Gamers have been waiting to play some 1080p 60 fps games ever since the PlayStation 3. When they found out that that wasn’t going to happen, they didn’t take it very hard – the technology was new, after all. So, they put their hopes on the new generation of consoles.
And while the PS4 and the Xbox One have full 1080p capabilities, there are only a handful of games that can run the resolution, and most of them are remastered. So when we heard about Quantum Break, the time manipulating shooter that was supposed to run on 1080p on the Xbox One, many of us were of course excited.
Evasiveness
However, some code pertaining to the game was made available for review, showing some members of the press that the title might not be running at its hinted-at resolution. Since then, Phil Spencer (Xbox CEO) remained vague about the game’s graphics.
Adding to the growing suspicions, Remedy Entertainment, the game’s developers, said that there would be no first-day patch to enhance the title’s graphics. With people getting more and more antsy about the title’s state for its April 5 release date, Remedy finally answered the question on all our lips.
Technical details
According to the company, the game’s 1080p resolution is a temporal reconstruction from four preceding 720p 4xMSAA frames. This allows the developers to have a highly cinematic look by incorporating complex effects, shading, and high pixel quality. So the resolution question is highly complicated from a traditional point of view.
The main goal of the company ever since the game entered development was to deliver a compelling game with a superior artistic quality, exactly what Remedy is known for. They are confident that that was achieved, and the company can’t wait to see the fans’ reaction to the title.
So what does that mean?
Well, that’s definitely a long, well formulated ‘no’. Quantum Break will run at 720p upscaled at 1080p. It’s totally not what we wanted or what we were promised, but it’s better than nothing. And what we’ve seen of the game so far does admittedly look pretty amazing, but gameplay and graphics-wise.
But that’s definitely another loss for Microsoft and Xbox One. Unless a hardcore Xbox gamer, most people would rather play the game as it’s supposed to be played – at ultra PC graphics instead of at mediocre yet upscaled graphics. A game that looks this good would have been a welcome addition to the Xbox One’s gallery, but seeing as the company failed to deliver what they promised, so be it.
Image source: YouTube