Bulkhead Interactive’s curious first person puzzle game The Turing Test has been released for the Xbox One and PC. Check out the launch trailer below. The story and its puzzles mirror a real-life Turing Test of sorts (the test used to prove that a human is indeed human and not a robot). Ava Turing finds herself on the International Space Agency on Jupiter’s moon Europa and navigates a series of puzzles to unearth what exactly happened. She’ll accomplish this by using an Energy Manipulation Tool for different tasks like transferring energy, controlling AI machines and whatnot.
Developed on Unreal Engine 4, The Turing Test is published through the Square Enix Collective and retails for $19.99. It comes from the same studio that developed Pneuma: Breath of Life and is currently working on Battalion 1944.
What are your thoughts on the launch trailer and will you be picking up the game? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below and stay tuned for more information.
The long awaited Nintendo 3DS remake of Dragon Quest 7 is almost here – it launches in a couple of weeks, in September – and ahead of its release, Nintendo have shared a brand new trailer inviting you to explore the Haven.
The Haven is a concept that should be familiar to players of Xenoblade Chronicles– much like Sector 6 in that game, the Haven is a town that is initially empty, but gets populated slowly and over time as the player completes various quests (mostly involving finding and identifying various kinds of monsters). The more quests the player completes, the more the town grows- at its most bustling, it is a very populated hub, with a lot of facilities and dungeons available for the player to peruse.
Dragon Quest 7: Fragments of the Forgotten Past is due out on September 16th, exclusively on the Nintendo 3DS. You can check out the new trailer for the game for yourself below.
Meet Haru Okumu. She is one of the core cast of Persona 5, and one of the playable party members. In previous trailers, she has introduced herself as the elegant masked French lady who goes by the moniker ‘the Beauty Thief.’ But these brief and mysterious allusions to her aside, she has remained, largely, an enigma.
No more. With Persona 5 just two weeks from release in Japan (we in the west must wait until next February to play it, sadly), Atlus are revealing more and more of the game- and the newest TV spot for it introduces us to Haru in full, letting us have a peek at what makes her tick, exactly. You can check out this new TV spot for yourself below, though of course, be warned that it is in Japanese.
Persona 5 will launch on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 4 on September 15 in Japan, with a release in the west to follow on February 14 (courtesy of Deep Silver, at least as far as Europe and PAL territories are concerned).
While Gears of War 4 will be hitting the Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs at the same time, and while the PC version actually looks to be pretty darn impressive this time, instead of the dumpster fire that some of Microsoft’s recent PC ports have been, and while there will even be some cross play functionality between the Xbox and PC versions of the game, lead multiplayer designer Ryan Cleven told IGN that the core of the game is still designed around the controller.
“We definitely work from the controller out,” he said. “We do play [with] mouse and keyboard, but the core of the game is around a controller. I don’t think that we…would say that we have like, one of the other as the priority; they’re both really important to us,” he continued. “But, we have to make sure that the controller experience, which has been the legacy of the game, is definitely perfect.”
The important bit here is that Xbox and PC players cannot play against each other competitively- so both versions of the game can be balanced relatively independently.
“We don’t really balance the PC versus the Xbox, right, so they’re each kind of balanced independently,” Cleven said. “They’re all using the same core tuning; so, when we look at the PC players versus PC players, they can choose to use a mouse and keyboard or they can use a controller. That’s up to the PC players. On the Xbox, we tune the game internally with a controller, so everything is tuned to be balanced that way, and then we make sure that the two groups, when they’re playing competitively online, they aren’t actually playing with each other.”
Gears of War 4 will launch in September for Xbox One and for Windows 10 PCs. Source: Rheena.com
Microsoft continue with their push to make as many Xbox 360 games playable on the Xbox One as possible- and today’s update makes two very important Xbox 360 titles playable on the new system, including one which is going to be seeing its second sequel in just a few weeks.
The latest titles to be added to the backward compatibility white list on the Xbox One are Castle of Illusion, the revival remake of the classic Genesis platformer game, and Forza Horizon, the first arcade Forza spin off that went on to spawn a series of its own.
