September 4th, 2009
Posted in 
“…Wolfenstein wasn’t that impressive…”
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| Release: 08/18/09 | 24 sec | 16 sec | Release: 08/18/09 | |||||||||
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Head2Head – Wolfenstein
We go Head2Head with the latest game in the Wolfenstein franchise. |
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Thanks to the fine folks at Play N Trade (Oviedo) and Play N Trade (Lake Mary), the Lens of Truth finally had the chance to compare the newest (and mostly overlooked) Wolfenstein. So stick around to see if this latest installment was worth looking over.
Graphically Wolfenstein wasn’t that impressive. Both versions suffered from less than stellar texture work, over use of specularity and poor normal map quality. When the wallpaper in a room appears shiny and has a physical texture similar to concrete you know there in a problem. In certain areas Wolfenstein has to have some of the worst normal maps of any next generation game. Most of the time it appeared the artists just ran the color map through the NVIDIA normal map filter with default settings, resulting in a noisy mess. Also it was hard to distinguish the differences between a wall with multiple building materials, such as wood and brick, as they would have the same amount of depth. Another issue we had was that some of the normal maps on the buildings appeared inverted. At least the developer was consistent as both games suffered from a lack of anti-aliasing and the visuals were sub par at best, but nonetheless the graphics were really close.
While playing each version, they looked almost identical. The only real difference visually was the sharpness of the Xbox 360′s textures. The PlayStation 3 tends to filter more aggressively. Regardless, the differences were so minimal your eyes would never tell the difference, unless however you had both games playing side by side. There was one other thing we noticed, on the Xbox 360. We found a spot where it looked like the polygons were on top of each other, otherwise known as “Z fighting”. Even though the PlayStation 3 did not have this issue we couldn’t deduct points for this isolated instance. It was just another issue that added to the mediocrity of the game.
Performance wise both games seem to be running at around 30 fps. When things get hectic the FPS would rarely drop on the Xbox 360, but that is when the dreaded frame tears would appear. Almost every time you would fire a weapon a screen tear would result. However the PlayStation 3 was completely opposite. We never once saw a frame tear on the PlayStation 3, however we did notice that the frame rate would drop slightly (somewhere in the neighborhood of 24 – 26 fps). Another item to mention was the load times between versions. The PlayStation 3 had a mandatory install weighing in at 682mb. But even with the install the PlayStation 3′s load times still lagged behind by an average of 8 seconds (sometimes longer depending on the level).
Roll over to see the differences.
Roll over to see the differences.
This Head2Head was really close. Although the game wasn’t mind blowing in any way, every once and a while we had fun with it. Although we liked the physics and death animations, it was obvious why this game was overlooked and marketing was close to nothing (I bet you heard of Batman coming a year before you heard about Wolfenstein). So the verdict? It’s a tie, with the deciding factors being performance and loading. We feel that the slight dip in the frame rate on the PlayStation 3 is far less distracting than the frame tearing on the Xbox 360. But if you pick up the PlayStation 3 version, prepare yourself for longer load times, even with the mandatory install.
| G R A P H I C S | ||
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Tie. While nothing visually groundbreaking, it was great to see both systems this close. The Xbox 360 version appeared slightly sharper due to the way the system handles mipmapping, but the both games had equal quality textures. |
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| P E R F O R M A N C E | ||
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The PlayStation 3 wins this category due to the lack of frame tearing. We would take a small FPS hit over a constant, but highly torn FPS any day. |
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| L O A D I N G | ||
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The Xbox 360 wins in the loading category by an average of 8 seconds. It is unfortunately that the load times were longer on the PlayStation 3 even with a 682 mb mandatory install. | |
| O U T C O M E | ||
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We consider this Head2Head to be a tie. So pick your poison, frame tearing with fast load times or a few frame drops (no tearing) but a longer wait to get into the action. |
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Tags: *To ensure color accuracy from the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii U output, the PlayStation 3 has RGB Full Range set to "Full" and Super White "On", and the Xbox 360 has Reference Level set to "Expanded" and HDMI Color Space set to "RGB". Our capture card we have captured segments from the AVS HD 709 . Blu-ray, HD DVD, & MP4 Calibration suite.
