Xbox One X Fixes Poor Performance Games

My time with the Xbox One X prior to launch was all about games, I played so many but the ones that I definitely had on my mind were the games that ran the absolute worst on standard hardware.

With that, I thought I'd go and revisit a number of games that weren't Xbox One X enhanced, but just could possibly run better due to the boosted performance that was sitting there. With that, here are some thoughts on the games that played horribly bad and how the new power from the console treated them. I will mention that I badly wanted to see how Assassin's Creed: Unity would run, but no longer have it within my collection at this point. The very second game that came to mind after Creed was Dead Alliance.

I really did believe the game had some potential, but it ran like pure trash upon launch and it was really rather abysmal. I'm happy to say that it actually is decent on the new console. Sure, the existing issues with the way the maps/objects load or just the stiff gameplay is still present.

It's just that the entire thing is now stable, the fps is smooth and the piles of zombies don't make the game stutter out. I found this to be remarkable and like I was cheating when battling against others online. I know how poorly it runs on base hardware and I was just slaughtering folks that probably couldn’t even react if they wanted to.
Xbox One X Fixes Poor Performance Games
The next game was a more recent release that wasn't actually too bad, that being The Raid: World War II. It's a game based on the Payday system being set during the second World War. The game didn't look too bad, but the fps and general issues really held this one back.

On the Xbox One X it's just smooth, I was chatting with folks during moments where things got hectic and they lost it at how slow things would run. Meanwhile I had no issues and the game played perfectly, I was able to blast any enemy that got in the way without any problems. It was great because I do find it fun and those performance problems were holding it back from being an enjoyable time.

Another game which did end up getting an enhanced update was Ark: Survival Evolved. Keep in mind that the game now runs much better with the update, but I made sure to check it out just running the base Xbox One version. It didn't look very good being rather ugly but it ran really well.

I was shocked that there wasn't a single screen tear and no issues during combat with performance. The entire thing may have looked horrid, but it ran just fine. This is pleasant as the game is known for not being too well optimized and it was quite something to see it running like it was. Obviously it's better looking with the enhanced update, but screen tearing is an issue once more. It's however a smaller one than before.

The final game that was a must on my list was APB: Reloaded, a game legendary for how awful it runs on consoles. I actually enjoyed playing it on PC occasionally for fun, so I thought that might be something nice to play with console friends. This led to me talking it up a bit and upon the console release I was in full disbelief. It was bad, it looked like a last generation game and played horribly.

The frame drops, the general stutters and other numerous issues were crazy. This was not good, it was entirely disappointing. I can happily say that while it still doesn't look good the game plays fine. It still has a poor rendering distance as buildings pop in, but it mostly runs without performance issues. I'd say it's actually playable on the Xbox One X. These games and others that had issues now have a decent chance of having a second life if players give them a go on this new console.

Read our Ark Xbox One X Preview
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Gamerheadquarters Reviewer Jason Stettner