Console GamingGamesTechnical Analysis

Spider-Man 2 – Technical & Performance Review

Share the Story:

The sequel you've been Kraven for

To say Insomniac never sleep is a running gag now, but the truth is they have over-delivered since the tail end of the PS4 with the amazing 2018 PS4 Spiderman. But here we are again, on the 5th release of 6 years across 2 generations. And that does not include the 3 PC releases they helped support.  Now this is not a competition with other studios, merely recognition for what they have done and more so, the intelligent use of it within their engine to empower and enable teams to deliver at this pace and level. Spiderman 2 has raised that level once more, specifically an area that Insomniac have been a pioneer on, Performance.

 

 

Playing the numbers game

  Like prior games Spiderman 2 comes with two modes with the need for a NON-RT Performance mode no longer required as a PS5 exclusive. You can pick from Fidelity mode that turns on all the bells and whistles with Ray Tracing, 4K resolutions which can scale to a counted low of 3200x1800p in the fixed 30fps mode. Partnering this is the Performance mode, which includes the same Ray Tracing effects just cut back on the range & amount of objects reflected, along with a reduced level of surfaces that fall back to cube maps, which can cause some incorrect reflections on interiors at times. Both use it on Water bodies and interior scenes now, in addition they also reduce the Hair spline FX with reduced splines and resolution, along with shadow cascades, resolution and Ambient occlusion, which remains Screen Spaced in both modes. 

  The biggest cut is resolution which now tops out at 2560x1440p and can scale down to 1080p in the base 60fps mode, the game uses Insomniac’s Temporal Injection AA to reconstruct that back to the 1440 or 4K targets as and when needed, and due to this and the incredible but comic book art style the image quality is impressive in both modes. But Fidelity has the superior resolve on the exquisite materials, textures and assets in the game, and the RT reflections are of a higher resolution using a reconstructed 1080p base back to 4K. Whereas in Performance mode they are 720p base reconstructed back to 1440p. All in these are the best Ray Traced reflections in a console game and they also have one of the largest impacts on the visual quality as you can see so much life in them which adds a great deal to the Big Apple’s impact.

 Just like prior games though, starting with Rift Apart, Insomniac have made the best use of 120Hz screens and VRR. These 2 functions are separate to the modes and can be enabled on each or disabled, however. Without a 120Hz screen, only the performance 60fps mode will benefit from VRR as the base 30fps cap in Fidelity is below the use case of VRR and performance here is already rock solid, it says 30 and you get it. As I have completed the game even in the heaviest sections it maintains that 99% of the time and any dips are cutscene shot swaps, small loading stutters or maybe One alpha FX too many in your face. It is as perfect mode with the brilliant and improved per pixel motion blur and without it the game does feel and look less smooth, it also adds to the CGI look that Insomniac game have with such high-quality assets, lighting and models. My default mode, with one caveat.

The Performance mode is also a largely locked affair, some small dips into the mid 50s at worse from some streaming sections within gameplay and a couple in the more, venomous sections, but by and large it runs perfectly on a flat 60Hz screen but with VRR enabled these minor dips are well within the range but, this is not where VRR is needed. Which is where you enable the 120Hz mode which , with VRR disabled, the Fidelity mode now targets a 40fps frame rate, the mid ground between 30 and 60fps. And this is my default mode as you get all the of the 30fps quality, a slightly lower DRS base now of 1440p levels, but the performance is significantly smoother and although not just like 60fps it does run and play much smoother than 30fps and the minor dip in resolution is pretty much invisible. The boost this adds to the motion and input is welcome and, as I said with the Rift Apart, and others, this is the perfect compromise for games that cannot hit the required 16ms frame time at the level the Developers envisioned but can hit a 25ms time with minor nips and tucks. In this mode the PS5 is largely if not fully GPU and or Memory bound and yet at a flat 40fps it is as rock solid as the 30fps mode but just faster, smoother better for it. If you have a 120hz just enable this from the off, turn
on fidelity and then go.

One more variable crop’s up with Variable Rate Refresh, we  see the limit of the PS5 with a potential 60fps target now, in specific light workloads. The main readout here though is the mid ground of 40 and 50fps with the unlocked option enabled, but I prefer smoothed which maintains a slightly higher resolution and a flat 40fps readout. The unlocked mode does extend the DRS to that 1440p low, a minor blemish, but the results are more a curio than a significant increase to the excellent 40fps mode. It is another benchmarking mode for the inevitabie PC release in a couple of years. Just as I used in my PC tests with Spider-Man: Remastered and Rift Apart.  I am very glad the choice is yours to make and also, if any PS5 PRO console did land, then this mode could become the new go to mode and continue as a benchmarking mode.  The game menu is merely presenting you, the player, a UI into the engine config. But, currently at least, it is a one way setting, in that the game engine needs to make an Operating System call to your PS5 to check if

A) You have an 120Hz screen connected or capture card 

B) You have a VRR capable screen or capture card

  However, this is not updated from the OS layer, only your choice as you select. If both are true, then the modes will change as you set them in the menu. If both of these are false from the OS level, then the settings will only be window dressing and not change anything in the game but will reflect to you as if they are enabled. It is on you to know WHAT set-up you have AND you have it enabled here in the OS menu. The VRR option has two modes, Smoothed just maintains the target for 60fps or 40fps and maintains a smaller DRS window, while  unlocked extends the DRS window to the 1440p low on Fidelity and 1792x1008p new low in performance. Which is our final mode, here with VRR Unlocked and 120Hz set-up, you can now see frame rates hit 100fps, again in the same isolated areas as the Fidelity mode hits 60. The main bulk of play though its between 60-70 with some sections and real-time cutscenes running between 70-85. A nice and welcome boost and again, could be the rush to high frame-rate mode if a PS5Pro were to swing in next year, forward compatibility at its finest without a line of code or binary file compiled. 

 

  The main thing to reflect here is Insomniac have gone over and above many other teams here, and they deserve the praise for that. If we take some exampled over the past year or so, 3rd Party in Jedi Survivor and its performance mode and the updated version that was not fit for purpose at launch but came with a vastly improved update months later. And even 1st Party in Redfall which has only just this week shipped with a 60fps mode, something that should have been present from day one and for an online shooter was required. The team here already had the both ends sorted a sharp 4K, locked 30fps fidelity mode and an equally locked 60fps performance mode with intelligent cuts. The 40 and 60+ VRR modes are all icing on that cake and shows, along with the increase in engine work, visual quality, world density, fast travel etc that the biggest competition they have, is themselves and that is a great place to be.

 

 One a pure game and tech perspective though Spiderman 2 is an excellent sequel with a great and compelling story and certainly gameplay moments that you will remember. The biggest take -away is it improves on the first game and expands in many areas but is not a night a day difference, covered more in my next video. But if you liked the first 2, you will love this new, darker, Raimi inspired tome.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *