Marvel's Spider-Man 2 PS5: Fidelity vs Performance Mode Comparison - Which Mode Works Best?

Spider-Man 2 is one of the highest profile games of the year and also one of the most technically accomplished it represents a welcome if iterative Improvement on the tech that we saw in the two prior Spider-Man outings on PS5 Hardware as John covered in his earlier video on the game few titles deliver Spider-Man 2's level of Fidelity in an open world environment and the dramatic scale and DEP defying speed of its setpiece sequences is something to behold insomniac's key rate tracing commitment its excellent implementation of rate Trace Reflections also makes a return along with a Litany of supported visual modes and toggles so how do these modes compare in terms of visual settings and frame rate performance does the increased Fidelity of Spider-Man 2 throp any new issues for the PS5 at a basic level Spider-Man 2 essentially has has two visual modes which have a few modifiers to suit a variety of tastes there's a performance mode which targets higher frame rates at a reduced quality level and a Fidelity mode which offers better visuals at a lower frame rate both modes have rrac Reflections enabled so there's no performance mode without RT this time in terms of underlying visual settings the two modes look very similar at a glance both options provide the same essential visual experience outside of image quality if we do look a bit closer though there are some very clearly evident differences between the two the ray Trac Reflections were the first place that I thought to examine in the performance mode these are somewhat less detailed than in the Fidelity mode as you might expect both modes use a checkerboard reconstruction solution and both appear perfectly reasonable but the performance mode is clearly lacking that extra bit of clarity that the Fidelity mode offers at least in Stills I also noticed some substantial differences in Reflections coverage between the two modes examp examining the opening cut scene this gas tank lacks RT Reflections in the performance mode with a lower Fidelity Cube map seemingly used instead the transparent surface Reflections on the clock face cabinets and terrarium are totally missing which makes for a pretty Stark difference here the metals on the door handle and kick plate also lack RT coverage in the performance mode we can spot the absence of RT effects on the beaker in the back too and on the blue lockers outside the classroom in gameplay I was able to spot similar cutbacks in this trophy cabinet for instance the Fidelity mode gets RT Reflections on the transparent glass surface as well as the semigloss trophies themselves the performance mode predictably lacks these Reflections completely likewise for the top of the lamp post here and for a variety of other metallic surfaces throughout the game I also noticed that the performance mode isues RT Reflections on very distant surfaces like these buildings here though this is particularly hard to notice outside of a head-to-head perhaps the most obvious cutback in gameplay is the lack of transparency Reflections on car windows in the performance mode car windows get a cube map reflection that looks okay but is visibly low resolution there's no reflections of cars Spider-Man or pedestrians in Fidelity mode the RT extends across the entire car body so the car windows showcase accurate and detailed Reflections just like the car paint when flying through the world there's not much difference between the two modes but up close the reflections coverage and Fidelity mode is clearly a step ahead my basic impression is that the performance mode drops many of the game's transparency Reflections and cuts back Reflections on a range of surface materials if you compare the two versions side by side there are some notable differences but I think in general play the performance mode looks perfectly reasonable critically you do retain the game's Reflections on building windows water surfaces and most glossy opaque surfaces in the performance mode which make up the bulk of Spider-Man 2's Ray tracing on screen foliage also sees some tweaks to run at a performant level at higher frame rates if you do look closely the foliage and performance mode is a bit less dense at far distances with a bit more pop in as you approach grass is drawn much further a field in the Fidelity mode as well pedestrian activity is also curtailed in the performance mode for idle pedestrians like the people sitting at tables and on the stands here in Time Square there's essentially no difference in pedestrian density but when you observe a busy thoroughfare like this pedestrian street there's a clear increase in civilian density in the Fidelity mode at a distance both modes transition from 3D models to 2D imposters at about the same point from the camera however Shadow quality is also somewhat better in the Fidelity mode with a somewhat higher resolution appearance across the game World these Shadows look a bit softer in the performance mode and appear less defined though they still look perfectly good across both visual options finally character hair does seem to be simplified a bit in the performance mode with fewer hair strands and a less refined appearance than we see in the Fidelity mode when we compare the two modes on offer in Spider-Man 2 to 2020 Spider-Man remastered the games do look similar although there are some differences the r tracing quality does seem improved now with the final RT resolve lacking the slightly blocky look that we saw in the earlier title in Stills Spider-Man 2's RT appears very smooth despite using a checkerboard technique just like its predecessors the new RT does look somewhat more alas at times but it's clearly resolving more detail as well if we stack up the performance RT and Fidelity modes side by side in Spider-Man remastered the resolution of the reflections was also a key dividing line but curiously all the surfaces that have rt Reflections in the earlier game also seem to exhibit RT Reflections in its higher performance mode unlike in Spider-Man 2 that also applies to the car windows which show greatl looking RT Reflections in the original Spider-Man game the Spider-Man 2 performance mode doesn't have these window Reflections in addition to lacking other Ry Reflections throughout the game World the pedestrians see the same divide as we saw in spider man with the same split in the density of mobile foot traffic between the