The year 2020 is almost over, and after seven years of gaming on the impressive Xbox One, it's time to gently put "Old Faithful" to rest, because the super-exciting, incredibly advanced, new Xbox Series X games console is here at last.
A truly next-gen machine, Microsoft has radically changed what is possible from an Xbox with its latest device, packed full of future-proof features that will have you gaming long into the next decade.
Related: Xbox Series S review: Performance, games, price, and how it compares to the Series X
Digital Spy has been playing on the Xbox Series X for about three weeks now, looking at the upcoming games list and the brilliant ray-tracing and 4K upgrades to see just how powerful this cutting-edge Xbox really is and if it competes with Sony's PlayStation 5 console.
Xbox Series X review: Design
Yes, it's a big, bulky, bazooka of a console that'll take up a lot of room in your gaming hub – bring the hammer out to adjust a few shelves to make sure it fits.
It measures 30.1cm (11.8 inches) tall, 15.1cm (5.9 inches) deep and 15.1cm (5.9 inches) wide, which is considerably bigger than the Xbox One X, though you do have the choice to stand it on its end or lay it "flat", though the rubber base on the bottom isn't detachable so it does look a little unusual.
However, once you've found a spot for it, the Series X does look gorgeous, as a big, menacing, gaming monster lurking beneath your telly just waiting to blow your mind.
The top of the Xbox has that mesh design that lets out all the air through the fan, which can get a little toasty at times, though the bottom does stay nice and cool to even it all out.
Microsoft has done away with the big power-bricks of old, and it's a simple cable to run into the back, with two USB ports for external storage options should you want to improve on your 800GB of useable storage.
Xbox Series X review: Performance
As soon as we started playing on the Xbox Series X, its true potential became obvious to us – this console is honestly an incredible gaming machine, delivering on the promise of true next-gen graphics.
Having also spent some time with the PlayStation 5, we can confirm that Microsoft has built a proper rival to its age-old nemesis, though it might take a year or two for both consoles to get into the groove of next-gen.
Jumping up from the now-defunct Xbox One X (which was previously capable of 4K resolution), we instantly saw the astronomical improvements on the old generation thanks to the 60FPS upgrade, ray-tracing, and the increased rendering ceiling to 2160p.
We can't stress enough how much better games look on the Series X, with drastic colour improvements on our HDR TV brightening the image and enhancing the clarity of the image to be almost unrecognisable on what we have seen before.
Tiny details we had missed before on the previous console, like little sprites in the loading screen of Ori and the Will of the Wisps, or cracks on the armour of the COG operatives in Gears 5 just drew us in with the depth of detail and you just get a sense of your games feeling better.
Full list of Xbox Series X enhanced games
During our testing period, we had the chance to run Gears 5, Gears Tactics, Dirt, Forza Horizon 4, Sea of Thieves, (all Xbox Series X enhanced) and (briefly before it was removed for tweaking) Watch Dogs Legion, as well as a smattering of backwards compatible games like Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, FIFA 21, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and Ori and the Will of the Wisps.
Xbox Series X review: Ray-tracing
Ray-tracing, for those who are unfamiliar, is a wonderful new technique used in movie VFX that radically changes how light interacts with the game-world. Almost any surface that could reflect light and images will do so in real-time, with the engine literally tracing rays between objects and calculating how they would interact based on real-world data.
If you remember on the old console, whenever you walked up to a mirror in-game it would either not show your reflection, or there'd be a blurry shade that vaguely looks like your shape.
Now, any reflective surface will be dripping in light and show an accurate mirror-image, from car doors to shiny metal surfaces, painting an almost perfect picture on your screen and dragging you in for total immersion.
Draw distances are also extended, so you don't get that strange, fuzzy image when looking across a larger map. And thanks to the enhanced rendering ceiling to 2160p, you'll get that fine-tuned detail on every polygon and triangle, even at further distances.
