Lords of Shadow PS3 demo frame rate analysis

An analysis for the PSN+ exclusive demo for the game.

[alaa]

the visuals and the presentation of the game are some of the best this generation. amazing rain and lighting effects, beautiful art style and great looking character models. Can't wait for the full game.

[raztad]

Double WTF?

The framerate couldnt be worse: lows to 17. fps? average 25?, someone got to be kidding me. This is almost unplayable.

EDIT: I'm still in awe that those guys are shipping a hack and slash game with such a poor framerate. This pissed me off big time. I was looking forward to this, and now the PS3 version performs this bad, :(

@Ahasverus

Hope the 3 months old demo stuff holds true for once and we get, AT LEAST, a solid 30fps as was promised some time ago.

I watched the clip and DURING gameplay there were downs to 24.

0.0000% tearing is done in many PS3 exclusives out there what are you talking about?

Probably the blur give the impression of a smoother game, but the framerate itslef is poor, so I would expect long input delays.

[Ahasverus]

1- This is a 3 months old demo, it's the same press played during E3, a lot has improved according to Dave Cox (producer).
2- During gameplay, FPS are never below 26fps.
3- Post-processing effects make 25fps not very noticeable, could you tell it before wtching this video?
4- 0.ooo% screen tearing is something NOT EVEN UNCHARTED 2 acomplished so kudos to MS =)
5- Unplayable? lol say that to the press that it's calling it the sleeper hit if the year :P

[sayonara89]

Ahasverus - what? Triple buffering is triple buffering, Uncharted and Castlevania are using the same technique. FR in this demo is poor, full version will probably be better.

[NecrumSlavery]

I can't really see an issue here. But it was hard to tell from the video on the site.

[ian72]

I agree, 17 fps is very poor for todays standards. Lets hope the final game is way better when released

[hoops]

welcome to console gaming

[Oldsnake007]

at least we will be able to play the game.

how is there on the Pc camp, still waiting for RDR ?

[DigitalAnalog]

"4- 0.ooo% screen tearing is something NOT EVEN UNCHARTED 2 acomplished so kudos to MS =) "

http://www.eurogamer.net/vi...

"Frame-rate analysis of key sections of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Did Naughty Dog truly smooth performance and remove all screen-tear? The answer is "yes". "

Take your nonsense outside this comment section please.

-End statement

[jobboy]

@ahasverus
when did Cox say that?? link please

[The_Quiet_Man]

Sorry, for some reason I can only reply to your 1st comment & not your 2nd, which I'm actually replying too. I'm from Ireland & have an EU account (didn't go for PS+), anyway you can set up an EU account easily if you create a new user account. Select the region for Ireland, you can use an old address I had (place doesn't exist anymore, it was demolished)

79 Swansnest Court,
Kilbarrack (that's the name of the area),
Dublin 5 (postcode),
Ireland

I think under city you have to put Dublin again but on it's own, anyone can use this if they want just change the number 79 (used to be a block of flats). You'll probably have to buy euro PSN cards from ebay (I don't think Gamestop, where I've seen them, sell online). Actually it might be easier to make a UK account but you'll have to google an address (use a shop or something). The UK probably will have more shops to buy PSN cards online, not sure though.

[raztad]

@Ryu

Thanks a lot for your replay. I already has a EU account, but I was wondering about how to pay the subscription. You gave me a nice hint. Thanks again.

[SaberEdge]

This is pretty normal performance for any 30FPS game. The films we watch in the theater have a lower frame rate, but they look smooth to us due to the natural motion blur that film produces. This game with motion blur looks perfectly fine to me. Not to mention it has without a doubt some of the best graphics of this generation.

[RageAgainstTheMShine]

oh, its another one of those Microsoft political machinery in Saudi Arabia spreading lies & misinformation to make 360 look good.

The one that claimed Alan Wake graphics is better than Uncharted 2.
Crap site

[CernaML]

"4- 0.ooo% screen tearing is something NOT EVEN UNCHARTED 2 acomplished so kudos to MS =) "

Uhh... you are 100% wrong.

[nycredude]

I just watched that uncharted 2 and just realized that UC2 is still graphics king.

[Gue1]

17fps is literally a slideshow!

And Uncharted 2 was 30fps locked with Vsync. No more, no less...

