The Xbox One X is far more powerful than other systems on the market- so it’s always interesting to consider how major games that take advantage of its resources will leverage that extra power. One of the games that was prominently featured in the Xbox One X’s marketing was Shadow of War, as one of the rare multiplatform marketing and branding partnerships that Microsoft secured this year.
Given the game’s status, however, it’s interesting to see how the game holds up on the new console, especially since it supports the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X, both.
The prognosis? Both the PS4 Pro and Xbox One versions provide two graphical options:One that favors resolution and the other one is the quality mode. Both versions run at a locked 30fps and support super sampling for 1080p TV owners. The difference is in how these modes are implemented- in resolution mode, the PS4 Pro version largely runs at a dynamic resolution with figures reaching up to 1620p. However, the Xbox One X is totally a different story. The Xbox One X version largely runs at a true native 4K resolution, which is truly astounding. This does have a downside- it leads to lower quality graphical assets and textures.
It doesn’t end there- the 12GB of memory on the Xbox One X clearly does wonders for the game, leaing to higher resolution textures. In comparison, the textures on PS4 Pro feel muddy, attributed perhaps to a lower available memory pool. And this holds true t regardless of whatever mode you choose on the Xbox One X (resolution or quality). The Xbox One X delivers high quality texture resolutions throughout.
In quality mode, you get better quality ambient occlusion, shadows and anisotropic filtering on the Xbox One X. These are largely similar in visual quality to the PS4 Pro version of the game. However draw distance, object geometry and terrain quality is largely better on the Xbox One X than it is on the PS4 Pro. In resolution mode, anisotropic filtering quality is reduced.
On the whole? The Xbox One X version of Shadow of War is truly a visual marvel, a veritable feast for the eyes. It looks noticeably better than the PS4 Pro version which is a big win for Microsoft and for the new console.
