Yesterday the official release of Death Stranding for Apple platforms took place.
This is already the third port of a major AAA game for the new generation iPhone 15 Pro in particular. And if there weren’t any big problems with the release of the two Resident Evil parts, now the situation has gotten worse.
On topic: Death Stranding review. Just a good game from Kojima
Let’s figure out how the long-awaited “new product” turned out and whether it’s worth getting it on the iPhone.
Briefly. What game is this?
You play as Sam Bridges, a simple courier who only knows how to do this. But on the other hand, now he has a goal – to unite all the States of America. All tasks are supported by a solid and well-developed plot.
People are hiding in bunkers from temporal rain, which in a matter of seconds ages the inhabitants and destroys some buildings. Sam needs to create a common chiral data network so that the entire country can exist as one again. This network allows you not only to transfer files, but also to fully create objects through local analogues of 3D printers.
With the help of this very delivery system, the developers are trying to show how long and hard it takes to achieve a big goal in order to ultimately achieve success.
This is where constant phrases from characters about a great goal arise: “Sam, there’s a new order in the terminal,” “Sam, don’t forget to check the orders,” and so on. And all this is intertwined with phrases like “Thank you, Sam, we are one step closer to the reunification of America,” “Sam, you are doing an important thing,” and so on.
Thus, the player performs routine, monotonous work. Again and again. Moreover, each “mission” can take from 5 to 45 minutes of real time. But I wouldn’t say it’s boring and dull. The special mechanics for distributing and carrying cargo come to the rescue here.
What can you play on?
Here is the list of supported devices:
• iPhoneequipped with an Apple A17 Pro chip or later (currently iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max)
• iPadequipped with an Apple M1 chip or later and updated to iPadOS 17.0 or later
• Macequipped with an Apple M1 chip or later and updated to macOS 13.3 or later
Graphics of the level will work
There were no revelations here. The graphics presented in the mobile version of Death Stranding vary greatly from device to device.
On the iPhone 15 Pro, the settings are minimal, although there is a good draw distance. However, due to the presence of motion blur, the picture seems soapy if you just turn the camera a little.
And in general, all edges are “soft” due to virtually no anti-aliasing. And in general, as already mentioned in earlier publications, the image on the iPhone has a resolution 720p. On tablets it is higher – 1080p.
However, there is no such thing in cutscenes. All characters look quite clear and well detailed. The videos are a real pleasure to watch. Especially when full Russian voice acting is available.
But still. Despite the fact that the graphics in Death Stranding are noticeably worse than those of the console and, especially, the PC versions, the image is still not polygonal and stands out against the background of standard mobile games, even Call of Duty Mobile.
Game process. How’s the management?
A large number of controversial issues arise here. However, everything is not as bad as it might seem from the screenshots.
Yes, the interface completely duplicates the gamepad. This is already the norm for such games. And if in the same Resident Evil Village it was often necessary to use at least three fingers to control a character, in DS you can usually get by with two.
It all comes down to the fact that the game is not so dynamic and does not require so much active interaction with the controller.
If you play on a gamepad, the game requires you to press the triggers very often to hold the load, which is concentrated throughout Sam Bridges’ body. But in the case of touch controls, just tap these same keys, and they will be considered pressed. And it’s very convenient. Thank you for caring about mobile gamers.
But there are other nuances here. Since Sam is in constant motion on an extremely uneven surface, he strives to stumble, fall, and so on. Walking in this case is not always convenient, since the sticks, for some reason unknown to me, may not work or direct the character in a different direction.
This control can hardly be called responsive. It works mostly fine, but occasionally crashes.
To briefly summarize: you can play, but it’s difficult. Moreover, you cover a third of the screen with your fingers and cannot see part of the image.
With a gamepad the situation is much better. The iPhone has full support for DualShock and DualSense. Moreover, the latter even works with pressing force and all vibrations. That is, all built-in functions are present.
Optimization leaves much to be desired. iPhone is very bad
https://www.iphones.ru/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/7532549541268859030.mp4
Instead of words. A little gameplay (and that’s still ok)
Of course, no one expected that we would be given a smooth picture at 60 frames per second. It would be a miracle if 505 Games were able to bring even the presented graphics to this level.
However, many were hoping for at least a stable 30 FPS. Unfortunately, they are not available at launch. And if in the prologue the developers still adhere to this bar, then as soon as you are released into the open world, frame rate will drop to 20 FPS. And this will be a fairly periodic occurrence.
Microfreezes, slowdowns, and rare artifacts are the norm for Death Stranding on iOS. It’s good that I didn’t encounter any bugs after several hours of playing.
In addition, iPhone gets very hot after 20 minutes of play. Not critical, but it’s better to remove the case if you use it.
But more work needs to be done on optimization. The graphics in the game cannot be changed to improve the situation.
If you have an iPad, Mac, or even a Steam Deck, then get the game on those platforms. Playing on the iPhone screen is not very comfortable due to its size, but in general it is possible.
You can play, but it’s not comfortable
Taking Death Stranding on an iPhone is only worth it for those who “really want” to play this game.
Otherwise, buy it for the iPad or Mac. There, optimization and picture quality are noticeably better than on the iPhone 15 Pro. Until the developers fix the unstable framerate, this game will be unpleasant to run. Plus, it requires a lot of space – as much as 40 GB of memory. For owners of the 128 GB version, problems may arise.
Death Stranding is available on the App Store for 1,790 rubles. Saves are synchronized between all versions (iPhone/iPad/Mac), this is a universal purchase, available on all platforms at once.
