The rare games that are better on console (since 2005)

biggles

2[H]4U
Joined
Jul 25, 2005
Messages
2,215
I would like to keep a list of those rare games. Usually it is because the developer was too lazy to properly optimize the PC version, making it impossible to get stable framerates. Or lots of crashes.

Watch Dogs (stuttering)
Batman Arkham Knight (hoping a future patch fixes it though)
Far Cry 4 (stuttering, also supposedly the AA is better for console)
Assassins Creed Black Flag (stuttering, perhaps an issue for Ubisoft open world games?)
Rage (if you have a Radeon Card)
Saints Row 2
Splinter Cell Double Agent

Not to be a flame war. Let's help each other out to help determine when it is better to pass on a PC port.

I put since 2005 so we could focus on reasonably current titles.

It should be a short list. Let's face it, the PC version is almost always better if your hardware is good and the game has been optimized to some degree.
 
Diablo 3 until the item hackers ruined everything. Game just plays better with direct character control instead of trying to micromanage your feet in the PC game.
 
All those play fine on my pc. And I run triple monitor set up. I do have a better setup. But my old setup worked fine with these games..

Intel 9550 stock
8 gig of 3200
2 x intel 80 gig ssd's in raid 0
2 x 560 ti 2 gig in sli
3 x 2 tb hard drives
Antec 1200 TPQ
3 x 24" monitors.
 
Diablo 3 until the item hackers ruined everything. Game just plays better with direct character control instead of trying to micromanage your feet in the PC game.

I have read elsewhere that Diablo 3 is better for consoles. But folks still like the PC version. Might be personal preference though on that one.
 
I have read elsewhere that Diablo 3 is better for consoles. But folks still like the PC version. Might be personal preference though on that one.

The console version is near unplayable now due to hacking, PC wins overall because Blizzard won't do anything about blatant cheats.
 
Never could get double agent to work, crashed constantly. Even then the original xbox was the best version of that game not the ps3/360/pc versions.

Halo 2 i have had less lag playing players from Brazil on og xbox console then on pc a few states over. I've heard even the mcc uses the vista port for the classic version so again the original console version was still the best somehow.

Deadly Premonition even if it ran like ass on ps3 at least it was playable unlike the pc port.
 
I have read elsewhere that Diablo 3 is better for consoles. But folks still like the PC version. Might be personal preference though on that one.

I'd agree with this, but like you said, it comes down to my personal preference. I first got into isometric hack and slash games with Recrod of Lodoss War on Dreamcast, and REALLY got into the BG: Dark Alliance and Champions of Norrath. As such, these games feel much more natural to me with a controller. If Diablo 3 on PC had controller support (like they claimed it would way back when), I'd probably be playing it there. But it doesn't, so PS4 it is.

I only play with friends though, so I cannot comment on hacking online.
 
Watch Dogs was eventually fixed...or hardware at least caught up to it. It runs well now. If only it was a compelling game.

Ditto with Rage, although I suppose older ATI cards might still have issues. Newer ones work fine, though.

Black Flag's issues relate to triple buffering. There are some tricks you can use to fix that, including CTRL+ALT+DEL to go to your desktop and then back to the game. That will force it. Programs like Borderless Gaming, Radeon Pro, and D3DOverrider also work.

Far Cry 4's stuttering was fixed and re-broken 2-3 times. I believe it's currently running fine, but turning some of the Nvidia specific stuff down or off will help if it's broken again. I have/had a config that worked really well for me, although different patches seemed to affect the game differently.

Probably worth mentioning, the console run these games at 1080p (or less) and at 30FPS with the details typically on the low end. If you have a decent PC and you set your res, details, and framerate that low it's VERY unusual for a console game to be better. It usually means the game is full-on broken, kinda like Arkham Knight was on day 1. Either that or the console versions have additional content. It's very, very, very rare when a console game runs better than even a broken PC game.
 
I tend to fall on the side of everything is better on PC but pretty much anything GFWL just made life miserable for me. Mostly the game save bugs, though Bioshock 2 had just a metric shit ton of issues Console gamers would have never noticed because the graphics were shit no matter what you played it on.
 
Even though I'm not a soccer/Euro football/sports fan AT ALL, PES 2016 for PC is based on the XB360 version. So there's one definite win for PS4/XB1. IIRC, EA does the same shit with their sports games on PC.
 
To me the only reason to play a game on a console is if there is no PC version available.

There might be graphics problems or slow performance on the PC with some games, but even if you turn it down to the lowliest peasant settings, it'll still look much better. Even for shitty games, where the dev purposely hobbled the PC version to make it look as shitty or shittier than the console version. They can't take away forced 16xAF, and 8xAA. And they can't take away the extra resolution either.
 
