Digital Foundry Face-Off @ Performance Analysis (Latest: DriveClub Preview 2)

[ethomaz]

Face-Off: Murdered: Soul Suspect (Thanks Vashetti@GAF)

Murdered: Soul Suspect is the latest title that shows a remarkable frame-rate difference between the PS4 and Xbox One, with Airtight Games' release harking back to the 60/30fps divide seen most dramatically in Square-Enix stable-mate, Tomb Raider Definitive Edition. In this case of this release, it's an interesting technical decision that has significant consequences for the experience on Sony's console - both good and bad - and raises an interesting question. Does a mammoth increase in raw frame-rate significantly improve the gameplay experience for this type of game, and are the drawbacks with its specific implementation enough to make Xbox One's capped 30fps the better choice?

As an adventure game with mild action and stealth elements that expand upon the core exploration and crime-scene investigation features, low-latency controls aren't required to really enjoy Murdered: Soul Suspect. However, while running at 60fps still benefits gameplay by providing silky-smooth motion that lower frame-rates simply cannot match, there's definitely a sense that the raw performance throughput of the PS4 game comes at the expense of overall polish. The DirectX 11 Xbox One and PC versions both feel pretty solid, while the faster PS4 title exhibits more noticeable gameplay and rendering bugs, making things feel a little rough around the edges - despite the obvious love and attention that has gone into crafting the atmospheric environments and interesting premise.

Things start off promisingly enough with both console versions implementing a native 1080p presentation, and this is backed up by a light layer of post-process anti-aliasing that subtracts a small amount of shimmer from edges without eroding too much sharpness from the overall image. Some texture blur is present, and while this robs the artwork of its most intricate details, the overall impact is milder and less intrusive than many of the post-process solutions we've seen in the past.

However, on a more fundamental level there are a few things that obviously stand out when exploring the gloomy town of Salem. Firstly, Unreal Engine 3 relies on streaming textures and other assets in order to better manage memory usage and the overall rendering load. Transitions between LOD models are generally handled a touch more quickly on the PS4 and PC compared to the Xbox One, but texture streaming is noticeable more buggy on Sony's system, leading to low-resolution artwork displayed on-screen, sometimes on a permanent basis. Texture filtering is also palpably worse on the PS4: both PC and Xbox One versions of Soul Suspect utilise 16x AF (anisotropic filtering), while the effect on Sony's console is noticeably lower, resulting in details becoming blurred when view from a distance. Meanwhile, PC owners get higher-resolution real-time shadows, although it has to be said that this element of the visual make-up looks quite rough on all three platforms.

Summary

PS4

• 1920x1080p @ 60fps
• Light layer of post-process anti-aliasing
• Lower AF resulting in details becoming blurred when view from a distance
• Transitions between LOD models are generally handled a touch more quickly
• Texture streaming is noticeable more buggy
• Missing shadows in a few locations
• Smoother and more enjoyable gameplay experience
• Tearing under load when the framerate drops below 60fps

Xbox One

• 1920x1080p @ 30fps
• Light layer of post-process anti-aliasing
• 16x AF
• Occasional absence of SSAO
• More consistent locked 30fps but drops to 20fps in some cases

Ethomaz's note: DF says the PS4 version have better gameplay and controller response but Xbox One version have a better overall consistent experience... the biggest issues with PS4 are the screen tearing in cutscenes... they still choose PS4 version between the two but both have advantages and disadvantages... I will give a tie in here

[7H3]

great thread etho keep up the good work! I had a lot of info to catch up on here

[Riderz1337]

Murdered Soul Suspect looks like crud...I was interested in the game when it was announced, but the fact that they were so quiet about the game made me feel like they weren't confident in showing it off.

[7H3]

it didn't get very good reviews at all, but the game did look interesting enough

[ethomaz]

The Witcher 3 demo running on Xbox One was 900p@30fps.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-06-18-witcher-3-e3-gameplay-demo-combat-was-deliberately-easy-cd-projekt-says

PS4 is 1080p of course.

[ethomaz]

Tech Analysis: Sunset Overdrive at E3 2014

Another tech review based in E3 Demo... 900p with bad framerate (most times 20-30fps).

