“Which version of Darksiders should you use to wreak divine havoc on the world?”
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| THQ | ![]() |
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THQ | |||||
| Vigil Games |
1 | 1 |
Vigil Games |
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| Action, Adventure |
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Action, Adventure |
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| Release: 01/05/2010 | n/a | n/a | Release: 01/05/2010 | |||||||||
| ESRB: M |
Low | High | ESRB: M | |||||||||
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| Head2Head – Darksiders
Length: 00:05:11 We go Head2Head with Darksiders: Wrath of War for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. |
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First off the entire Lens of Truth staff would like to wish you a very Happy New Year and hope you had a Merry Christmas! The holidays around here were hectic as you might have expected, but no worries, we’re all fully rested and ready to rock the New Year. What better way than to bring you a post-apocalyptic Head2Head which allows you to take peace from the earth and make men kill each other? And you kill with a huge sword. Yea! So which version should you use to wreak divine havoc on the world? Keep reading to find out.
Thanks again to Play n Trade Oviedo for supplying us with yet another great game to compare. Before we continue on to the Head2Head, here’s a brief description of what to expect. The game takes its inspiration from the apocalypse and battle of Armageddon described in the Book of Revelation, with the player taking the role of “War”, one of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. “Deceived by the forces of evil into prematurely bringing about the end of mankind, War, the first Horseman of the Apocalypse stands accused of breaking the sacred law by inciting a war between Heaven and Hell.”
Graphics: Vigil Games has proven once again that cross platform games can look almost identical to one another without dumbing down one version. Darksiders on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 are a one-to-one match in texture quality, color pallet, and lighting and shadows. Additionally, Darksiders did not require tinkering with any of the out of the box defaults settings to match color schemes.
Having played both games side by side, it was almost impossible to tell which version was being played without double-checking which controller was being used at the time. To confirm this, we asked one of our staff members to leave the room while we randomly chose one version to display before we allowed him to re-enter the room. On two occasions he could not determine which version was on the screen and guessed incorrectly. Fortunately, there’s more than just graphics to our Head2Heads and one version falls off its high horse with performance.
Performance: Unfortunately, we weren’t able to run our analysis on this game, but rest assure that the performance issues between these two version can easily be seen with the naked eye. Both games had their share of frame rate drops and screen tearing, but the Xbox 360 just had more problems. In some areas, the Xbox 360 version even seem to hiccup and pause for a millisecond, which directly affected game-play. This hiccup was no stranger to us; we’ve seen this problem in another game we compared. The solution was to defrag our Xbox 360 hard drive and that fixed our problem with the previous game; this strategy did not work with Darksiders. Even after defragging the Xbox 360 hard drive and rebooting, the system the hiccups returned on the Xbox 360 version.
Furthermore, the Xbox 360 version screen tore about two times more than the Playstation 3. This was especially a problem when climbing up walls or in the heat of battle. As stated above, the Playstation 3 had its share of performance issues, but they were less prevalent and, most importantly, didn’t affect game-play as much.
Loading: Having played through the Uncharted series’ seamless game-play, we are a bit spoiled in regards to load times. In that series, having no load time made playing a very enjoyable experience. Darksiders does the same. Both versions managed to eliminate load times behind in-game cut scenes and cinematics, keeping the player immersed throughout. Only when you initially place the disk in your system, or continue a current game, will a load screen appear.
Other than that, the only indication of loading was in the form of a blue icon found near the far left bottom of the screen. This icon would flash when the game was saving your current progress or a slick load-time; either way, game-play was never effected. Finally, another great accomplishment of the Vigil Games development team was that they were able to eliminate load-times on the Playstation 3 without having a mandatory install. Impressive!

Roll over to see the differences. Here we compare the different HDMI settings between the Xbox 360and PlayStation 3.

Roll over to see the differences.

Roll over to see the differences.

Roll over to see the differences. Can you spot the differences?






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the ps3 version is much sharper as well ive owned both having the 360 version first then returning it for the ps3 version not only is the performance better but everything appears more clean and the lighting is definitely better on ps3 you need to see it for yourself
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I’m still torn on which version to buy, I have seen the Xbox version running and it does look very nice and they have promised to fix the screen tearing, however I have not seen the PS3 version running… so i guess i will go scout around town and find a shop running it if you say it is better
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The patch will fix this, believe me.
For now, PS3 wins sure.
lensoftruth must revisit after the patch.
