For those keeping track of Advanced Warfare's development, this struggle shouldn't come as a surprise. In a
recent interview with Sledgehammer's co-founders, the project is proudly described as being based on brand new technical underpinnings, "unrestricted by last-generation hardware constraints". With the studio weaving in specific rendering features for PS4 and Xbox One, it's left to High Moon Studios (of Deadpool and Transformers: Fall of Cybertron fame) to piece together PS3 and 360 versions based on raw code and assets designed for an engine a generation ahead. No small task.
The list of visual downgrades is too numerous to tally. To reel off the biggest points quickly, each console renders at 1024x600 (typical of last-gen series outings), with a vastly simplified lighting model, removed objects and background details, bilinear texture filtering, and reduced character geometry - notably missing the PS4 and Xbox One's subsurface scattering for skin. The result is one of the most stark cross-generational divides in recent memory.
The loss in character detail is a big one, and genuinely affects the heft of its cinematic spectacle. Characters enact the same motion-captured scenes as on current-gen, but the presentation is wildly altered. From Kevin Spacey downwards, every face is wrapped in low-resolution normal maps that gives each a gormless, pasty look. It sorely misses the photorealistic modelling on PS4 and Xbox One too, particularly in skin tone, while the snipping of motion blur and bokeh depth of field brings a dryness to each scene's delivery.
