Differences between 360 and PS2, straight from the horses mo

[StanleyPain]

Well...only 2 days into PSU on the 360 and my 360 decided to die. I got the three red lights. I won't be able to do anything about for some time, and given the lousy track record of MS with actually effectively repairing/replacing their own defective 360s, I'm not holding out much hope.

But I want to play PSU, damnit. So..I exchanged the 360 version for the PS2 version. I won't be going online with it for awhile, but I want to get back to Chapter 4 in offline which is where I was on the 360.

Anyway....a lot of people want to know the differences between 360 and PS2 because they're having trouble deciding. Well..as someone who's now personally played plenty of both, I can confidently say the differences are minimal.

Obviously, the graphics take a hit on the PS2. Since, for some reason, Sega opted NOT to support widescreen, the screen is more crowded because of the normal resolution of the HUD. And if a lot of NPCs decide to say things, forget being able to see ANYTHING on the screen for a few seconds.
While not in widescreen, the spacing of the HUD lets you enlarge the image to 14:9 rather nicely (but not 16:9) if your TV supports it, cutting off only the bottomost line of subtitles.
It seems like the textures are the same resolution as on 360 (some even appear cleaner), but the overall resolution of the game has been dropped so there's a slight hit to the framerate and obviously weapon switching is noticeably slower. Unlike the 360, you cannot instantly change weapons and start attacking..there's is a slight 1-2 second delay before a weapon becomes usable, even if the texture hasn't loaded in completely yet.

The only control difference is that Triangle cancels now, but everything else is just as easy to use as the 360 version.

The weird lack of support for Function keys on the 360 is not present in the PS2, where you can actually configure the function keys to other tasks in offline mode, which is interesting (similar to the number keys in PSO BB).

The movies are in lower resolution, though. That's noticeable.

Otherwise, now I'm to chapter 3, and the game plays as fluidly and fast as it did before....so, I don't see the PS2 being some major step backwards. So, for those of you on the fence about it...the differences are pretty minor. And given the propensity for 360s to randomly die (like mine), maybe the PS2 is a better option.

[Legenden]

Nice and honestly written:)
It`s like I always imagined, It doesn`t matter as long as it`s PSU.

[HiKeRI]

How did your 360 die again ?

[parabolee]

MS actualy have a pretty decent track record for replacments. Got mine replaced in 5 days turnaround.

If your under warranty still (and they just expanded eveyone wh purchased the first few batches for free) then you"ll get a replacmen pretty quickly.

Also you didn't mention PS2 runs at 30fps as apposed to 60fps (i know you mention the framerate drop but not the specifics).

[StanleyPain]

My 360 just did the random dying thing that 360s are generally known for. It's an overheating problem, and even with an intercooler and not playing for really long periods of time, it still got me.
Something to do with poorly constructed heatsinks.

[Starshape]

Mine died a couple of weeks ago too. It only took them 8 days to replace it though. from the moment that I called support until the UPS guy came back with the console, 8 days total

[HiKeRI]

That makes me not get PSU for the 360 xD

[Legenden]

parabolee Posted: 2006-10-28 12:06
Also you didn't mention PS2 runs at 30fps as apposed to 60fps (i know you mention the framerate drop but not the specifics).


Well he might just not have noticed..
The game is made for PS2 you know, so 60-30 framerate might be harder to spot on this game compared to whats normal.
Also I don`t think It matters, as I played the Premiere disk and I know it is fully playable.
Also I`m pretty neutral here as I will get the PC version.

[DreamLocke]

I have the 360 version and while not amazing looking, it's pretty decent. The style is what stands out. But I have to turn the color all the way down...the colors in PSU are just sooo saturated and bright! I even turn the game option brightness all the way down (which actually looks nice because shadows and contrasts are better)

Only gripes...some bland textures here and there, particle effects could be better, and the cutscenes look a bit rushed. Maybe a little bloom/soft lighting next time?

[StratixEVO]

On 2006-10-28 12:17, StanleyPain wrote:
My 360 just did the random dying thing that 360s are generally known for. It's an overheating problem, and even with an intercooler and not playing for really long periods of time, it still got me.
Something to do with poorly constructed heatsinks.



Ok, I'll admit they are essentially the same game, but I'm going to support the Box here. The 360s are known for dying thing is a bit much, especially since the PS2 defective rate was rediculous (Yeah, working at Software Etc during that launch was disgusting). Basically, it sucks that your Box died, but MS is owning up to it and they'll replace/repair it... so long as you cared for your system.

Second, it really depends on your setup, I'm on 50 inches of DLP goodness and PS2s lack of widescreen support, bland textures and horrible anti-aliasing results in a stretched and jaggy PSU. Also, the clipping range is shorter, but thats not very important in PSU and wasn't too noticeable.

360 provides the PC textures, which are still based on the PS2 version, but they do look fuller and more rich. The real kicker is the hi-res, smooth animation and just the overall look of the game. There is the custom soundtrack feature, the loading times seem a bit quicker and I personally prefer the 360 controller.

In closing, I'll repeat myself from other posts - PSU rocks, plain and simple. If you've got a 360 and already have Live Gold for other games, then get the 360 version, you'll be happy with yourself. If all you have is a PS2, then get it on PS2, you'll be fine on normal TVs and you'll get the same game. My preference is 360, PC then PS2. Having tried them all, I can assure you the game is still the same. 360 gives you the prettiest version with voice chat (SOO good, especially when someone's not paying attention to their life bar, lol!) However, that's still not a required feature and shouldn't take away from the game at all.

Have fun, with whatever version you get!