Plus, as was previously announced, Forza Horizon will be free for Xbox Live Gold users starting September 1, too- so if you haven’t had the chance to buy and play the game already, you’ll get the chance to do that now. It’ll be good practice ahead of the launch of the exciting looking Forza Horizon 3 in September. Source: Rheena.com
CD Projekt RED recently posted a job listing for a vehicle gameplay programmer to “create the whole architecture of vehicle-related code and the physics of driving / flying in those vehicles.” This leads us to believe that Cyberpunk 2077, a futuristic action title from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt developer, will include vehicles.
A vehicle gameplay designer is also sought after to “create compelling vehicle-based gameplay”, aspects of which include controls, combat and “relevant vehicle-based AI systems.” There are other such listings including a concept artist to create art for weapons, machines and vehicles. Overall, CD Projekt RED has 60 different positions available for the game.
As of now however, we won’t be seeing Cyberpunk 2077 for a while yet. The developer is targeting a 2017 to 2021 launch window but odds are that it’ll be out sooner rather than later since it wants to surpass its efforts with The Witcher 3.
What are your thoughts on flying vehicles in the game though? Let us know in the comments. Source: Rheena.com
Konami surprised us all with their co-op multiplayer spin-off of the Metal Gear franchise, Metal Gear Survive, but the studio seems to know what they’re doing. In a recent interview with one of Metal Gear Survive developer staff members, featured in the latest PlayStation Dengeki Magazine, via Play-Asia, the employee was able to answer some questions while avoiding others.
The questions he answered were enough to reveal some new bits of information regarding a few aspects of Metal Gear Survive, such as the customization, which apparently players are going to enjoy, since “you’ll be able to use several weapons such as the Spear or Bow from the announcement trailer,” as well as developing “your own equipment for your own play style too.”
He continued to talk about if the main character will have a Head Quarters of some sort, and he replied positively, mentioning the announcement trailer and the Mother Base featured in it. “As seen in the Announcement trailer, Mother Base will become the starting base. Enemies will be surrounding the base and may attack at certain points,” he said.
In terms of gameplay footage, Konami is currently “making preparations,” so expect an announcement or an official trailer to be released soon. Metal Gear Survive is expected to release for PS4, Xbox One and PC some time during 2017. Source: Rheena.com
Sony’s PlayStation Now service is available now on PCs in North America- to run it on PC, users will need a PSN account, a subscription to PlayStation Now, as well as a DualShock 4 controller with the wireless receiver for PC. With all of these in hand, however, PC players can embark on enjoying over 400 PlayStation 3 games on their PC, streamed over the internet.
Six new games have been added to this library, as well- Mafia 2, Tomb Raider, Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution, Borderlands, and Heavy Rain. You can check these games out, as well as the hundreds of others in the PS Now library, in the new launch trailer for the service’s PC debut that Sony have released.
PS Now is available, in addition to PCs, on select Android phones, Samsung Smart TVs, Sony’s own Bravia Smart TVs, and the PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, and even the PlayStation 3.
Daybreak Games Company’s off-shoot of H1Z1, namely King of the Kill, will be releasing outside of Steam Early Access on September 20th for PC. Larry LaPierre, senior VP of games at Daybreak, noted that, “You could make top 60 in one match and top five in the next; the drama of that competition makes King of the Kill extremely entertaining to play and watch.
“The game is inherently competitive, but by design all players have a chance of claiming the coveted number one spot, not just the elite. The feeling you get when you outlast hundreds of other players – it is what drives players to compete – and you can’t get it anywhere else.”
Several improvements and changes have been made in Early Access including a revamped world map in the form of The Arena, a new UI, training mode, improved combat and vehicle systems, Skirmishes and other such changes.
