作者：Sam Byford

新iPad的Retina显示屏确实值得关注，但是视觉上的提升是否付出了一定的代价呢？在NeoGAF上可以看到Gameloft新射击游戏《N.O.V.A. 3》的截屏，结果表明开发商为了让像素提高4倍，牺牲了部分特效。新iPad搭载的A5X芯片比报道更为出众，但是当它的四核GPU需要运行2048 X 1536像素的现代第一人称射击游戏时，情况又会如何呢？让我们来看看《N.O.V.A. 3》和其他iPad平台最畅销的游戏在新设备上的运行情况。

《N.O.V.A. 3》

无论你在哪款iPad上玩，这都是款相当出众的游戏。

nova_copy(from theverge)

Gameloft的科幻射击游戏似乎介于《光环》和《孤岛危机》之间，游戏的显示效果确实值得称赞。无论你在哪款iPad上玩，《N.O.V.A. 3》都是款相当出众的游戏，其视觉效果堪比PS Vita。但奇怪的是，两个版本给你带来的确实完全不同的感觉。游戏的细节化环境和资产在Retina显示屏上表现出色，如果你没有见过它在其他设备上的显示情况，你肯定会认为它的视觉效果从来都是如此。然而，如果你运行iPad 2版本的游戏，你会很快注意到开发商为了提升分辨率而做出的妥协。在iPad 2上，游戏的效果更加丰富，而模糊深度和某些颗粒效果在新版本中则被完全移除。另外iPad 2能够以较稳定的帧率来运行游戏。

*两个版本平分秋色

但是，这些效果对游戏在iPad 2上运行的作用值得探讨。虽然细节化背景和更流畅的帧率与新版本相比更胜一筹，但是景深效果并非令人印象深刻，往往使你正在看的东西变得模糊。同时，新iPad的更高分辨率让你可以看更远的距离，这是老硬件所无法实现的。还有一点值得注意，Retina显示屏与iPad 2相比确实显得出众许多，你可以看到更好的对比度和颜色重生，本文提到的所有游戏均是如此。总之，我们认为这两个版本平分秋色。如果你确实喜欢在平板电脑上体验科幻题材第一人称射击游戏，那么这两个版本都不会令你失望。

《现代战争3：堕落国度》

毫无疑问，《现代战争3》在iPad 2上有更好的表现。

Modern Combat 3(from theverge)

接下来我们要讨论的是《现代战争3：堕落国度》，这也是Gameloft旗下的第一人称射击游戏，其灵感来源于《使命召唤》系列。这款游戏与《N.O.V.A 3》有许多相似之处，所以支持Retina显示屏的版本遭遇了与上述相同的问题。在《现代战争3》中，帧率稳定性较差，镜头移动产生的动作模糊效果缺失，通过步枪瞄准器看到的景深也被移除。这些不同之处在《N.O.V.A 3》中并没有如此显眼，但确实是《现代战争3》的优势所在。除非分辨率对你很重要，否则毫无疑问，《现代战争3》在iPad 2上有更好的表现。

《Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy》

在新iPad上运行并没有出现明显的问题。

skygamblers_copy(from theverge)

如果你希望体验下展示新iPad出色分辨率的游戏，那可以尝试下Namco的《Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy》，这款街机空中战斗游戏成为新iPad发布时的耀眼明星。确实，游戏在新iPad上运行并没有出现明显的问题。它在Retina分辨率下可以流畅地运行，甚至在空战场景中也可以做到流畅。但是，与《N.O.V.A 3》之类的游戏相比，新版本的改良并不多。除了分辨率差异外，游戏与iPad 2版本在本质上是相同的。尽管它在新iPad上运行出色，但是你无法感受到这两款设备间的差别。

《无尽之剑2》

尽管它确实以更高的分辨率运行，但却并非充分利用设备像素。

Infinity Blade(from theverge)

