Last week, we took an exclusive look at the PlayStation 5 version of Marvel’s Avengers for PlayStation 5, but the Xbox Series code – difficult to provide in advance due to Smart Delivery complications – was not available. So how did developers Crystal Dynamics and Nixxes handle the door to the X Series and S Series consoles? The results have arrived and we are looking at a game that exemplifies what we call the ‘post-resolution era’ – where the gross pixel count is just one component in the visual composition of a game and is perhaps not the most important.
In terms of the overall configuration offered by the Marvel Avengers on the Xbox Series consoles, it is very similar to the PlayStation 5 in offering quality and performance modes. The X Series quality mode is essentially the same as that of the PS5: compared to the latest generation consoles, users get reflections of higher resolution screen space, more destruction, better water rendering, higher resolution textures and all the other improvements detailed previously. It targets native 4K rendering with small dynamic resolution adjustments, depending on the content. Series? The quality mode is pretty much the same with a 1440p target, but it lacks some visuals, including the high resolution texture pack enjoyed by the PS5 and X Series. 30fps is essentially a lock on all systems in this mode.
Performance mode is what separates the package, with the S Series operating within an approximate 720p to 1080p window reaching 60fps, with additional visual cuts like reduced foliage density, darker texture filtering and more resolution particle effects low. But it is the differences between the PS5 and the X Series that are most fascinating – both aim at a 4K screen output, but the PS5 uses checkered rendering while the X Series becomes native. What this means is that the Sony platform can resolve higher pixel counts in similar content, thanks to its checkered solution, but for various reasons, the X Series offers a sharper image. Both still use dynamic resolution scaling, with the X Series working with a generally wider DRS window. Due to its checkered solution, the PS5’s UI also adapts to the resolution, which seems a little strange.
An in-depth analysis of Marvel’s Avengers on PS5 compared to Xbox series consoles.
It turns out that the composition of the presentation is a little more complicated. The PS5 has post-processing elements that operate at a much lower resolution – and Avengers is a heavy post-processing game. Components such as motion blur and depth of field are affected, appearing to be noticeably more blocked than Xbox equivalents. Texture resolution can also be affected in some scenarios, where it seems that chessboard rendering may not work as well with dynamic resolution scaling than the native Xbox equivalent. Altogether, PlayStation 5 in performance mode has more obvious image quality compromises that become more evident as the effects increase.
We don’t specifically talk about pixel counts beyond the general DRS ranges here, because the resolution may appear higher on the PS5, but other aspects of the presentation take precedence. Essentially, the game is clearer in the X Series in performance mode due to these differences in how the resolution is composed and how the post-processing is delivered – even if the Xbox X Series could technically be running at a lower output resolution as assessed by pixel count.
Moving on to performance in 60 frames per second mode, there is very little to separate the three systems. They all still have noticeable stutters in the camera cuts during scenes and generally operate in the same way with very similar results. The PlayStation 5 can keep its 60fps a little tighter than Xbox consoles during intense destruction – presumably due to more overhead of the checkered rendering solution – but the real drops in performance on the Microsoft platform are minimal and almost imperceptible. All three consoles work very well overall. I was also impressed with the improvements in load time. Nixxes took advantage of the low-level storage APIs on PlayStation and Xbox Series systems, with daytime and nighttime improvements over state-of-the-art systems.
A loading segment that took more than a minute on the PS4 Pro resolves in four seconds on the PlayStation 5, rising to about six seconds on the X Series. This is where the notion of percentage differences in performance conflicts with the real experience – yes, Xbox Series consoles take 50 percent more time to complete a load than the PlayStation 5, but when the difference is only two seconds, the difference in user experience is not particularly noticeable. The Marvel Avengers are possibly our first real look at the true generational leap provided by storage on the new machines from Sony and Microsoft and none of them disappoint.
All in all, I am impressed with the work that Nixxes has delivered in that you are getting a proper update on the next generation enhanced consoles and a nighttime and daytime boost in all areas against their vanilla counterparts. However, the two approaches that the developer chose to render the performance mode certainly offer very different results. The Xbox Series X looks clearer and cleaner, a state of affairs compensated only for variations in performance that are barely registered. Ultimately, the Foundation Engine has never looked better – and it’s great to see a significant amount of time and effort invested in these PS5 and Xbox Series conversions.