Jaime | 
December 18, 2009 | 
“…There’s more to a game than graphics…”
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| Ubisoft |
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| Action, Adventure |
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| Release: 12/01/09 | 26 sec | 34 sec | Release: 12/01/09 | |||||||||
| ESRB: Teen |
med | med | ESRB: Teen |
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Head2Head – James Cameron’s Avatar Analysis Length: 00:06:48 We go Head2Head with James Cameron’s Avatar for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. |
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Welcome back for another exciting Head2Head brought to you by our friends at Play N Trade (Lake Mary). This week the Lens of Truth was initially going to analyze The Saboteur, but due to some unforeseen issues with the PlayStation 3 we were unable to do so. Fortunately, that wasn’t the only game of interest this week. We have wanted to do Avatar for some time now but never got the chance. Well, now’s our chance. So if Avatar is on your list for Santa then you’re gonna want to stick around to see which game landed on the naughty list.
Graphics: Graphically, Avatar really took us by surprise. At first glance Avatar looked bland and we thought that as we continued with the game it would get worse, but the exact opposite happened. Once we got out of the indoor lab and outside to a open environment things changed drastically! The graphics looked beautiful. We really weren’t expecting to see such a well-rendered game. Avatar had everything you’d expect to see in a current gen game: destructible environments, high res texture maps, detailed normal maps, dynamic lights and shadows, volumetric particles for smoke and dust- the list goes on. In fact, some areas looked so good it could be comparable to Crysis! And the best present of all was that both games looked identical. But before you jump out of your seat and run down to your local Play N Trade you might want to read the next section. As mentioned before Avatar surprised us with superb graphics, well it also surprised us in performance, but surprises aren’t always a good thing.
Performance: Before we continue, we need to mention a few things. This week we had some issues with Saboteur and Avatar on the PlayStation 3. Without getting into too much detail, the PlayStation 3 version had some per-frame dithering which couldn’t be analyzed with our software. We are still uncertain as to why this is happening and need to do some additional research (Note: the PlayStation 3 dither problem was not considered in the outcome of this Head2Head). Fortunately, all is not lost. The performance of Avatar will have to be done the old fashioned way: with our eye balls! With that said, let’s continue with the Avatar comparison.
So, graphically the game surprised us in a good way; however the performance on both systems were quite the opposite. In fact, it was downright disappointing. Even when there wasn’t a lot going on the screen, both games suffered from severe frame drops and screen tearing. So you can only imagine the performance when things got hectic. I guess the trade off is with nice graphics you get crappy performance? Shouldn’t be, but with the case of Avatar that is exactly what you get. With both games having performance issues, the PlayStation 3 definitely seemed to have more. You’ll notice the differences when you watch the videos.
Loading: When it comes to loading, the PlayStation 3 gets the win. The mandatory 2 gig install on the PlayStation 3 helped boost the loading speed by an average of 8 seconds. But even with the install, the PlayStation 3 still suffered from mid level loading like its Xbox 360 counterpart. Listed below are the load times we recorded:
Load Time 1: PlayStation 3 – 28 sec / Xbox 360 – 30 sec
Load Time 2: PlayStation 3 – 31 sec / Xbox 360 – 34 sec
Load Time 3: PlayStation 3 – 25 sec / Xbox 360 – 36 sec
Load Time 4: PlayStation 3 – 23 sec / Xbox 360 – 33 sec
Roll over to see the differences. Here we compare the different HDMI settings between the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Roll over to see the differences, notice the slight differences between the shadows.
Roll over to see the differences.
Roll over to see the differences.
Roll over to see the differences.
Roll over to see the differences, notice the texture quality looks identical.
Conclusion, Technical Score and Staff Choice on Page 2.
Pages: 1 2
The 360 version looks sharper to me in the screenshots and the loading times are faster when the game is installed, but I think this game is pretty crap. I bought it and wish I hadn’t!
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I just rented it and It’s not that bad. Does look amazing. I won’t be buying it to many other games I want before this one.
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To the people who say the PS3 version looks better you should get you eyes checked, because the 360 version looks alot clearer and more colorful.
Oh, and by the way I have an Xbox360 and a PS3 so if you look at the Head2Heads I vote for games on both consoles.
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To the people who do this, I think (insert console) is the best version oh by the way i own both consoles so my opinion in no way can be biased.
Get a life you losers if your gonna say what one you think is best do it but don’t come of with this.
imo the 360 is the best version its just a pity the game will probaly not run for to long before that peice of junk breaks!
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Nice head to head. Although a little notice that’s not important: The Saboteur head2head is missing while The Avatar head2head is your next upcoming game on the list. ><
Btw do you guys ever see my messages on PSN?