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i find putting expanded on totally kills shadow detail on the 360 and i find for the ps3 full rgb does the same thing its really just a matter of calibrating the tv those settings do nothing but make the image much darker mainly because nothing is formatted with these settings even bluray movies are not using xv color or 12-16 bit color its all bogus.
look at any comparison with rgb on and off the shadow detail becomes very dark in some spots its not noticeable thats not really the way your meant to view the image
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speaking in the case of the ps3… RGB full works better for me than calibrating my tv you know why? because once you get the blacks right with your tvs brightness if you’re calibrating… when you watch a blu-ray you’ll have to recalibrate if you’re using HDMI because it uses Y Pb/Cb Pr/Cr which changes your blacks and your picture will be too dark if you have adjusted your tv for RGB LIMITED. Leave it at RGB FULL and if it’s too dark slightly raise the brightness on your tv then you’ll see there’s no change between Y Pb/Cb Pr/Cr and RGB FULL when switching.
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you definitely should not be using rgb when viewing a bluray the range is already quite wide using rgb i find totally messes up the saturation and i find it kills shadow detail once again i mean if to your perception it looks better by all means but im sure using a calibration kit would show distortion somewhere
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If your TV displays Full Range RGB, then Full RGB will actually be better.
Unfortunately, most TV manufacturers seem to neglect mention their product’s colour range
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360 version has been patched for screen tearing.
Nice PS3 conversion. However, it seems to be running at a lower native resolution before being upscaled.
This game will be worth 20 when it hits the bargain bin.
I am waiting to see if God of War 3 delivers and if it doesnt, this game will be nice to fall back on.
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Nice to know that Vigil can ship a game and fix it later. What crock. I want it working when I buy it. Not when they feel like it.
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the 360 looks like a lower native res dude trust me ive owned both and the ps3 is a lot sharper you cant tell here but on your tv it says alot
btw its an awesome game
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I have to agree on this i have both consoles played both.Ps3 wins on running smoother this time.I didnt notice any screen tearing 360 noticed.
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Great game and you are right hopefully it does not get overshadowed by Bayonetta especially on PS3.
I would definitely suggest getting this game if you only own a PS3 instead of the broken bayonetta.
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Play Beyond forums says Darksiders runs at 1152 x 648 (no AA) on both consoles. Xbox CPU does upscale better than PS3.
Framerate is solid because of the resolution drop.
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ya but why would you play this game in upscaled 1080p just go and try it on your xbox 720p still looks better and same goes with ps3 even try something like MW2 cause both versions upscale to 1080p drop it down to 720p and youll see the difference in draw distance especially and overall detail in cleans up the image drastically
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So uh does this mean that both games have the same amount of anti-aliasing?
I’ve been reading a lot of reports and comments that the ps3 version has no anti-aliasing at all, while the the 360 version has 2xAA or something. So were they just talking out of their ass or what?
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Both the 360 and PS3 version run at a sub-HD 1152×648 resolution upscaled to 720p, both have no anti-aliasing.
PS3 wins this one.
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AWESOME GAME MY FRIENDS!!!
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nice head to head, I’m shocked that a port turned out better on the ps3…hmm, I can’t wait for the 40th Day H2H.
I will also have to say I’m gonna wait for GOW 3, This game strikers me as a Ratchet and clank/GOW game. I’ll pass.
Army of 2 on the other and I wont pass;D
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Considering the devs said that the game was developed in an ‘xbox-friendly environment’ I’d say they did a stellar job bringing it over to PS3…
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if you dont at least try this game you will miss one of the best games in a while
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definitely a tie but suprised at how dated the game looks.
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Tie? It’s a clear win for PS3 version.
Also, cutscenes are video files, there are more compressed on 360: http://www.videogameszone.de/m,browser_fullscreen/?pic_mode=fullscreen&pic=%2Fscreenshots%2Foriginal%2F2010%2F01%2FDarksiders_Xbox_360_vs_PS3_18.jpg&name=Darksiders%20Grafik-Vergleich%3A%20Keine%20Unterschiede%20zwischen%20PS3-%20und%20Xbox%20360-Version
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I’m buying this one for sure, great art, great game.
Reminds me a lot of the Soul Reaver series. This genre is missing these days.
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The game looks like a MMORPG.
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http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/105/1058958p1.html
Hope they give this game another look to see if the patch makes it equal to PS3.
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even tho the patch will fix the tearing it will make the framrate worse. PS3 still wins.
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Graphics is a tie, performance is what puts the PS3 on top, if they are to patch the technical problems on the 360 version I would call this a tie. It seems like they led development on PS3 and ported over but if it was vice versa im surprised the port came out better than the original. Anyway great first effort for Vigil, great game, above average visuals, AA wouldve made this game look beautiful.
