Just Enough Frames Per Second

Gran Turismo 5 is set to release is just a few days and it is set to bring to the table the rare, pinnacle of console gaming, a so-called silky smooth 60 frames per second (FPS). Few others games have achieved this consistently on the so-called next gen consoles (Xbox 360 and PS3), two exceptions being Wipeout HD and Dante's Inferno. My question was, are we missing out on something? Are our cousins who are playing on maxed-out gaming rigs getting a ----------better experience?

To test out whether or not 60 FPS is really all it is cracked up to be and to try a game that has been on my List for a while, I queued up Dante's Inferno for the Xbox 360 to see what all I have been missing technologically from gaming as I do not have a PC capable of playing anything but Diablo at 60 FPS. I was somewhat excited to play a hack and slash for the first time in a while, especially since this game was steeped in a lore I have been vaguely interested in a long time. When the game arrived from Gamefly on Monday, I set aside about an hour to put some time into the game.

First off, the 60 FPS come at a price graphically. Not a steep price, but this game is not beautiful, the environments are not packed with detail, and the art style, the last hope, is somewhat lackluster, but much better than it could have been. With the game running at 60 FPS, I tried to notice if it was more responsive than other games, namely the Castlevania: Lord of the Shadows demo I had recently played which runs, on average, below 20 FPS. I did not notice much of a distance. DI seemed to be just as responsive as most games I have played, but in no way noticeably so. Then, I observed how the action flowed on screen. I attempted to observe if the character movements more fluid or if the action seemed more natural. Again, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Nothing seemed any different, gameplay-wise, between a game running at 60 FPS and one running at 30FPS.

I should mention that although Castlevania: LoS looks absolutely beautiful, there is some slowdown anyone can observe, even in the demo. On the bright side, the game is absolutely gorgeous and most of the technical flaws are masked by the enjoyment I had with the demo. I cannot say how good Castlevania is at this point, but the time I had with the demo left me with a good impression.

I give credit to the developers of Dante's Inferno, Visceral Studios, as the game does what they said it was going to do, namely run at 60 FPS on consoles. However, myself, as a rather technically affiliated video game player did not notice the advantageous, but can not some flaws, such as the poor texture resolutions. I will not say this debate is over, as I could next compare Forza Motorsport 3 to a game like Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (2010) and see if there are any differences in those faster paced games. As of now, however, I am unconvinced that graphical fidelity need be sacrificed for FPS.

For a technical perspective on Castlevania: Lord of Shadows, see: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-castlevania-lords-of-shadow-face-off

For a technical perspective on Dante's Inferno, see: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/xbox-360-vs-ps3-face-off-round-24?page=1