I’ve always been fascinated by portable gaming devices. As a kid, I distinctly remember seeing Game & Watch in person for the first time and being blown away by the idea of being able to play the game wherever you want. After getting ASUS ROG Alley Over the next few days, I found that childlike surprise welling up again.
The ASUS ROG Ally has generated a lot of buzz since it was first unveiled last month. Are the specs real? If so, how much will it cost? Details are now clear, and if you want the verdict from someone who does this all the time, you have the choice. To me, the most compelling aspect of ROG Ally is the promise of taking your vast Game Pass library with you wherever you go, so that’s the focus here. (To find out if your favorite Xbox game supports Xbox Play Anywhere and pick up where you left off on another Xbox or Windows 11 PC, Visit the official Xbox Play Anywhere site here.. )
What sets ROG Ally apart from most other handheld gaming devices is that it runs a full version of Windows 11. As soon as I signed in, ROG Ally seamlessly detected that I was a Game Pass Ultimate member and even automatically connected me to my home. Wi-Fi – It’s the little things! Of course, access to all your previous purchases from the Windows Store, seamless syncing of progress with Xbox cloud saves, Steam, Epic, Battle.net, Ubisoft+ and EA Play There are also big things such as access. etc. If you can play a gaming PC, you can probably play ROG Ally.
It’s hard to overstate how exhilarating it is to load up a brand new device, fire up the Xbox app, and instantly have a ton of fun. Ghostwire: Tokyolet’s do it. The Last Case of Benedict Fox and raven rock I just fell. Queued! vampire survivors A must when on the go.and persona 3 portable It’s actually portable again!
With hundreds of titles available to Game Pass members, you might be surprised at how many games you have access to, even if you’ve never played them on PC. I’ve (re)discovered dozens of titles waiting for me under the Xbox Play Anywhere umbrella I’ve purchased over the years. cup head, Hades,Excellent Havenand Yakuza: Restoration! (A complete list of XPA titles can be found here). And of course, you can pick up where you left off in all your work.
After shopping in the closet and downloading games that seemed portable or suitable for short sessions, it was time to actually play. The first thing that caught my eye was Ally’s 7 inch her screen. Incredibly sharp and bright, smooth up to 120hz, I was immediately drawn into vivid scenes titled: tetris effect, raven rockand ground.
As a primarily console gamer, I’m not the type to spend time tweaking settings beyond flipping the Y axis (I know that, I know). And there was very little precious time spent on it. If the game looked great from the start, so be it. For some titles, we lowered the overall graphics settings by a notch to improve the frame rate and started working. Of course, this is a handheld Windows PC. If you want to play around with it, you have every opportunity.
For Xbox console players, most buttons are where you would expect them to be. The same icon is used for the menu (or “hamburger button” as you prefer) button and display button. Also just below these are his two handy buttons. One pops up a guide-like overlay to change the brightness, toggle the frame rate counter, take screenshots, and dozens of other quick-hit-hit features. Fully customizable. Another button gives you quick access to Armory Crate, ASUS’ touch-friendly interface where all your games are displayed. It’s a great way to keep your endless PC game library all in one place.
The Armory Crate interface also provides quick access to the device’s most important features, those related to performance and battery life. Players can select ROG Ally’s “operation mode”. Use pre-set profiles from ‘Turbo’ to ‘Silent’ or manually adjust settings to balance CPU and GPU performance with energy usage and fan speed. The Armory Crate also allows the player to adjust lighting effects around the stick (or turn them off entirely), a display optimized for various games of his genre and other features such as watching videos on his ROG Ally. You can also access his comprehensive list of presets.
The main attraction of ROG Ally is the ability to download and play games natively on the device, but since this is Windows, Xbox Cloud Gaming is easily available. You can launch it from the Xbox app or by typing: Xbox.com/play Just type in the included Edge browser and you’ll be streaming your game in seconds. On my “pretty good but nowhere near Wi-Fi 6” network, Forza Horizon 5 Playback was smooth and responsive. I quickly forgot I was streaming and he even came first in a technically demanding rally adventure race. I think this is what I have achieved with any device.
my Forza Horizon 5 The cloud gaming experience was also reminiscent of ROG Ally’s excellent speakers. Engines revving, gravel gliding, and Dua Lipa’s “Levitating” all came together in a way that enfolded me in the game…and the volume was only 40%.
ROG Ally’s A/V capabilities feel like a lot of power packed into such a small package.I kept turning them because I had room for brightness, decibels and overhead under. I wouldn’t say that about a handheld, considering it’s away from the wall.The battery life test is more closely covered by reviewers, but I was able to play comfortably. vampire survivors No more looking for a place to turn it on when your kids are playing soccer.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from using the ASUS ROG Ally, it’s that I like to take it with me everywhere. A protective case is highly recommended for that. I threw our tester into her pocket for the laptop in her backpack, and wished it had an extra layer of protection for the screen. But that’s what I worry about when I get my ROG Ally. And I’m gonna get it A test unit back from ASUS had a handheld hole in my gaming routine.
ASUS ROG Alley Pre-orders are now being acceptedincludes 3 months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.