Star Wars Battlefront 2 Beta Falls Short Of 60FPS On PS4 & Xbox One

Star Wars Battlefront 2 held up pretty well during its multiplayer beta over the past few days, but a recent performance analysis from Digital Foundry suggests the unfinished code still needs some polish in certain modes across PS4 and Xbox One.

Starting with the good news, Battlefront 2 is a visual treat compared to 2015’s game. Not only do improved post-processing and lighting effects add an extra sense of shine to the experience, but resolution gets a pretty significant bump as well. In contrast to the 900p and 720p standard of its predecessor, the sequel has a dynamic scaling option that allows PS4 visuals to hover around 1000p with Xbox One ranging from 800p to 1000p. On PS4 Pro, the upgraded hardware offers scaling that averages around 1296p.

There are some slight variations between consoles as well. There does appear to be reduced shadow and reflection resolution on Xbox One, and textures load slightly faster on PS4. That being said, these shortcomings are minor in what’s otherwise a substantial leap forward for a great looking game on either console.

Where issues get slightly more complicated, however, is with general performance. While 60fps is obviously the target, neither version of Battlefront 2 can truly maintain that in its beta form. In every single mode, about two or three frames get lost every few seconds. It’s not a dealbreaker, but it’s something the most sensitive gamers will probably notice. The Naboo Galactic Assault map is probably the worst offender of all, with average rates dipping all the way down to 50fps, even on more powerful PS4 hardware. It tends to stay closer to 60 most of the time, but, especially during moments of intense action, those drops could impact competitive play.

In terms of what we’re supposed to glean from Digital Foundry’s analysis, that’s a bit difficult to say. After all, this is technically beta code, so these shortcomings could be polished up a bit to better maintain that 60fps target when the full game releases next month. We’d be surprised if the bigger drops on Galactic Assault are totally eradicated, but smoothing out the momentary blips elsewhere seems like a fairly manageable task. If the beta’s performance does carry over, the PC version might be the ideal choice for those most sensitive to lost frames.

As shaky as some of the Battlefront 2 beta’s performance was, however, any discussion of it was greatly overshadowed by the demo’s excessive use of loot crates. As opposed to the direct credit-based unlocks of its predecessor, literally every area of progression in the Battlefront 2 beta was tied to a random drop. Crafting points, Star Cards and even victory poses were purchased with credits and drawn blindly. In the face of immense backlash, neither DICE nor EA has ventured to issue a response.

Star Wars Battlefront 2 comes to PS4, Xbox One and PC Nov. 17.

What are your thoughts on this Battlefront 2 performance analysis? Are you willing to put up with a few lost frames for better visuals? Tell us in the comments section!