Onrush is not your regular racing game. The people who were behind games such as Motorstorm and DriveClub moved to Codemasters after Sony shuttered Evolution Studios, and influences from their past works, as well as other games such as Burnout, are clear to see here. The flavour is very different from your regular arcade racer or car combat title, and while the results are a bit of a hit and a miss (you can read our full review of the game here), the one area where the game delivers in spades is its visuals department. There is always a lot going on on the screen, with hectic visual bombardments assaulting the senses almost all the time, and the game’s tech manages to back those ambitions with surprising ease.
In this tech analysis of the game, we’re going to be focusing on the enhanced PS4 Pro and Xbox One X versions of the game. Both versions of the game allow players to choose between two modes- the Performance Mode (which prioritizes frame-rate) and the Resolution Mode (which, as the name suggests, prioritizes resolution). Both these modes are available on the base PS4 as well, though not on the base Xbox One- the base versions of the game, however, isn’t something we’re concerned with for now.
Onrush looks crisp and sharp regardless of which mode you pick on either system. On the PS4 Pro, the resolution in the Performance Mode is a solid 1080p, while in the Resolution Mode, it gets bumped up to an impressive 1620p. On the Xbox One X, thanks to the system’s more powerful capabilities, things are slightly improved, with the game being outputted at resolutions of 4K in the Resolution Mode, though it remains the same as the PS4 Pro in the Performance Mode at 1080p. The Xbox One X’s Resolution Mode of the game is without a doubt the best looking version of the game, not only because of the higher pixel count, but also because it makes use of native 4K textures to give the game a sharper, more detailed look.
The best way to play the game, however, is the Performance Mode. Onrush is a very busy game, visually speaking. As we’ve already mentioned, there’s always a lot going on on the screen, which means that a higher frame-rate is inherently more desirable than a better resolution. On both the PS4 Pro and the Xbox One X, Onrush runs at a frame-rate of 30 FPS in the Resolution Mode, while the Performance Mode sees the game running at a smoother and much better looking frame-rate of 60 FPS. On both systems, frame-rate is impressively solid, and rarely ever dips below the target, meaning that it is, effectively, more or less locked. There are very infrequent instances of screen tearing, but they’re hardly noticeable at all.
The Performance Mode of Onrush is clearly the way to go, because the loss in pixel count is, essentially, negligible, while the usage of temporal AA in both versions makes the image quality pretty solid regardless. As far as comparisons between the PS4 Pro and the Xbox One X go in terms of the Performance Mode, the Xbox One X emerges as the clear winner. The Xbox One X’s version of Onrush trumps the PS4 Pro’s in this area by making use of better textures, making the game look sharper and cleaner.
Ultimately, Onrush is an impressive technical accomplishment on both the PS4 Pro and the Xbox One X. The Resolution Mode on both systems may not be anything to write home about, but the Performance Mode on both systems makes for a much better experience. If compared side-by-side, the Xbox One X’s Performance Mode is noticeably better than the PS4 Pro’s, because while both of them have a solid and more or less locked frame rate of 60 FPS, the former also makes use of better textures to make for better and sharper image quality.