In essence, we have a locked parity between the two consoles in terms of image quality, but when it comes down to performance, it's clear that Sony console offers up a smoother and more consistent gameplay experience. The PS4 delivers a v-synced, fairly stable 30fps presentation with no screen-tear. Combat scenes against the alien and other foes incur a light drop in smoothness, but the engine quickly recovers and any loss in performance is minor.
The refresh rate isn't perfect though, and dips in smoothness appear in the form of brief pauses, which prove a little distracting. Here we see frame-times between 200-460ms depending on the amount of duplicate frames displayed. The anomaly regularly occurs throughout the game, although the frequency appears to vary depending on the environment.
Similar engine stalls also appear on the Xbox One, but are much rarer and thus less distracting as a result. However, general performance is more noticeably impacted in other areas, and this has larger implications for gameplay. Frame-rates are frequently in a state of flux and this is joined by some screen tearing. Slowly exploring the damaged Sevastopol space station is enough to see a small impact in smoothness in many areas, while scenes where alpha effects and multiple light sources come into play hit the console much harder.
Indeed, the situation is pretty interesting: Creative Assembly has targeted parity in terms of resolution and graphical fidelity across both consoles, but in doing so has incurred a performance hit on the Xbox One. Perhaps lowering resolution might have worked out as an acceptable compromise in order to achieve a more stable frame-rate. The dimly lit environments and layers of post-processing are likely to reduce the appearance of scaling artefacts, while the game's aesthetic is drawn towards softer imagery in order to create a distinct, filmic look which doesn't rely heavily on raw crispness.
At this point the PS4 has the advantage, but there's plenty more to cover in the upcoming Face-Off. Cut-scenes deserve some exploration as there are clear issues with judder on both consoles, while we're particularly looking forward to checking out the game on PC, where initial impressions suggest that a locked 60fps is attainable without splashing out on the latest and greatest gaming hardware.