But perhaps it’s a miracle that they work at all.
In that time, there’s been a technical upheaval of sorts.
Firstly, Black Ops 6 moves to the IW9 engine, away from Treyarch’s own custom engine.
The question is, can 11-year-old consoles handle it?
Current-gen consoles are mostly fine, as you would expect.
With IW9 at the core, we’re in familiar territory to Modern Warfare 3.
You’ll notice checkpoint hitches during play: a cluster of dropped frames that always precedes an auto-save.
The second point relates to actual sub-60fps drops in action, which are thankfully few and far between.
Jumping to Xbox Series S, the turnout is far less convincing at 60fps.
At the very lowest, the most extreme points see performance drop into the 40s.
The resolution setup is the same as 60Hz and all core visual prefs are identical too.
Really, only those with VRR supporting displays will benefit, but it’s a neat option to have.
So, if Series S is having some challenges, where does that leave the last generation consoles?
Is it still possible to enjoy a decent experience when the developers are pulling out all of the stops?
Well, obviously, there are cutbacks.
Shadows also take a hit, with a more dithered, noisy appearance in close-ups.
Screen space reflections are disabled too, meaning varnished floors and water bodies now rely on static cube maps.
Performance is also variable.
From the very first steps of the Kuwait opener, PS4 lurches between 45-60fps.
There are stretches at 60fps - often low-key stealth segments or driving between areas.
Looking at PS4 Pro next, the good news is that much of this is improved.
Potentially checkerboard rendering is in assistance here as well.
Also, interestingly, PS4 Pro is the only console that engages v-sync, meaning no screen-tearing.
Comparatively speaking, Xbox One X runs worse overall.
