Review: The Xbox Series S Works Well Even With Its Limits

It’s been roughly a week since the launch of the Xbox Series X|S consoles. Xbox has been kind enough to send me an Xbox Series S console for a few weeks now. I’ve been having quite a bit of fun on it and I’ve formed a lot of thoughts and opinions. My review will be limited to the Series S, so there will be no talk of 4K gaming or disc drives. Also, in case you missed it, I have previously shared my unboxing of the console and my first impressions before.

First things first, the console works and is silent. I have never heard the console make a peep except the little beep when it turns on. I have not had any problems with the console working at any point, and I have not been stupid enough to blow vape smoke into the console to make people think that the console was smoking. Now, as far as graphics go, I will admit that my TV is limited to 1080p with 60Hz, so I don’t get to take full advantage of the Series S graphics processing power which boasts certain titles at up to 1440p and 120Hz. That being said, all the games I have played that are made for the Series S have been absolutely gorgeous all the same. I haven’t noticed any drops in framerate for any game except Watch Dogs: Legion but that was during the first mission before the official launch of the console and since the official launch I haven’t seen any problems, so my guess is that a patch fixed that.

Now, one thing I do want to address is a feature that really made me want a Series X: backwards compatibility. I have a number of Xbox and Xbox 360 games that I want to fire back up every now and then, like Knights of the Old Republic II. Xbox also is constantly flaunting the feature on both consoles. The problem is that I cannot use these games with the Series S. The only way to play older games is if you buy them/already own them digitally or if they’re part of Xbox Game Pass and you subscribe to that. This is a bit of a bummer to me personally, and I even asked for confirmation if an external disc drive would work and received a negative. I really wish that Xbox would consider making an external disc drive or come up with a program to trade discs for digital codes or something to help fans who want to play their old disc-based games on the Series S.

I bet you’re expecting me to talk about storage at this point. Well, I feel like I covered that pretty well in-depth in my first impressions, so go read that if you’re curious about the storage situation.

Next, let’s talk about the controller. I really liked the Xbox One controller. The size and weight felt really nice in my hands. The new Series controller is a little smaller, but still feels like a good size, and it still has some significant weight to it. This is very much appreciated. It also features a USB-C port on top instead of the older USB-B micro port, another great improvement. The Series controller even comes textured, which is especially nice for me since I have been known to get sweaty hands while I game. Also, the D-pad feels good and more like an 8-way pad due to its circular design. All of that being said, I am a little disappointed in Xbox because the controller still uses AA batteries. They do include AA batteries for you to use, and I have yet to need to replace those, so they’ll last awhile. However, I feel like it should have a built-in rechargeable battery. It feels like they made so many great improvements, and then when it came to the battery, they just still got held back for some odd reason.

A quick note is that I do have an Xbox One controller, and I have gotten it to pair no problem with the Series S, so you don’t need to throw away all those old controllers. This is another plus for the Xbox.

We’re going to touch on another aspect of the Xbox Series S that I’m not a big fan of. I am not the biggest fan of the Xbox User Interface. I didn’t get an Xbox One, so I’m not sure what it was like on there, but the UI on the Xbox Series feels cluttered despite its best efforts. It doesn’t feel organized outside of the last three to four apps you’ve used. Everything else just seems to be splattered on there without a care, almost like the Windows 10 Start Menu. I’ve been mostly able to navigate around it just fine, although I find it annoying how there’s nothing on the front page that let me see the queue of downloads. Too often, I feel like I’m just going from menu to menu to menu in order to get what I want. The exception is when I just want to access one of the last three to four games/apps that I used. Then, it’s really simple and easy since they’re on the front page. I’ll even give it points for having a space on the front page to access all of your games. The catch is that my wife, who is a smart person and knowledgeable gamer, was floundering for a bit the other night trying to find Resident Evil 2 to play because it wasn’t on the front page.

Let’s talk about Quick Resume. First, not all games feature Quick Resume, at least not yet. However, I have been able to play around with it, and it’s something that I’m torn on. For many games, I think it’s awesome. You get to jump in exactly where you left off, and it takes no time at all to load. However, there are times when you load up a game and you don’t want to pick up where you left off. For instance, I don’t care about picking up where I left off in Forza 7. That’s a game where I’d rather load to a main menu since I may want to jump online or do various activities, but I may have left off during a race or right after a race finished and Quick Resume seems unnecessary. However, for single player games, I think Quick Resume is amazing since when you pick those up, you just want to get back into the action. This is where it really shines in my opinion.

I have a couple of questions to answer now. Who is the Series S for? Do I recommend it and is it worth the $300?

First, the Series S is meant for people who are all about digital games and content and aren’t graphics snobs. Ultimately, it’s meant for people who subscribe to Xbox Game Pass and for younger people or at least more casual people who don’t have 4K TVs. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate just gets better and better with time. They just added EA Play to their service and are constantly adding games to it for only $14.99 a month. That’s not a bad deal unless you’re really concerned about owning a game.

Second, yes, I do recommend the Series S. Not everyone has a 4K TV, and more and more people are going digital with their content making the disc drive not a big deal. Considering that it’s $200 less than the Series X, it’s not bad, especially for people who own multiple consoles or who just have a tighter budget. As far as being worth $300, I think it just barely makes the cut. I really would’ve liked to have one of a few concessions made to really make it feel more worth it though. I wish we had either gotten a disc drive for older titles, more built-in storage, or a cheaper storage expansion card. Storage is a bit of a problem, but if you’re more of a casual gamer, I don’t think it will be as bad since, most likely, you only play a couple of big games at a time and then can delete a game once you beat it to make room. If you’re a hardcore gamer, you already know you’re not buying a Series S, you’re buying a Series X.

At the end of the day, Xbox has created a great console that does have its limitations. For many, those won’t be a big deal, and they can save some money for extra controllers, more games, or even extra storage.