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MAFKKA on 25 August 2009
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“Devil in the details.”

 

 



Eidos / WB
 Eidos / WB
Rocksteady Studios
 1 1
 Rocksteady Studios
Action 1077 mb n/a
 Action
Release: 08/25/09 n/a n/a Release: 08/25/09
ESRB: Teen
 Low Low ESRB: Teen



Head2Head – Batman Arkham Asylum
Length: 00:05:10

Lens of Truth takes Batman Head2Head inside Arkham Asylum.


The Lens of Truth is very excited to be able to put Batman to the test with a Head2Head in his new game, Batman: Arkham Asylum. We have to say, Batman surely put up a good fight on both systems, but  we are happy to say we believe Batman does better on one console. So watch the video and see for yourself.



Watching the video proves that Batman: Arkham Asylum is one of the most nicely ported games for the current consoles. Overall, the gameplay seems the same and, for the most part, if you only had one console you shouldn’t feel left out. However the Devil (or Joker) is in the details and when you nitpick this game across the platforms, it’s a close one but we believe there’s a dominant console here. This was a tough one. The biggest problem was that Batman: AA didn’t run perfectly on either system. When one system seemed to be winning, the other system countered with its own advantage. For example, while the Xbox 360 had occlusion shadows (SSAO), the PlayStation 3 had more defined self-shadows on the guards in their interrogation cutscenes.



Another issue came from the cameras as pointed out towards the end of the video. Although it seemed like both systems were rendering at the same size, the Xbox 360’s camera was zoomed in, in comparison to the PlayStation 3. This means that on the PlayStation 3, you could see your surroundings better, which helps out when you’re being attacked by multiple bad guys. A zoomed in camera may not be a big issue until you’re in close quarters and not sure where to go because you can’t see as much.



Some issues just couldn’t be explained. As seen in the video, when you zoom in on the glass in PlayStation 3, the camera generates some odd artifacting. The Xbox 360 doesn’t have this issue, and quite honestly, we haven’t seen an issue like this before. The truth is that although this seems to be an issue on only one console, it’s only an issue when you zoom in on glass.



Roll over image to see differences in shadows on the chest.

Roll over image to see differences in occlusion shadows.

Roll over image to see differences in cameras.

Roll over image to see differences in textures.

Roll over image to see differences in water (including bar of blur at bottom).

This race was so tight, we had to go back to the video again and keep a score card per shot. To our surprise, the score card sided in favor of the PlayStation 3. The PlayStation 3 won with better mipmapping, better overall shadows, better self-shadows, a better camera view, and better light sources. It wasn’t a run away win, though. It is important to note that the Xbox 360 won for the glass issue, occlusion shadows, motion blur, and we even gave a point to Xbox 360 for having a cleaner texture on the Wayne building. The PlayStation 3 wanted the win so badly, it got exclusive with the Joker and it’s really hard to say ‘no’ to a clown. Although the exclusive Joker played no part in the video Head2Head, we have to say that for your money, you’re obviously getting more on one console, and that’s the point of the entire comparison.



 G R A P H I C S
Although both consoles had issues, the PlayStation 3 had a few less and having a camera that shows more helps when being attacked from all angles, or if you need to find a place to hide.

P E R F O R M A N C E
Both consoles dropped frames and there was screen tearing. It would have been nice to see one console with neither screen tearing nor frame skipping.

C O N T R O L
Tie. Identical controls.

L O A D I N G
Tie. The PlayStation 3 has a 1 gig install that took only 3 minutes and yet one could argue that with a mandatory install, PlayStation 3 should have performed better. However the latter could counter that if the Xbox 360 had a mandatory install it should have done better…which we know is impossible since not everyone has a hard drive.

O U T C O M E
Although we’re pretty sure you’re gonna be happy with buying Batman: Arkham Asylum on either console, we believe the PlayStation 3 is the better game even if it wasn’t a perfect win.