Our review of the Xbox One X was as comprehensive as we could get at the time. Microsoft set our embargo roughly one week after our systems arrived, along with an assurance: the system's "enhanced" catalog of major games, designed to tap into the X's beefy, $500 spec, would be ready ahead of the embargo.

That wasn't quite the case. We tested roughly a dozen enhanced games (and whether older games benefited from X power) ahead of our deadline, which was enough to declare a few things: what the system is capable of, its general value, and the issue of relying on patches that only a fraction of Xbox owners will tap into. As we said, publishers barely touched Kinect, an add-on that used to ship with every Xbox One. It's a bit apples-and-oranges, but we still have to ask: will developers devote more effort for something with less adoption?

More patches have rolled out in the days between when our embargo lifted and the system's public launch, and, after testing them, we wanted to give you a fuller sense of what to expect from Xbox One X. In short: after adding impressions of another dozen high-profile games on Xbox One X, our system review is unchanged. Some games get incredible, obviously apparent boosts on 4K sets. Others don't. And while the console is great—and sometimes stronger than PS4 Pro—your purchase decision should probably hinge more on the games you already own, the games you'd like to own, and whether you own a 4K TV.

With that in mind, let's focus on our newest software tests.

Boom!

In our original console review, we noted that FIFA 18 received a disappointing "enhanced" patch because it runs identically to its PlayStation 4 Pro sibling. Microsoft must hate to see one of the world's biggest franchises essentially saying, "We're not going to invest beyond PS4 Pro levels of performance."































American gamers who love the NFL, on the other hand, get one helluva boost in Madden NFL 18. This game's jump from "almost 4K" on PlayStation 4 Pro to "full 4K" on Xbox One X makes a real difference, and, as we've said before, that goes double if your TV supports HDR. As it turns out, Madden NFL 18's engine (a version of DICE's Frostbite) was built with a lot of particle, sweat, and grass details that scale up and down depending on hardware—a fact that we didn't even know until the Xbox One X edition launched. (The series, after all, still isn't on PC.)

In addition to a resolution boost, Madden NFL 18 on Xbox One X turns up all of its details that little bit more. Distant light displays, grass details, and sweat and helmet reflections all look better and sharper during normal, active gameplay (which runs at 60fps on both systems). In addition, every pixel counts when you're kissing those bright details with HDR color and luminance data. I normally skip the series' replays and "camera on the field" bits between plays, but the One X's increased details and more stable 30fps lock during zoomed-in bits even make this stuff more worthwhile.

No Xbox One X review is complete, I would argue, without taking a hard look at how EA Tiburon squeezed more out of Madden NFL 18. What looks fine on PlayStation 4 Pro winds up almost looking better than a TV broadcast on Xbox One X—if only because the NFL still doesn't offer 4K broadcasts of its games. (The uncanny valley hasn't been solved by any stretch, mind you. EA Sports still can't make most of the NFL's coaches not look like creepy skeleton-men, but I will confess, the Seahawks' Pete Carroll looks a little less zombie-like on Xbox One X.)

Adventure time

Rise of the Tomb Raider's Xbox One X version has been shown off at some expos in the past few months, and its demos have rivaled the game's max 4K spec on PC. We don't have every version of that game handy to test and directly compare, but we're comfortable in confirming that its Xbox One X version indeed looks incredible.

That shouldn't shock anyone familiar with Nixxes, the fan-favorite development house that has helped companies like Square Enix port their games to PC. They've worked on RotTR ports for over a year at this point, and, as a result, you really can't go wrong with the game on any platform. But whether you're looking for a locked 60fps refresh in 1080p resolution or a combination of improved effects and full-fat 4K resolution at a locked 30fps, the Xbox One X version delivers. (Nixxes kindly includes both options for players to choose from.) I'd love to find a $500 PC that nails the same 4K/30 spec that we're getting here. It's really quite the optimized port.













Assassin's Creed: Origins received a cursory mention in the original review, and more time with the game has confirmed its general ability to stick a 4K/30 landing, with some laggy frame rate exceptions. Sadly, this latest Assassin's Creed game has struggled with a solid refresh rate on every platform since its October launch; even PC players can't quite get this up to 60fps (though whether that has to do with Denuvo copy protection or not is still contested). And while some textures are clearly not 4K optimized, most of the game's geometry and particle effects do benefit from a 4K and HDR combo; those majestic top-of-tower views that the game affords do look all the better in full, uncompromised 4K. Origins ultimately runs a little better on the X, both in resolution and performance, than on PS4 Pro, but not by a whopping degree in either department.

















Middle-earth: Shadow of War was one of the last games to land ahead of Xbox One X's retail launch, and we got far enough to feel confident that this compares favorably to Assassin's Creed: Origins in terms of delivering full 4K resolution at a mostly locked 30fps. (We didn't play enough of either to determine a clear frame-rate winner, but Middle-earth seemed slightly smoother in cursory tests.) The above gallery shows how the game looks when you pick between a sub-4K resolution with some enhanced effects and a full 4K resolution with slightly lower visual settings. Neither goes above a 30fps cap. On a 4K set, the improved resolution is more handsome, but the other setting is welcome for those who want Xbox One X benefits but sit too far from their TV to notice a 4K max.

Call of Duty: World War II on the Xbox One X version is exactly what you'd hope for in a multi-platform 60fps game. It renders at full-fat 4K resolution on Xbox One X; it generally utilizes high-quality assets; and it never misses a beat in terms of frame rate. One of the world's biggest gaming series lands on this new 4K system without a hitch, and, in some frenetic sequences, Activision's crack CoD team has pulled off visual optimizations in 60fps that are comparable to the epic 30fps adventures listed above.

















Conversely, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus actually drops the 60fps ball in its jump to full-fat 4K resolution. Its Xbox One X patch waited until the final day before Xbox One X went for sale, and yet it appears Bethesda and Machine Games still need more time optimizing the idTech 6 engine for Xbox One X's specs. Frame pacing issues appear immediately in the game's first cramped, tight-corridor level, and they persist once BJ Blazkowicz reaches the game's open-air city zones. Between these stutters and some surprisingly low-res textures, we're left a little underwhelmed with idTech 6's first bow on Xbox One X (especially since the engine is famous for combining image quality and blistering frame rates). Hopefully a patch shows up soon enough.

(Speaking of: Digital Foundry deserves credit for pointing out some strange behavior that we missed in our Xbox One X tests of Titanfall 2. That site's direct comparison of the game versus PS4 Pro has confirmed that, in many instances, its Xbox One X version runs worse than PS4 Pro in spite of being the stronger system. We went back and double-checked our own tests and confirmed DF's findings; while the game does run at 4K and higher at some points, its resolution and frame rate definitely dip in others.)