[AKS]

I'm leaning heavily towards ordering it from amazon, which includes $20 credit. I would have preferred a few frames higher, but on the other hand, I would have probably guessed higher than the approximately 25 fps they measured because it looks really good.

[theonlylolking]

The game just does a lot of motion blur so you cant notice the bad frame rate. Also the graphics are not great they are good.

[Christopher]

From a technical perspective, they're okay, not great. The water is very fake, turning everything into a metallic sheen rather than taking into account the different physics of each element. Lighting is okay during gameplay, but shines in the cut scenes where they pretty much control the lighting.

Compared to GoW3, it's 15-20 fps less and utilizes lower resolution textures, simpler AI (so far), and doesn't go as big in regards to the scale of the fight scenes and thereby how much is being presented on screen at once.

I think the art direction in Castlevania is preferred by most for it's typical WRPG look and feel. I do love finally having a GoW-like game that doesn't need to descend into hell but can give us normal environments like castles, villages, forests, and the such. Even if it's just a small portion of the environments, it does bring up the feeling that you're really in that sort of environment.

I definitely prefer the art direction of Castlevania over GoW3, which is why I think most are hyping it so much as well. But, technically, it's just not there. It's definitely better looking than Dante's Inferno, though.

[raztad]

Are you EU PS+ subscriber?

I want to subscribe to EU PS+ for only 3 months. Is there a way to do that?

BTW. Thanks for the impressions.

[mrcash]

from a graphics standpoint it looks the same as gow3, but even gow3 dips below 30fps so take it easy, I didn't enjoy gow3 because of its eventual decrease in action very weak boss battles and it seems this game is immitating so I wont be picking this up either. Maybe a rental.

[Biggest]

And since this isn't God of War 3, you can just ignore yourself. It's a demo. Play it and enjoy/hate it.

[Christopher]

***from a graphics standpoint it looks the same as gow3***

Far from. Anyone saying this needs to get their eyes checked. Textures and lighting in GoW3 were very well done and Castlevania just doesn't equal up to it. It's the best GoW-like game that's gone multiplatform, but just doesn't technically measure up to GoW3 at all.

The limitation of Castlevania is in maintaining the look and feel across both platforms, in doing so it had to take the lowest common denominators into the equation of how far it could go. This means it's not going to be the best looking on the 360 or the PS3 because it fails to be programmed towards the individual strengths.

***but even gow3 dips below 30fps so take it easy,***

It dips below by 1 fps very rarely, but its average FPS is 15-20 higher than that shown in the Castlevania video.

Don't believe me, check out the GoW FPS test by the same guy as this test:

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

GoW3
Min fps - 29
Max fps - 60
Avg fps - 42

Castlevania
Min fps - 17
Max fps - 33
Avg fps - 25

Big difference there.

[jack_burt0n]

anyone done any AA analysis?

[BornToKill]

wait... there's a demo?!

[Hellsvacancy]

EU PS+ buddy, i personally didnt like it all that much, me not bein in-2 hack n slash games might b the reason 4 that

[paintsville]

The ps3 does a great job with this game. The developers are to be given credit as well. No tearing. That's quite an sccomplishment. Historically this has been an issue on PS3 with multi-console releases. It appears that this developer has gotten it right. Good job.

[RankFTW]

After playing this demo I reckon I will pick this up on release.

[hanmik]

this is not their "news".. it´s taken from the Beyond 3D Forums:

http://forum.beyond3d.com/s...

[Simon_Brezhnev]

smh they should at least give credit to where it was found.

[AhmadVGArabia]

I didn't know that it belong to Beyond 3D Forums. Anyway I credited the original source on my post.

[Simon_Brezhnev]

I'm not sold yet i sure hope its better then Enslaved. I think the next hack and slash im waiting for is MGS Rising and some other japanese hack n slash games.

[RosoTron36]

Hack&Slash I'm waiting for is DMC.. LOL..
Damn I can't even keep a straight face on that one... XD

[CrIpPeN]

haha Platinum Games has a better shot doing the new DmC, lol.

[TheMailman]

Another Bayonetta... hyped to the bal*s

[Natsu X FairyTail]

The hating from the Lames as Started.

[Redrum059]

I'm guessing your a bot, since you only get sensetive when Sony fanboys make comments. Where is your policing when nbidu or omega4 come around?

