Well, first off this review-in-progress focuses on the high-end ROG Xbox Ally X, just like our own review here at Pure Xbox. The team includes a few quick performance comparisons, showing the X model far outperforming the existing Asus ROG Ally in select titles - just as you'd expect. Indeed, game performance is looking good on this thing when things are working correctly - however, that's not always the case right now, and DF has some pretty big issues with the Xbox device as things stand.
To sum their thoughts up - basically, the outlet isn't particularly impressed by how 'work-in-progress' ROG Xbox Ally is at launch. The DF team had issues with the device's initial setup, with Windows in this handheld form, and with the system just generally feeling half-baked on release. We'll quote a short summary of this review-in-progress down below:
"So, it's kind of a bit of a halfway house at the moment. It's definitely a Windows handheld and not an 'Xbox' as many people would perceive it to be. It's basically an enhanced Xbox app, and that's fine, but it there's a lot missing - and there's a lot to come as well,
It's much more PC-like than console-like, and if you can live with that that's fine, but when you're used to the streamlined interface of an Xbox Series console - I'm just going to say it, it's not as good and it's a downgrade, and it's going to be quite alien to some people."
This isn't too dissimilar to what we know about ROG Xbox Ally already, but when techy folks like the Digital Foundry bunch are even warning players of the launch experience, it's certainly worth taking note of. As we said right in our review headline - the ROG Xbox Ally X is a handheld PC with console-like potential, and evidently, some of that potential is yet-to-be realised.
To be fair to Microsoft, the team has announced lots of features coming to the device soon that will surely improve the experience as we go - and we'll link to our coverage on what's next for ROG Xbox Ally down below.
