The Xbox One X launch is so close and the list of games being optimized for the powerful new console continues to grow. Respawn’s Titanfall 2 was among the list of titles that received the Xbox One X enhancement patch but it’s obvious that something got lost in translation a little bit. The upgrade looks less like an upgrade and more like a hot mess.
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Through various tests, it’s clear that the enhancements are there but the resolution continued to drop lower than the PlayStation 4 Pro counter part making the overall picture much blurrier on more than one occasion. Take a look at the gameplay demo in the video below courtesy of Digital Foundry to see the result:
How does this happen?
In a previous interview with Xbox Wire, the Respawn team sat down to talk about the technology present within the Xbox One X and what that means for previously released titles. When asked about how the developmental process worked for the latest platform, Respawn’s Drew McCoy had this to say:
“We have increased the rendering details and dynamic resolution cap of Titanfall 2 on X1X. This means the game will always output a 4K signal, but dynamically alter the resolution based on GPU load to ensure smooth framerates. Additionally, we have brought over from the PC version of Titanfall 2 Dynamic Superscaling for times when even full 2160p doesn’t push the X1X GPU to 100% utilization.”
For a good portion of the gameplay seen in the video above, the picture is gorgeous and the enhancements can definitely be seen for what they are. That being said, there were plenty of moments when the picture quality became blurry due to anisotropic filtering issues. During the Xbox One X run, the rendering dropped down to 842p to 864p on the Microsoft console whereas the PlayStation 4 Pro counterpart never dropped below 1080p.
Does the mean the entire game suffers? No, not at all. It’s very clear in other aspects of the gameplay that the enhancements made the graphic experience infinitely more robust but that doesn’t take away that the minor missteps seen with the drop need to be addressed.
Many other Xbox players agree. In a recent thread on Resetera, many gamers took to the original post of the video to voice their concerns. Here are just a few of the comments seen from players of the recently enhanced title:
El_Chino: “Respwan, you have some explaining to do.”
Enter the Dragon Punch: “Dropping to 842p on Xbox One X at one point is nuts. Clearly a bug. The X is literally a stronger Pro for all purposes. Not gonna stop people from accusing Respawn or MS of lying, though”
Yautja_Warrior: “Wonder if it will be patched to fix it or if this is final because that would be a little disappointing. I remember some Pro games needing a few patches to fix faults with enhancements, seems like the X could face a few similar problems.”
Whereas others pointed out that this could be an isolated event, or at very least – something that can be taken care of quite easily:
Get2SammyB: “You’ll always get some mixed results like this due to the way the games are being updated. I’m sure they’ll be quick to update it.”
Lucifonz: “Wait what. This seems odd, footage from various folks who got the console early looked amazing,”
Khrol: “This will surely get fixed. No big deal.”
Luckily, it seems that Respawn Entertainment is aware of the scaling issues and are actively working on resolving the inconsistencies. Hopefully the new update will be available soon as the Xbox One X officially launches on November 7th. Looking to get your hands on the “most powerful console” on the market? Be sure to check out our recommendation list here to get yourself situated.