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Yeah, we started to capture The Saboteur but noticed that it had the PS3 dithering issues, so we spent the entire session trying to work around it for the analysis. Needless to say, we didn’t get around to capturing it and moved onto Avatar. Which too had the same issue…go figure. We may get back to The Saboteur, just not sure when.
Also, we do get your messages on PSN, just most of the time we are capturing and don’t get to reply. But you were right about the Saboteur! Nice AA.
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I have The Saboteur on the PS3 and it seems to be just fine to me, but I do not know what dithering issues is/are.
Please do The Saboteur Head2Head, as I always look forward to all of these Head2Heads even I want the game or not.
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Good comparison, seems like the 360 one this round in my book, I dont mind waiting for load times if the textures are clearer.
Again good comparison, I can’t beleive I paid to see comparisons at IGN, and they weren’t even good, all they did was compare screen shots with ANY detail. They just went on lag estimation.
This is just amazing!
I got my new Jasper model arcade 360! Its slightly sexier all white, I hated the stupid chrome cd tray finish.
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Actually, if you install the game to your 360’s hdd, the loading is considerably faster and the framerate issues were gone so does the mid level loading.
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Frame rates have nothing to do with Install or no install, The load imes yes and the stutter in mid level loads, thats a bit more believable.
Overall lag of the game will not change with install or with out.
I always install games I play most because I hate the 360s CD spin and the the load times. Lag I saw no difference to date.
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The only game installed onto my 360’s hdd was GoW2 and I definitely saw performance drop when heavy action occurred versus just running straight from disc. Since the 360 uses a standard 5400 rpm 2.5′ HDD, I though this was the case. It’d be interesting to see a loading differences uses a SDD or a 7200 drive.
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I would like a loading comparison with the 360 installed. I know you guys say that you test the games at default settings however I don’t like how you give the edge to PS3 games when you have to wait 10 min plus for the PS3 version to install and to have it take more than 2 gigs! I think there is a trade off between 5 seconds and 2+ gigs with a lengthy start-up against pop it in and go.
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The shadows on the 360 are pixelated, just like them from GTA4.
Think i get the PS3 version.
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360 looks a little pixely but overall both look just the same.
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the ps3 shots have much more bloom than xbox…adds to the realism
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Guys, you don’t need to use super white for gaming. I know the kids sometimes think it’s supposed to affect games, but it doesn’t. RGB full is the only option that will change the output for games.
http://manuals.playstation.net/document/en/ps3/current/settings/superwhite.html
It only affects DVD / BD / AVCHD video playback. Please educate the children if they complain comparisons aren’t fair because of super white.
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“This week the Lens of Truth was initially going to analyze The Saboteur, but due to some unforeseen issues with the PlayStation 3 we were unable to do so”
Anything to do with Digital Foundry’s discovery of better quality Anti Aliasing on the PS3 version perhaps?
I mean sure, take your time… But you guys always seem to take the longest releasing a Head2Head when it seems the PS3 comes up trumps… Thinking of ways to like the 360 version instead?
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“Anything to do with Digital Foundry’s discovery of better quality Anti Aliasing on the PS3 version perhaps?”
The PlayStation 3 version definitely has the better Anti-Aliasing, there is no doubt about that. Unfortunately with the dithering that was present on The Saboteur (and Avatar) we were unable to do a proper performance analysis (framerate/tearing). And The Saboteur had some serious performance issues.
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what is it with you ps fanboys? So the ps3 has “better Anti Aliasing” who the @#$% cares. the bottom line is when i play a game i dont want to worry about all the damn video settings of my console to get the proper picture. all i want to do is play a game. Also the fine people at LOT said were just gonna have to decide with our eyeballs which is better and to me the 360 looks best in this head to head. point blank.
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It took them forever to do a Dragon Age comparrison when it was obvious that the PS3 won. The Saboteur will obviously win on PS3 too but they are trying harder to make the 360 version win.
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Dragon Age being better on the PS3 is debatable. Sure it looks better, but it performs like ass. That doesn’t make it better in my book.
Having played the PS3 version of The Saboteur I can attest to the ever present screen tearing. So, once again having the slightly better visuals doesn’t mean a thing when it can’t back it up with performance.
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Not true. The 360 version has the same tearing and looks like ass. I know having played both. Even if they find out the PS3 has more tearing its not noticeable but the 360s poor graphics are.
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I go for the PC version of the game. looks MUCH better.
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Ps3 just looks blurrier in all their games, also who plays without a vga/hdmi for their system? not as much color range unless you do, everything looks washed out until you use hdmi
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