Spider-Man 2 PS5 tech analysis: Fidelity & Performance modes, explained

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is finally here, and on the cusp of the PlayStation 5’s third birthday, assumes the throne as the console’s most technically impressive game to date.

The same was said last year about God of War Ragnarök, but in this line of work, there’s always something on the horizon that has the potential to make you look foolish in retrospect. And hey, I said that Ragnarök could be the PS5’s most technically impressive game Then, there are those who say that — back then. In 11 months, a lot can happen.

Insomniac Games has brought to bear all of its experience developing for the PS5 — this is the studio’s fourth project for the platform, following 2021’s Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart — in delivering an open-world superhero adventure that makes the most of the console’s hardware. It’s the first entry in the franchise built specifically for this system. The two previous games were 2018’s Marvel’s Spider-Man, which debuted on PlayStation 4, and 2020’s PS5 launch title Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles MoralesThe game had to be built in such a way as to allow it to run both on PS4 and PS5.

You can also find out more about the following: Break Apart, which debuted exclusively on PS5, Insomniac showed what it could do when it didn’t have to worry about supporting older hardware: dimension-hopping action that relied on the PS5’s speedy SSD. This work has been built on with Spider-Man 2The SSD is used to provide instantaneous travel, as well as other impressive transitions. And the Spider-Mans’ hometown of New York City — three boroughs of which are now available, with Queens and Brooklyn lying across the East River from Manhattan — looks as amazing as our two heroes, rendered with real-time ray tracing in every graphics mode.

There are several modes available. You might be wondering which is best. There’s a Lots of people are interested in buying this product. on offer, but the long and short of it is that you’ll get a great experience at all times.

Spider-Man 2’s graphics modes, explained

Black Cat and Miles Morales (in a black and red Spider-Man suit), both grasping the Wand of Watoomb, with the Eiffel Tower in the background in Spider-Man 2. The strands of Black Cat’s gray hair are somewhat fuzzy in the game’s Performance mode. — Insomniac’s terrific hair strand system is rendered in a somewhat fuzzy way in *Spider-Man 2*’s Performance mode, as you can see in this screenshot featuring Black Cat. The Fidelity setting would allow for a more refined and detailed look at the strands.

You can play two different ways Spider-Man 2These are the two main modes of operation: Fidelity and Performance. You’ll find them under the “Graphics” area of the settings menu’s Visual section, and unlike in many other games, you’ll also find detailed descriptions of each mode and the associated options.

As you’d expect, the image quality and resolution are at their highest in Fidelity mode, which has a frame rate target of 30 frames per second (and is the default setting). To achieve the 60-fps target, Performance mode sacrifices some of its resolution. Both modes use dynamic resolution scale, changing the number of rendered pixels to reach the target frame rate.

The frame rates are not locked in either mode. Playing the game’s intro sequence in Performance mode, for instance, I noticed some minor hitching during Sandman’s attack in Lower Manhattan as the screen filled up with billowing dust clouds. But across 15 or so hours with the game thus far, I’ve only run into a few instances of this issue, lasting for a couple of seconds at most.

The Fidelity mode operates in a resolution range from 2160p — i.e., native 4K — down to 1440p, and scales the output to 4K using Insomniac’s temporal injection technique for anti-aliasing, according to the studio. The Performance mode reaches its highest resolution at 1440p. Its average resolution fluctuates between 1080p to 1440p.

a golden hour scene from Spider-Man 2 of Peter Parker’s Spider-Man perched atop a building looking across the East River at Manhattan, with the sun above the game’s version of the Freedom Tower — *Spider-Man 2*’s ray-traced reflections do a beautiful job of accurately representing the choppy surface of the East River. (Recorded in Fidelity Mode.)

Either way, ray-traced lighting — in the form of reflections (including on water surfaces) and window interiors — is always on in Spider-Man 2. It’s just that in Performance mode, ray-tracing effects are “simplified for some use cases,” according to the game. This is a major development, ensuring a cohesive look no matter how you decide to play; combined with the increased level of detail in the game world, there’s an unmistakable upgrade over the visuals in the previous Spider-Man titles.

