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Relatively stingy with new features, the PlayStation 5 reissues ofUncharted 4 and The Lost Legacy are still an opportunity to rediscover these games in a new light, which is not necessarily the one we would have imagined.
A few months after the 60 i/s patch given to The Last of Us Part IIit’s the turn of the other great Naughty Dog game of the PS4 era, Uncharted 4to be entitled this Friday, January 28, 2022 to the honors of an optimization dedicated to the omnipotence of the PlayStation 5, thus allowing it to be displayed in a new light.
But while the bloody adventures of Ellie were content with a “simple” free update, the wanderings of Nathan Drake and his companions come back to us with a little more panache. They come in the form of a collection Legacy of Thieves gathering Uncharted 4 and its DLC-but-too much The Lost Legacy in native PS5 ports, thus promising to use the full possibilities offered by Sony’s next-generation console. What does this mean concretely? To be honest, a little less than we expected, which does not mean that this collection is totally devoid of surprises.
Technical improvements: rendering definition, frame rate rising, and that’s about it
Because from a pure technical point of view, the turn of the improvements made by these PS5 versions of the two games is quickly completed. On the visual side, as we were promised before the release of the collection, three display modes are offered. Instead of rendering at 30 fps in 1080p or 1440p, respectively on PS4 and PS4 Pro (and by extension on PS5 when running the PS4 version in backwards compatibility mode), we can choose here between a mode Performance, selected by default, running games in 1440p at 60 fps, a native 2160p (4K) Quality mode, and finally a Performance+ mode in 1080p at 120 fps for happy owners of a compatible screen.
Once these figures are given, we have in truth already said all that can be said. The PS5 versions offer absolutely no additional visual enhancements to this. Whether it’s textures, quality of 3D models, shadows, draw distance, post-processing or any other graphical component, absolutely nothing has changed compared to the PS4 Pro version. – which was itself already identical in these respects to the standard PS4 version.
Are we tempted to be choosy about the visual appearance of the games? Certainly not. On the contrary, we must admit that reviewing Uncharted 4 as it is in 2022 makes it possible to realize how far this title was ahead of its time. Five and a half years after its release (spring 2016), there is still plenty today to marvel at some of its technical prowess, such as the density of the vegetation displayed on the screen, which has nothing to envy. to what the leaders of 2021 are doing.
However, the shortcuts and tricks that had been necessary to achieve such an abundance on the meager PS4 are visible. It happens that at the turn of a corner, we come across a texture whose blandness is a stain, on a shadow with extremely coarse pixelation, or other occurrence of this kind. It is certainly rare and it would be dishonest to describe these shortcuts as a real weakness of the graphic rendering. But these are points where there is room for improvement, and we would have liked this margin to be explored on PS5 – just as we still hope it will be on the PC version of this game. Legacy of Thieves Collectionwhich is expected to be released in the spring.
The observation is identical on the side of the audio which has not experienced more editing than the visual part of the games. Uncharted 4 and The Lost Legacy were already among the few titles to offer a very basic 3D audio mix, and it is this mix that is reused as is on PS5. We certainly appreciate being able to taste it this time with any helmet or even with simple television speakers (on PS4, 3D audio was reserved for owners of the official PlayStation Platinum helmet), but we understand the limitations which were those of Sony’s previous generation console: the number of dynamic objects is very limited and their location very approximate. It’s better than nothing, but we are very far from the sonic richness of Returnal or of Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart.
A little more than a patch, all the same
In the absence of visual or sound novelties to admire, it is therefore towards other elements that we must turn to admit that these PS5 versions are a little more than simple patches of the PS4 versions. An essential element of the new generation of consoles, the “magic SSD” responds with almost eradicated loading times. From the main menu, starting a game now takes only a few seconds, the time for a fade to black, instead of 40 s on PS4 (and 20 s for this same PS4 version played on PS5 in backward compatibility). This is an undeniable additional comfort, although relatively minor since once the game has started, no other waiting time ever arises.
