Lenovo Legion Go S Is My New Favorite Way to Play Call of Duty Anywhere

CNET

3 hours ago

As a tech enthusiast, I do buy a lot of stuff (you know, just doing my bit!), but I believe the Lenovo Legion Go S is the best purchase I've made since the pandemic. The reason why? Sitting in bed and playing Call of Duty multiplayer is one of my new favorite things to do. It does come with some compromises, but playing my favorite game without setting foot on the floor? Worth it.
I spent a lot of time trying to decide which handheld to buy, whether the Steam Deck, the Nintendo Switch 2 or any one of a number of Windows devices. Here's why I chose the Legion Go S and why I'll probably never install SteamOS on it.
Also read: Best Handheld Gaming for 2025
Which handheld should I choose?
The Steam Deck OLED (right) looks compact next to the Legion Go S (left).
Scott Stein/CNET
When I was looking for a handheld, I had only tried a handful of them before. I have used the ROG device and both Switches (and I own the original) but have still not played the OG: the Steam Deck. I have also envied friends' Decks, but they have always seemed kinda janky, and you can't play the latest Call of Duty or Battlefield games on SteamOS due to their respective antipiracy restrictions.
I was a little tempted by the prospect of the $450 Nintendo Switch 2, but having to build up a brand new library -- and pay an eye-popping $80 a game -- put me off. With the Legion S, I had the ability to enjoy every PC game I've ever played, and just for an extra $50 over the Switch.
Yes, I have read Scott Stein's review of this Lenovo handheld, but I come at this device from 30 years of playing FPS games on PC. I know a lot about Windows' shortcomings, and its... longcomings? Strengths? Strengths! Even so, I think this PC/gaming hybrid is exactly what I have dreamed about since playing Doom on my first 486.
A PC, but for your hands
My dog was less impressed than me about the Legion Go S
Ty Pendlebury/CNET
The Legion Go S I bought features an AMD Ryzen Z2 Go chip with 32GB of RAM and a roomy 1TB of drive space. It cost $500, and that price is still available. You can buy the Legion Go S with Steam OS for $100 more right now, but it has lower specs.
I've seen a lot of people on Reddit who either bought the SteamOS version or bought the Windows version and installed Steam over the top -- the latter is what I planned to do, too. However, I had the console in my hands for less than 5 minutes and decided it didn't make sense to swap the OS. Keeping Windows not only gives me access to Steam and Xbox Games Pass, but also Blizzard and all of the other gaming apps I use.
There is the option to dual-boot into both Windows and Steam OS, but I haven't seen the need so far. I have seen people complain about having to wait for Windows to boot, but I just leave it in standby with a click of the power button. Click again. It's almost instantaneous.
This 8BitGo controller is compact and great for playing hot seat games
Ty Pendlebury/CNET
I've just come back from a walk to the park, to eat some lunch and play a little of the new Battlefield beta on the Legion Go S (Windows). While my dog wasn't impressed by the lack of walking we were doing, I had a real blast just killing time (and bad guys). It's worth noting here that, as a beta, Battlefield 6 is not in any way optimized for specialized devices like the Legion Go S. For instance, I needed to calibrate the Legion's joysticks to make them more responsive -- they were very slow -- and so in the meantime, Call of Duty is a much more streamlined experience.
On that point, Call of Duty on the Legion Go S is super smooth, and it's fun to pick up a quick round of Gun Game. It's the more casual games that work best on this device, and I can plug in for a few minutes, get some frags and get on with my day. If I'm looking to play something more involved -- like Battlefield Conquest, then a PC is better.
However, I do think Scott Stein's review of the device is right on the money with many of his points. Particularly in terms of loading times of games -- the handheld can just look like it's stopped working -- and it takes about a minute for Call of Duty to load every time. Not great for the "casual" vibe, but meh, I can live with it. In addition, you will definitely need to turn some of the settings in FPS games right down.
Pewpewpew!!
Activision
Bridging the gap
Until now, all of my PC gaming was done on an Intel desktop -- which I did buy in the middle of the pandemic -- and so it's getting a little long in the tooth now. I do top it up with more storage and RAM when it's needed. My main game machine for the past few years has actually been the Xbox Series X, but now the Lenovo is helping bridge the gap between lean-forward and lean-back gaming on the couch.
While my PC and Xbox are still great, it's not always convenient to game in the ways I want. For instance, in addition to loads of Call of Duty and Battlefield, I also play Steam library party games like Pummel Party and Jackbox Games. Until now, I'd stream them from my PC into the living room using Steam Link. But this method does introduce some lag and the occasional image defect, and not to mention that it's clunky -- sometimes I'll need to duck back into the other room to fix something. Now, with the addition of a $30-plus dock, I can plug the Legion straight into my TV.
As a longtime Windows user, it's the ability to do anything on the Legion that a PC can do that is most enticing. I even used its on-screen keyboard to write this sentence. Though... I just found that more awkward than a physical keyboard, and the text was filled with errors -- it would be OK to use in a pinch, but a physical keyboard is still king. The lack of a keyboard has another downside: It's not possible to do shortcuts as easily. It's a matter of learning a bunch of new buttons, and forget about navigating with the onboard "pointer" -- it's awkward and quite imprecise.
Final thoughts
Do I top the Call of Duty leaderboards using a handheld? I did… once. But mostly, I'm terrible. The Go is a little too heavy and bulky to be fully agile with the right joystick, in particular, as you're usually supporting the device's weight. You can put it on a table, and when I did that with the natty 8BitDo Lite controller, it was a lot easier to control. I still died a lot, though. I am better with a mouse and keyboard.
Mostly, though, I play on the Legion Go S because I can get my CoD fix without the hassle of sitting at a desk or turning on the living room TV and Xbox. Dead Kennedys said it best when it named its album "Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death." Ideally, those deaths would involve those of the opposing team, but really, I'm just happy to be involved.