[house]

be a button for when you say lames and you hit it and we cant see your comment because honestly your one of the two face trolls on here when you need bubbles you say good things once you get your bubble you become as bad as omega

[Trebius]

Dont mind him. Just ignore him.

[N311V]

I hope not but that's the impression I got from the video. I like the hack&slash genre but I'm sceptical after how much that piece of crap Dante's Inferno was hyped. I think GOWIII will still be king.

[SuperStrokey1123]

Thats not the best frame rate, or is the 25 fps because its in Europe which has 50hz TVs? (someone please correct me if i am wrong)

[popup]

It is not that but the demo may be an old build but it does look pretty good to me despite the numbers. :)

The FPS numbers don't seem to tie up with what I see on the screen though. Without them, it appears steady and very playable.

What is odd though is that you would think that when the instruction pages appear and the game pauses, the demo would produce higher numbers and yet the numbers appear to stay low even during this pausing.

Regardless of this, the screen was alive with atmosphere and the team appear to have indeed produced something rather special (I hope).

[LightofDarkness]

Whatever about framerate, this game looks to be simply superb on the presentation and story-telling front. The gameplay looks quite solid too. Day one, easily.

[frelyler]

I'd bet no one would even notice if attention was not brought to it, I laugh at all the people bashing it because of a frame rate number. They pretend like it makes all the difference in the world, please stop trying to sound smart.

[DarK-SilV]

I downloaded the Demo ,I did not see any problem with it ,one more thing ,this is a demo ,believe me the full game will be better just like BFBC2 and COW3 demos

[Iceballs]

Day one purchase, no question about it.

[Ahasverus]

You guys are forgetting this is not GOW. It doesn't have to have the 1561985768ft bosses nor the espectacular decapitations nor the flashy effects.. this is CASTLEVANIA, a game about satisfying combat, strategic bosses (GOW bosses are epic in scale but lame in attack patterns, but that's not bad, it's GOW style but not CV's) gothic atmosphere, a dark tale but kinda innocent.
You're judging this game as a regular action game, this is not. This is a platfformer at it's very core with satisfying combat (the combat it's indeed similar to GOW but ONLY THE COMBAT) and mind blowing puzzles.

This is not GOW by any means, this is Castlevania, and you're missing that.

[Simon_Brezhnev]

nice way to diss GOW im glad i know GOW bosses had lame attack patterns. So i guess you played the full Castlevania even though it took a lot of elements from GOW.

[Ahasverus]

I'm not saying this game doesn't have lame attack patterns, just that GOW has but that's HOW IT WORKS and it's amazing, Kratos HAS to feel powerful, that's why we play GOW, it's the satisfaction we get from it. You won't find that in CVLOS, bosses are to making us fel intimidated not in scale but in power, Cv protagonists are weak compared toi their enemies, it's CV style.
People are saying "Chronos is bigger!" "KRatos is badasser!" "Gow combat FTW!" but they are fprgetting
1- This game is not trying to get the biggest boss ever
2- Gabriel is not meant to be a badass, but a troubled man that NEVEr says "i'm going to kick you".
3- This is not an action game it's an action platfformer.
4- THIS IS CASTLEVANIA LORDS OF SHADOW AND NOT GOW 4 SO STOP JUDGING IT BY GOW STANDARDS.

They are different beasts.

[pixelsword]

You said that GoW's bosses are lame in attack patterns, but you also say that Castlevania similar only in the combat category...

...but don't you engage the bosses *in* combat?

;)

Although I do agree that GoW and CV are different in pacing, The bosses (historically) are very similar to GoW in terms of patterns. Koronot from Castlevania IV, The original Dracula, and many others have rather simplistic attack patterns, but the pacing is different between the two games.

[MGRogue2017]

... Meh.

Wait for Lens of Truth & Digital Foundry's analysis articles. :)

[Shazz]

played demo several times and noticed no issues with framerate at all so fook knows what hes smokin

[SuperStrokey1123]

Didnt GOW3 run at 60FPS? This runs at 30 max... am i missing something?

[Biggest]

Seems like you're missing the fact that this isn't God of War 3. We're talking about Castlevania: Lords of Shadow.

