Face-Off: Saints Row 4: Re-Elected

[Administrator]

We had mixed feelings about the PS4 version of Saint's Row 4 after taking a look at the game last week. While the boost to 1080p resolution and higher frame-rates clearly provides a better experience than the last-gen versions, highly variable performance meant that the conversion wasn't as solid as it could be, with the existing PC version remaining the best way to play the game. However, we wanted to go in-depth on final code, while also assessing how the developers would tackle the Xbox One version. Would the developers attempt to run with a 60fps update, or instead lock at 30fps to avoid the consistency issues found on the PS4? On top of that, we also wanted to check out the Gat out of Hell standalone expansion.
As things stand, the final version of Saints Row 4 Re-Elected appears to be identical to the code we previously looked at: uncapped frame-rates are present, while the non-functional v-sync option that puzzled us last week remains equally bereft of purpose in the release code. All of this is mirrored to perfection on the Xbox One edition of the game, except there's an even bigger impact on performance, owing to the system's less capable GPU. On the plus side, there's no reduction in resolution - the Xbox One version of Re-Elected and Gat out of Hell produce the same native 1080p presentation as their PS4 counterparts. This is a big deal bearing in mind the compromises made on the last-gen versions.
The only downside with this rendering set-up is the bizarre lack of any form of anti-aliasing - a situation that is common to both PS4 and Xbox One versions of the game. This creates more pixel-pop, shimmering and break-up across finely detailed scenery than we'd expect to see from a current-gen console release. Quite why the developer went down this route is unclear as the presentation could have been improved by using something along the lines of SMAA, but even plain old FXAA would have been better than nothing. It's all the more curious given that 2x MSAA is present on Xbox 360, while a post-process solution is deployed on PS3.
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