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they developed it on xbox and ported it to ps3 they just did an amazing job on it, alot bettter than 90% of other devs who port
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One of the best games I’ve played in a long time. Seriously go out and get this game!
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The xbox 360 version has slighty better textures an shadows, but fails in perfomance.
johnn madureira, in his statement announced that a patch will be released soon, to fix all these problems on the xbox 360 version…
hope it come soom
i hate screentearin
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beware that even tho the patch will fix the tearing it will make the framrate worse. PS3 still wins.
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Hmm i must disagree.. I think the ps3 is abit sharper.
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ps3 version is sharper and lighting is more pronounced ive had the 360 version ps3 wins go look at other screen shots on the net if you dont believe these guys
textures are also sharper on ps3 360 actually has a bit of that muddy look compared side by side remember i had the 360 version first then returned it ps3 better in performance and looks
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the ps3 version clearly have better textures
http://www.lensoftruth.com/wp-content/gallery/h2h_darksiders/xbox-360-rollover_ds_03.jpg
http://www.lensoftruth.com/wp-content/gallery/h2h_darksiders/ps3-rollover_ds_03.jpg
no need to be in denial.
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I think the screenshot with the eye-patched angel is a cut-scene and if you notice the scars over his patch-they seem blurrier on the 360. Kind of nice to see developers taking advantage of uncompressed video with the blu-ray now.
As for in-game aspects, they’re quite identical; it’s hard to find anything different at all between both platforms.
Kudos to you guys and Kudos to Vigil Games for doing an outstanding job for making both multi-platform games on par with each other.
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The sharpness on the ps3 textures almost look like a result of unfiltered textures.
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ps3 version is more sharp all over if you owned both versions you would see the difference ps3 hands down prettier
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the forehead of that angle kind of thing (last pic) seems to have way better textures on the ps3!!
guys, what do you think about the game? is it really that great?
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I personally love the game, but it’s definitely my style of game. If you look at a majority of the reviews they are all pretty glowing. And even gametrailers who nitpicks the game in their review gave it a nice score.
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Not that big of a win, but still a win. I might rent this game, since I’m playing through Bayonetta atm.
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good head 2 head!
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I played this on the Xbox and the screen tearing was hideous seriously, especially considering the graphics are pretty outdated (cutscenes aside since it’s pre rendered)
as for john comment on how he hopes this dun get overshadowed by bayonetta: for me I hope it does especially in the USA since gameplay wise darksiders is so far behind it hurts (17 to 20hours to complete darksiders 100%, bayonetta is more of a 60-80h depending on your level if you plan to unlock everything)
Rent Darksiders on PS3, buy bayonetta on Xbox
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From this point in time, the ps3 games are going to perform much better then the 360 versions. im picking up a pattern. im not into games like these that incorprate and mock religon, however.good head2head though, my compliments.
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don’t even bother with Bayonetta,
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FINALLY! The PS3 wins! Owning all 3 systems (and then some) I’m always curious to see which version to buy!
Usually I opt for the Xbox version as they usually win the head to head, but I’m glad you guys (Lens of Truth) are around!
Now I can finally add another game to my PS3 library! =D
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xbox360 wins again!
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This is under PS3 winners… lol
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xbox360 looks better so xbox360 is winrawr.
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Considering your name is bigst00pid I don’t think you have much credibility!
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From the screens, looks like the PS3 version wins. I rented it on the 360, and the screen tearing was atrocious. I haven’t played in almost a week, so I haven’t checked the patch. I own both systems, and my gut told me to rent the 360 version, as they are almost always better. Guess my gut can be wrong once in a while.
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fun game no matter what console you play on but i bought the ps3 version to avoid the hiccups of the 360
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I’ve got the 360 version, I have noticed the screen tearing etc. but I like to buy my multiplats on 360, although I admit in hindsight I may have purchased it on PS3.
With regards to the whole RGB Full/Expanded Levels, these setting are TV dependant. Some TV’s can still show the full black range with these enabled some TV’s can’t. The key is calibration. Its no good just turning on RGB full and then playing with the brightness setting, you need a scale to calibrate it with.
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On the last page, the last picture you can clearly see more detail on the ps3 roll over.
I’ll say this again, if this has been ported off the 360 version, congrads to the porters.
If its the other way around, good job you didn’t make the same mistake as the Ghostbusters crew.
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Like I said earlier, I think it’s a pre-recorded cut-scene using in-game engine assets which is why the 360 may have gotten a compressed video while the PS3 has the blu-ray to avoid that. All the other screens look quite identical each other because the rest of the shots are in-game.
