Running from an in-house engine, brand development director Rob Schneider admits the game operates at a native 1600x900 with 30fps as its refresh target. With post-processing AA and full-screen motion blur in effect though, the depreciation from a full native 1080p frame-buffer isn't always noticed here in practice - it's still a fine looking game. Even so, long views of Sunset City's skyline lack the clarity seen in similarly post-processed titles, including inFamous: Second Son.
But even with resolution dropped to 900p, performance is a nagging concern during our hands-on with Sunset Overdrive at E3 - a Chaos Squad co-op match involving eight players defending a central point. The Wondertown Land level shown here uses a similar fairground theme as the E3 conference demo, but with effects engulfing the screen far more incessantly during play. As a result of all the rapid rail-grinding and TnTeddy explosions from all sides, the frame-rate is distinctly in the 20-30fps range at most points.
Our frame-rate analysis of Microsoft E3 briefing segment shows similar performance issues, but these rarely last for quite the same durations. For the record, our analysis is based on full 60Hz captures taken on-site, derived from an uncompressed source. In short, full direct feed from the game itself - assuming it is in fact a real-time in-game playthrough.
At its worst is a drop to 22fps during a combination of all these stress points. Sunset Overdrive also employs a very light adaptive v-sync, allowing the screen to very subtly tear within the top 10 per cent of the screen. Fortunately we count only a handful of genuine torn frames during the entire single-player session - something never visibly detected during our hands-on.
All in all, it's a promising initial splash for Insomniac Games' sprightly new Xbox One exclusive. The current performance issues are an obvious concern given the game's demand for careful timing - particularly when jumping between grind points - but the pay-off is a shooter that exudes pyrotechnic visual flair at every turn. Insomniac has no plans to increase rendering resolution, so the return of Kinect GPU resources to game-makers in combination with a concerted push for optimisation could help to even out performance, making Sunset Overdrive very much a game to look out for.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2014-sunset-overdrive-e3-tech-analysis
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