Far Cry 4 (stuttering, also supposedly the AA is better for console)

Ummmmm... no.

While the optimization on the PC version leaves plenty to be desired with high end hardware you get a much better experience. Stuttering was not an issue I had, unless I turned on the PhysX stuff, and I could run it at 1080p60 solid, with better graphics than the console version had. The PS4 version ran at 900p30 on release, supposedly later upgraded to 1080p30. Then in terms of AA are you kidding? It had an insane amount of AA options on the PC. You can turn it off, use FXAA, SMAA, MSAA or TXAA at differing levels.
 
Even for shitty games, where the dev purposely hobbled the PC version to make it look as shitty or shittier than the console version. They can't take away forced 16xAF, and 8xAA. And they can't take away the extra resolution either.

But does higher AA and AF levels compensate for completely missing effects or half/quarter resolution textures? Hell naw.

Console or PC, it doesn't matter. I go where the best overall looking version is. I'd rather have 3/4 of the pixels that look twice as good rather than three times as many that looks 10x more like ass.
 
Shank, Guacamelee, sidescrollers in general, Telltale Games, twinstick shooters, fighting games (me personally), I'll take on a console over a PC.

Kind of disingenuous actually, it's more about rather playing them on a controller in front of a TV vs playing sitting down with a KB+M. I could care less about the platform, and in those cases it's usually not worth going out of my way to setup a HTPC in the living room vs just firing up the console.
 
the only games that are better on consoles are console exclusives :D ...honestly every game is better on PC (price is lower, better graphics, controls, mods etc)
 
You realize you can use a controller in the PC and all games I've tried automatically detects it and displays the right buttons (Xbox 360 wireless). A cable to your TV if that is your preference is $20-30...

After you do DSR + MFAA (or VSR + MSAA) it would boggle my mind why someone would choose console over PC. Given you have a decent PC. I played half the games on OP's list maxed with no issues at all, including Batman AK, AC BF, and FC4. Some of these games got flak because they weren't up to PC standards. The PC version was still waaayyyyy better than the console version.

The only place consoles might win is I have fond memories of playing multiplayer smash brothers / halo in college on split screen.
 
Ummmmm... no.

While the optimization on the PC version leaves plenty to be desired with high end hardware you get a much better experience. Stuttering was not an issue I had, unless I turned on the PhysX stuff, and I could run it at 1080p60 solid, with better graphics than the console version had. The PS4 version ran at 900p30 on release, supposedly later upgraded to 1080p30. Then in terms of AA are you kidding? It had an insane amount of AA options on the PC. You can turn it off, use FXAA, SMAA, MSAA or TXAA at differing levels.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2014-far-cry-4-face-off

According to this Far Cry 4 was as bad as Watch Dogs in regards to stuttering. I found Watch Dogs to suffer in the gameplay department due to the stuttering, many others did as well.

In regards to 900p30 on release patched later to 1080p30, perhaps you are referring to Assassins Creed Black Flag for PS4?
 
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2014-far-cry-4-face-off

According to this Far Cry 4 was as bad as Watch Dogs in regards to stuttering. I found Watch Dogs to suffer in the gameplay department due to the stuttering, many others did as well.

In regards to 900p30 on release patched later to 1080p30, perhaps you are referring to Assassins Creed Black Flag for PS4?

Farcry 4's stuttering (which was mainly apparent only when driving) was fixed right after launch with a patch. They aggressively improved that game including hairworks, ect. If they just waited an extra month to launch it their reviews would have been a lot better. It's funny because they said stuttering around 50 ms. 30 FPS on consoles is 33ms. Consoles didn't stutter (as noticeably) because they were already there. If you dropped the Vsync on PC to 30 guess what happened... It went away, or became a constant stutter depending on how you look at it. You can get used to micro stutter but once you see "silky smooth" it's hard to go back.

PS4 could only do 1440x1080 30fps...
 
Last edited:
Shank, Guacamelee, sidescrollers in general, Telltale Games, twinstick shooters, fighting games (me personally), I'll take on a console over a PC.

I played all those on PC just fine. The 360 controller works perfectly with them and will even change the button prompts to match.

Others that work great, Dust: An Elysian Tail, Super Meat Boy, Mark of the Ninja, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, Limbo, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, Wolf Among Us…I’m sure I could go on.
 
I'd agree with this, but like you said, it comes down to my personal preference. I first got into isometric hack and slash games with Recrod of Lodoss War on Dreamcast, and REALLY got into the BG: Dark Alliance and Champions of Norrath. As such, these games feel much more natural to me with a controller. If Diablo 3 on PC had controller support (like they claimed it would way back when), I'd probably be playing it there. But it doesn't, so PS4 it is.

