Pink Lifeless Redemption PS4/Change Port Overview – it’s only a re-release – WGB, Dwelling of AWESOME Evaluations

When rumours first started to appear on the horizon suggesting Rockstar was planning a remaster of Pink Lifeless Redemption the thrill was palpable. Launched in 2010, Pink Lifeless Redemption has bought hundreds of thousands of copies, topped quite a few “Better of” lists and spawned a sequel that did it yet again. A remaster of Pink Lifeless Redemption appeared like a simple money-maker for Take-Two and Rockstar. How shortly all of it fell aside. The brand new model was introduced as a “conversion” being dealt with by Double Eleven with a price ticket of $50 and no enhancements or upgrades talked about. The hype prepare was derailed, all whereas Take-Two tried to argue that the £40/$50 asking value was justified, regardless of the sport simply being a port to PlayStation and Nintendo Change. Nonetheless no PC model in sight. The frustration within the air may very well be shot with a revolver.

The preliminary announcement was worded in a method that prompt completely no enhancements had been made to the unique sport, so I’m glad to say that’s not fairly true. This model of the sport runs at 4K and 30fps on the PlayStation 4 Professional and the PlayStation 5 through backwards compatibility. So whereas the remainder of the sport’s graphics are untouched, the upper decision (it ran at 720p again within the day) does make it look a lot sharper than the unique and extra appropriate for big screens. Regardless of the age of Pink Lifeless Redemption, its artwork design nonetheless holds up in 2023 very properly. There’s one thing magical about using a horse down by means of a dusty valley because the solar units or moseying right into a saloon as the opposite patrons huddle over pictures of whiskey. Pink Lifeless Redemption makes it straightforward to inhabit its world and really feel like part of it, slightly than only a participant.

This new model makes use of AMD’s FSR2 temporal upscaling and anti-aliasing tech, leading to usually sharper photographs and much much less shimmering than within the authentic sport, particularly in foliage. Surprisingly, there’s additionally an choice to swap over to FXAA which is a post-processing impact as a substitute. There’s actually not level in making an attempt it, although, as a result of there are way more shimmering and tough edges versus the FSR2. I’m actually undecided why Double Eleven included the choice to toggle between the 2.

The shadows appear to fare higher on this new model, too. Pink Lifeless Redemption’s shadows had been all the time messy, however on the PlayStation model the shadows are a lot sharper than earlier than, particularly once you get shut up. In reality, it’s virtually too sharp as a result of a number of the shadows lack the softness you get in actual life, making them appear barely unnatural. It’s a small grievance, thoughts you.

Annoyingly, the UI hasn’t obtained the identical decision enhance that the remainder of the sport has benefited from. As a substitute, all of the menus, icons and textual content are nonetheless in 720p, making them look fuzzy and admittedly ugly on a contemporary 4K TV. Bafflingly, nevertheless, the button icons do appear to have been redone making them stand out towards the blurry backdrops. I’d like to know the choice making behind this. Why solely do the button icons? Why not do the entire UI?

To this point I’ve principally mentioned the sport working on one of the best {hardware} potential, so let’s step backwards for a second. There’s no native PlayStation 5 model, slightly it simply runs the PS4 Professional Enhanced model of the port. In case you use an ordinary PlayStation 4, although, you solely get a 1080p picture with extra noticeable aliasing. Swapping over to FXAA on this decrease decision actually enables you to see simply how a lot work FSR2 truly does as a result of the picture is much, far worse.

Let’s speak in regards to the framerate, we could? This new port is locked at 30fps which is undoubtedly a large disappointment. We all know that individuals who have emulated the Xbox model on PC have been capable of get it working at 60fps with solely minor points, so certainly an organization like Rockstar may have discovered a solution to enhance Pink Lifeless Redemption’s framerate which might have been a MASSIVE improve and an vital promoting level.

The excellent news is that it sticks to that 30fps like superglue. The distinctive Undead Nightmare growth, included within the bundle, is the easiest way to check this since there are many enemies on-screen all making an attempt to say Marston’s flesh for lunch. Not as soon as did I discover the framerate dipping, no matter what number of zombies had been shambling across the place. It’s fully rock-solid, though it actually needs to be contemplating the ability of contemporary consoles.

Nonetheless, this new model appears to have launched a small downside in cutscenes whereby sure animations stutter. It doesn’t occur in each cutscene however when it does it’s fairly distracting. Hopefully, we’ll get an replace that fixes this.

