Final Fantasy XIII has finally been released in the U.S., so now the question is which version is better - PS3 or Xbox 360? I've played a few hours into both, and even early on the differences are pretty apparent. Unfortunately for Xbox 360 fans, the PS3 version is clearly superior.
In terms of gameplay and game content, the two versions are pretty much identical. There are some rumblings that some unnecessary frames from some cinematics have been cut from the 360 version, but a second of video here or there doesn't make that big of a difference to the overall experience, so I don't consider it a fault. The core gameplay is exactly the same, so no difference here.
A bigger problem is that the PS3 version looks significantly better than the Xbox 360 version in both in-game graphics and pre-rendered cinematics. In a reverse of what usually happens in multiplatform titles, the 360 version is kind of blurry and soft while the PS3 version is much sharper and detailed. The environments are mostly comparable, though there is some loss of texture detail on the 360 version, but the character models are noticeably different. On the PS3 the characters have actual skin texture. On 360 their skin is just flat. On PS3, the hair is much smoother and nice looking. On 360 the hair (particularly for cover girl Lightning) is kind of an ugly jagged mess. The clear visual winner is the PS3 version.
Load times are very close between the two. Lens of Truth (a website that directly compares games and features video examples) found the PS3 version loaded faster. My personal experience showed the 360 (with the game installed to the HDD) loaded slightly faster. Maybe my launch 60GB PS3 is slowing down. I don't know. The difference was all of a second or two, though, so it doesn't really matter.
In the end, even though pretty much everything else is equal, visuals are really the only thing that matters in this type of game - they didn't spend 5 years making everything look pretty for nothing, after all - so the PS3 version is clearly the superior one. It doesn't mean the Xbox 360 version is bad - it still looks absolutely amazing (except for Lightning's hair) and is worth playing - but the PS3 has the advantage here and is the version to get if you have a choice.
For a great, in-depth overview of the graphical differences, head over to the Lens of Truth Final Fantasy XIII Head-2-Head.
Image © Square-Enix
Comments
But why does the Xbox360 have 3 discs and the PS3 only have one?
Wow isn’t it obvious. PS3 uses Blu-ray and not DVD. The whole game could not fit on a single DVD and that is with a reduced quality 560p vs 1080p. Blu-ray simply dominates DVD in this exact scenerio. If they had made the game 1080p on the 360 it would have probably been 5 or so DVDs. I don’t know how much of the 50gb is used on the PS3 version, but assuming it was around 40gb that is 5 dual layer DVDs.
@CL4RK
To paraphrase blcskate:
Blu-ray holds more data than a DVD.
The PS3 version is not 1080p its upscaled 720p to 1080p and the 360 is 560p upscaled to 720p, 360 Runs using Dual layer dvd’s which span about 9 gig each as the blu ray can support closer 45Gig on a single disk.PS3 and 360 cannot run 1080p games native ps3 highest Native rez it 1080i and th 360′s is 720p.
it sucks game developers limit ps3 potential to x box platform all games look better on ps3 thats not opinion it is a FACT shame on traitor developers such as ROCK STAR makers of gta4 playstation is where i first played gta not x box needless to say i am verry sad that they gave the rights to the DLC to the x box players first after being paid off. us ps fans made them rich shame on them loyalty is a big thing to me i personally want to boycott them i promised never to buy a gta game again and i meam it until they stop blowing x box
@Unlucky, the information you provided isn’t entirely correct. The PS3 version runs at 720P but is upscaled to 1080P for gameplay. The FMV’s run at 1080P native for the PS3. The 360 runs the gameplay at 576P, as well as FMV’s (due to the restriction of space on DVD)
As far as your statement mentioning that the PS3 and 360 cannot run 1080P as a native resolution, that is incorrect. There are already a handful of games on the market for both consoles that run at 1080P. Especially the upcoming GT5 running at 1080P @ 60FPS.
“…visuals are really the only thing that matters in this type of game…”
WHAT? If that’s true go watch a movie.