Both are capped at 30 FPS but the PS3 is more likely to dip below that, unable to achieve the limit. Xbox 360 is likely to dip too but has been found to be less stutter-prone.
Most titles now perform almost the same on the two consoles but Mass Effect 3 isn’t one of them. Testing shows PS3 has ”more regular stretches of 20FPS gameplay” than Xbox 360.
Digital Foundry conducted a test to see if the full retail versions of Mass Effect 3 were similar to their respective demo releases. The conclusion is that they’re near identical which is unfortunate for PS3 gamers.
”The 360 version is also liable to dip during like-for-like circumstances, although never quite as much; as per the demo, the action remains v-synced, though the odd, unnoticeable tear may occur at the very top of the screen when the engine is under stress. As far as traversal gameplay goes, the 360 only shows occasional blips in visual feedback, as opposed to the more regular stretches of 20FPS gameplay we can see on PS3,” reported the piece.
”Bearing in mind that the days of major differences between PS3 and Xbox 360 games are largely a thing of the past, this is clearly a disappointment - not just from a visual perspective, but also in terms of gameplay as the frame-rate dips impact controller response during shoot-outs to a certain extent.”
Of course if you’re a PC gamer then frame rates shouldn’t be a problem if you’ve got a decent bit of kit sitting in your rig. Fans are hoping that BioWare might release a high resolution texture update for PC copies. Mass Effect 3 releases on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC tomorrow in Europe, March 9th.