As you will see, each system matches each other at the SOURCE LEVEL. No contrast or gamma settings are manipulated before or after capturing our images/videos. We strongly believe that these types of corrections are done on a individuals preference and should not be adjusted by us. Finally, washed out looking images that are due to contrast or gamma differences will not have any influence on our final verdicts. Please Read through our F.A.Q page if you have any questions or concerns.*
well this is a shocker, I would’ve thought the 360 would have an advantage over this small game release.
I enjoyed this article:)
Hope to see dirt 2!!!!:D
Oh and just wanted to add on the last pick, ps3 seems to have higher textures in my opinion if you guys want to take a look The 2nd box (small 1 on top of the big 1) And the door way at the bottom.
Might just be blurr effect on the 360, but I dunno
I agree with Liquid, it seems the PS3 actually has the sharper textures and that the 360 is just blurring them out a bit
Are we both look at the same frames? For some reason I think it looks like the PS3 has some sort of blur effect on the textures.
I assume its cause of mipmapping? It looks sort of aggressive here.
Whats your opinion on mipmapping Lens?
Sorry Liquid i just realized you meant the last picture not the one with the brick wall which seems it has a blur effect here.
My apology. I went back and double checked and I had mixed up the rollover overlays. The rollover has been corrected. Sorry again for any confusion.
It’s still the same, look at the last rollover at the box on the left. The PS3 version seems to have more detail on it.
But the 360 version has AA
Hey your only human. Mistakes are inevitable. Not everyone can be perfect, like me!
Dropping FPS bothers me more than tiering. :p
The game uses a tweaked ID tech 4 engine which has been out since Doom 3. I don’t really think there is much to be impressed with this engine anymore since UE III, Cryengine3, Dunia and many others have surpassed it.
I’m still looking forward to ID tech 5. It looks very promising.
dunia had very impressive landscapes but terrible character models. Also its one of those engines that looks good if your blazing through the game, or just always moving, but once you take a look, most of the impressive work is the fire. Trees lack detail (ie they look like aliens with leaves sometimes and also where they connect to the ground they look old school).
Crysis on the other hand has very beautiful foliage and attention to details but lacks diversity and eventually looks like an everyday game.
I personally love Hl2 games, and the source engine. Its not as shader heavy as crytek or as much range, but has diversity in game.
Well it just seems like I’m comparing the games not the engines though lol, i mean I’d assume the Cry engine could do the same.
P.S
What I mean is hl2 you actually feel like everything is very humaine, while in Crysis everything looks picture perfect, where everything is detailed very linearly. IN Hl2 they have pop cans, garbage, sprays, broken towers, and the environment is more live:P.
Anyways hahaah ranting on:P
but ur right liquidext the first comparison screen shot(the roll over 1) seems to be slightly clearly on the 360, but it doesn’t strike the eye as fast as it does on the 2nd one thats why I suggest the 2nd 1 more, since it could be seen with out looking for it:).
K off to the airport:D
doom 3 engine is always best with nvidia card, not really suprised here. Just Look at Quake 4 on 360 compare to the PC version with some Geforce 7 cards.
too bad the ps3 is help back by the 360…
oh sony fanboys are everywhere!!1
yeah and xbox b!tches are too;) paying every small thing;) Kinda like prostitution!
I have both so i really couldn’t care, but I hacked my 360, so Microsoft can cram it with wallnuts.
lens of truth lost credibility.. since they said batman arkham asylum looked better on ps3.. even sony fanboys knows ps3 version lack of some effects like ambient oclussion and antiliasing. Ign h2h and digital foundry have a completely different opinion, and i made the comparision with my ps3fanboy friend… . but these days sony fanboys are more and more..!! face the facts sony fanboys!! and enjoy your games!!
Cj you a freaking idiot and you obviously didn’t read the Batman Article. there’s more to a god damn game then graphics you freaking Xbot fan boys are ridiculously retarded. ONE MORE TIME FOR YOU SLOW PEOPLE!! There’s more to a game THEN GRAPHICS!!.
