Xbox Series X hands-on impressions are coming in

Yes, you read right! Certain journalists have in their hot little hands the Xbox Series X and they are now sharing their first impressions. Digital Foundry released a nearly thirty minute clip of their experience with one of the hottest next gen consoles. Though the back of the console does say “prototype” it is the closest we will probably get to seeing the new console in action until its release day in November.

Though these journalists obviously don’t have access to next gen games just yet, Microsoft have made it their aim to let players bring their existing Xbox game library over to the new console. Therefore, frame rates and loading times on current gen titles were tested on Xbox Series X and Xbox One X to provide a comparison.

Firstly, how long will it actually take for the system to boot up? Tom Warren, senior editor at The Verge uploaded a video on Twitter comparing the Series X and the One X cold boots. The One X took 1 minute and and 4 seconds, whilst the Series X took only 20 seconds to boot.

Loading times were tested at The Verge with some games that are notorious at having long loading times. The biggest was the massive open world game Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. I’ve spent a lot of time playing this one and boy did it take a loooong time to load! To load on an Xbox One X AC Odyssey takes 1 minute and 7 seconds. On the Series X though, it takes only 30 seconds! The online multiplayer Destiny 2 on the One X takes 1 minute and 52 seconds to load, whilst on the Series X, it’s down to 43 seconds. So yeah, obviously load times have been massively improved.

How about frame rates? Well, Digital Foundry provided footage of the frame rate of titles such as Monster Hunter World and Hitman and showed that the frame rate moved between 58/60, whilst the Xbox One X had a frame rate of 32/35. The “Paris stage” in Hit Man was run on both systems, with the One X in “4K Quality Mode.” Once again, the One X struggles to hit 40FPS, but the Series X hits 60 and powers through. This stage of Hitman is considered to be a “bench mark” for comparing consoles due to the way it really works out the CPU.

Last but not least, the Quick Resume feature. This was a feature of the Xbox One X with just one game, but it came across as a bit sluggish. However, on the Series X The Verge found that it took them only 5 seconds to resume a game where they left off and they were also able to switch between five games quite easily.

From all these first impressions, it seems that Microsoft have delivered on the information they have provided about their new system. But I guess we will just have to wait to see for ourselves when the system launches in just a few weeks time!

The Xbox Series X is now available for pre-order… if you can get your hands on one. It hits the market on 10th of November, 2020.