Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare - the Digital Foundry verdict
Given more time to closely scrutinise Advanced Warfare across a breadth of stages, the tussle between PS4 and Xbox One is an easy one to summarise. Owners of Sony's latest kit enjoy a pure, true, unadulterated 1080p image throughout the game, planting its flag closest to the PC's pristine standard of presentation. The one downside for this version is its propensity for frame-rate drops in campaign mode - wavering between 50-60fps under load, and stuttering very occasionally lower. The Xbox One, meanwhile, handles this solo mode with far fewer dips, albeit with the introduction of tearing at stress points.
This does not have a bearing on its multiplayer mode, where both PS4 and Xbox One are optimised to hold 60fps at a consistency we'd expect of the series. Odd, single frames are skipped every now and then while jet-boosting around taxing stages like Instinct - but these are largely imperceptible blips on an otherwise straight 60fps line. If you only have eyes for multiplayer, either platform comfortably satisfies in the frame-rate stakes.
As a detracting point for Microsoft's platform, the resolution is often at the 1360x1080 point in campaign, only really rising to a full 1920x1080 outside of battle. This dynamic framebuffer doesn't translate as we'd expect to multiplayer either, where it's fixed to the lower number in perpetuity - resulting in a cut-off in image clarity the further into the distance you look. For us, this would be one of the bigger points of consideration, but it's not so much of an issue in the single-player campaign, owing to its more heavily post-processed image.
However, the PS4 and Xbox One each share the highest quality textures, effects and geometry of the maxed-out PC version. They only fall noticeably short in three areas; the low-grade anisotropic filtering on textures, less accurate specular mapping for reflections, and opting for SSAO, rather than the PC's subtler HBAO+ shading around objects. Otherwise, you get the full deal, complete with subsurface scattering.
Overall, the PS4's superior image quality compared with Xbox One makes it the choice pick on the multiplayer front, with both holding up here at 60fps. As for the campaign mode's playability, it's an apples and oranges contest between the Xbox One's performance lead and the PS4's resolution advantages, with little else in-between. But for those equipped to do so, the PC version is a tantalising alternative that deserves respect for putting the series back on track.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2014-call-of-duty-advanced-warfare-face-off
