Xbox 360 vs. PS3: Multiformat Face-off
We compare and contrast the PS3's 360 ports.
Def Jam: Icon
The Fight Night development team attempted a more urban level of fisticuffs, and the result is a slothsome festival of near-absolute boredom, where noteworthy gangsta-types take to the streets and smack each other about to the beats of their own rap music. Special moves and damaging takedowns can be cued to the percussion of the music itself, resulting in extra damage to your hapless opponent - and indeed to the scenery itself as it gradually crumbles under the might of your rap-powered assault.
Graphically, the Xbox 360 version and its PS3 counterpart appear to be identical at a pixel-for-pixel level. Any difference you might see is entirely down to the different video outputs of the console (in the case of our comparison shots, VGA vs. HDMI). Effects are identical between the pair, and with a game as cripplingly lethargic as this one, any speed difference between the two is borderline irrelevant. The Xbox 360 version does appear to be a little more responsive, but this couldn't be proved scientifically in the tests we did.
The only other notable element to draw from this comparison is that the Xbox 360 version scales very well into any VGA resolution right up to 1080p. The Microsoft hardware's ANA scaling chip excels at resizing heavily aliased and filtered visuals, and the game acquits itself well visually at the top-end, even though it's only running at 720p. The PS3 version doesn't have any such scaling available - so mileage will vary here depending on how well your display does the job.
Fight Night Round 3
EA Sports' now legendary boxing title earned a place on honour on Xbox 360 thanks to its brutally realistic pugilism, next-level visuals and innovative control system. However, over 12 months have passed since the game made its debut and I was hopeful that this time would have been spent on addressing some of the 360 game's shortcomings, as well as improving the visual experience.
The good news is that Fight Night Round 3 has indeed been enhanced over its initial release on the competing format. The bad news is that the PS3 upgrades are essentially little more than window dressing, albeit worthwhile graphical garnish. From a gameplay perspective, the action seems to be pretty much an exact match with the Xbox 360 - the only real key innovation being a first-person perspective mode which adds only marginal levels of entertainment to the core gameplay.
However, it's clear that the development team has taken a look at what could be improved visually on the Xbox 360 and has enhanced the game where possible for its belated PS3 debut. The most obvious improvement is in the sheen of perspiration that builds up on your fighter's body - beads of sweat and dripping moisture are far more defined on the PlayStation 3 version, muscles and veins likewise. The lighting, although subtly different, manages to illuminate the action more convincingly and shows off more of the superb levels of detail the boxers exhibit. Also to be applauded is the change in motion blur techniques employed in the game. They're still there, but more subtly employed, again bringing out more of the detail. The comparison gallery tells its own story.
In all, Fight Night Round 3 is one of the more successful Xbox 360 translations. Of course, there's nothing radically different here - and certainly, none of the gameplay foibles of the 360 version have been addressed - but the changes that have been made are logical and add to the spectacle. And crucially, nothing has been broken.