Unfortunately, development is currently “paused” on the Xbox One and PS4 versions of the game. Head to the developer’s official site for more information. Source: Rheena.com
Ubisoft released a brand new gameplay walkthrough for their upcoming sequel, Watch Dogs 2. Animation Director Colin Graham walks us through a couple of missions, one of which is co-op, while showcasing the game’s improved driving mechanics, clothing and how to utilise the applications found on Marcus’ phone.
The video starts out with Graham using a brand new feature called Net Hack, which is similar to another Ubisoft franchise, Assassin’s Creed, since it basically enables you to see objects and people of interest, distinguishing them from the crowd through different colours. He continued to showcase Watch Dogs 2’s improved driving mechanics while he was on his way to the mission.
Another player appeared during Graham’s play session, but since he was friendly, Graham sent him an invite to become a co-op party, enabling him to access a new menu inside the Dedsec app dedicated to co-op missions.
EA DICE’s upcoming iteration of the Battlefield franchise, Battlefield 1, is still months away from full release, however, this doesn’t mean we can’t get to experience some World War I action during the game’s open beta period soon enough.
The studio already revealed the map and the modes available for participants, and now it’s time to introduce you to the weapons you’ll be allowed to use. Battlefield Bulletin were able to spot and share several new images, showcasing different weapons and their respective variations.
The weapons featured include the MP 18, Cel-Rigotti, Lewis Gun, Madsen MG and more, with each of them having more than one variation to choose from. The variations include Experimental, Artillery, Trench, Factory, Heavy and Sharpshooter. Thanks to Reddit user R_MA, we were able to find out the differences between them.
Experimental = Weapons with special, “experimental” features. For example, MP18 Experimental is burst fire instead of Automatic.
Artillery = Weapons that are scoped, IIRC, and have better accuracy.
Trench = Weapons that have better hip fire.
Factory = Base weapons with no modifications/atttachments.
Heavy = Shotguns with better accuracy, but bad hip fire, with a slight reduction in damage.
Sharpshooter = Weapons with better control.
Battlefield 1 releases on October 21st for PC, PS4 and Xbox One, with the game’s open Starts at 9 AM PST, August 30th. Source: Rheena.com
As you know, Sony’s PlayStation VR headset is just a few months away, which raises the question of what will happen when you own a game that has a VR version as well? Luckily, Sony is going to offer owners of such games, a free VR upgrade, adding PlayStation VR compatibility.
There is a number of games getting offered this free upgrade, including the likes of Hustle Kings, Super Stardust Ultra and Bound. In addition to that, EA DICE’s Star Wars: Battlefront is getting a free downloadable add-on that adds PSVR support to the game.
Of course, some games will be purely dedicated and developed for VR, such as DriveClub, which is not going to support this offer, since its VR version is considered as a standalone game, with new tracks, cars, features and more. PlayStation VR headsets are expected to start rolling out on October 13th. Source: Rheena.com
DICE’s beta for Battlefield 1 is open access tomorrow but today, it’s early access for Battlefield Insiders who received a code. Thanks to EA Australia, we know now when exactly the beta will become available for early access.
The beta starts at 2 AM AEST on August 31st, which translates to 9 AM PT/4 PM GMT/5 PM BST/6 PM CEST on August 30th. Servers will go live at these times allowing you a taste of the chaos that Battlefield 1 contains.
We have some information on what you can expect including a wind-swept sandy desert with an armoured train that can be commandeered and fired from. Conquest will be on offer and players will also have a chance to see how riding and navigating around with horses will work.
Battlefield 1 is currently slated to release for Xbox One, PS4 and PC on October 21st. If you’re on PS4, then rejoice – the beta won’t require you to own PlayStation Plus to enjoy multiplayer. Source: Rheena.com
At this point, is there anything about the PlayStation 4 Slim that hasn’t been leaked? The newest leak comes regarding the system’s wireless capabilities, which Sony have gone ahead and mercifully improved. As @shortmaneighty2 is confirming on Twitter (via NeoGAF), the PS4 Slim will indeed be supporting 5GHz wireless range.
