Get a retro touch

On a cash crunch and would like a hit of nostalgia? Amkette’s Evo Fox Game Box might be the right choice

With both next-gen consoles already out in India, there is a lot of buzz around gaming. However, if you are more into the retro scene, and don’t have a lot of cash to burn, you might appreciate Amkette’s Evo Fox Game Box.

It is a combination of three devices from Amkette, including a TV/gaming box, an air mouse remote and a wireless controller. The build quality for each of these devices is good and the box comes with an HDMI cable and a power adapter. The air remote also has a built-in microphone that lets you use Google Assistant. It’s powered by two AAA batteries. The controller has built-in batteries and can be recharged using a micro-USB cable. 

The Android 9-based box is powered by a quad-core 64-bit processor that is paired with an ARM Mali G31 graphics processor and 4GB DDR3 RAM. This configuration lets you play a lot of Android games without any problem and even enables smooth 4K video playback, via USB. The device comes with 32GB of space, which can be expanded by up to 128GB via MicroSD.

The look of the device, for me personally, is a little too flashy, but anyone into lit-up gaming computers will love this. There also doesn’t seem to be an option to turn off the bright lights, so if you are running this in a dark home theatre, it could be a little distracting. The device has a bunch of connection options, including HDMI 2.1, an analogue AV port, microSD, a USB 2.0, a USB 3.0, dual-band WiFi AC and Bluetooth 5. Both the controller and the remote use a USB port, each which blocks it, if you want to use a USB storage device. You will have to disconnect one of them to connect anything else. The USB also lets you connect a video camera, which can turn your TV into a video chat device.

Amkette claims that you can be playing games on this in just 10 minutes. This is true. The box comes with a huge library of games with hundreds of retro titles, including Super Mario Bros., Contra and Asphalt 8. While some of the titles included are free to play, others are actually paid games. I hope that these are actual legal versions of the game, though I am sceptical as some of the retro titles included in the emulator would never be part of such a bundle. That aside, I enjoyed the gaming experience. The controller is very responsive and has a nice tactile feel. Gaming on this is not at the level of even a last-gen console. However, nostalgia plays a huge role in the success of this device.

The Evo Fox Game Box also comes with Kodi pre-installed, and this for me is a huge plus. Kodi lets you connect to your computer and a bunch of other services to stream content directly to your TV. Not to mention the programme can be controlled by using a complementary app called Kore on your phone. There are some piracy implications here, but let’s assume everyone is being good. Being an Android device means this box pretty much runs anything available in the Play Store. Google Assistant is also easily accessible and very useful while searching for videos and apps as you don’t have to type anything.  

The Evo Fox Game Box is a pretty awesome device; it is built well and it performs admirably as a retro gaming machine. I enjoyed the preloaded collection of games included in the system as well. Their claim of being able to use the device to game from the get-go also holds up. However, as mentioned, I am not sure if they have the right to bundle some, if not all, of the games included. The remote with the built-in Google Assistant was very handy, while the gamepad felt like it was built well. Support for Kodi and other streaming services is a nice touch, brings a lot of value to the Evo Fox Game Box. That said, I do feel let down by the price Rs 6,000 to Rs 7,000 is a more than a reasonable ask for the bundle, rather than the Rs 8,999 the device retails for. If you are looking for something to casually game on, and don’t want to invest in a real console, the Evo Fox Game Box is a viable alternative.

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