Cloud Gaming - My First Impressions

My title is a bit of a lie as I have played some Onlive (Anyone remember that?) and PlayStation Now but not since it was in BETA as I've not really had any need to use it. What I'm really talking about regards to first impressions is XCloud from Microsoft and Stadia from Google.

A few weeks ago I got an invite into the XCloud BETA programme, which allows me on an Android device play around 50 games via the cloud all linked to my Xbox Account.

Meaning I can continue where I left off with Forza Horizon 4 and earn achievements, play with friends like I would using my Xbox One X.

First time using XCloud was on my phone, which to be honest was not the best as I found the screen to be just too small with only really Bloodstained giving me a decent experience.

To improve this I bought a Samsung 10" Tablet and got one of those cases that double as a stand, this was a game-changer as I could see what was going on.

Which is all well and good but how do the games run on it, you ask. Well, that's a mixed bag as I've played Bloodstained, Yoku's Island and even Killer Instinct a game with any lag makes a difference perfectly.

Those are all single-player, multiplayer is a different story as I found Halo 5 borderline unplayable, Gears 5 just playable and Sea of Thieves whilst playing as part of a two-man crew to be fine with a tad hit to the resolution. I'm thinking this may improve over time when out of BETA along with servers closer to home as when you go on the Xbox Dashboard via XCloud the time is Pacific Standard Time.

XCloud isn't the only new cloud-based gaming in town as Stadia recently launched and I have to say I've heard mixed things on it. If you go by social media it's rubbish then my mate EoFGiz who's bought a premiere pack (his thoughts here) be rather positive on the service.

I've not bought anything to use Stadia, I managed to get a Buddy Pass from someone who had a spare code on Twitter. This gives me access to the service on mobile (I think it's just Pixels, which I have) or via Google Chrome and currently four games.

As my experience hasn't been great on mobile with XCloud, I've only used Stadia via the browser option. At the moment I can play four games with my buddy pass or buy more if I wish but at the moment I'm sticking with what I've got available to me.

 The first game I played was Samurai Shodown as a fighter, any lag could be a real issue but nope was flawless. I then tried Tomb Raider which I was really impressed with, then came Destiny 2 which has sort been the marque title for Stadia with the community on the service gathering around the game.

Destiny 2 even though much better than Halo 5 and Gears 5 in terms of playability, was still not the best experience. Which leaves me to believe Single Player is fine on these services and Multiplayer isn't, of course, there are caveats like XCloud is in BETA and the centre is likely in the states, is it my internet speed (Stadia test I should be able to get 4K HDR though), would Stadia work better via a Chromcast (people do tell me this is the best way to play) and more.

Then there are other issues like prices of games on Stadia but that's whole different subject to can I play a game via the cloud from either of these services, yeah sort of.