Ninja Gaiden 4 launched a week ago today on Xbox Game Pass, and now the folks over at Digital Foundry have delivered their latest tech review on Platinum's new slasher - and the title is turning in mixed results on Xbox Series X|S.
First off, performance is looking very good in this analysis overall, with the game offering 30, 60 and 120FPS options on Series X - as we noted in our Pure Xbox review. DF mentions that the game hits these targets pretty consistently, going on to recommend the 60FPS option as their preferred way to play (we liked the 120 mode!).
"What we do have here is largely stable and smooth which is what you need for smooth action in a game like this. If you're playing on one of these two consoles [Series X or PS5], I think this is the mode you should go with [60FPS]."
However, things aren't looking quite so preferable on Xbox Series S. This version of the title drops the 120FPS option in favour of just 30 and 60FPS modes, and while performance is solid enough, DF thinks that the visuals are just too much of a sacrifice - especially in the 60FPS mode. In fact, the tech review compares Ninja Gaiden 4 on Xbox Series S to a "PS3 era game".
"The results are, well, kind of ugly I have to admit. The 60FPS performance mode basically looks like the 120FPS mode on the more powerful consoles - but with much lower texture quality. The textures are seriously terrible in a lot of cases, with just extremely blurry assets thrown in there. It also targets a low, native 720p though obviously with dynamic resolution scaling, it can look even worse - and it seems to run at the lowest possible settings. So things like SSR, ambient occlusion, motion blur and more are all disabled, making the game look very flat. Honestly, with this resolution and level of detail, It genuinely starts to look like a PS3 era game more than anything."
While we certainly see where DF is coming from here, we'd still argue that performance is key in a game like Ninja Gaiden 4 - and we'd much rather see a low detail 60FPS option than just a 30FPS mode on Xbox Series S, as is often the case. Thankfully, despite some big visual cutbacks, the game runs well on Series S - even if that 30FPS mode has a variable, unlocked frame rate.
For our thoughts on the game itself, along with what other critics thought of Ninja Gaiden 4, check out our related articles on this Xbox Game Pass title down below.