Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown takes little advantage of PS4 Pro, Xbox One X - report
Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown looks decent enough, but it's not pushing any boundaries, and it's certainly not taking advantage of the more powerful consoles.
In a new Digital Foundry report, the tech outlet examined all four versions of Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, as well as PC.
The results are disappointing, mostly due to the game's lack of ambition in the technical department. Though the presentation is mostly okay, it's not capable of reaching far enough to push the boundaries.
The report reveals a 720p resolution on base Xbox One, compared to around 972p on the standard PS4. This is not really surprising, but it does appear both versions are using the same quality of assets, which is nice to see.
Unfortunately, PS4 Pro, and Xbox One X both run at 1080p, a far cry from what many modern games manage to deliver, especially this far after these consoles' introduction. The rest of the presentation is near identical across the board, but things get interesting when examining the framerate.
In fact, it's the framerate that sets the base consoles apart from their upgrades. The worst framerate is seen on base Xbox One, with dips to mid-40s in missions without much activity.
Things are better on PS4. Sony's base console does suffer drops, however, to the low-50s in similar, sparsely populated missions. As you'd expect from PS4 Pro, and Xbox One X, both hold a locked 60fps in these missions.
But even the two powerful consoles sometimes struggle to maintain a 60fps lock in places with a lot of action. Though the drops are brief, they inevitably introduce judder. Bizarrely, this is compounded on Xbox One X, where drops are more noticeable, in the mid-50s in some cases.
Disappointing, for sure, but thankfully you can brute force it on PC to get it to where it needs to be. That said, the report points out that, while you can push resolution and play with unlocked framerates, asset quality can't be pushed much beyond what's available on console.
Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown is out today on PS4, and Xbox One, with PC following on February 1. Hit up this story for a round-up of reviews.