[SuperStrokey1123]

You are right, im just asking as everyone has been comparing the two is all. I would say that GOW looks better than Castlevania even though running at a higher frame rate myself. Its just the comparison im talking about. Nothing else.

[pixelsword]

GoW III ran at 60 mostly, but it did switch to 30 at certain times (I don't know when, it was probably during scenes where a slower pace during the game occurred which didn't require a fast framerate, like where the titans were climbing up the mountain.

[DeathMetal]

looks cool will check out the demo, and no GOW did not run at 60 FPS

[SaberEdge]

Yeah and COD MW2 runs at 60FPS and Killzone 2 runs at 30FPS, what's your point?

[DeathMetal]

question was my point try reading the posts before making comments that make you look stupid.

[DelbertGrady]

I hope the 360 version isn't this bad. Hopefully it will be superior, as it usually is in most cases.

[CernaML]

Multiple discs make it all better.

[MarkyMarky]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHA

[lastdual]

It's called unified RAM. The PS3 has a lower RAM bottleneck, which is why multiplats usually have a higher framerate on 360. Devs can get around this by offloading some operations onto the cell's SPUs, but few go the extra mile to do that.

Visuals also often have less jaggies due to better GPU AA, and load times for non-installed games are usually better since the 360's DVD drive reads at a faster rate than the PS3's bluray drive (which is why so many PS3 games have mandatory installs).

Seriously, I love my PS3, and when the devs really take advantage of what it can do, the games are awesome, but there's a good reason most of us every-console owners buy more multi-platform games for the 360.

Edit: Ironically, I'm actually getting Castlevania for PS3 :)

[el zorro]

Ok, I'll take multiple discs on a few games, you guys take inferior multiplatform games 90% of the time. But go on pretending like multiple discs is such a big deal. I'd take better graphics and better performance on multiple discs over inferior graphics on a single disc any day.

That said, I think this game will probably be fairly similar on both consoles. Maybe the 360 version will have a better framerate, or maybe it won't. Doesn't matter though. Castlevania still has better graphics than 98% of games out there. In that context I don't care about some minor slowdown.

[Ahasverus]

This is an old build.
And the 24 fps are AVERAGE, the gameplay goes in solid 26 fps (cinematic FPS) the framerate drops in cutscenes (!) but that's hopefully adressed in the final build.
And, hey, you didn't noticed this before, this is not a game breaker thing, remember that Crysys at max sets runs at 24 fps in a very high end PC and we love it, it's just about quality and how mercurySteam have managed the game to feel than anything else
:)

[mrmikew2018]

I hear you bro, my only advice to you is just ignore these fools. They're going to be counting frames and pixels until the end of gaming.

[Ahasverus]

Yeah thanks ^^ however IDK why do they have to be like that, why can't we just enjoy the game regardsless of numbers? I'm not playing with them anyway :P

[amakusasfire]

It's funny that I hear so many people labeling this as a God of War clone and that the graphics won't compare to God of War 3. Well, I personally loved God of War 3 but I feel as a whole complete game the best of the series is still God of War 2 and that's just my feelings. Now before anyone does any compares the graphics between the two games you must be fair and compare the God of War 3 demo with the Castlevania demo as you all remember the graphics and framerate had some issues with the E3 GOW 3 trailer.

I'm not going to say that this will be better than GOW 3 but I will say this, I think this will be the best true Castlevania game since Super Castlevania 4. Yes, that's right I didn't say Symphony of the Night for one main reason. It was perhaps my favorite PS One title next to Metal Gear Solid but it didn't have a Belmont as the main character unless you beat it, and it felt too much like Metroid which I loved but it wasn't the same.

I think that the Gothic look of this game, the character designs, music and voice acting will be all top notch. For me this is my most anticipated game of the year. GOW 3 was good but I was disappointed with it overall, and Halo Reach I feel was a missed opportunity. But, hey that's me and everyone is entitled to their feelings. Can't wait to see the finished product.

[carreirabr]

We should thank god their are not using K&L 2 engine. A real masterpiece:

http://www.youtube.com/user...

Thanks SE.

