Perfect Dark Zero, Call Of Duty 2, Quake 4, Gun
Xbox 360
Microsoft Game Studios/Activision




Well, it's been about three weeks now since the release of the first of the next-generation consoles, Microsoft's Xbox 360, and I've barely left the house. Uni work has taken a back seat, my social life is in disarray, and for those of you who are avid dB readers (and you all are, right?) you probably wouldn't have noticed my name in this magazine much over the last couple of issues. And you know what? I don't regret a second.

Microsoft have the jump on Sony by releasing their machine almost a year before Playstation 3 will hit the shelves. Don't think it's a rushed exercise, however: the Xbox 360 is a masterpiece of design. Microsoft seem to have taken a leaf out of Apple's book and have followed the iPod's focus on style and user-friendliness. It's the interface that's really amazing; by holding down the Xbox Live button in the centre of your wireless controller, you turn on both the controller itself and the console. You then sign into your Gamer Profile, which is saved to the hard drive and contains all of your saved games, as well as statistics on every game you've ever played - this all attributes to your Gamer Score, used by the Xbox Live online network to give you an idea of who you should be playing against. Switching profiles is as easy as hitting the Live button again and returning to the Dashboard, a base system from which you can run DVDs, CDs and other media. Then, of course, you can actually play games.

The graphics are amazing, if no better then a top of the line PC; but you're playing top of the line PC games with the graphics settings on full and it is smooth as. Launch title 'Perfect Dark: Zero' is a key example: the physics in the game are amazing, the attention to detail stunning. It's the little things that have changed, from three-dimensional textures to motion blurring on movement. However, the games designers still obviously aren't up to speed with the system yet - the character models in 'Perfect Dark' are pathetic, but the technology is there. 'Call Of Duty 2' and 'Quake 4,' both ports of popular PC first-person-shooters, look freakin' unreal - and playing 'COD' with surround sound is probably the most intense gaming experience you can have, as bullets zing past your ears and planes soar overhead. Disappointingly 'Quake 4' actually does get a bit jerky in stages - it's not really surprising, considering the complex and atmospheric lighting effects and hugely detailed environments, but you'd expect more from a machine whose fan is making that much noise. Be wary of ports, however: the straight from Xbox 1 third-person Westerner 'Gun' is barely updated and the gameplay is still boring, the control system still counter-intuitive, and the graphics hardly any different.

Maybe I'm just trying to justify to myself the $650 I spent on the damn thing, but the Xbox 360 is fantastic. The games aren't quite up to scratch yet, but give it time and they'll be able to catch up to the system. Next generation gaming is here: and it rocks.

Matt Vesely