The Best Gaming Console
We analyzed 153,112 reviews from 26 websites to find the best gaming console. Sources included:
+21 More
Top Gaming Consoles
Why Consider This:
The Nintendo Switch is both a home console like the PS4 and a portable one like the New 2DS XL. It's a small tablet with controllers attached, and you can use it as a handheld or connect it to your TV with a dock—the games look and play the same either way.
People Like:
- Innovative design
- Premium look and feel
- Superb first party titles
People Dislike:
- Not as powerful as PS4 or Xbox One
- Third party support isn't great
- Joy-Cons charge only on console
95
Owner Score
31,932 Reviews from 3 Sites
90
Media & Critic Score
2 Media Reviews
Why Consider This:
To unlock a bottomless treasure chest of games and entertainment apps, turn to Xbox One. Microsoft's next gen console hit the scene in 2013 and, to this day, consistently pushes to outdo itself and redefine excellence with the Xbox One S release in 2016 and the Xbox One X release in 2017. The Xbox One leverages its rich arsenal of blockbuster games and consistently expands its features to transform your console into a multimedia Swiss army knife. Stream video through your favorite apps, watch Blu-ray movies, fly through space in beautiful 4K Ultra HD, and dive headfirst into gaming adventures.
People Like:
- Vastly reduced physical footprint
- 4K & HDR streaming
- HDR gaming
People Dislike:
- Needs adapter for Kinect
- 4K gaming limited to upscaling
- The updated controller feels cheaper than its predecessor.
93
Owner Score
21,793 Reviews from 15 Sites
87
Media & Critic Score
2 Media Reviews
Why Consider This:
The PlayStation 4 has a large library of games you can't play anywhere else, and it’s the only game console that supports a virtual reality headset. It also comes with our favorite gaming controller, an easy-to-use interface, and support for both internal and external hard-drive upgrades.
People Like:
- More compact than before
- Quieter performance
- Even more portable than before
- No more distracting LED strip
People Dislike:
- Lacks the UHD Blu-ray drive of the similarly priced Xbox One S
- Pack-in DualShock 4 controller still has abysmal battery life
- Optical audio port removed
95
Owner Score
46,838 Reviews from 3 Sites
83
Media & Critic Score
2 Media Reviews
How Critic.ly Saves You Time
When it comes to reviewing the best gaming console, critic.ly is different than other sites. How?
Unbiased & Unsponsored: Critic.ly aggregates and analyzes reviews from real owners and industry critics. We remove spam, sponsored reviews, and other forms of bias to make sure you get the best possible sense of what people actually think about products.
Our reviews of the best gaming consoles were based on 153,112 reviews from 26 websites.
Get the Best Deal: Critic.ly aggregates sales from around the web, so you can get the best deal from a seller you actually trust.
Find the Right Product: Critic.ly lets you search and compare products from thousands of sites in one place.
How to Find the Right Gaming Console
Since consoles are now pretty similar in terms of graphics and overall hardware, the big selling point is exclusive games. So you buy a specific console for a whatever exclusive you want. Of course, there are smaller reasons like some people might prefer the controller of one console over the other, or maybe your friends have one console and not the other (although if cross play continues to gain more popularity, this will begin to no longer matter).
You can also look at this question from the perspective of someone who is a PC gamer. While the previous reasons still count, there are many people who would prefer to buy a console over playing on PC due to convenience. Consoles are basically plug and play. In contrast, there are a few more things to worry about when playing games on PC (drivers, compatibility, software updates, etc.) Online game distribution platforms like Steam, the Epic Games store, and others are making it easier to play on PC but regardless, it is still more complicated than a console.
A definitive value of a gaming console is one's ability to plug it into a display, and play some fun games. Simple as that. If your one of those kind of people, this list is for you!
Gaming Consoles We Eliminated
We research and analyzed 7 gaming consoles. Here's what we concluded about the ones that didn't make the cut.
Sources & Methodology
Critic.ly uses a combination of machine learning and human editors to help you find the best products.
We start by aggregating and analyzing reviews from real owners and industry critics. We remove spam, sponsored reviews, and other forms of bias to make sure you get the best possible sense of what people actually think about products.
We convert every review to a weight average score from 0 to 100.
For this article, we analyzed 153,112 reviews from 26 sites to find the best gaming console.