I think it’s a strong possibility only cause it is a way that devs could have masked the loading screens (Uncharted 2 had done the same).
I’ve been playing the game for awhile and kinda have noticed that the quality when it switches to a cut-scene seems to be a bit crisper(although, at the same time I feel that there is some sort of compression in the videos).
But then again, I could be wrong but this my speculation. Would the staff be able to confirm this?
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“I think it’s a strong possibility only cause it is a way that devs could have masked the loading screens (Uncharted 2 had done the same).”
Not really. You can skip the cut scenes on Uncharted 2 and you’ll immediately jump into the level.
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Yeah, I believe most of the loading for Uncharted 2 was done when yopu first start the game. It’s a pretty long initial loading screen.
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That first loading screen was really long. All of my Fallout 3 playing time caused me to think that it had froze.
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The 360 patch for vsynch and other issues is currently undergoing XBL certification. Will LOT be reviewing the changes, and changing their face-off scores if necessary?
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I think Lens of Truth has commented on many other Head2Heads that they compare the games “as is” and “out of the box”. Why would they do another comparison with a patched version? The 360 version had more performance issues out of the box, so it was the inferior version. The patch “might” bring it to the same level as the PS3 version but that remains to be seen. Just accept that the PS3 won this time around. I own both consoles so I’m not biased either way. I just want the best version.
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I have both consoles as well. It’s fair enough to compare initial release versions, but for actual consumers it’s important to point out where games have been improved.
Like Bioshock for the PS3, for example. Originally it was sub-standard, but was improved with patches.
As for “why would they do another comparison”, well, why wouldn’t they? Is the point to have an accurate comparison of games, or not?
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Yes, that is the point but I also think it is rare for a gaming site to revise their opinion due to a patch. Most review sites believe that a consumer product should be “perfect” as soon as you get it in your hands, not improved over time. I think the whole patch phenomenon is just an excuse for developers to rush a game out the door and fix it later. Just last generation, games had a higher level of polish then they do now IMO. Now with the 360 and PS3’s online capabilities, it’s much easier to just patch a game if it is substandard. You used Bioshock as an example and I’m sure you’re aware that they did a Head2Head for that game as well. Yet, they did not revise their comparison after the PS3 got patched. It would be odd and appear biased if they did so for the 360 version of Darksiders.
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I would say its a possibility for the patch to bring down the Screen tearing but you never know, but the amount that has happened on screen (I rented it for the hell of it on 360, I dont own it on ps3)It was pretty bad. I mean it just seems lack of optimization and not only that sometimes it takes a sec for things to render.
We’ll see what happens:D
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Nice head to head but there is something wrong. The PS3 version install arround 3Gb of data during the CGI scene of the game
You can check in your installed game if you don’t trust me.
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The vsync patch for the 360 WILL lower the overall framerate. The PS3 version still wins.
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Why wasn’t Lens of Truth able to run their performance test on Darksiders but was able to on Bayonetta (which was already obviously widely known to be a better performer on the 360) and many other titles? With the consideration that the 360 patch for Darksiders may relinquish its problems, or cause new ones, it may be a good idea for the staff at LoT to go back and make that performance comparison after the patch is released. As one post said it may appear to be “biased” towards the 360 since Lens of Truth is there to review titles “as is” from the box, but don’t new titles occasionally have patches ready for day of release, thus negating the idea that the game is going to be reviewed “as is” new from a box? It really offers those gamers that wish to own the best possible version a comparative review of what is currently available and not just a review of what was available at launch of a title. I know that I originally wanted to own the title on the 360 (and would sell my PS3 version if it was found to run better on 360). I purchased it on the PS3 due to its technical issues. I generally prefer the look of 360 titles due to the hardware forced anti-aliasing, and if the patch does what it promises and fixes the screen tearing and normalizes the frame rate, then we may have a title which at launch ran better on PS3 but ultimately is better on 360. Then again the patch may fix the screen tearing, but make the frame rate suffer more than it does, or it could fix it and make it all better even the best possible version to own. Please Lens of Truth, make an edit or update to your review when the 360 patch is released so that gamers can know which version performs truly better once and for all.
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nice head2head,ps3 wins this!
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Go to http://www.darksiders.com and you will find that at Wednesday 2am PST a patch for the xbox 360 version will be released. Like I said in my earlier post the 360 is my primary gaming platform (due to multi-plat titles generally performing better on it) and I strive to own only the best possible version of a game. However, I am not biased towards the 360 as I did indeed purchase the PS3 edition, but if the frame rate and frame tearing are consequently fixed based on this patch I implore the folks at LoT to re-evaluate such a rating and rate it based on what is truly available. Seriously, I’ve already played through much of the game on PS3 and I intend to keep a copy of the game, but if it’s found to play better on 360 then my copy is going to find its way to my “PS3-only” friend who wants it.