I only play with friends though, so I cannot comment on hacking online.

How does one play Diablo 3 with a controller?
With some of the characters, you place the curser where you want something to happen, like a WD dropping Acid, or a DH dropping a sentry.
Is there a cursor in the console version?
 
I played all those on PC just fine. The 360 controller works perfectly with them and will even change the button prompts to match.

Others that work great, Dust: An Elysian Tail, Super Meat Boy, Mark of the Ninja, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, Limbo, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, Wolf Among Us…I’m sure I could go on.

Are any of those really any BETTER on a PC though? Super Meat Boy really look or play any better on a PC vs playing on a calculator?

Right now I'm playing Guacamelee on PC, because backlog, but if it was the same price would I really be missing out if I bought it on PS3? First person to bring up resolution gets aids.
 
But does higher AA and AF levels compensate for completely missing effects or half/quarter resolution textures? Hell naw.

Console or PC, it doesn't matter. I go where the best overall looking version is. I'd rather have 3/4 of the pixels that look twice as good rather than three times as many that looks 10x more like ass.

Then I simply ignore the game. Noone will bully me into playing on the console. I refuse to use it for anything else than exclusives. Not even for timed exclusives. I purchased GTAV for PS3, and regretted it ten times over. I should've waited for the PC version.
 
Are any of those really any BETTER on a PC though? Super Meat Boy really look or play any better on a PC vs playing on a calculator?

Right now I'm playing Guacamelee on PC, because backlog, but if it was the same price would I really be missing out if I bought it on PS3? First person to bring up resolution gets aids.

Between Steam sales and Humble Bundles they are much better that way. But excluding cost they aren’t much different from their console brothers.
 
Then I simply ignore the game. Noone will bully me into playing on the console. I refuse to use it for anything else than exclusives. Not even for timed exclusives. I purchased GTAV for PS3, and regretted it ten times over. I should've waited for the PC version.

Fair enough. I vote with my wallet when it comes to crap ports on PC as well, and in those cases I always buy used on console so the publisher isn't rewarded for their shenanigans. We have different viewpoints and I am not going to berate you for it. To do so would be childish at best.
 
Farcry 4's stuttering (which was mainly apparent only when driving) was fixed right after launch with a patch. They aggressively improved that game including hairworks, ect. If they just waited an extra month to launch it their reviews would have been a lot better. It's funny because they said stuttering around 50 ms. 30 FPS on consoles is 33ms. Consoles didn't stutter (as noticeably) because they were already there. If you dropped the Vsync on PC to 30 guess what happened... It went away, or became a constant stutter depending on how you look at it. You can get used to micro stutter but once you see "silky smooth" it's hard to go back.

PS4 could only do 1440x1080 30fps...

See that, I should have created this thread before buying Far Cry 4 for PS4! Didn't know all of that before reading your posting.
 
See that, I should have created this thread before buying Far Cry 4 for PS4! Didn't know all of that before reading your posting.

DigitalFoundry at Eurogamer.net is your friend for this kind of stuff. I always read their face-offs before buying any game on console OR PC.
 
The console version is near unplayable now due to hacking, PC wins overall because Blizzard won't do anything about blatant cheats.

Blizzard is generally much more proative than the rest of the industry when it comes to anti-cheating.
 
You realize you can use a controller in the PC and all games I've tried automatically detects it and displays the right buttons (Xbox 360 wireless). A cable to your TV if that is your preference is $20-30...

After you do DSR + MFAA (or VSR + MSAA) it would boggle my mind why someone would choose console over PC. Given you have a decent PC. I played half the games on OP's list maxed with no issues at all, including Batman AK, AC BF, and FC4. Some of these games got flak because they weren't up to PC standards. The PC version was still waaayyyyy better than the console version.

The only place consoles might win is I have fond memories of playing multiplayer smash brothers / halo in college on split screen.

controllers are one of the main reason why console games suck ass, especially multiplayer fps types. Mouse/keyboard combo is so much faster and more precise its just plain silly. keyboard/mouse noobs can easily destroy console controller veterans, its not even a fair contest. theres a reason console games have auto aim and pc doesnt.
 
Then I simply ignore the game. Noone will bully me into playing on the console. I refuse to use it for anything else than exclusives. Not even for timed exclusives. I purchased GTAV for PS3, and regretted it ten times over. I should've waited for the PC version.

