Battlefield 4: the Digital Foundry verdict

In all, it's our first chance to see Battlefield 4's multiplayer mode in action on Xbox One, and to witness either version of the game running on final retail hardware. On the visual side, HBAO is indeed added to the Xbox One version, as promised by DICE following its omission in the Stockholm build. However, the divide in internal resolution - which remains at 900p on PS4 compared to the straight 720p on Xbox One - is the big sticking point, even with the removal of the Xbox version's sharpening filter which amplified the aliasing. Put simply, the assets and effects are identical for each next-gen platform, but the added pixel definition on PS4 spares it from the distracting edge-crawl on thin objects that proves to be an issue on the Microsoft side.

Elbowing into the tussle is, as always, the PC version with its higher-grade particle and alpha effects, superior object draw distance and more refined shadow detailing at ultra settings. But it must be commended just how much of this maxed-out experience translates to next-gen platforms. The textures on PS4 and Xbox One are equal to the PC's highest, and water shaders carry over as-is, where the current-gen versions really show us the plain, pared-back alternative. It's a very solid effort in this sense, and can only get better as DICE's understanding of the hardware grows.

The PS4's strong performance lead is the real clincher though; a wide 10fps margin flaring up for most of our campaign mode tests. The comedown hits, however, once you realise that neither platform can pull off a straight 60fps during the larger Conquest multiplayer maps, where most of the fun is to be had. Regardless, a clear-as-day recommendation still goes to the PS4 version, and while there are glitches on both consoles that need to be addressed, the embracing of seamless, behind-the-scenes updates should at least ease some of Battlefield 4's growing pains.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-battlefield-4-next-gen-face-off

The PS4 lead is more noticed now than the last Face Off....

Slightly better framerate and slightly sharper seems to be the verdict. Nothing major.

You don't notice it in the pictures though. (At least I don't.)

I must have really bad eye sight because I can't see a difference between those 2 screenshots aside from the XOne verion looking a bit darker.

You're (probably) just looking at them on a PC monitor. It will be much more obvious if you were looking at it on a 50" screen (I would assume)

I can't see much difference either

But we did kind of expect this, I'll still being be buying it on PC as my yearly tech demo, I think I'll prefer it to Crysis 3 though won't properly be playing either

The difference is real, the aliasing is horrible on Xbox One.


and if they say the PS4 version has a better framerate ...

No they still looks exactly the same.

What is the point of doing a face-off and recomend one of another if both are identical but for the resolution?

The real question is how come a lower res Xbox version looks so close to a higher rez ps4 version. Thats all I get out of all these comparisons.

Do anyone know if tessellation is enabled for BF4 on next-gen? That second pair of screen shots, with the curled metal bar - I was hoping that it would look a bit smoother.

Yeah, on my laptop screen, so I guess you're right. I can't imagine such small differences being a real deal-breaker either way though.

10fps fluctuations from close to 60fps probably doesn't impede the performance to a significant degree (compared to say if it was running at 30fps and dropping into the 20fps range where it would be very apparent) and 720p>900p is not as noticeable as jumping to 1080p. In my opinion of course.

Makes me wonder how the second round of games are going to run on these consoles. Will there still be differences? Or will they aim for console parity?