Average Rating: 
Rating:  - A ...Wundermachine with Cutting Edge Options.
I want to begin this review by saying I'm a HUGE PlayStation 1 fan and really had to do some research and thinking in choosing between a PlayStation 2, Xbox and even a GameCube(for the Resident Evil games). After much reading and playing my friend's PS2 and Xbox, I chose the Xbox. For $[money] this machine is simply awesome. The specs have been touted in many reviews, but the specs don't do the graphics and sound justice. Xbox makes full use of Dolby 5.1 surround, and the games sound awesome and some games are greatly enhanced using the surround sound(such as pinpointing enemies by sound in the amazing HALO). The graphics are even more amazing, textures detailed even up close, grass blows in the wind, water effects shimmer, fire looks hot, the particle effects in Dead or Alive 3 and Halo are just stunning(and in Dead or Alive the game moves FAST). The controller on first inspection looks like it would be clunky, but after a short bit of use you find it to be really, really comfortable and not as fatiguing as other systems. A nice feature of the controller's are the breakaway cords, if someone or a pet trips on your cord it just disconnects, without pulling your investment to the floor. The Xbox feature that's really cool is the built in harddrive, no more memory cards needed! The harddrive also caches the games wich makes for FAST loading times for most games. Maybe the best feature of the harddrive will be the ability to upgrade or add new levels onto existing games(via the internal broadband ability or via the DVDROM). For instance in this months Xbox magazine DVD, you can add new costumes to Dead or Alive 3! In the future you'll be able to upgrade and add whole new content or features to games! Also coming soon are microphones that connect to the controllers so you can talk to other gamers while your playing online! As for the unit itself, I find the Xbox to be cool looking(perhaps slightly too large), and very solid-feeling. The onboard menus make setting time/date/language a breeze, as well as managing your harddrive space, or ripping songs onto your harddrive(did I forget to mention you can copy your favorite music onto the harddrive and play it back in some games?). In short, if you love games and want to experience them to the fullest, Xbox is your ticket.
Rating: - Fantastic system - I am very impressed
To be frank, I wasn't sure if Microsoft had the knowledge or the ability to create a console worth buying. Besides, I'd already purchased a Gamecube ( for my girlfriend, who loves Mario ) and a Playstation 2, so I had a difficult time deciding wether or not to plunk down another couple of benjamins for yet another game system. Well, when the price dropped to [price], I thought what the heck, and picked one up. I must admit, I am very, VERY impressed with this system and pleased with my purchase. The games are incredibly detailed - there's definitely a noticible difference in the quality of graphics between the Xbox and PS2. I would absolutely recommend this system to anyone who is debating if they should buy one. Do it. Oh, and my girlfriend has currently taken the system away from me so she can play Crash Bandicoot. I think she likes MY Xbox better than her Gamecube.
Rating:  - Look at the past.......
Okay maybe the Xbox does have the best graphics, beating out Gamecube and PS2, a built-in hard drive and some other exclusive features but Microsoft hasn't quite learned something from electronic gaming's history......For instance, back in the eighties, Coleco was at the top of the video game industry, it's Coleco Vision was huge, with great graphics that beat out the Atari 2600 and the Intellivision, the system's two main competitors, just like the Xbox's competitor's PS2 and Gamecube. So Coleco tryed to come into the computer business and came out with a computor called the ADAM, it was an "inexpensive" computer system complete with monitor, printer, etc. Mircosoft did the same sort-of move, except they came into the video game business with the Xbox. The ADAM was supposed to be amazing, it could plan trips, do your taxes, help with homework and most all, play games. But people weren't that interested, because just for a few hundred dollars more, they could get a complete computer, just like the Xbox when it first came out. This was not the only time that this has ever happened, when Apple tryed to make a come back into the video game industry with their Pippin machine, just like the ADAM because it was almost the same story, throw in a few hundred dollars more, and get a full computer and guess what, this system failed too. As with most all machines that try to become an "all-in-one set-top-box", the CDTV (Commodore Dynamic Total Vision) was a "jack of all trades and master of none". You'll notice that this was the case with the Apple Bandai Pippin as well. And, unless things change drastically in the future, the Microsoft Xbox will almost assuredly meet with the same fate as these fossil systems. Look I could go on and on with examples from the past with Xbox-type systems that failed but the bottom-line is, I hope you see that buying an Xbox would be a bad move, so spend your money on a system not on its way to IMPENDING DOOM, or has a really poor line-up of games, almost all of the games are already on other systems, I personally only like a few exclusive games for it, Halo, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Ninja Gaidien and Doom 3. So buy a Gamecube or PS2, it will be the smartest move you could make!! There is even a Xbox 2 that is rumored to maybe come out in the future, play MP3's, maybe even come with a monitor, hmmm... starting to sound like some of the other systems, yet again......
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