Spider-Man 2 also supports 120 Hz output — a feature that Insomniac added to Break Apart in a post-launch patch — so you’ll have more visual options if your PS5 is hooked up to a 120 Hz panel. By enabling this setting, the Fidelity Mode can run at 40 fps rather than 30 fps. It also improves fluidity and reduces input latency. It’s a great middle ground between the Performance mode and the standard Fidelity mode, delivering the image quality and clarity of the latter setting at a frame rate that feels more responsive. It’s the way to go if you’re lucky enough to be playing on a 120 Hz display like my LG C1 television. At 40 fps the image resolution will (understandably!) drop. Insomniac says that the average is somewhere between 1296p to 4K.

This is the third visual setting in Spider-Man 2It is possible to use both modes of graphics with the variable refresh rates (VRR). It further complicates the picture with two options: “smoothed” and “uncapped.” The former setting keeps the frame rate cap in place (30 fps or 60 fps, depending on the chosen mode) and helps maintain it by smoothing out any drops below the target. For those who prefer the fastest possible response, the latter option unlocks frame rates. The game can run between 40-60fps (in Fidelity mode) and 60-90fps (in Performance mode). Frame rate is prioritized here over resolution, so the pixel count could fall to as little as 1152p (in Fidelity Mode) and 1008p (in Performance mode), but I did not find any instances where resolution dropped.

What is the better Spider-Man 2 graphic mode, Performance or Fidelity?

In this scene of Peter Parker’s Spider-Man looking down toward the streets of Midtown Manhattan at dusk, note the increased level of detail in the Fidelity mode (left). There’s more traffic on the roads. Lampposts are visible from this high vantage point, but they’re missing in the Performance mode (right) — as are minor elements such as air conditioning vents on rooftops. The ray traced reflections on the window of the building where Peter sits are also visible. The graphics look identical in both modes.

Image: Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment by Polygon. Image : Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment.

I’ve played Spider-Man 2 in both graphics modes over multiple hours, and I don’t believe there’s an obvious winner here. Granted, I’ve spent the vast majority of my time in Fidelity mode playing with the 120 Hz option enabled. It still feels great at 30 fps, but the ability to get an additional 10 fps — or more, if using VRR with an uncapped frame rate — while keeping all the visual bells and whistles is a meaningful benefit.

If you aren’t playing on a 120 Hz panel, I would lean toward Performance mode. The visual compromises — both in terms of clarity (due to the reduced resolution) and in terms of the game world’s level of detail and density — are notable, but they aren’t severe enough to make a gigantic difference in image quality.

Sure, there are fewer cars and pedestrians on the streets of New York, and the strands of hair on the characters’ heads are less detailed. But this is where the steadfast presence of ray tracing across both graphics modes makes all the difference: Even with its lower-quality ray-tracing effects, the Performance mode upholds the game’s overall visual presentation. How much can you notice the flaws when Miles and Peter are flying at speeds of up to 100mph above the city? I’m already at the point where the combat encounters are getting difficult, and I appreciate Performance mode’s increased responsiveness in those sequences.

a Spider-Man 2 screenshot of Miles Morales’ Spider-Man standing on top of a building across the street from the Guggenheim Museum

It’s worth noting that you do kind of have to make a choice and stick with it during a session. While I frequently switched between the two options Horizon Forbidden WestExploring the world in Quality Mode and then switching to Performance mode during combat sequences. Spider-Man 2You must restart the game from a previous checkpoint in order to change graphics modes. (I imagine the developers have a good reason for this, but it’s a strange hang-up, since the game appears to switch seamlessly into Fidelity mode as soon as you enter the photo mode.)

Spider-Man 2’s array of graphics options can be confusing, even overwhelming. The great thing is that if you don’t want to worry about the various modes, you can just leave the defaults in place and be secure in the knowledge that you’ll have a terrific-looking and smooth-playing experience regardless of the settings. Insomniac Games has utilized the PS5’s hardware to its fullest extent — that is, until its upcoming Wolverine game, when the studio will surely find ways to top itself again.

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