The PS4 Slim also has B/G/N/AC Wi-fi, so as far as wireless standards go, it sounds like Sony are all set. This should come as great news to 40 million PS4 owners, who have been tormented and tortured by the PlayStation 4’s simply awful wireless capability so far. This also lines up with the registration at the FCC that we reported on some time ago, which hinted at a new wireless radio for the PS4.
The PlayStation 4 Slim is scheduled to be revealed, and then further go on sale immediately after, Sony’s PlayStation Meeting in early September. The PlayStation 4 NEO is also scheduled to be announced formally at that event. Source: Rheena.com
As Persona 5 nears its now uncontested September 15 release date in Japan, Atlus continue to share more and more vignettes from the game. The newest video they share shows us the protagonist of the game, who is also the leader of the Phantom Thieves by night, going to a public bath for some relaxation by day, after school… except he ends up relaxing a bit too much, and ends up passing out from the heat. Oh well.
Persona 5 is the sixth mainline entry in the long running Japanese RPG series- in it, much like in its predecessors, you must juggle a balance between a paranormal life, and one of an average high school student, along with everything that that brings with it to the table, including sports, clubs, popularity, and of course, dating.
Persona 5 is due out on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 on September 15 in Japan, with a release in North America and Europe following on February 14. Check out the new video for the game for yourself below.
In the midst of financial success, CD Projekt RED revealed that a new patch would be out on August 30th for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. This patch coincides with the release of the Game of the Year Edition and will come pre-loaded with all copies of the game.
The patch is pretty standard fare, fixing issues in the “Without A Trace” quest where two NPCs couldn’t be beaten. The Rabid Rock Trolls on Dun Tynne have also had their difficulty tuned for the “Just The Story” difficulty. Changes to the GUI have also been added which includes PlayStation controller prompts. In a rather curious addition, Vimme Vivaldi’s look has been changed and he’s not sporting a “fresh” appearance.
You can check out the rest of the patch notes here to find out what the other changes are. The Witcher 3: Game of the Year Edition is out tomorrow and will include the base game along with the expansions Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine. Source: Rheena.com
Never before has a game so hyped come crashing down as much and as fast as No Man’s Sky did. While we maintain that it was, ultimately, a flawed but fun game that space enthusiasts would probably end up appreciating, there is no denying that there are a plethora of features for the game that were promised to be in, but are missing in the final release- unlike the universe that it aims to portray, No Man’s Sky comes off as painfully limited next to its own ambition and promise.
That, plus its laundry list of errors and glitches on PS4 and PC, as well as a complete and total lack of communication on the game from Hello Games’ Sean Murray since a day after the game released, means that a lot of people who spent $60 on the title are feeling left betrayed, as if they were cheated out of their money. The situation here is a tad unprecedented- and it looks like PSN, and Amazon are all recognising that to work outside of their usual boundaries, too.
Meanwhile, while PC players have also reported getting refunds, Steam are maintaining that there is no official change in policy on their end– they note that there are no exemptions in how refunds are working, so keep in mind, this is not official, nor is this guaranteed- just widespread enough that if you’ve logged in more than the minimum 2 hours, and had the game either not run for your properly, or felt dissatisfied with it, you can still, at least, attempt to request a refund. Sony and Amazon, meanwhile, have not made any official comments on the matter yet.
Monster Hunter Frontier, Capcom’s popular Monster Hunter MMORPG, will be coming over to the PlayStation 4 in its latest incarnation as Monster Hunter Frontier Z. Frontier Z is the latest iteration of Capcom’s long running subscription MMORPG based on their monster hunting franchise, and it marks the first appearance of Capcom’s franchise on Sony’s console.
Monster Hunter Frontier is currently available on Xbox 360, Wii U, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, and PC- and those versions of the game will also be getting updated to Frontier Z for free on November 9, almost two weeks before the PS4 version launches.
Of course, Monster Hunter Frontier Z is not available in the west, is region locked via a strict IP check, and is also not very good (the game actually uses Monster Hunter generation 2 mechanics, while Monster Hunter is almost done with its fourth generation)- but hey, if you’re a fan, this is probably good news for you regardless.