[hiredhelp]

k so now we picking at frame rate issues. lets pick
most of todays multiplatform games average of 30fps. so why this such a big deal.?
maybe ""some people"" hoping this be like a god of war comparison. Think again!
if this is a lead platform for this game.it still has to think about making it very simular to the 360 standards. in way of graphics frame rate. gameplay.
god of war had years of development had many many many many devs working very hard on it. thats why the frame rate was high. you wont ever get a multiformat game on 360 to try to beat a ps3 AAA exclusive in anyway shape or form. just doesnt work like that. however this game im going to buy even thoe i am a god of war fan. because this game was developed with the orignal game in mind.snes
im going to play this game with the same respect and enjoyment i got from The king of kings KRATOS.and i wont be worrying about frame rate. to be honist frae rate counts on racers more than anything. or very fast action paced games. is this really such a big deal.

[carreirabr]

Sorry, but the gap between 42fps (GOW3) and 25fps is huge in input latency.

You will feel that really, 25fps is way too slow for a action smashing button game, that's a reality.

[jjank11]

C: LOS is multiplatform. GOW3 is PS3 exclusive and we all know the PS3 has alittle more power to play with.
GOW was something fresh in the gaming world with high production values. If C: LOS can capture that essence then it should be a good game and should sell well.

[carreirabr]

Still looking like a Dante's Inferno syndrome title.

A polished turd with no real content, just a blend of well known game cliches.

And with the demo, we can see they've spend a lot in the presentation e not enough in engine/gameplay/new ideas department.

[Nicky7]

A polished turd? you must be talking about God of war 3. I played the very same game on PS2 years ago, just looked a bit worse.

Castlevania is three times as long and twice as interesting as God of emo rage 3.

[wissam]

You are mistaking kratos for the new dante I guess.

[hiredhelp]

hey kid go play your 360. stop bitching.

[JasonX43]

I'm so sick of hearing about frame rates and pixels and all this other nonsense that started ever since gaming moved into high definition. If a game looks good, it looks good! Shut up and enjoy it!

[yamzilla]

had occasional framerate issues where it dipped into the low twenties, even high teens when i played it....this is what you can expect for the rest of both consoles life cycles, if you want good graphics, you get low resolution and low framerate....if you want 60 frames per second and anti aliasing.....you get a racing game or an indie game

if you want 1080p.....lol....too freakin bad....you'll be lucky to get 720p....you might get some yummy alan wake 540p

if you want 1080p, 60 frames per second AND anti aliasing, ....you my friend need at least a $500 to$900 PC....or a very vivid imagination.

[raztad]

GoW3 was pretty much consistent around 40+. When the game "slowed down" was a controlled cinematic effect. It is always responsive and smooth. Dont try to sh!t in GoW3 like you were the only that played it. Well I have my doubts you actually played it at all.

And just FYI, neither GoW3 or LoS are on Pc, so what games will we be playing at 60 fps on PC?

Other thing is: why you post was all about GoW3? LoS is the one being discussed here.

[DeathMetal]

so what games will we be playing at 60 fps on PC? How about all of them. but for now SC2, CIV 5 and soon the Wticher 2. Not to mention the usual mutilpats that absoultely destroy their console counterparts.We don't want games that run at FPS in the high teens low 20's that's embarrasing.

[The_Quiet_Man]

I think this game looks great, I'll buying it for my PS3. I like the art style & the game itself looks like it'll have an interesting story to it. Sure it mightn't look as great as GOW3 but so what!!! (GOW is still my favourite franchise followed closely by DMC), but this new Castlevania looks like it'll be another solid hack & slash to add to my collection.

That youtube video on the site doesn't really do the game any justice, youtube videos are to blurry to really judge anything. I'd wait at least till I can download it for myself before I judge.

I don't really mind screen tearing or slow-downs in games (shocking I know) as long as it's not game breaking. I think people are way to critical these days & as a consequence they probably miss out on some great games.

I've played games on atari's, master system, nes, megadrive, super nes, nintendo 64, ps1 & 2, the games out nowadays have come along way since, it doesn't bother me if some developers aren't on par with others as long as I think I'm going to enjoy the game, in the end that's all that really matters (the same applies to multiplats to me).

[wissam]

I applaud your thoughts. but gow3 was epic.

[Xfanboy]

http://www.youtube.com/user...
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
http://www.youtube.com/user...
http://www.youtube.com/user...

[gamer2010]

Castlevania is such an amazing looking game. Biggest game of the year for me.