Why is lensoftruth so scared to say XBOX 360 LOOKS BETTER THEY WON. No they are afraid of the sony fanboys because only they care. Look at the ps3 wins closely and you will see often the 360 looks better but the ps3 gets the win. Also look at the reactions. Almost all of them are from ps3 people. I own both ps3 and 360 for some years now. I can say in all of the 1000′s of hours of gaming on both. That the 360 games look better. The ps3 often lacks of AA and often has low textures. That is why I now only get the exclusives on ps3 and rest on xbox 360.
Well I’m glad you are laughing since your comment made me laugh. As usual most commentors never read the full article. There is no doubt that the Xbox 360 has SLIGHTLY better textures in Batman. Unfortunately this small difference doesn’t affect the overall game experience with Batman. Graphics solely do not decide a head2head. The purpose of our H2Hs is too allow the gamer with both consoles to make an educated decision on which version is better. We are not the be all end all decision makers. As I have said before it is ultimately your choice. When playing a game like AA the PS3 having a better camera position gives a better sense of the environment within the game. There were a few minor differences technically between both version that if we only based our H2Hs on textures an graphic quality the 360 would have won. Fortunately for all the gamers out there we are not art critics and you actually have to play the game not just look at it. So once again the decision is based on the game as a whole gaming experience not just judging the books by the cover. Anyway thanks for the comment and I hope you play all the way through Batman, the story and actual gameplay are very good.
lol @ lot, that is the only logical plan in this current gen… my PS3 is a Blue-Ray and exclusives only machine. Still I am excited about next years PS3 lineup.
Jason, While I appreciate that your h2h is trying to encompass more than a strait graphical comparison. I feel that h2h are ultimately about graphics and awarding a comparison based on something as subjective as camera angle, is dicey. IMHO, based on the demo, I liked the 360 close up view better.
Still, I enjoy reading your writeup and love the shatness they cause. Keep up the good work.
Thanks Biggie
The H2Hs encompass everything about the game. It is never just based on graphics. All our H2Hs are scored on performance, control etc.. We are implimenting a new template to show a points system so this controversy doesn’t keep coming up. Remember each H2H is done as if the others didn’t exist. each game is of a different genre and can not be compared the same every time. This would be terribly inaccurate. Also the camera in Batman is not subjective because it is in a fixed position, therefore being an excellent comparison point. In most cases the camera can be moved to compensate one way or the other but not in Batman. The only piece of advice I can give you is please play games for other reasons than their graphics. There are many good games out there that don’t look as good as the others. Also there are some that are beautiful (Assassin’s Creed) games that have no substance or gameplay so the graphics just mislead you. We would be doing our fans an extreme injustice if we just based our H2Hs on graphics alone.
Thanks Again
ppl were dropped on their heads as kids or are just plain dumb kids.
Considering most of your head to heads are toward 360, yet as soon as you say 1 small thin against the 360, fanboys go soft.
This is why I buy both systems that way I get the one that looks best.
although I’ll say this, for multiplatforms the 360 seems to pull ahead most of the time. blame that on lousy porting and sony’s amazing make everything their own;)
@Tempjfim: im not an xbox fan.. i just hate sony fanboys whith their nonsense crap!!.. thats all.. MIND CONTROL.. get a life man..
Maybe you should read this article
http://neocrisis.com/articles/8-gaming/3813-360-fanboys-let-microsoft-get-away-with-too-much
Honestly i doubt i’ll buy this game, considering its not very good in comparison to the other wolfensteins, esp ET, which had NO Story and probably is more enjoyable.
Whats weird is when you do sidebyside comparisons its hard to see the difference until you do a rollover, then its where people start pointing fingers
once again the PS3 is fuzzy
They didn’t lose any credibility with me. I use both systems because I like GAMES and I like having the CHOICE. I come here to get an expert’s point of view. You should spend time in forums you actually like. I hear the Player Haters Ball is coming up, you should attend!
Oops that was for cj’s first comment. Oh well…
this game sucks so who cares?
PLAY BATMAN ARKHAM ASYLUM! THIS GAMES IS AWESOME!
I don’t understand why there isn’t a blind comparison for people to do before hand. Before the article or even loading the page offer an unlabeled side-by-side and mouse-over comparisons of the screen shots in the article, and mix them up, not always PS on left etc.