Square Enix’s Final Fantasy 15 will be receiving a Season Pass which adds six pieces of downloadable content, some that seem more significant than others. However, that won’t be all the content that the developer has planned for its action RPG.
According to director Hajime Tabata while speaking to Gematsu, “That’s not everything. Those are what we’ve announced, something we’ve decided that we’ll certainly do.”
That would make you think that content outside the Season Pass would cost extra but Tabata noted that there’s “a lot right now that isn’t clear. If we decide to make downloadable content outside of the Season Pass we’re currently selling, then that will be the case.
There will also be new costumes and something about increasing the “cooking repertoire.” Cooking in Final Fantasy 15 is actually a mechanic as it helps bestow different benefits on your party members. How this will be expanded remains to be seen.
“Right now the top priority is polishing the main game. Once we can be finished with that, I think we can get up to speed on downloadable content and VR content.” Tabata was also certain to mention that, “Episode Prompto is different than the [PlayStation VR] content content we announced with the Season Pass.” Which means that the PlayStation VR demo for Final Fantasy 15 is not the same as the Episode Prompto DLC coming with the Season Pass.
Final Fantasy 15 is out on November 29 for Xbox One and PS4. Source: Rheena.com
Naughty Dog continues to support Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End with new content. It recently announced that a new map for multiplayer and a new mode (which may be the co-op mode that’s been in development for some time) will be revealed on August 30th at 11 AM PST/2 PM EST/8 PM CEST. Simply tune in to Naughty Dog’s official Twitch channel to see more.
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End has had a rather good year. On top of universally positive critical acclaim, it’s done well financially, selling 2.7 million copies in its first week. The multiplayer has received numerous free updates since then including new cosmetic items, weapons and whatnot. We’ll see for ourselves tomorrow whether this new mode is attached to multiplayer as well or finally brings co-op to Drake’s final adventure.
What are your thoughts on Uncharted 4’s multiplayer all these months later? Let us know in the comments below and stay tuned for more information. Source: Rheena.com
One of the biggest departures that this year’s Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare is making over the previous games in the storied franchise is the setting- unlike previous titles, Infinite Warfare fully embraces a high concept science fiction setting, and takes the series into space for the first time ever.
Speaking to Polygon in an exclusive interview, Infinity Ward’s narrative director, Taylor Kurosaki and writer Brian Bloom revealed that the space setting would have significant repercussions for the game’s story, and for its characters.
“The setting of space puts even more pressure on our characters than even a traditional battlefield would allow for,” Kurosaki said. “In space, there is no gravity. In a lot of cases, most cases have no breathable atmosphere. Take the worst of the world wars and put that in an environment where you can’t breathe, and up is a relative to where you are floating.
“Characters are thrown into conflict and resolve those conflicts,” Bloom added. “War is an incredible background, environment and foreground to navigate those waters. This is not about double and triple crosses, and double and triple agents, and chips in your head, and being a zombie fighter. This is a story about the burden of making choices.”
So it sounds like the game will be as much about the psychological impact of space on warfare as it is about the physical impact- hopefully, it deals with them in a nuanced and developed manner, as opposed to the traditional popcorn movie fare that Call of Duty games have been. Source: Rheena.com
Even as we wait for Nintendo to reveal some official details about their upcoming NX system, leaks and insider reports continue to shed more light on what we might expect from the enigmatic gaming platform- and at this rate, it is entirely possible that by the time Nintendo get around to doing an official reveal for the system, there’s nothing left unspoilt.
The newest reports are from serial Nintendo insider and leaker Emily Rogers again (via NeoGAF), who reveals that, at the very least in the prototype stages, the Nintendo NX (which at this point is all but confirmed to be a handheld-console hybrid) was using a 6.2 inch multitouch screen with a resolution of 720p- for a handheld, this is significantly great, although if the system is only capable of 720p output even in console mode, then there may be some who are unhappy with it, especially in light of the launches of the far more powerful Xbox One Scorpio and PlayStation 4 NEO.
