Xbox Series S review: The perfect gaming console for you?

For the past few years, Microsoft has found itself playing catchup with Sony when it comes to sales of their gaming consoles. But things are different now. The Xbox Series S is now the bestselling next-gen console in India. Yes, the PS5’s lack of availability certainly made its job easier but we shouldn’t discount the value proposition that the Xbox Series S is. We spent some time with the Series S to find out why so many of us have decided to opt for it.

While the Series S does have a few omissions, it is easy to see why they are not deal breakers for most people. Most important of those exclusions is the lack of native 4K– the Series S supports 1440p at 60fps and 1080p at 120fps. While the console does upscale content, this works well only for a few games. Watch Dogs: Legion was upscaled to 4K on my television and it did look good. But that is probably due to the fact that the game is set in rainy, dark London which hides a lot of the details. Games like Destiny 2 suffered. Gears 5 and Dirt 5 were optimised for smooth 120fps gameplay and they are a treat on the Series S with their super low input latency.

Then there is the issue of the tiny 364GB of usable onboard storage. You can always opt for the expensive 1TB expanded storage, but getting that will jack up the cost of your system. In fact, it would make it much more expensive than the Series X with its 1TB of storage (or 800 odd gigs of useable storage). But when you think about it, not too many people need more than a handful of games installed at the same time. So, maybe it is not as big a problem as it is made out to be.

These aside, the Series S is a great package overall. Load times are comparable with the Series X and are typically under 30 seconds. The Quick Resume feature is the cherry on the cake and getting back to where you left on any installed game is a mere 10 seconds away. Unlike the outlandishly designed PS5, Microsoft has chosen a simple, industrial design that can easily blend in with any living room. The Series S is also the smallest Xbox ever and it is surprisingly light too, tipping the scales at around 2kg, making it easy to lug around for those gaming sessions at your friend’s.

At Rs 34,990, the Series S is great value with trade-offs that shouldn’t be big concerns for most prospective buyers. Add to that Game Pass for under 500 bucks a month and the Series suddenly seems like quite the deal.

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