Two weeks ago based on a Digital Foundry article I posted this blog:
Probably the best insight from a Developer on what the Wii U can do technically
Now the game has been released and reviewed it seems that this is the final nail in the coffin regarding the question of whether the Wii U is less powerful/the same/more powerful than the PS3 and 360.
Well the verdict is in and it's a clear one, the Wii U is more powerful than those systems (regarding PS4 and Durango of course not).
Here's some media for you:
TRAILER - click cog to watch in HD, expand the player to medium
Here are some offscreen pics from our former forumer Hamzik
I think it looks a lot like that PC GTA IV mod to me
Some direct feed screens:
Gaming Nexus' review said:
Even more impressive, in my time with the game I never encountered a single framerate hiccup or annoying loading screen—the whole experience was smooth as silk. Considering the Wii U has been plagued with some pretty awful lag, draw distance and framerate issues in almost every port so far, I have to wonder what magic sauce Criterion is using to make such a fast, audaciously gorgeous game run so smoothly on Wii U…or rather, what everyone else is doing wrong.
In the end Criterion has brought NFSMW to Wii U apparently effortlessly, although I’m sure a great deal of effort actually went into the transition. The game looks and plays better than the previous home console versions, standing shoulder to shoulder with the PC version in terms of graphics, and the added Wii features just sweeten the pot. While many launch window ports on Wii have felt rushed and overall shaky, NFSMWU screams like a V12 roadster doing 160 on the interstate. Whatever Criterion has done, I hope other developers learn how to coax this much raw performance out of the Wii U, and soon.
If you’re a Wii U owner and a racing fan you can’t do much better than NFSMWU. It’s one of the console’s few ports that is, for now, superior to most of the other versions, and a master class in how to bring a multiplatform release over to Wii U with both elegance and power. Don’t hesitate to put the key in the ignition on this one.
ONM's review headline was "Wii U in 'superior graphics' shocker!" to quote them:
It's easy to take the design for granted when you're screaming along at 200mph: it's when you go for a late evening cruise - tunes blaring and throttle finger severely inhibited - that you get the chance to take in the sumptuous cityscape and convincing world that you've been placed in. Only now do you get the chance to admire the road, barrier and wall textures - high-resolution decorations that have come from the PC game and didn't feature in the other console versions.
The game is a glorious example of how a Wii U conversion should be handled. Aesthetically, this game is superior. It uses high-resolution PC version textures, has a more stable framerate and enjoys more impressive particle effects.
And today we have another comparison point, Deus Ex Human Revolution has been announced for Wii U, getting into the technical nitty gritty here is what the developers had to say:
Eidos Montreal was keen to improve the graphics for the Wii U version, too. The visuals seen in The Missing Link DLC had more of an impact, Dugas says, than those in the main game, because the developers were more comfortable with their tools when they came to create them. And so, The Missing Link benefited from work done to the game's shaders, which had the knock on effect of making environmental reflections on textures were better. And the lighting system was revamped to be based on an interpretation of a formula used by real world architects during the building planning stage to simulate how light will bounce around an environment. All the visual effects seen in The Missing Link were applied to the main game for the Director's Cut.
"It's much sharper," Dugas says. "There are more nuances between the light and dark places."
You might also notice a new fog system that, according to Pedneault, "makes the atmosphere really stand out". Shadows that were choppy have been smoothed, Dugas says. "It makes a big difference."
Pedneault insists these improvements wouldn't be possible on Xbox 360 simply because there's not enough disc space available. Neither, Dugas says, would the anti-aliasing, which wasn't present in the other console versions but is in the Wii U version.
"It's more powerful on the Wii U," Dugas says. "Even some of the graphics that were improved already on the 360 for The Missing Link, we were able to go a little bit farther with the Wii U, just because of the hardware. In terms of the shadows, which are smoothed out, it's much different than the Xbox version."
A long time ago in a galaxy far far away we had an article from a wrestling website of all places who interviewed an anonymous THQ representative about Wii U. What that person said -in summary- was that if done properly, the Wii U version should always be the best compared to the other current gen consoles because the hardware is more capable. Since then we've had all these dodgy ports rushed to market, done in a limited time frame with incomplete tool sets and software, or outsourced with a lack of effort from the original developer. A few scant months on from launch, given more time and the willingless to actually do some more work with the hardware, Criterion have categorically disproved the notion that Wii U is less powerful than 360/PS3 and is actually capable of much more. PC textures in Wii U games? A longer draw distance, better lighting, a smoother framerate? Yes please, I'll take that.
So from now on if you see a weak sauce Wii U version of a current gen game, know better, don't blame the hardware, blame the (usually outsourced) developer, or publisher for underfunding it or rushing it to market. Blame the intricacies of the engine.
That was interesting because the basic game already looked better than it does on other systems then the Goblin Menance expansion was on another level to that and Frozenbyte said it required considerably more power:
http://www.insidemacgames.com/images/Trine2Goblin_001_large.jpg
The texture quality and shaders are pretty great.
Graphics are great for the most part though they won't wow you, there won't be a next gen moment or anything. I'm playing on a 1080p and there are some jaggies but I have found with other games on this tv when I get home and switch to the native resolution it usually looks a lot better. The PC textures are great, but you wont notice them whilst zipping about at a million miles an hour. It's only when you're crusing about in the bright sunshine, chilling out and panning the camera when you notice some the textures being really high quality, very, very nice. It's a shame this isn't a slower paced game, more like GTA IV speed, racing because it would be a lot prettier and a lot easier to control.
They haven't given the cars PC textures or geometry just the environment so oddly you get this clear, detailed beautiful shot of some of the environment spoiled because the back bumper of your car has a jaggy line.
Performance is great, no noticible frame rate probems at all. Shaders are good. There are times it looks like a PC game, other times somewhat like a 360 game or midway between the two. It kinda depends on the lighting and area where you are more than anything else.
P.S The direct feed screens I have posted here aren't that representative of what the game looks like. I mean it does look like that but they have taken away the jaggies from those screens. It does look good though, like these offscreen pics:
http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g405/kizmah/wantedu_zpsd4eb3c78.png
EDIT: Played on a smaller native 720p tv and it looks much better, near PC quality with jaggies. Looks great.
The base looks more like the PC version than the console, due to more refined textures and more sophisticated effects. Boundary details, such as mountains and rocks, but also the road and the buildings are much more detailed than the versions for Xbox 360 and PS3. Even the sporadic frame drops at more heated times with many cars, debris and smoke on screen are completely gone and the whole thing runs pegged at 30 FPS.
Find also a renewed lighting system that, besides giving a better textured environment, floods the screen with lens flare, sun shaft and very artistic effects, in addition to sparking blaze-ups and that proverbial light at the darkest day. Bearing in mind that the game can also run both on the television and on the GamePad at the same time, the (graphics difference is not insignificant - GG paraphrases dodgy translation), and this should encourage the Nintendo skeptics ahead of future productions. The only flaws are to be found in pop-in/pop-out that you occasionally see at higher speeds, but does not affect, in any way the gameplay.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-need-for-speed-most-wanted-wii-u-face-off