Marvel's Spider-Man: MIles Morales fidelity mode lighting ray-tracing

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS5) – Compare Fidelity vs. Performance Mode Screenshots

See what you gain in exchange for a lower frame-rate....
See what you gain in exchange for a lower frame-rate....

The next generation of consoles are just about to land in the laps of gamers but it’s only today that we can give you a true look at new 9th gen. games on 9th gen. hardware. Yesterday we gave you our mixed review of Xbox Series X and lamented the lack of eye-melting software to get excited about. Today we are poring over the type of AAA killer app that gets gamers to open their wallets. An action feast that shows off the new controller tech as well as fancy new graphics capabilities. Check out our Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales for PlayStation 5 review if you haven’t already.

Choice is Your’s

Insomniac offer a choice of a 30 frame per second ‘Fidelity Mode’ and a 60 frame ‘Performance mode. Both hit their targets and both look incredible. New York in Winter is indeed a sight for sore eyes but take a look at what you lose when you want the silky smoothness of 60fps and decide for yourself.

Fidelity shots are on the left all the way through. Pay close attention to windows and other reflective surfaces but also keep an eye out for differences of shadow level of detail (LoD).

Marvel's Spider-Man: MIles Morales performance mode
Fidelity on the left; performance on the right

When the two modes were revealed a few weeks back, we learned the major differences between the two. Performance mode lacks ray-traced reflections, using screen-space reflections instead. It also runs the game in a lower dynamic resolution. Fidelity mode runs at a full 4K with a few extras that weren’t mentioned in the GameInformer piece.

Marvel's Spider-Man: MIles Morales fidelity modeMiles Morales performance mode
Marvel's Spider-Man: MIles MoralesMarvel's Spider-Man: MIles Morales performance mode
Marvel's Spider-Man: MIles Morales fidelity mode lighting ray-tracingMiles Morales PS5 Performance Mode
Fidelity on the left; performance on the right

On the move it’s tough to notice anything beyond the frame-rate. Even the dynamic resolution, which usually kicks in when the screen is moving, is hard to behold. Ray-tracing is mostly only used for reflections while diffuse reflective effects are achieved via more traditional methods. The Christmas market scene (above) is gorgeous in either mode thanks to Insomniac’s attention to detail in interreflectivity and light-mapping.

Marvel's Spider-Man Fidelity modeMiles Morales performance mode
Marvel's Spider-Man: MIles Morales ray-tracing fidelity modeMiles Morales performance mode
Marvel's Spider-Man: MIles Morales fidelity modeMiles Morales performance mode
Fidelity on the left; performance on the right

Night Mode

The effects of some of fidelity mode’s finery stand out a little more at night. Our first night shot (below) captures the immersive detail of ray-traced reflections. Even the relatively low resolution ray-tracing seen in the PS5 version of Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales lends an extra layer of visual realism that will tempt many of you to the 30fps fidelity mode.

Marvel's Spider-Man: MIles Morales ray-tracingMiles Morales without ray-tracing
Marvel's Spider-Man: MIles MoralesMarvel's Spider-Man: MIles Morales night performance mode
Sehr Fantastisch Ramblings of the Man-Spider fidelity mode1.598 kilometres Morales

One lesser difference seen between the two modes of Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales also becomes apparent at night. Lighting LoD is perfectly adequate in performance mode but the resolution of light-maps is preserved to a much greater distance. This includes the LED advertising boards scattered throughout the bustling metropolis of New York.

Marvel's Spider-Man: MIles MoralesMiley Moran performance mode New York
Spider-Man MM Fidelity mode comparisonSpider-Man MM performance

Can you readily see the difference? Do you think it’s worth halving the frame-rate or do you believe that 9th gen. should always be played at 60fps? Are you excited at the potential of hardware-accelerated ray-tracing?

Vinny Fanneran
Harassed Adam Kelly into founding this site. Wrote about tech and games for the Irish Sun for many years, now dayjobbing with Reach Ireland at Galway Beo. Also spent some time as a freelance technology industry copywriter. Former editorial lead for Independent News & Media's PlayersXpo, former gaming editor of EliteGamer.
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