had actually supposed to go to another system or platform went right to the X-box due in no small part to Microsoft's aforementioned "influence".
The System is frickin' huge! This thing competes with the Ataris of old for size. This is bad, being that with everything else in the world, the more advanced it is, the smaller it gets. Take in account the Playstation, Dreamcast and Gamecube. The X-box ignores this trend and comes to us stupidly huge, yet does not comfortably seat a family of four. It's like the size of a computer. In any case, the unit is capable of ripping MP3s from CDs, playing CDs and provided you're so elated with your $300 (Now $200) purchase that you just wanna spend more, you can purchase the DVD kit for $30. The DVD function will absolutely NOT work without the kit, which absolutely sucks and that MS has the stones to charge $30 for something that should have been included with the damn system takes off major points for this thing. The only good thing about the X-box's DVD function is that unlike the PS2, it is capable of doing EVERYTHING a stand alone DVD player can! However, if you lose the remote you are SOL since the X-box won't let you use the controller instead so in that regard it isn't much better than the PS2.
Now here's why you'd buy this thing in the first place! the games!!! The games as a general rule are great eye candy and with decent sound you SHOULD be in for a great time... But let's take into consideration the most important interactive tool when playing games...
THE CONTROLLER SUCKS!!!!! I had some complaints about the ol' dreamcast controller, but this thing is plain awful! It's like they didn't even test it before it went out! First off, the thing is wayyy too damn thick. Second, the buttons begin to hurt your fingertips after awhile because they're too stiff and they're molded in a way that does anything, but comfort your fingers. The one good thing I can say is that MS addressed the issue of cord length and saftey. THe Cord is longer than your average controller and there's an emergency disconnect near the end of the cord which detaches whenever given a strong enough tug, yet stays firmly in place for gaming. Other than that the thing sucks. Oh yeah, when the X-box hit the Japanese market, they gave it a new controller which is far more comfortable and superior to the US version. Funny how even now, MS hasn't included this controller with brand new X-boxes, but you can buy this controller seperately for $25. Woo-hoo. Putting this thing next to the Playstation Dualshock controller, it's no contest. While the X-box has a better cord, the PSX/PS2 controller is probably the best ever made.
Finally, let's get to the games! Woo!
Halo - First person shooting at its finest! While this was SUPPOSED to be for the Mac, MS changed its fate entirely by naturally buying out Bungie, the creators of Halo. All that aside, Halo is a fantastic game! Best FPS since Medal of Honor, but instead of the WW2 theme, you're treated to a fictional Sci-fi adventure that pits you against the hordes of the Covenant's warrior caste on a terrain which is alien to both sides, Halo. This game is so much fun it makes me wish I had more friends! The multiplayer combat is so delicious that it almost makes the incredible Campaign quest unnecessary! This is worth the risk of buying without a doubt!
Dead or Alive 3 - Well known already as DOA2.5, this is basically a sharper looking version of DOA2 with some new characters, new levels and the absolute cheapest final boss ever. Omega, the fella stepping in for Tengu, is irritating because his very existence hurts the whole "Martial Arts Purist" point of the first game!!! He throws fireballs, shockwave and hell, even entering his level is like playing a completely different game!!! I would only recommend this to hardcore fans of the last game and even then I don't think its that great. Thanks to Omega, the story mode gets old quick and the in game movies are far less plentiful than the first. Also, whoever the idiot was who translating this sucks! Totally screwed more than half of the lines up and sometimes added or wrote something completely different than the characters are saying! And for those who liked the Dubbed version of DOA2, don't look for it here. Oh and as for secret characters, same thing. Don't bother. Ditto for costumes! The only extra character you can get is Ein from DOA2 and that's if you got the X-box magazine disc which adds new costumes and Ein with his new "Matrix" look and his Dogi.
Munch's Oddysee (sp?) - Abe's spotlight has not necessarily been taken away, but this time he shares it with some toady thing named Munch. Also, this marks Abe's and the other Odds leap into full 3-D! A fun title with at least as much charm as the second game had. It's hard to say anything truly horrible about this, but I can't fly off the handle on how great it is either... This is definately a renter as I don't see this appealing to everyone.
Bloodwake - Speedboats and artillery! Two things that I suppose just didn't dawn on some people to combine until now (though some 8-bit games do come to mind... or my Dr. Pepper got spiked...). Nothing incredible here, not bad, but it still doesn't beat Twisted Metal: Black. Nice water effects though!
Overall: I'm not sure how to feel about this system. There was only one must have title that came to mind (Halo), and there were a lot of Mediocre titles on the day of its release and even today. I have to admit I see tons of potential as the visuals this thing can churn out are incredible. But I see a lot of arrogance in the way Microsoft plans to do business. Around every corner MS seems to be out to pork gamers for more cash with various accessories and such. I mean, is it so fucking much to ask for a DVD ready system?!? The X-box's long wait to finally be released cost it dearly as it still hasn't topped the PS2 in terms of sheer numbers of quality of games. And while it persuaded a number of companies to turn on their former friends Sony and Nintendo, as well as snag a number of PC ported games, its library is nowhere near as plentiful as the PS2's nor as finely crafted as that of the Gamecube's. Also, One must keep in mind that MS is selling the X-box at a $200 loss now! From what I understand, one X-box costs $500 to make!!! Ouch! But with the cash at Microsoft's disposal they could almost PAY people to buy them in order to kill competition.
Now pretending that MS would in fact "play fair" and not do everything in its power to buy out the gaming industry, it would be wonderful to see this new competitor generate enough fighting spirit in the Industry to stir up some incredible titles and even new genres!!! We're already looking at the comeback of Shinobi and Rygar! This is a great time to be a gamer, my hatred of Microsoft aside, I'm giddy that there's finally a serious (if misguided) contender in the market!
I just hope this doesn't incite idiots to start clinging to companies like gangs (Westsiiiiiide Gamecubes, beeotch!). I saw that a lot in the eighties where saying things like "Samus from Metroid is hot!", "I am Zelda's daddy!" or my favorite "Altered beast is da bomb!" could all earn you a swirly or at least the scorn and bitter hatred of your fellow grade schoolers who would mock and humiliate you mercilessly. Okay, maybe my private schooling was sorta weird, but when Super Mario an Optimus Prime are your best friends that tends to lend a lot of impact on your life.
Bah, I strayed wayyyy too far from my whole point. In the end, the X-box is OKAY. Not fabulous, not terrible... just OKAY. A fairly mediocre system altogether from the strangest wild card in the industry, but with a bad controller and a stock of mediocre games to choose from and some you can get on other systems I can't in good conscience recommend you buy this. I can say this because I made the $300 purchase and still have yet to feel it cash in. I've played a lot of the games on it, but not a whole lot come to mind that would be worth noting exclusive to the X-box. While there's some cool stuff coming to it, there's twice as much coming to the PS2 or Gamecube. If you've got $200 burning a hole in your pocket go ahead and buy one, but I would recommend buying more games for your PS2 or buying a PS2 or even a gamecube and one Game with it. There are some awesome titles coming its way and the box is capable of things that no console I've run into can do because it's basically a PC dedicated to gaming and DVDs. Most of my dislike is due to the fact that MS bought its way into the industry, but despite being the product of the same great satan behind windows, the box generates some awesome visuals and comes off as a serious contender. And with X-box live hitting, things look like they may in fact get better. MS would be wise to swap out the controllers of new boxes and replace them with the japanese ones. I know this whole rant stinks of my bias... but then it is a rant :P I wonder if Apple is going to take the hint and jump in. ^_^ I just hope this whole things makes sense to someone.