Xbox One X Coverage: Star Wars Battlefront 2

One of the biggest title hitting console and PC this holiday season is Star Wars Battlefront 2. After affair amount of early controversy – and some action on behalf of Electronic Arts – things are moving along pretty well for this galactic giant, as it tries to recapture the magic of the first Star Wars Battlefront release on Xbox a few years back. From a gameplay perspective, it’s so-far-so-good, with online matches proving to be a ton of fun, and the inclusion of a single player experience a definite improvement over the last Battlefront title. Overall, EA has done a good job. But what about that extra processing power in the Xbox One X. Did EA harness that as well? Let’s take a look.

This title was reviewed in 4K on the Samsung Series 7 55inch Q7 UHD QLED TV! Our Review Here.

For the purpose of this examination ,we played multiplayer matches in an Xbox Party, with myself playing on the Xbox One X, and one of our other writers on the original Xbox One. We set up each system side by side, with both systems hooked up to a 4K television.  Here is what we found!

Graphics

With more processing power and the ability to display in 4K, the Xbox One X should trounce the original Xbox One in graphical quality. For the most part, this proved to be true, although it often took us long moments to really zero in on the differences between the two screens in certain situations. Over time, those differences became more noticeable as we learned quickly where to look for the most obvious changes. 4K isn’t likely to bash you over the head, especially when you are playing your dozenth game in 4K; that being said, it is still there.

Within the multiplayer experience, the textures of the environments was the most noticeable difference to me. The easiest way for us to make this comparison was to look at the trees. On the Xbox One X, each branch and leaf are noticeably more defined and detailed, allowing you to follow a branch, a sub branch, and ultimately find the leaf. On the original Xbox One, following the branches is fairly easy, but the leafs become a muddled mess, with not clear distinctions from one branch of leaves to the next.

This detail extends to the cliffs, paths, and buildings as well. It’s not huge, especially in a fast paced moving, online experience. When you do stop, however, the improvements in the Xbox One X over the Xbox One are fairly easy to spot. The biggest improvements, in my opinion, come in the single player experience. Character animations and features, again, are much more defined on the Xbox One X, and with a slower-pace compared to playing online, it’s more enjoyable soaking in those differences, and really appreciating the power of the Xbox One X.

Frame Rate

While the game is aiming for 60 frames per second throughout the experience, there are frequent dips on the Xbox One X. According to numerous sources, EA did sacrifice some graphical quality to improve frame rate, and although the Xbox One X version does vastly outperform the original Xbox One, it doesn’t stand out against its biggest competition. That being said, the differences are not that stark, and shouldn’t cause a huge impact on your game play experience.

Load Times

Differences in load times from the original Xbox One to the Xbox One X are pretty minimal, but for what it is worth, they are still much faster on the Xbox One X. Compared to the original Battlefront on Xbox One, the developers have done a good job at cutting load times across the board. On the Xbox One X, you are likely to see a few seconds differences when compared to the original Xbox One. Again, this isn’t mind blowing or earth shattering, but knowing the system you dropped big dollars into is actually making a difference, should be good enough.

Star Wars Battlefront 2 is a phenomenal experience on Xbox One X, and although it’s not #1 in all categories, the package of what it offers is better than the rest. You can get Star Wars Battlefront 2 now via the Xbox Marketplace.