xCloud tested in open beta

Index

How to access the open beta Road test Preliminary impressions There is still a month to go before the official launch within Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, but thanks to the open beta we have tried again xCloud, the long-awaited and promising Microsoft game streaming service.

The premises are exciting: we are talking about a platform perfectly integrated into the Xbox infrastructure, which takes our profile as a reference and therefore manages cross-save in an extremely natural way, allowing us to resume a game started on another platform and continue it as if we were simply playing on a new Xbox One.

Which, in fact, corresponds to reality: xCloud blade servers are made up of thousands of Xbox One S connected in parallel, each of which manages an instance and therefore offers the same performance that console owners are accustomed to. Of course, as long as you have a stable and fast internet connection.

How to access the open beta

We had to make several attempts before being able to access the xCloud open beta on our Android device, a Samsung Galaxy S5e tablet: perfect for multimedia thanks to the OLED screen and a form factor very close to 16: 9. In reality, the setup is rather trivial and it would have been nice to receive official indications from Microsoft, guilty absent in this situation: at the moment, however, the company is engaged on other communication fronts.

All that you have to do is enter the Google Play Store from your terminal, whether it is a smartphone or a tablet, and download the Xbox Game Pass Beta app, the one characterized by a white icon with green writing. Once launched, log into your Xbox profile: a third tab should appear in addition to Xbox and PC, namely Cloud, with its list of available games.

If you already own the app but do not see the tab in question, logout and log in again. Needless to say, you have to have a subscription to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate to be able to try the open beta of xCloud: in case you have not ever done, you can try it for a month at the price of just 1 euro by clicking here . Remember to eventually turn off the auto-renewal, which from the second month will cost 12,99 euro.

As explained some time ago, the catalog xCloud does not correspond to the totality of the titles available on the Xbox Game Pass, and this applies all the more reason for this open beta. Therefore how many and which games you can access streaming? The list currently has thirty-nine, divided between exclusive products and third party: there are, for example, A Plague That: Innocence but also Forza Horizon 4 , Halo 5: Guardians and the Master Chief Collection, Gears of War: Ultimate Edition , Gears of War 4 and Gears 5 , the two chapters of Gold, Streets of Rage 4, and more.

road Test

So, how does this open beta version of xCloud? We tested quickly using a free fiber at 100 megabits but beccando a bad day for the line and the speed test did not score more than 40 mega in download, 20 upload and a latency of less than 20 milliseconds. We have also tried to use the streaming by using the phone's hotspot on the 4G network , but in this last case the performance, thanks to a mediocre reception, were so poor from having to give up: too much compression, too many sobs and an experience to forget.

let us therefore Return to the tests on the fiber. xCloud requires the use of a Bluetooth controller, so we have connected to the tablet with a joypad for the Xbox One (by now a different time you can do it in a very simple and immediate) and launched a series of games that we had already tried it on PC or console, so you can make a comparison.

The first lap, literally, we did it with Forza Horizon 4, the amazing racer developed by Playground Games, which provides us with a wide open map inspired by the Great Britain, full of events to participate in. The system has recognized our last save and has allowed us, therefore, start from there, going in search of new events and missions, and left behind up to that time.

this Is, of course, of the experience more visually complex to make streaming, in view of the speed of the sequences, and in fact the test did not go well: you note the priority left to the controls, which does not "enchant" in any situation, but there are too many shots in the graphics, and too many sobs in the sound department to be able to play decently.

We then passed to the Gears 5, the last chapter of the series third-person-shooter entrusted to The Coalition, this is also a game visually high-impact but of course, by the rhythms less likely than a racer open world in which you can destroy with your car, almost any thing while you compete.

The difference is in streaming, graphics, flows by at a pretty solid and there are no annoying interruptions of the audio, but there is unfortunately a problem of latency pretty obvious with the controls: you can shoot the Locusts, move and use cover, but when you have to do a reload active weapon you get input in a timely manner in late, nullifying the attempt.

It went substantially better with the other two titles are quite different from each other, that is to say, A Plague That: Innocence and Streets of Rage 4. The adventure Asobo Studio set in the middle ages the French moves with relative ease on xCloud and it is well playable, without any problems related to video compression, audio controls, accomplice probably a setting that is more cautious and less frenetic compared to a production action.

also Very good Streets of Rage 4, that beyond some initial uncertainty (probably due to the instability of the Wi-Fi signal) has revealed a lot of solid in the stream, allowing us to play a long game and review so the scenarios of dazzling scrolling brawler weblog DotEmu, which recreates the mechanical classic of the series, accompanying a cooperative multiplayer for up to four participants and a graphic style that is original and nice.

preliminary Impressions

it Is clear that xCloud is still in the beta stage: the application for Android suffers from some crashes and the device often does not respond to the input, forcing us to close it, and relaunch it. The prerequisites for this service, which is conveniently integrated into the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, they are very clear and there is undoubtedly a huge potential, but also the rules are rather stringent.

If, in fact, the quality of the experience is so much affected by any uncertainties of the connection and/or Wi-Fi, making certain titles might not know but, at least, sacrificed on a technical level, the prey of continuous hiccups, as is clear in the average of the requirements to finish to get up in a substantial manner, by cutting off many people.

Are, therefore, confirmed the merits and flaws of such a service: immediate access to numerous games, waiting times are virtually non-existent compared to the download traditional, and then the ability to use the platform, even just to quickly try out a title that just came out, with the ability to resume the game in front of the tv and in a context more suitable.

However, when the connection is less than perfect start to flourish, inghippi and uncertainties that bring strongly into question the actual usability of the service, or, at least, to limit definitely the ambitions and force us to fall back on games less moved: "we hope that from here to the official launch of the situation the best.