Despite original assurances that Battlefield: Hardline was targeted at a resolution of 1080p, recent reports and statements suggested that they had readjusted their target to match Battlefield 4. While the final game isn’t out yet, this seems to be even closer to being confirmed as Digital Foundry has analyzed the newly released open beta and found that it is 720p on Xbox One and 900p on PS4. These figures match the exact resolution found on the previous game, Battlefield 4, indicating that the more recent comments were accurate and the team has likely not been able to reach the full-HD figure.
The Battlefield: Hardline beta looks and feels very much like its predecessor
It is important to note that this is the beta, not the full game, this could certainly change between now and the final release of Battlefield: Hardline on March 17th. However, with the recent comments and the fact that the current resolution matches those for Battlefield 4, even down to the exact system, it seems very likely that this is how the game will ship, minus a few performance improvements.
Along with the resolution is the framerate, which is certainly still targeted at 60 fps. Unfortunately it looks like the game isn’t totally stable at this figure, even with the lowered resolution. In larger matches especially, the Digital Foundry analysis found dips in framerate similar to those found in Battlefield 4. Other elements seem the same as well, such as anti-aliasing and various effects.
Digital Foundry summed up their findings by saying “The overall takeaway here is that the Hardline beta looks and feels very much like its predecessor, and we can’t shake the lingering sense that we should be seeing substantial improvements to both image quality and performance in a game launching over 15 months after its predecessor.”
There is still hope that improvements will be made before the final release, but with just over a month left it seems unlikely that we will see major changes. Those seeking a stable framerate and 1080p resolution will have to skip the Xbox One and PS4 releases in favor of a high-end gaming PC if these findings hold for the full game.