Of course, the possibility is that the NX ‘dock,’ which is used to output images to the TV, may supplement the power in the handheld unit and allow it to output images in 1080p- but if this is the case, then Rogers’ rumor says nothing about it. She does mention the dock having two USB ports, but that’s about it.
Of course, these are all rumors, and Rogers herself points out multiple times that these are to be taken with bigger pinches of salt than her usual Nintendo leaks- implying that she is not as sure of their veracity as she is of the other stuff that she leaks. For the final word on what exactly the NX is and what it entails, I suppose we must wait for Nintendo to reveal it officially, which is reportedly going to happen some time in September. Source: Rheena.com
Destiny: Rise of Iron looks to be the best bit of content for Bungie and Activision’s shared world shooter yet- the expansion seems to be a love letter to the millions of fans who have persevered and stuck with Destiny, through all of its ups and downs, and it seems to basically be giving players exactly what they want.
This was something that Bungie’s Deej actually discussed in an interview he had with youTuber Byf recently. ‘These are new artifacts in Rise of Iron. So the question of whether or not we’re gonna add more of these in the future? There’s really no telling,” Deej said, in response to a question about artifacts being added to the game.
‘We take so many cues from the players, so when people say, “are you gonna do more of that?” My answer is, you haven’t even experienced that yet, why don’t you go in, see how it plays out, and we’ll figure out what the future is when we understand fully the opportunities of the present. I would say that about private matches, about client support, about artifacts and ornaments… if people love that stuff, we’ll make more of it. If it falls on deaf ears, or people fail to seize the opportunity, then we’ll develop in other directions. When you look at Rise of Iron, there are so many things that we are doing in this expansion that are a result of direct feedback from the player.
It definitely looks like that is actually the case this time around, and not just lip service. Destiny: Rise of Iron will launch on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One this September. Source: Rheena.com
Undoubtedly one of the most exciting things to come from the World War 1 setting of the upcoming Battlefield 1 is the potential to use the unique vehicles and weapons of that era, which were truly distinct to that period in time- including planes, which were used for the first time in large scale warfare then.
Speaking to IGN during Gamescom, DICE’s Design director Lars Gustavsson discussed these planes and their implementation in the game. ‘Once you have selected to become a pilot, you can freely customize your vehicle, instead of someone making it for you,’ he said. ‘We also added more choice into the sandbox. Previously we decided whether there was to be a bomber or a fighter, but this time around, we give you all the planes, and you get to choose. So really bringing more of that, we don’t dictate to players how they should be playing the game.’
‘It’s also about- since the planes are customizable as well, you can adjust your planes on depending on if you ant to do aerial combat more, or ground style combat. So we’re leaving it up to players to decide.’
I certainly like that- being able to pick and choose my own style of playing, rather than being made to adjust to a pre-determined one definitely sounds appealing to me. Battlefield 1 is due out on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC this October. Source: Rheena.com
As he points out, as with all Fallout 4 DLC, the expansion begins by you intercepting a radio signal, which is followed by you getting to Nuka World. Once you get there, you have to go through The Gauntlet, which is like a multi area dungeon that you need to get through before you can enter- so it’s essentially like an initiation test.
The main hub of Nuka World is NukaTown, where the player will come across N.I.R.A., a Nuka Cola bottle shaped robot that seems to suffer from some form of dissociative personality disorder. The star of the DLC, however, judging by what Bethesda have shown, appears to be something called the Nuka Cade, which has Nuka Cade games which are funded by pre-war money (finally, that has some use!).
Fallout 4: Nuka World is due out later this week on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. Source: Rheena.com
Any number of people you ask – at least among fans of Codemasters’ F1 titles – will tell you that F1 2015 wasn’t quite the game they wanted. However, when you go back further, it’s interesting to note that even F1 2014 wasn’t that highly rated either. It’s worth noting that this is from a gameplay perspective and with F1 2016, the development team at Codemasters Birmingham corrected course with its career mode, number of circuits and Virtual Safety Car.
