Killzone 2 framerate can drop as low as 20fps

Killzone 2 is arguably the most technically impressive game of modern times, but its engine can come under pressure.

By now you must have played the Killzone 2 demo. A perfect showcase for the game, but if you can believe it, it doesn't hold a candle to latter levels. Particle effects and hundreds of dynamic light sources abound; the attention to detail is stunning.

The game's engine performs relatively well throughout, with Guerrilla Games already admitting that they use the PlayStation 3's SPU processors to make sure the 30 frames-per-second refresh rate stays intact.

As the game progresses the special effects (usually a description used for movies) go into hyper-drive and it's almost unbelievable that the PlayStation 3 manages to keep up with it.

However, with so many incredible environmental effects, your actions can negatively influence the framerate. I suffered one such occasion on the last level, when my guns blazing made the engine badly stutter.

Nevertheless, the game's use of motion blur and film grain does a great job at hiding the drop in framerate, especially when such drops only occur during huge explosions or incredibly busy events.

That being said, the engine can drop as low as 20fps, as illustrated by the research performed by the Digital Foundry. An example of such a moment can be seen in the following screen capture:

Digital Foundry will be stripping the game down in an in-depth analysis of Killzone 2's entire single-player; a game which they describe as the undisputed graphical winner and "the most important PlayStation 3 showcase since Uncharted: Drake's Fortune." And lets be clear, the game's framerate is for the most part steady, but being the best looking PlayStation 3 game does have costs.

The following video is a demonstration of Digital Foundry's framerate analysis, featuring Killzone 2's demo section. We highly recommend visiting the website itself when they post their full Killzone 2 analysis.

Source: http://www.gamezine.co.uk/news/game-types/shooter/killzone-2-framerate-drops-as-low-as-20fps-$1270880.htm

hey its 1080p, the 60fps will follow in time

Stupid HD games development on consoles... Why must they always try to make an engine that will create good screenshots, but will create some bad moments in motion?

If they can't add this or this effect in their engine, don't add it at all I say. If it can destroy my gameplay exprience, I don't need shiny graphics. I just want to finish the game! D:

Oh well, 20 fps isn't that bad. I think I'm always playing Crysis at 24 fps on my laptop.

So not only is it not 60 fps, but it's not even a stable 30 fps? If this is what passes for a technically good game these days, fine...

It's quite annoying that most of the 360 games I played have noticeable framerate dips whereas the Wii is much better in this regard.

Nearly every game has framerate drops when the action gets intense.

It is not 1080P. Being upscaled just 99.9% of the games that have 1080P output.

@ DaGreatestHope: Not my Wii games I tell yeh!

Are you guys kidding me.....have you guys even played the demo? Those dips in frame rates arn't even noticeable visually, and at the times it reached 20 fps was from a 1 second preload.

Hmm, I thought that looked pretty stable.....

Don't forget the "bridge exploding" part. As we all know, it was pretty obvious that this part would lag though... But that's exactly the problem! I shouldn't be thinking about framedrops when I'm playing my HD console games, but console developers, especially 1st party ones, seem to have a certain will to try to compete with PC gaming or something (I could elaborate on that later)...