Xbox Series X review: Frame rate
And if the graphics are not that impressive to you, you can set your games to play at 1440p (which is still gorgeous FYI) and unleash 60 frames-per-second at 120Hz refresh rate on your games, so long as your TV can cope with it.
The old Xbox consoles were locked at 60FPS, which was fine, but there is no preparing you for how smooth the doubled frame-rate makes your games.
Scanning the horizon for Swarmers on Gears 5, the images will glide across your screen with no screen-tearing and it all feels buttery-smooth.
Most games we tested will ask you to choose between the faster frame rate or the enhanced graphics in two specific modes, with the 60FPS coming under "Performance Mode", and the upgraded graphics sitting with "Fidelity Mode".
Xbox Series X review: Enhanced games and launch-day line-up
The exclusive line-up is a little bit lacklustre compared to the PS5 (we miss you, Master Chief), but Xbox is getting a sort of pseudo-exclusivity on a few cross-platform games – at least for the week and a half before the PS5 releases.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Watch Dogs: Legion are available to play on the Series X first, and they both look stunning on the console.
Also on the first day of launch, you'll be able to play Dirt 5, Yakuza: Like A Dragon, Tetris Effect, Gears 5, Gears Tactics, Fortnite, Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War, Bright Memory, Devil May Cry 5, NBA 2k21, and a smattering of indie games (including the 100 games on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate), as well as the entire backlog of old Xbox One games like Call of Duty Modern Warfare, FIFA 21, etc. – many of which upscaled to 4K.
The naysayers will try to convince you this isn't a good enough line-up compared to Demon's Souls, Sackboy, and Spider-Man: Miles Morales on PlayStation 5, but we doubt you'll be at a loss on what to play in gorgeous 4K this Christmas.
Xbox Series X review: Quick Resume
For most gamers, this quick resume feature is going to be a killer upgrade to your old consoles. How many hours have been wasted waiting for Destiny 2 or GTA V to boot up? Quick Resume is here to save you time and get you gaming faster.
Say you're midway through slicing an enemy's throat on Assassin's Creed Valhalla, and your buddy logs on for a quick game on FIFA 21. Just select FIFA and the console will pause Valhalla and launch the new game.
When you want to jump back, just press that Xbox button again, reselect Valhalla, and within 15 seconds, you'll be resuming that deadly neck-slice from exactly where you left off before.
And this works with multiple games open at the same time. You can hop between titles at will, and the console will remember where you last were.
During our testing, we bounced between four games: DIRT 5, FIFA 21, Gears 5 and Ori and the Will of the Wisps, with each taking around 8-15 seconds to load up, though some games were a little broken for us and would crash if you played around with it a little too much, so watch out on launch day.
Xbox Series X review: Verdict
After three weeks of vigorous gaming on the new Xbox Series X, we can confirm that Microsoft's super-charged console is well worth the cost.
The Xbox One was priced at £429 back in 2013 and promised a future of impressive new games in glossy HD. Jump to the modern era, and Microsoft is promising 4K and even 8K capabilities, smart features that get you gaming faster, and a bloated library of incredible games all for the same price.
The games we played in our three weeks were all dramatically improved on the Xbox Series X, and we're excited to imagine the potential of gaming in the Xbox family, thanks to the incredible Game Pass Ultimate subscription service.
Having also spent time with the Series S, the lesser of the two Xbox consoles, it's obvious that the Series X is a console for hardcore gamers who need the bleeding edge of gaming technology.
It provides the same performance as the top-end, £2k+ gaming PCs – featuring fast load-times from the SSD, 60FPS, and better graphics – but costs less than £500, without the hassle of having to build it yourself.
The console is a big, bold statement, both physically in your living room and for what it adds to your games, and the serious players looking for that true next-gen experience will find everything they are looking for in the advanced Xbox Series X.
Xbox Series X review: Price and release date
The Xbox Series X is releasing in the UK on November 10 at the same time as the Xbox Series S. It will cost £449 from most online retailers.
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