It’s still interesting to note just how visually, there’s not a whole lot of graphical uniformity across different versions of F1 2016. The EGO Engine 3.0 which drives the visuals behind this year and last year’s edition is actually a modified version of the Neon Engine seen in Colin McRae: Dirt and it’s meant for more realistic physics and damage simulation. It was developed using Sony’s PhyreEngine and is used primarily to create larger scale environments. At the end of the day, the name of the game is realistic racing. Even if F1 2016 doesn’t adhere to the same level of quality across different versions, how does it perform to accommodate its engine’s goals?
Let’s look at the console versions first. As expected, both versions target 60 FPS with the PS4 version running at 1080p resolution. The Xbox One version is at a lower horizontal resolution (vertical is still 1080p) and unfortunately, unlike recent games like DOOM and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, there’s no temporal anti-aliasing to really mask the difference in image quality. You would probably balk at an anti-aliasing solution from those games being used for F1 2016 (and it’s there – just not on consoles like with those games) but the point is that if such a temporal component were used, there would be almost no noticeable difference between the image quality of both console versions. In its absence, it’s the PS4 version that wins out with its crisper and sharper image quality.
The console versions instead use SMAA to get rid of jaggies. Another thing in common is that even while targeting 60 FPS and not necessarily being locked at said frame rate, both versions suffer their fair share of frame drops. You’ll notice some heavy drops throughout and it’s odd that neither can really maintain a clear 60 FPS. We expect future patches to try and improve this because while it’s not unplayable, it most certainly detracts from the F1 2016 experience.
Then again, as with older racing sims and even till now, it’s the PC which offers the most graphically reliable performance. The PC version of F1 2016 is no exception. Its various graphical settings are pretty wide-ranging, giving you the ability to set post processing, motion blur strength, crowd details, mirror details, screen space reflections, vehicle reflections, skid marks, how the skid marks blend together and much more.
Performance-wise, we took F1 2016 for a spin on our usual test configuration – an Intel Core-i7 5960x with 16 GB DDR3 memory. The CPU choice helps avoid any bottle-necking and tests were further conducted on a variety of different graphics cards at 1080p, 1440p and 4K resolutions to determine how will optimized F1 2016 is across the board. The average frame rates can be observed below:
1080p:
GTX 1080: 115fps
R9 390x: 74fps
1440p:
GTX 1080: 95fps
R9 390x: 56fps
4K:
GTX 1080: 56fps
R9 390x: 34fps
We’re satisfied as a whole with the PC performance for F1 2016, especially considering the graphical options available. However, as noted above, we’re not exactly blown away by the quality across multiple platforms. Granted, games like Forza Motorsport and DriveClub have the advantage when they’re developed with specific platforms and hardware in mind. However, look at Forza 6: Apex and compare it to Forza Motorsport 6. While the former definitely showcases graphical improvements, the latter doesn’t really lag behind all that much in terms of image quality, frame rate performance, anti-aliasing and attention to detail.
With F1 2016, it’s plain as day that the PC version is superior – which was expected but still. The PC version has better anisotropic filtering than the console versions which results in more detailed objects and textures. Shadow quality is also superior and temporal anti-aliasing is indeed included in the PC version (while absolutely absent on consoles). Even the overall quality of the anti-aliasing is better than the console versions’ level of SMAA.
Again, in terms of gameplay and fun, F1 2016 is a definite step up over previous iterations. The combination of realistic racing and damage models goes a long way towards immersing the player in the experience, even if it’s not going to exactly dominate over the likes of the upcoming Forza Horizon 3 or Gran Turismo Sport. The PC version is the winner in this marathon and if you’re gaming on consoles, then it’s the PS4 version which wins out thanks to its higher resolution and superior image quality. The Xbox One version settles into last place but it’s a shame to see both console versions suffering from frame rate hitches. Hopefully as the months wear on, we see patches from Codemasters to improve performance on consoles. Source: Rheena.com