尽管Epic Games旗下这款基于虚幻引擎的战斗游戏被众人认为是《Punch-Out!!》的克隆产品，但同样吸引了大量用户，其视觉冲击力不可低估。但是，在新iPad上，这种冲击力却有所减弱。尽管游戏的分辨率确实有所提升，但并没有完全利用屏幕2048 X 1536的分辨率，使游戏中的所有内容都产生一种模糊感。更糟糕的是，屏幕按键和菜单等2D资产依然采用低分辨率。游戏的细节呈现与iPad 2相比确有提升，但是我们不能说新版本完胜旧版本，至少在老设备版本上一致性更强。《无尽之剑2》在新设备上玩时会感觉很不错，但偶尔的上变频会让你注意到新iPad的不足之处。

《暗影之枪》

利用全分辨率，流畅度丝毫没受到影响。

shadowgun_copy(from theverge)

我们经常用《暗影之枪》作为评论标准，因为这款第三人称射击游戏是首款图像可与现代主机游戏媲美的平板电脑游戏。今天，它看起来依然很吸引人，iOS版本融合了Retina显示屏，却没有做任何牺牲。游戏利用全分辨率，流畅度丝毫没受到影响，使得游戏在新iPad上的表现完胜iPad 2。但是，游戏也仅仅止步于此，这多少令人有点失望，因为游戏在华硕Transformer Prime等Android设备上都有所提升。如果《暗影之枪》能够在添加额外效果和物理建模的情况下在新iPad上以全分辨率运行，那么这绝对是苹果所述的A5X速度比Nvidia芯片快4倍的有力证据。不幸的是，这个问题仍然很难得出确切的答案。

《激流快艇》

仍然缺乏Tegra 3的专有效果。

riptide_copy(from theverge)

上述情况同样发生在《激流快艇》上，这款竞速游戏也没有在新iPad上展示出类似于Tegra 3的提升。在Retina显示屏上，你确实可以感受到更丰富的体验，我们也看到了在iPad 2上从未见过的背景细节，但是依然不存在水花等Tegra 3专有效果。游戏在新iPad上的流畅度有所下滑，但是这不是个严重的问题，因为如果你更注重运行速度的话，可以选择降低分辨率。

《Real Racing 2 HD》

完胜已经令人印象深刻的iPad 2版本。

real racing 2(from theverge)

Firemint是首批根据苹果新硬件更新游戏的开发商，它在新iPad上呈现出绝妙的产品。《Real Racing 2 HD》以全分辨率全速运行，汽车模型上增添了许多额外的细节，这意味着它可以轻松完胜已经令人印象深刻的iPad 2版本。它极好地展示了新iPad的性能，使我们对Firemint将来的产品更加期待。

《质量效应：渗透者》

游戏至少保证了视觉效果的一致性。

Modern Combat 3(from theverge)

与《无尽之剑2》相同，EA的《质量效应》续作无法完全掌控Retina的全2048 X 1536分辨率，而是以较低的分辨率运行，这使得其表现不及iPad 2版本。我们发现，帧率的稳定性也有所降低，尽管差别不大。幸亏所有的2D资产似乎都很好地融合了Retina，所以与《无尽之剑2》相比，游戏至少保证了视觉效果的一致性。

总结

利用全Retina分辨率而未做出牺牲的游戏很少见。

总之，《N.O.V.A. 3》似乎在两款iPad上的差别不大，而且新平板电脑能够展现出自己视觉优势的一面。2D游戏往往在新iPad上有更好的表现，《Waking Mars》、《Aquaria》、《Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP》都是绝佳的例证。但是，利用全Retina分辨率而未做出让步的游戏很少见，保证全分辨率同时超越iPad 2版本的游戏更加少见。A5X和Retina显示屏都是相当令人惊叹的组件，但是在游戏方面，前者的性能显然无法完全支持后者的需求。

Gameloft称《N.O.V.A. 3》将来的更新将让用户选择是以全分辨率运行还是显示iPad 2上的额外粒子效果，但是我们更希望看到A5X超越其前辈的一面。如果开发者使用四核图像来推送更高的视觉效果，而不是仅仅利用Retina显示屏提供的额外数百万像素，情况会如何呢？毕竟，DVD在480p的分辨率下也能呈现现实感。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Is the Retina display holding back iPad graphics?

