Prototype: PS3 graphical feature missing from 360 and PC

Prototype is now out, but how does it perform on each of the video game platforms?

Activision Blizzard's Prototype, developed by Radical Entertainment, performed well in its opening week, reaching the second spot in this week's UK All Format Charts.

The super hero video game stars Alex Mercer, who must use his shape-shifting powers to discover his past in an open-world city that's rapidly becoming engulfed by a deadly virus.

Released last week for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC, the game sports impressive visuals for a sandbox open-world game, but in order to make the most out of each of its released platforms there have to be some differences.

Unlike the PS3's similar super-hero open-world game InFamous, Prototype is not natively rendered in high-definition on either console.

Prototype is rendered at 1120 by 640 pixels, with QAA (quincunx anti-aliasing) on the PS3 and 2xMSAA (multisample anti-aliasing) on the Xbox 360. The differences between these two solutions for video game "jaggies" are not terribly distinct, apart from a slight blur to the image with QAA; if sufficiently integrated into the game's art style this won't severely impact visual quality (such as is seen in Killzone 2.)

Of course, resolution and aliasing are not really an issue in the PC version of the game, which depending on your set-up can render up to 2560 by 1600 pixels with 4xMSAA.

You will find that the PS3 game's framerate can suffer from significant screen tearing when there's lots of action going on (which is a common occurrence in Prototype). The Xbox 360 game is locked at 30 frames-per-second, and generally runs steadily with minimal screen tearing. Screen tearing is a phenomenon where rendered frames overlap, creating a torn look as two parts of an object fail to line up.

Despite these performance difference, the PS3 does have a one-up on both the Xbox 360 and PC versions of the game. Surprisingly all debris on the ground is individually shadow-mapped in the PS3 game. This provides more depth for ground textures and creates a very impressive image for an open-world game.

You'll find that both the Xbox 360 and PC (even when graphical effects are set to Very High) games look flat in comparison. You can find comparison images below, which can be enlarged if you click on them.

PlayStation 3's Prototype (Click to enlarge)

Xbox 360's Prototype (Click to enlarge)

Prototype is now out for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.

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Credit: Beyond3D