Then tell the viewer which version they chose most. Record/display the results in a graph and then offer the poll.
THEN show the article.
Thanks M
a blind comparison is a great idea but I believe we will save that for a contest, drawing, etc.. Most of the readers just seem to dislike when the only sysytem they own loses the H2H. Our captures are taken directly from the source so unless you are doing the same at home you will not see what we are displaying. we really don’t want to make a game out of this and the facts are the facts. we are implimenting a new template which should take most of the controversy away. But there are a lot of fanboys out there who would purposely try and discredit either side. So thanks for the idea and maybe in the future we can try this.
if a game looks sharper and loads faster on one system, I would clearly say that system should win, batman should be a tie, it seems like this site although they had to tip their hat to the 360 on the more obvious games; tends to tie or give it to the ps3 if its closer, even when the 360 should win.
yeah steve your right, this site is full of Natzi out to take over the world by tipping the scales towards the japs.
Dear god LOT your found out, plan B go after Iphone!!!!!!
CODE ID107!!!!!
Slick Shoes..are you crazy!!
don’t listen to these fools jasaon, us real gamers who own multple consles find your h2h a huge help when decidng which platform to buy on. thanx and keep up the good work.
Slick Shoes? lol
Gosh Xbots are still buthurt from Batman AA? Seriously, now they they complain when a game comparison gets a tie? It’s like they are 3 year olds who gives temper tantrum for not getting what they want.
Keep up the good work LoT. You guys rock!
Thanks guys, we truly appreciate the support.
I was just playing the game and realized that it has very poor sound positioning and distance effects. I use surround sound or surround head phones and the sounds were in wrong location a lot. or were heard nearby when they were a wall away.
Maybe it could be a good thing to test in games is the surround sound audio?
Oh come on we all know the 360 version is better !!
360 is A LOT better. Take a look closer and you’ll all see. PS3 is lowres textures. Graphics: 360 WIN.
Staff, I think that you have to change your H2H comparison method, no with a simple: ps3 wins, or x360 wins or tie, maybe with a rate comparison like ign, gamespot, etc in order to be a more just comparison, because sometimes the graphics are much better or another times the performance is better in a console, but they are considered only with a point. For example in this game:
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-PS3: 8/10
-Xbox 360: 9/10
The Xbox 360 version appeared slightly sharper due to the way the system handles mipmapping, but the both games had equal quality textures.
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-Ps3: 8/10
-Xbox 360: 6/10
The PlayStation 3 wins this category due to the lack of frame tearing. We would take a small FPS hit over a constant, but highly torn FPS any day.
<>
-PS3: 6/10
Xbox 360: 9/10
The Xbox 360 wins in the loading category by an average of 8 seconds. It is unfortunately that the load times were longer on the PlayStation 3 even with a 682 mb mandatory install.
Outcome:
-PS3: 22/30
-Xbox 360: 24/30
frame tearing with fast load times in xbox 360 or a few frame drops (no tearing) but a longer wait to get into the action PS3.
We might consider this Head2Head to be a tie but 2 points of difference have given us the final desición.
This is a more just decision or no?
That is an interesting idea and solution but I would like to understand how they would give points for each category. For ex: How many points would textures be worth? I’m fine with putting numbers on reviews, but it doesn’t need to be on everything.
leave the site.just go to digitalfoundry to see more professional and fair reviews.
XBOX 360 version has frame tearing????
Forget that version. Frame tearing is the worst thing that games can have.
PS3 version Wins.
Says the butthurt Ps3 fanboy
)
What was last time I checked ?!
xbox 19 won
ps2 9 won
wow that double tehehehe
* Ps3 9 won *
sorry for the bad typo
this comparison is bullshit, I played both version, the 360 using a 720p tv and the ps3 using a sd tv and the ps3 version looked better and felt better, this site it’s nothing but a bunch of 360 fanboys!!!
You have to be a moron! Look at the Batman:AA comparison and you’ll see that PS3 version won there. So are they X360 fans or just are making realistic comparisons?!
Wolfenstein looks slightly better on the XBox360, plus it has better controller for the FPP games. I choose XBox360. BTW, I’d like to see X360 vs PC comparison:-)