Indeed, GTA is the only reason i even own a console but to be fair previous gta consoles games were far far better. the ps3/xbox360s old outdated hardware simply wasnt up to the task of running this game correctly and it caused many many major issues because of it. That game shouldve never even been released on those old consoles. The ps4 version really wasnt much better, not sure if it was due to a crappy port job when they shouldve redone the entire thing properly to utilize the much better hardware or what. Rockstar should be be totally ashamed for releasing that steaming shitheap of a game under those conditions. On the plus side it was pretty easy to max out the hardware and lose the craptastic omnipresent police ai that spawned on top of you and killed you with 3 shots while never missing. Unfortunately maxing out the hardware meant nothing else spawned either which left you walking a lot and made cars disappear as soon as you tried to open the door, lol! What a joke that game was, ah the memories. Pissed me off so much i didnt even buy the pc version and gta used to be one of my most favorite games this this crap version, did they ever fix things and make them better or do you still get stuck in 5-10 second animation sequences unable to control your character while everyone else can easily kill you? They botched it so bad its like no one at rockstar ever played a multiplayer game before in their lives and had no clue how to balance and optimize it
 
the only games that are better on consoles are console exclusives :D ...honestly every game is better on PC (price is lower, better graphics, controls, mods etc)

I'd agree with everything but controls. Some games I enjoy using a controller over a keyboard and mouse. The only PC game I've ran into with this issue was Mass Effect where there wasn't native controller support. Luckily modders have done a good job of doing it.

I personally tend to get the game first on console over the PC. Mainly because I'm my own worst enemy. When it comes to PC games I over analyze it with what are the most optimal settings. Anytime I hit a part of the game where there is frame drops I start seeing what settings and or hardware is causing that I tend spend less time enjoying the game. Not only that the PC versions many times tend to real buggy and have performance issues.

Now I'll get the PC version of the game if I want to replay it. By then the game has been patched and or my hardware is more then enough to overcome the lack of optimizations.
 
I'd agree with everything but controls. Some games I enjoy using a controller over a keyboard and mouse. The only PC game I've ran into with this issue was Mass Effect where there wasn't native controller support. Luckily modders have done a good job of doing it.

I personally tend to get the game first on console over the PC. Mainly because I'm my own worst enemy. When it comes to PC games I over analyze it with what are the most optimal settings. Anytime I hit a part of the game where there is frame drops I start seeing what settings and or hardware is causing that I tend spend less time enjoying the game. Not only that the PC versions many times tend to real buggy and have performance issues.

Now I'll get the PC version of the game if I want to replay it. By then the game has been patched and or my hardware is more then enough to overcome the lack of optimizations.

depends on game type for sure, but more often than not keyboard/mouse/wheel/joystick are far superior to a console style controller,
 
controllers are one of the main reason why console games suck ass, especially multiplayer fps types. Mouse/keyboard combo is so much faster and more precise its just plain silly. keyboard/mouse noobs can easily destroy console controller veterans, its not even a fair contest. theres a reason console games have auto aim and pc doesnt.


True, I wouldn't play BF4 with a controller. Games like MGS V, the Witcher 3, Legos, and Child of Light are all way more fun kicking back and relaxing with a controller.

A lot of people don't realize how seamless remotes work with PC.
 
True, I wouldn't play BF4 with a controller. Games like MGS V, the Witcher 3, Legos, and Child of Light are all way more fun kicking back and relaxing with a controller.

A lot of people don't realize how seamless remotes work with PC.

fair enough, and while ive never played any of those games you mention for the controller i cant say if youre right or wrong, but ill give you the benefit of the doubt and agree because there definitely are some games better suited for controller use.
 
The console version is near unplayable now due to hacking, PC wins overall because Blizzard won't do anything about blatant cheats.

But........Blizzard....Warden :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:


Diablo 3 on the consoles was just a cash grab anyway.
 
Shank, Guacamelee, sidescrollers in general, Telltale Games, twinstick shooters, fighting games (me personally), I'll take on a console over a PC.

Kind of disingenuous actually, it's more about rather playing them on a controller in front of a TV vs playing sitting down with a KB+M. I could care less about the platform, and in those cases it's usually not worth going out of my way to setup a HTPC in the living room vs just firing up the console.

Sounds like a perfect use case for a $49 Steamlink
 
How does one play Diablo 3 with a controller?
With some of the characters, you place the curser where you want something to happen, like a WD dropping Acid, or a DH dropping a sentry.
Is there a cursor in the console version?

Diablo 3 is the one of the few games where I prefer a controller. I just prefer hack and slashes with a controller. If the PC version offered controller support, it would be no contest which was better. However, since it doesn't...it becomes preference. I prefer the controller. So, the console version wins out for me.

Now, I know nothing of the recent hacking. If that's true, then I might side with the PC. However, I'm basing my opinion on when it came out. As that's the last time I played it.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top