Sam Byford

The new iPad’s Retina display is certainly a sight to behold, but does it come at a cost? That’s the impression you’d get from viewing screenshots of Gameloft’s new shooter N.O.V.A. 3 over at NeoGAF — the results suggest that the developers have seriously dialed back the effects on Apple’s latest tablet in order to push four times as many pixels. The A5X system-on-chip inside the new iPad is more than capable on paper, but what happens when its quad-core GPU is tasked with running a modern first-person shooter at 2048 x 1536? We took a look at N.O.V.A. 3 and some more of the iPad’s most taxing games to see how this year’s model stacks up to its predecessor.

‘N.O.V.A. 3′

A FAIRLY STUNNING GAME WHICHEVER IPAD YOU PLAY IT ON

Gameloft’s sci-fi shooter has seemingly morphed from a Halo homage to a Crysis clone in the span of two games, but you can’t fault the technical nous on display here — N.O.V.A. 3 is a fairly stunning game whichever iPad you play it on, with visuals rivaling most of what we’ve seen on the PS Vita. Oddly, though, both versions will impress you in completely different ways. The game’s detailed environments and assets look great on the Retina display, and if you didn’t know any better you’d swear it was always meant to look like this. With an iPad 2 on hand, however, you’ll quickly notice that certain sacrifices have been made in favor of resolution. The game is indeed much more effects-laden on the older tablet, with depth-of-field blurring and some particle effects such as burning buildings in the background completely removed on the new iPad. The iPad 2 also tends to handle the game at a steadier framerate.

IT’S A TOSSUP AS TO WHICH VERSION IS BETTER

However, it’s actually debatable what these effects bring to the game on the iPad 2. While the detailed backgrounds and smoother framerate are a clear win, the depth-of-field effect isn’t particularly impressive and often simply obscures what you’re looking at. Meanwhile, the higher resolution of the new iPad lets you see further into the distance and cuts back on the ugly aliasing that afflicts the game on older hardware. It’s also worth noting that the Retina display is just a flat-out superior screen to the panel in the iPad 2 — you’ll get much better contrast levels and color reproduction on the new iPad, and that goes for all the games covered here. Overall we think it’s a tossup as to which version is better, and if you’re really after a sci-fi first-person shooter for your tablet it’s unlikely to disappoint either way.

‘Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation’

THERE’S NO QUESTION THAT ‘MODERN COMBAT 3′ RUNS BETTER ON THE IPAD 2

The obvious place to go after N.O.V.A. 3 is Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation, a similar Gameloft first-person shooter that takes the Call of Duty series as its “inspiration.” The titles share a lot in common, and that extends to the Retina display-enabled versions suffering many of the same problems. In Modern Combat 3′s case the framerate is a lot less stable, and there are missing effects such as motion blur when you move your camera and a shallow depth of field when looking through your rifle’s iron sights. These differences are subtler than what we saw in N.O.V.A. 3, but that actually works to the game’s advantage — unless resolution is important to you, there’s no question that Modern Combat 3 looks and runs better on the iPad 2.

‘Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy’

THE NEW IPAD DOESN’T HAVE MUCH OF A PROBLEM KEEPING UP

If there’s one game you’d expect to show off the new iPad’s power, it’d be Namco’s Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy — the arcade air combat title took center stage at the iPad’s unveiling in March. Indeed, the new iPad doesn’t have much of a problem keeping up with Air Supremacy, as it runs very smoothly at Retina resolution even in hectic dogfight scenes, but then compared with something like N.O.V.A. 3 it has far less work to do. The game looks essentially identical on the iPad 2 beyond the resolution difference, and while that does give the new iPad the edge you never get the sense that either tablet is being stretched particularly far.

‘Infinity Blade 2′

WHILE IT DOES RUN AT A HIGHER RESOLUTION, IT’S NOT NATIVE

Epic Games’ Unreal Engine-powered battler has been dismissed as a Punch-Out!! clone, a tech demo, or both in certain circles, but we’re rather fond of it ourselves — and there’s certainly no denying its visual impact. On the new iPad, however, that impact is somewhat diminished. While it does run at a higher resolution, it’s not at the screen’s native 2048 x 1536, which gives everything a slightly blurry feel. To make matters worse, the 2D assets such as on-screen buttons and menus remain decidedly low-res. The game does have more detail than its iPad 2 counterpart, but we’re not sure we’d say it looks better — it feels more coherent on the older hardware, at least. Infinity Blade 2 is beautiful however you play it, but the slightly haphazard up-conversion draws attention to the new iPad’s limitations.