[Dr. Pezus]

Tech Analysis: Sunset Overdrive at E3 2014

Another tech review based in E3 Demo... 900p with bad framerate (most times 20-30fps).

Yep, I noticed the fps

[ethomaz]

Yep, I noticed the fps

Me too and I'm posting the articles but I guess it is a bit useless to make analysis from a E3 Demo... well at least if it was something like Destiny Alpha but from E3 Demos lol

I think they didn't have nothing to do and needs clicks.

[ethomaz]

Another E3 demo.

Digital Foundry: Hands-on with Far Cry 4

Well they are not sure but possible resolution at 1792x1008p... the version used was the PS4... 30fps but dips to 20fps.

[Wrong]

Digital Foundry forgot to tell that Murdered falls to 0 FPS on 360 xD

[ethomaz]

Digital Foundry forgot to tell that Murdered falls to 0 FPS on 360 xD

Really? The game is really not good with framerate in all platforms

[the-pi-guy]

OP looks really nice. 

[ethomaz]

OP looks really nice.

I'm a really good looking guy

[ethomaz]

Face-Off: EA Sports UFC (Thanks ElTorro@GAF)

It's clear that that both versions of UFC still operate using 1600x900 framebuffers in combination with multi-sampling anti-aliasing. As we saw in the demo code, 4x MSAA is present on PS4, reduced to 2x MSAA on the Xbox One, giving Sony's system a tangible increase in overall image quality even if the difference is fairly subtle a lot of the time. A closer look at the edges on Xbox One also reveals some inconsistent transparent pixels around characters and scenery, suggesting a rougher, less refined scaling implementation. This leads to the game looking slightly fuzzier, although when viewing the action from a few feet away on our 32-inch HDTV these artefacts are pretty well concealed by post-processing effects.

As we saw in the demo, the PS4 version is more refined where these effects are concerned, with higher-precision object blur and better-quality shadow filtering on Sony's console. Motion blur is a touch heavier on the PS4, as is the use of ambient occlusion, providing a slightly greater amount of depth across character faces than the Xbox One version.

Across different arenas using various combatants, we still see some minor frame-rate drops on PS4 and a few regularly torn frames (limited to the top 10 per cent of the screen, so mostly unnoticeable). The situation has little impact on how the game plays, but the dropped frames do lead to some short but noticeable stutters during both gameplay and cut-scenes on Sony's system. The Xbox One game delivers a clean 30fps presentation without these mild inconsistencies, which makes the experience feel a little more refined where performance is concerned.

EA's next-gen only UFC title can be considered a success overall, even if the revelatory jump in fidelity we saw in the last-gen Fight Night series isn't replicated here. Similar to Fight Night Champion, the use of a 30fps frame-rate and liberal use of post-processing creates a more intense and almost cinematic feel that works well. However, with all that extra power on tap in the new consoles we can't help wonder whether GPU resources should have been deployed on a 60fps gameplay experience rather than the post-processed, smoother look here. TV shows are generally shot on film at 24fps, while sport is presented via video at 60Hz. We applaud the developer's approach to fidelity, but perhaps a higher frame-rate would have made for better gameplay and would have been a closer match for the sport's presentation in real life.

In the multi-platform stakes the PS4 game benefits from superior effects work and better image quality, giving this version a slightly more refined look. Performance is a little more solid on Xbox One, but the pros and cons for each version have minimal impact in terms of the impact on gameplay. Overall, the PS4 version of UFC nudges ahead but it must be said that the experience is virtually interchangeable across both consoles. With that in mind, if the bulk of your competition lies with Xbox One owners online we have no hesitation in recommending that version too.

Summary

PS4

• 1600x900p @ 30fps
• 4x MSAA
• Higher-precision object blur and better-quality shadow filtering
• Some minor frame-rate drops on PS4 and a few regularly torn frames

Xbox One

• 1600x900p @ 30fps
• 2x MSAA
• Clean 30fps presentation without these mild inconsistencies

[ethomaz]

Evey thing updated to the last state before 12 hours disasters