Over on Change issues are just a little totally different. I used to be given each variations to check, so I fired up Nintendo’s console, curious to see how Pink Lifeless Redemption would carry out on a machine that was deemed considerably underpowered even when it first launched. For essentially the most half, it runs at 1080p and 30fps, however like the unique Xbox 360 model you’ll be able to see the framerate dip when TNT is getting thrown round and a bunch of enemies are on the display. That’s just a little disappointing however not wholly surprising. Regardless of the way you view it, although, it’s significantly higher than how the sport initially ran on the Xbox 360 the place it was frequent to see the framerate drop to low 20s. On the Change, it could often solely drop a few frames into the very excessive 20s, even whereas enjoying Undead Nightmare, making for a much more secure expertise.

By way of picture high quality, it will get a contact extra difficult. Shadows have seen a slight improve over the unique sport however not as a lot as PlayStation model. However the largest distinction is that the Change doesn’t get AMD’s FSR2 and as a substitute depends on FXAA. Whereas the decision enhance ensures this appears to be like higher than the sport initially did, it can’t compete with PlayStation the place FSR2 actually helps sharpen the picture up.

Handheld mode runs at 720p. All the things is just about equivalent, together with the framerate sometimes dipping however by no means to any worrying quantity. Pink Lifeless Redemption could also be a sport from 2010, however it’s nonetheless fairly cool to have the ability to play it on a handheld whereas chilling in mattress or on a prepare.

The difficult factor is once you begin evaluating this “conversion” to the prevailing Xbox iteration which will be purchased through the Xbox retailer for round £25. Making the comparability even more durable is the truth that the Xbox model has some system-wide gamma results that create a barely punchier picture, whereas this new port presents a extra impartial picture that has the additional advantage of holding extra shadow element. For an in depth comparability, it is best to take a look at Digital Foundry’s wonderful breakdown of the 2 variations, however from this layman’s perspective, the PlayStation variations look a contact sharper and extra detailed, principally as a result of improved shadows and FSR2. It’s not a staggering distinction, although, and positively unfit of paying twice the worth.

Whereas there’s little or no to decide on between the PS4 Professional and Xbox Sequence X variations of the sport, Pink Lifeless Redemption on an Xbox One is now the worst solution to play the sport exterior of firing up an Xbox 360 or PS3. It basically runs the unique sport with no enhancements, which means the picture is caught at 720p. It appears to be like significantly worse than the brand new port throughout the board. In the meantime, the Xbox Sequence S renders the sport at 1440p.

This does beg the query of whether or not the Xbox model may get these small updates, specifically the AMD FSR2 choice. It appears unlikely that Take-Two can be beneficiant sufficient to supply these without spending a dime, although, and I’m genuinely shocked that they haven’t already bumped up the worth of the Xbox model to match the re-release.

this new model of Pink Lifeless Redemption as only a port, it’s a stable but barebones effort. The decision enhance and the FSR2 present a reasonably stable improve to the visuals, making this one of the best Pink Lifeless Redemption has ever appeared. And in truth, Pink Lifeless Redemption truly nonetheless appears to be like fairly good. There’s some attractive vistas that stretch out into the space. Issues solely look tough once you begin trying carefully on the low-res textures. It’s most noticeable on Marston’s face which appears to be like muddy and undefined. With minimal work, his face and quite a lot of different textures may have been improved and it could have made an enormous distinction.

It’s exhausting to not be disillusioned with the shortage of effort put into this port. Pink Lifeless Redemption has bought hundreds of thousands and hundreds of thousands of copies and is extensively held as among the finest video games of all time. This was Rockstar’s probability to deliver their western epic to an entire new viewers, together with doubtlessly hundreds of thousands who’ve solely performed Pink Lifeless Redemption 2 and will now have the chance to observe Marston’s journey. Even a couple of minor tweaks may have made this an distinctive bundle, equivalent to a high-performance mode, a couple of texture upgrades and even perhaps one thing like ray-tracing.

And that’s in the end the issue, isn’t it? It is a very fundamental port of a 13-year-old sport that comprises virtually no enhancements and an RRP of £40. Had they launched this at £25 to match the prevailing Xbox retailer model it could be a extra palatable product. It’s exhausting to imagine that just some years in the past Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick mentioned, “we don’t simply port titles over, we truly take the time to do the perfect job we will making the title totally different for the brand new launch, for the brand new know-how that we’re launching it on.”

Word: the star ranking is solely primarily based on the standard of the port, and never the sport itself.