‘Shadowgun’

FULL RESOLUTION WITHOUT A HINT OF SLOWDOWN

We often use Shadowgun as a rough performance benchmark in reviews, as the Unity-powered third-person shooter was one of the first games to put tablet graphics in the same conversation as modern console games. It still looks impressive today, and the iOS version hasn’t made any sacrifices to run on the Retina display. it runs at full resolution without a hint of slowdown, giving the new iPad a clear win over the iPad 2. It doesn’t go any further than that, though, which is a little disappointing considering the enhancements made to the game on Tegra 3-powered Android devices such as the Asus Transformer Prime. Had the new iPad run Shadowgun at full resolution with those extra effects and physics modeling, it would have been solid evidence for Apple’s claim that the A5X is four times faster than Nvidia’s chip — unfortunately that’s a question that remains difficult to answer.

‘Riptide GP’

TEGRA 3-SPECIFIC EFFECTS REMAIN ABSENT

It’s a similar situation with Riptide GP, a jet ski racer with Tegra 3 enhancements that don’t show up on the new iPad. You do get a much sharper experience courtesy of the Retina display, and we noticed some extra background detail such as a launching spaceship that we never saw on the iPad 2, but Tegra 3-specific effects such as splashing water remain absent. The game also has a few more framerate hiccups on the new iPad, but it’s nothing too serious and you actually have the option to drop the resolution should you value speed over sharpness.

‘Real Racing 2 HD’

EASILY BESTS THE ALREADY-IMPRESSIVE IPAD 2 VERSION

Firemint is often first out of the gate with updates to take advantage of new Apple hardware, and it’s excelled itself on the new iPad. Real Racing 2 HD runs at full resolution and full speed with anti-aliasing and some extra detail on the car models, meaning that it easily bests the already-impressive iPad 2 version. It’s a powerful demonstration of the new iPad’s capability, and has us already looking forward to seeing Firemint’s future work on the hardware.

‘Mass Effect Infiltrator’

THE GAME DOES AT LEAST LOOK VISUALLY CONSISTENT

Like Infinity Blade 2, EA’s Mass Effect spinoff can’t quite manage the Retina display’s full 2048 x 1536 output, instead operating at a sub-native resolution that actually isn’t much more impressive than the game’s implementation on iPad 2. We found the framerate slightly less stable, too, though it wasn’t a huge difference. Thankfully, all the 2D assets seem to be fully Retina-ready even if the 3D action isn’t, so the game does at least look visually consistent next to Infinity Blade 2. Given the choice we’d play on the new iPad, but it isn’t a showstopping advertisement for the device.

Wrap-up

IT’S RARE TO SEE A DEMANDING GAME RUN AT RETINA RESOLUTION WITHOUT COMPROMISE

In conclusion, it looks like N.O.V.A. 3 is somewhat of an outlier for having such dramatically different graphics on both iPads, and the newer tablet does manage to distinguish itself with some visually excellent titles. 2D games often look amazing on the new iPad, for instance, of which the likes of Waking Mars, Aquaria and Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP are good examples. However, it’s rare to see a technically demanding game run at Retina resolution without some compromises, and rarer still to see one equal or exceed the iPad 2′s graphics performance at 2048 x 1536. The A5X and Retina display are both very impressive components, then, but it’s clear that in gaming much of the former’s capability is limited to supporting the demands of the latter.

Gameloft told CNET that a future update to N.O.V.A. 3 will give users the choice between running the game at full resolution or enabling the extra particle effects seen on the iPad 2, but going forward we’d like to see the A5X outshine its predecessor instead of simply matching it. What could it be capable of if developers used the quad-core graphics to push higher quality effects rather than churning out millions of extra pixels for the Retina display? After all, DVDs manage to look realistic enough at 480p. (Source: The Verge)