The seven-year-old PS3 holds up surprisingly well, although the disparities are obvious

Jul 21, 2014 14:04 GMT  ·  By

Until Bungie can be persuaded to release the PC version of its anticipated online multiplayer first-person shooter Destiny, the PlayStation 4 seems to have the best chances to showcase the developer's work.

Since getting Destiny on PCs is as likely as a tropical rain forest being discovered in the Gobi Desert, the PlayStation 4 version of the game will have to do when it comes to showing off Bungie's new engine in action.

The PlayStation 4 is able to produce the best dynamic lighting and post-processing effects at the highest resolution, while still keeping a steady framerate in order to make the game playable. Given the scope of the shooter, many worried that last-gen consoles would struggle to keep up with their younger brethren, and that the experience wouldn't be quite on the same level.

Fortunately, Bungie's experience making Halo paid off, and as it built their engine with scalability in mind, the recent release of the game's beta for the PlayStation 3 alongside the PlayStation 4 console speaks volumes about the developer's confidence in its work.

Fortunately, the guys at Digital Foundry put together a nice side-by-side video, showing the game running on both the PlayStation 3 and on the flagship platform, the PlayStation 4.

While the PS3 version is obviously pared down, with many cutbacks made in order to allow it to run as smoothly and to offer as richer an experience as the more powerful next-gen computer entertainment system, it's still a notable feat that Bungie managed to pack so much in.

The overall density of debris, foliage and rubble is lowered, and they fade at a much closer range, with some textures and effects removed outright from the PlayStation 3 edition. While the visual discrepancy is notable, the general geometry of the scenery is the same for all intents and purposes, and even the number of actors shown on the screen at any given time is consistent between the two platforms.

Although the level of detail scaling and overall clutter in the world is noticeably cranked down on the PlayStation 3, its delivery of the base experience of Destiny is still on par with the one offered on the PlayStation 4, only in a much less crisper presentation, running at a resolution of only 1024x624, as opposed to the 1920x1080 output of the PS4.

Although the consistency of the lighting engine is upheld on the PS3, the PS4 adds more depth with the use of better shaders and better overall shadow quality.

On the performance front, the PlayStation 3 manages to achieve a constant 30 frames per second, with the odd stutter occurring when fast vehicles are involved.

Destiny is coming out on September 9, and on July 23, Xbox 360 and Xbox One platform owners will get to join the game's beta test, up until July 26.