A Digital Foundry technical analysis of Star Wars: Battlefront's beta has revealed that the game runs at 900p on PS4 and 700p on Xbox One.
Digital Foundry published its report today on the performance of the two console versions.
"From an image quality perspective, the compromises are just as you'd expect; we see more aliased edges, and a higher level of shimmering on fine distant detail–particularly on Tatooine's flag-lines," the report said of the Xbox One version. "Added to that, there's a softening to the picture as a whole–a result of a more drastic upscale, combined with a similar grade of post-process anti-aliasing to PS4."
The site notes that texture and shadow quality levels are identical on both console, and the same holds true for their use of tessellated geometry on various maps. "The Battlefront beta's three included maps give us some of the best-realized Star Wars locales in video game form, and both consoles get the goods in this sense."
In relation to draw distance, both the PS4 and Xbox One versions of the shooter's beta feature similar levels of "pop-in".
"Of course, Xbox One's resolution is a factor in this respect, particularly with map visibility across range," Digital Foundry noted. "As with DICE's earlier titles on the console, 720p has an impact when picking out enemies across broad expanses of terrain–the Hoth map being the biggest example in this case. The rebel base interior area holds up well enough during shootouts, and it's fair to say DICE's anti-aliasing does a surprisingly thorough job of cleaning up a base 720p image.
"Unfortunately, this core pixel count isn't high enough to resolve details clearly across the map as a whole, and the anti-aliasing's attempts to clean the image has the side effect adding a noticeable blur to the distance. In effect, this especially dulls the spectacle of this mission's final third, bringing us to a long spread of trenches–and from an AT-AT's top-down perspective, Xbox One's resolution starts to obscure the great art design DICE puts into this scene."
The beta targets 60fps on both systems, but this regularly drops to 50fps during intensive scenes on Xbox One.
"It's fair to say PS4's beta is in the healthier shape," Digital Foundry noted. "With a clearer image and the better average frame rate of the two consoles, the strong suggestion right now is that the PS4 version is the one to gun for on launch."
PC performance depends on your setup. The minimum and recommended specs are available here.
The beta began on October 8th and continues until October 12th and is available for everyone on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Star Wars: Battlefront itself launches November 17th.