[-Black_Tiger-]

My friend is waiting for a retro check from his employer so he can buy an XBox 360 and PSU 360 to play with me.

Since it got delayed, he bought the PS2 version to play offline in the meantime. He was over here playing it for 10 hours yesterday and like him, I think that there's a huge difference between the 360 and PS2 versions graphically.

I've watched both quite a bit on a regular (good) TV with S-Video as well as on my DLP projector with 90" screen and 32" HD LCD TV.

The PS2 version doesn't support progressive scan, this alone makes it look like garbage on any digital TV.

The textures look worse, even considering the lower resolution, since they're filtered thru a PS2. If the PS2 version was ported to XBox One with progressive scan support, then that game might be the equivelant of 'just' 30fps at a lower resolution.

I was surprised how much they managed to pack in to the PS2 graphics, with 6 players and all. But they didn't take the time to get the PS2 to render it as well as it could've

There's warping that I saw regularly on floors. And everything just looks wobbly/jumbled together, kinda like a PSOne game.

Not only is the frame rate 30fps tops, there's slowdown and/or frame rate drops.

Its hard to make out characters and enemies like on the 360.

It looks like the frame rate drops/gets choppy whenever you turn the camera left or right.

My LCD supports side by side split screen, so we put the two version together on the same screen to compare the game in the same playing areas.

Although the 360 version looks amazing in 480p, a good widescreen TV with 720p makes it all the better.

Even though PSU is a simple game control wise, 60fps still = better gameplay than 30fps. Especially when you can make out which way your character is really facing in the first place.

The PS2 version's load times are surprisingly quick(not quite 360 quick), although you have to wait a bit to Save offline.

Most 2D images like stats and speech clouds retain their original resolution in 720p, so they're small but clearly legible and never get in the way of gameplay.

If I didn't already own a 360, I'd buy one just to play PSU after seeing the difference(I'm a PSO fanatic though). Although my friend assumed as much before, now he really can't wait to play the game "for real".

This isn't a crappy port like Final Fantasy XI. They really did make it as good as they could on 360 without changing the models.

[Yusaku_Kudou]

On 2006-10-28 12:38, DreamLocke wrote:
I have the 360 version and while not amazing looking, it's pretty decent. The style is what stands out. But I have to turn the color all the way down...the colors in PSU are just sooo saturated and bright! I even turn the game option brightness all the way down (which actually looks nice because shadows and contrasts are better)

Only gripes...some bland textures here and there, particle effects could be better, and the cutscenes look a bit rushed. Maybe a little bloom/soft lighting next time?



Pop in any THX movie (Finding Nemo, Pirates, Star Wars...) and run the THX Optimizer for video. That should pretty much set you straight.

[DreamLocke]

I'm not going to quote that, -Black_Tiger-, lol. But that was very informative. Makes me want another TV...sigh. I have S-video. No wide-screen format. Oh well.

[Legenden]

Hmm well.. I think anyone who have played PS2 games for a couple of years already will find PSU graphics for PS2 to be more than enough.

If you has to have the best at this moment, yes then I agree the XB360 is better graphically but from my impressions it still is`nt amazingly superior to the PS2 version.

This is just speculations but also you will be able to play the PS2 version on the PS3 and I am sure when there comes a pure PS3 version of the game, you will be able to continue with your PS2 charachters.

[AnnabellaRenee87]

On 2006-10-28 11:48, StanleyPain wrote:
Well...only 2 days into PSU on the 360 and my 360 decided to die. I got the three red lights. I won't be able to do anything about for some time, and given the lousy track record of MS with actually effectively repairing/replacing their own defective 360s, I'm not holding out much hope.

But I want to play PSU, damnit. So..I exchanged the 360 version for the PS2 version. I won't be going online with it for awhile, but I want to get back to Chapter 4 in offline which is where I was on the 360.

Anyway....a lot of people want to know the differences between 360 and PS2 because they're having trouble deciding. Well..as someone who's now personally played plenty of both, I can confidently say the differences are minimal.

Obviously, the graphics take a hit on the PS2. Since, for some reason, Sega opted NOT to support widescreen, the screen is more crowded because of the normal resolution of the HUD. And if a lot of NPCs decide to say things, forget being able to see ANYTHING on the screen for a few seconds.
While not in widescreen, the spacing of the HUD lets you enlarge the image to 14:9 rather nicely (but not 16:9) if your TV supports it, cutting off only the bottomost line of subtitles.
It seems like the textures are the same resolution as on 360 (some even appear cleaner), but the overall resolution of the game has been dropped so there's a slight hit to the framerate and obviously weapon switching is noticeably slower. Unlike the 360, you cannot instantly change weapons and start attacking..there's is a slight 1-2 second delay before a weapon becomes usable, even if the texture hasn't loaded in completely yet.

The only control difference is that Triangle cancels now, but everything else is just as easy to use as the 360 version.

The weird lack of support for Function keys on the 360 is not present in the PS2, where you can actually configure the function keys to other tasks in offline mode, which is interesting (similar to the number keys in PSO BB).

The movies are in lower resolution, though. That's noticeable.

Otherwise, now I'm to chapter 3, and the game plays as fluidly and fast as it did before....so, I don't see the PS2 being some major step backwards. So, for those of you on the fence about it...the differences are pretty minor. And given the propensity for 360s to randomly die (like mine), maybe the PS2 is a better option.




aham well take it from someone that has had 3 360s it will take about 2 weeks to ship it away and they DO NOT REPAIR the xbox they just replace it befor ya send it off make sure that you console was made BEFORE January 1 if it is then ya have a years worth of warantie and it will const ya nothing...

ps my 3ed xbox 360 is the best one iv had so fare...