Apex Legends’ new Switch conversion is perhaps one of the most ambitious of the system so far – but the severity of the cuts is clearly an issue. Much has been said about the game’s low resolution and the impact it has on visibility when targeting our opponents at long range, but as our video below reveals from head to head, the gap in terms of visual features is huge, up to at the point where it is so many missing graphic elements can indeed have consequences for the balance of the game when viewed through the lens of the CrossPlay feature.
To bring Apex Legends to Switch, EA has definitely chosen a pedigree partner – core porting is performed by Panic Button, which rides high after the success of Doom Eternal’s excellent Switch conversion. But it’s a title that represents a big challenge: it’s a game with a large, detailed map, it’s a complete battle king with 60 players and it’s presented by Respawn Entertainment’s version of the Source Engine, never. designed with mobile games in mind (though Source itself was transferred to Android, with several Valve titles used on Shield Android TV with the same Tegra X1 chipset). The end result is perhaps inevitably a very twisted back experience – and this is one where the specific offering of CrossPlay brings the compromises to the fiercest focus. Simply put, if we start a party with one player on Switch and the other on Xbox Series X, we can kill one player, switch to spectator mode, and see completely similar images. The differences can be surprising – much more so than Fortnite, for example, where the same CrossPlay trick reveals a much narrower level of parity.
A detailed version of Apex Legends on Nintendo Switch for visuals and performance.
At this stage it is worth pointing out that our tests are based on the 1.07 patch, which ‘dropped’ halfway through the production of the project, and it is understood that it has some performance benefits, which is reflected in our analysis. Resolution has been flagged as an issue and this is definitely one of the challenges the game faces. We are looking at a maximum of 720p in doctored game, with the dynamic resolution dropping to 1066×600 minimum, which is difficult to analyze. Portable gameplay is 576p dynamic, with a minimum of 960×540, and a corresponding decrease in the quality of the texture filtering when stacked against the set experience. But this is just the beginning of the feature elimination compared to the Xbox series X: textures lose a lot of details, shadows are also affected, while the distances of the features are drawn in by fog (fortunately in a way that the game does not does not affect). . Effects work is also packed back, and transparency effects that reduce bandwidth also run much lower. Trees and forests are retained, but the quality of the asset is lower here as well. Accidental detail of soil objects is also greatly reduced.
Perhaps the most controversial cut concerns grass and leaves, the vast majority of which are completely removed – usually a cut that developers want to discourage in multiplayer experiences, as it fundamentally changes the ‘readability’ of a particular scene. It also tends to be a locked setting on a computer, which prevents players from gaining an unfair advantage by eliminating visual elements. On the one hand, it is clear that other players are much more easily exposed when viewed through the lens of the Switch, which can be a problem. On the other hand, Apex Legends does not have a sensitive feature – players hiding in the undergrowth are not an important part of the experience. This happens too often, but at the same time, with users on every other platform running at 60 frames per second against the Switch’s 30fps target, some may say that CrossPlay is stacked against users of the Nintendo hybrid. the box. Similarly, users of Xbox, PlayStation and PC can customize the field of view – this option is not available on Switch.
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What users get effectively is good enough, even if it’s a lower poly version of the game world. Everything is as it should be and is delivered properly at a distance. Consider it a less complex but decent version of the world. Reflections are also retained, lens flare is maintained, while cloth physics is present and correct. Enemies also come within the same range, which is crucial for a fair experience for all players. Benefits for exclusive switches are thin on the ground, but gyro-mik is included.
In terms of performance, things start to falter as the initial jump sees the rate tumble in the low 20fps range – this is not important to the core of the experience, but as an initial ‘handshake’ with the game it is not the best display. The goal of 30 frames per second is largely maintained during cross-country, with the initial clearing phase of the classic battle-royal formula usually working as it should, although inconsistent frame rate can sometimes ensue. The biggest problem is that frame rate problems occur during confrontations with other players – exactly where the performance should be at its best. On top of that, there is the feeling that the frame rate could start to bend by simply being close to other players – an unlikely kind of early warning system?
Ultimately, it’s Apex Legends and it does work, but the compromises are often cruel. It’s a free download, it’s complete with the full season of eight seasons and I would definitely recommend it to try – after all, you have nothing to lose. However, CrossPlay is up to standard and I can not help but think that the cuts to the experience are so serious that you can have more fun disabling the feature and playing exclusively with other Switch users, even if it is just to make another level highly uneven playing field.