More interesting is the support for the haptic functions of the DualSense controller. Without revolutionizing the sensations of play, it still complements them admirably thanks to a surprisingly rich and subtle implementation which brings an undeniable finesse to the feeling of weapons, vehicles or explosions. Nothing essential, but a little extra that we end up missing when, after getting used to it, we return to the aging DualShock 4.
Finally, we must praise the meticulousness with which the developers have endeavored to maintain the quality of the games’ finish. By this, we are thinking in particular of cinematic sequences, for the most part calculated in real time by the console, but of which a few shots were pre-calculated in the form of video files on PS4 (either to conceal loadings in the background, or to relieve the load calculation of the GPU during the transition plans). On PS5, these shots are now also rendered in real time or re-encoded for each of the performance modes – i.e. 1080p at 120 fps, 1440p at 60 fps and 2160p at 30 fps . Thus, we avoid sudden changes in appearance or frame rate during these sequences and the game keeps a perfectly constant appearance throughout its unfolding.
A fascinating 120 fps mode that redefines the “cinematic” nature of games
In the end, is it really worth (re)discovering Uncharted 4 and The Lost Legacy on PS5? The question does not arise for those who only own one of these two games on PS4: they have the possibility of obtaining a upgrade from the title they already hold towards this Legacy of Thieves Collection, thus recovering the second game and the advantages of the PS5 versions against a “simple” ticket of 10 €. The business is excellent!
If, on the other hand, you already have the two titles, this same €10 ticket does not give access to absolutely any additional content. As for those who do not have any, it is this time €50 that will have to be paid, a price that may seem pretty for two games in 2016/2017. The fact is, setting aside these pricing policy issues, the high frame rate display modes dress them remarkably well — especially since all modes reach their frame rate target without ever failing. The advantages of 60 fps, whether in terms of visual comfort or reduced latency, with all that this implies for precision aiming, are perfectly suited to the totally uninhibited action ofUncharted.
But it is the Performance+ mode at 120 fps that is the most interesting to practice, because of the way in which it interacts not only with the phases of gameplay of action, but also and above all with the narrative phases and the cinematic sequences. Because the know-how of Naughty Dog remains unbeatable today in terms of 3D human characters, and facial animations in particular. Let’s put it very simply: since Uncharted 4the one and only game to have done better on this point is The Last of Us Part II.
And the 120 fps allow you to admire the animations and faces of these characters in a completely new light. We are almost confused by the way all the micro-details of these animations are revealed: the elasticity of the skin, the slightest muscle contraction, the slightest movement of the eyes are seen as if under a magnifying glass. On the one hand, it makes it possible to admire as never before the maddening precision of the catch performance and the work of the animators. On the other hand, the whole thing is made so tangible that its few little flaws, its rare artifices and limitations become more visible than ever – it is in essence a new kind ofuncanny valley which unfolds.
The feeling reminds us of the one we felt when we saw Ang Lee’s latest films, A Day in the Life of Billy Lynn and Gemini Man, in their “original” versions filmed at 120 fps, precisely. This total fluidity is like a barrier that disappears between the spectator/player and the fictional world presented to him: the latter is more real than ever, but with the consequence of a suspension of disbelief that is all the more difficult to maintain. We are flabbergasted by what works, at the same time as we become incapable of accepting the slightest imperfection, whether in the special effects or even simply in the acting, which immediately compromises our immersion.
Still, it is completely new that this kind of questioning is raised by a video game – and even in the memory of a PC player accustomed to very high frame rates, we do not remember another title having been able to provide such a feeling. It’s yet another demonstration of the degree to which the developers at Naughty Dog are masters of their craft, and in 2016 had already pushed the very concept of “cinematic game” to a level still unmatched to this day.
Lucky owners of a 120 Hz compatible television, we therefore strongly recommend that you try your hand at games in their Performance+ mode (without any concern, by the way, for the display quality, because the temporal anti-aliasing solution Naughty Dog’s “house” produces genuine miracles and a perfectly pleasing 1080p image, even on a 4K screen). This is by far the most fascinating experience this collection offers.
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