Digital Foundry puts PS3's Mass Effect 2 under the microscope

Digital Foundry has placed its exacting eye upon Mass Effect 2's PlayStation 3 incarnation, addressing the big talk from both BioWare and Sony about the game utilizing the Mass Effect 3 engine and ultimately being the "definitive" version. DF's takeaway was that the PS3 version, as far as the PSN demo is concerned, turned out to be "different as opposed to definitive."

Directly comparing the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions, DF found the former to be a "a curious mixture of improvements, downgrades and swapped out effects." To give you an idea of how minor some differences are, however, the hexagon pattern on Miranda Lawson's comes out as looking "flat." There's also discussion of shadows looking more realistic, and biotic effects being of lower fidelity.

Also, the PS3 version's framerate appears to be unlocked, which lets the game breathe a little when it can, but DF noted that "tearing is much more apparent in the new game - both in-game and in the cut-scenes." So, perhaps the PS3 version isn't quite definitive, but we're not hearing anything you could still use as an excuse to skip Mass Effect 2 next month.