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The patch is allready out, u should make a second like flash review, cause i have been testing the game, and it does solve the screen tearing issue, and doesnt seem to have a FPS drop.
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after the patch, it seems that the 360 version ist better 360 before patch:
avg fps: 37.632 tearing frame percentage: 56.486% min-max: 18.0-58.0
360 after patch:
avg fps: 29.273 tearing frame percentage: 7.593% min-max: 20.5-31.5
PS3
avg fps: 29.273 tearing frame percentage: 13.922% min-max: 18.5-30.0
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you know i dont understand yall, you say they are identical graphically but yet i can see a diff in the last picture his face is much more detailed on the ps3 version look at the wrinkles between his eyebrows and the one of the stone head the eyes glow on the ps3 how can you say they look identicle
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I still don’t believe this site should waste their time comparing this game again. AFAIK, they’ve never done this for any other game that’s received a patch on this site. Every game is compared “as is” from day one when the product was released to the consumer. Vigil dropped the ball on the 360 version and a patch was released almost a month later. If the patch was ready from day one, I’d cry foul on this comparison too. But it wasn’t ready.
At most, Lens of Truth could add an “asterisk” to the article stating that the 360 patch was released and is known to address the screen tearing issue. However, they should still stand by their original verdict, IMO.
For owners of both consoles, most would have just bought the PS3 version and be happy based in this site’s verdict. I imagine those pushing for another comparison either still don’t own the game or have their own reasons (hopefully not Xbox fanboyism). Well, here’s some news for you folks…
Eurogamer’s Digital Foundry waited for the 360 patch before their comparison. Their verdict is that both versions perform almost identically now. As expected, all Vigil did was add the v-sync back to the 360 build which caps it at 30 FPS like the PS3 version.
As evidenced in certain screenshots on Lens of Truth, the PS3 still has a slight edge with the higher resolution cinematics. According to DF, this is because Vigil took advantage of the greater bandwidth that blu-ray offers. For those that enjoy cinematics, that may sway some decisions to the PS3 version. See for yourself:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/xbox-360-vs-ps3-face-off-round-24?page=2
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Bro,The only reason Eurogamer waited for the 360 patch is they dont want the 360 to look bad and god knows they will never let that happen.
A lot of time they seem to underestimate the ps3 version without any reason and they start to praise the edram like 1000th time.
I dont know about the reviewers,but the comment section is extremely biased there.Anyway,i trust in lens of truth and ps3 wins in this case.
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@ashik82
I agree it’s rare that I see Digital Foundry criticize the 360. I suppose that could have had something to do with them waiting for the 360’s Darksiders patch. I also realize Digital Foundry does seem to downplay any advantages the PS3 has to offer.
My point for posting that link was for the people here begging Lens of Truth to post a “do over”. Now they can see for themselves the difference after the 360 got their patch and stop asking for another comparison. As far as I’m concerned, the PS3 version is still a winner and the one I own.
I own both consoles by the way, so in the end, I just want to know which version was better.
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PS3 version has better performance regarding Screen Tearing.. Xbox 360 version has high tearing and new patch, that tearing removed cause low FPS..
PS3 version is winner !!!
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The PS3 version was v-synched and locked @ 30fps. The 360 had V-sync disengaged whiche resulted in variable framerate with screen tearing. Now with the patch the 360 version is the same as the PS3 one.
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The framerate is still lower than on the PS3
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yup its all fixed
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A question to the ‘professionnal” staff of Lensoflie. Why you didn’t make a revised when the patch came out for the 360 version? Oh yes, I know, it’s because you support SONY… Fools! With the patch the 360 version has better performance and less screen-tearings than the PS3 and once again you “forgot” to write that the Xbox 360 version of Darksiders has less aliasing. Anyway, how could we take seriously a head to head done by one guy who has a Hellguast and another one who has Metal Gear for avatar?… This site is a garbage.
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its just a game man!
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Both versions look identical as multi plat games should. The PS3 runs smoother which gives it the win by comparison but both versions are worth playing.
Can’t speak for the patch as I own the PS3 version, but those of you who are saying it makes the 360 version better than the PS3 are pathetic fanboys. It is possible the it leveled the playing field but I highly doubt using v-sync in a patch makes it better seeing as how the PS3 had it from the start.
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