performance RT and Fidelity modes and hair exhibits the same cutbacks that we see in the new game as well on the whole the setting split between the different visual options is pretty similar between the two games though Spider-Man 2 takes a bit more of a visual hit in its higher frame rate mode so what about image quality Spider-Man 2 presents a pretty detailed and smooth image especially considering the high level of visual quality on display play the performance mode does suffer from more ilas and unfine details than the Fidelity option which is especially evident on these buildings here and it looks subtly less detailed in terms of resolution the performance mode operates from a range of 1008p to 1440p reconstructed using Insomniac Games temporal injection technique to 1440p and the Fidelity mode operates from 1440p to 4K reconstructed to 4K both modes look good on a 4K display but the Fidelity mode clearly has an edge which is particularly obvious with longrange detail the performance mode doesn't always resolve very cleanly though I think it still looks perfectly reasonable from a normal viewing distance so those are the Baseline visual modes but the game has two key modifiers as well you can turn on 120 HZ output which makes the Fidelity mode run at 40 FPS lowering the typical resolution down closer to that 1440p lower bound vrr is also an option the default smooth option doesn't seem to affect the visuals but selecting the uncapped option can adjust the resolution a bit the performance mode can drop down to 93 6p at lowest with this option enabled down from 108p normally these toggles are really best thought of as tweaks to fine-tune your experience there are implications for performance which I'll touch on in a moment but the visuals remain about the same as their parents [Music] mode so how do frame rates Faire in Spider-Man 2 let's start with the performance mode Spider-Man 2 mostly hits and maintains a 60fps update here with a very smooth presentation in typical gameplay when the screen is filled with Alpha effects though the game can drop a small clutch of frames the opening sequence provides a few examples though these spots are rare through the rest of the game I also also noticed some traversal related frame rate dips while swinging throughout the open world traveling at very fast speeds can sometimes punch a small dent in the frame timeline usually representing a single dropped frame it's not an especially big deal and getting an open world of this Fidelity at Spider-Man traversal speeds is a big accomplishment at 60fps but I did notice these well playing in typical play though Spider-Man 2 feels very solid in the performance mode the LD mode offers a 30fps update which it reaches very consistently the slight frame rate wobbles of the performance mode are basically absent here outside of a couple of oneoff dropped frames during the most intense moments in the introduction cutscenes do exhibit a slight stutter on camera Cuts as the game seems to hold an extra frame for TAA purposes when the viewport shifts this is also present in the performance mode but it sticks out more at the slower update again though in general ener play the game is a perfectly steady 30fps and there's very little to criticize here at 120 HZ output the Fidelity mode shifts to 40 FPS which takes advantage of the higher display refresh to Target a middle ground between the 30 FPS and 60 FPS modes we've just discussed the overall turnout is quite similar to the other Fidelity mode option but the game can drop a significant number of frames and certain intense moments during gameplay on top of those selections Spider-Man 2 also offers a vrr toggle which can be set to off smoothed or uncapped the smoothed option is essentially equivalent to the default vrr experience on PS5 evening out any frame rate drops that might occur while playing and the UNCA option allows Spider-Man 2 to push above its Target frame rate using vrr to keep frame time Divergence between frames to a minimum these options require 120 HZ output to be enabled to work as well with the uncapped toggle enabled we get around 40 to 60 FPS in the Fidelity mode and between 60 and 80 FPS in the performance mode in typical play it's not a revelatory increase in frame rate but the Improvement to fluidity is appreciable if not transformative there is a bit of fluctuation here though which is noticeable like with other unlocked vrr games like insomniac's prior efforts and most of Sony's first party output on PS5 Spider-Man 2 lands in very good technical shape the performance is solid and visuals look great across a large range of graphical options there's no way to go wrong here really as the game is just very polished regardless of the mode you select there's really just one wrinkle the visual difference between the Fidelity and performance modes is a bit larger here than in the prior Insomniac titles on PS5 on top of the typical tweaks to rendering resolution ution hair and draw distance the r Trac Reflections have been pruned a bit for the performance mode RT coverage is less extensive than the Fidelity mode and a bit less extensive than the performance RT modes in the older Spider-Man games as well it's not something that stands out much In the Heat of battle or when swinging around at high speeds but if you stop and look around there are obvious cutbacks of the available options I'd personally probably still gravitate towards the performance mode to get the best visual response want the Fidelity mode works very well too and I think the 40fps Fidelity option strikes a good middle ground for those who want to retain more of the game's visual feature set but also want to prioritize more fluid movement any preferences here are strictly a matter of personal taste as each mode is very nicely calibrated to deliver attractive visuals within a given frame time Target so Spider-Man 2 is yet another Insomniac technical Triumph it's a beautiful game and has virtually impeccable Visual and performance credentials in every mode variation available to the player if you enjoyed this video please like subscribe and press the bell for YouTube notifications check out the patreon at digital founder. net for exclusive and Early Access content and to get in touch use social media thanks for watching

Channel: Digital Foundry

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Id: e0-vRefkD68

Length: 13min 21sec (801 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 21 2023