The conversion of the new Apex Legends switch may be one of the most ambitious of the system to date – but the severity of the cuts is clearly an issue. Much has been said about the low resolution of the game and the impact it has on visibility when targeting opponents over long distances, but as our face-to-face video reveals, the gulf in terms of visuals is huge, to the point of many elements Missing graphics can have implications for game balance when viewed through the lens of the CrossPlay feature.
When bringing Apex Legends to Switch, EA certainly chose a pedigree partner – the core portability work is done by Panic Button, on the rise after the success of the excellent Doom Eternal Switch conversion. But this is a title that represents a great challenge: it is a game with a huge and detailed map, it is a full Battle Royale with 60 players and it is running on the Source Engine version of Respawn Entertainment, never designed to play on mobile devices in mind (although Source itself has been ported to Android, with several Valve titles running on Shield Android TV using the same Tegra X1 chipset). The end result is, perhaps inevitably, a highly pruned background experience – and it is one in which the specific presentation of CrossPlay brings commitments to the most severe focus. Simply put, when we start a party with one player on the Switch and the other on the Xbox Series X, we can allow a player to die, switch to spectator mode and see totally identical images. The differences can be striking – much more so than, say, Fortnite, where the same CrossPlay trick reveals a much closer parity level.
A visual and performance breakdown of Apex Legends on the Nintendo Switch.
It is worth pointing out at this stage that our tests are based on patch 1.07, which ‘fell’ in the middle of production in this project – and it is understood that it has some performance advantages, which is reflected in our analysis. The resolution was flagged as a problem and is certainly one of the challenges that the game faces. We are looking at a maximum of 720p in the embedded game, with the scaling of the dynamic resolution dropping to a minimum of 1066×600, which is difficult to analyze. The portable reproduction is 576p dynamic, with a minimum of 960×540 and a corresponding drop in the quality of texture filtering when compared to the coupled experience. But this is just the beginning of feature selection compared to the Xbox Series X: textures lose an immense amount of detail, shadows are also affected, while drawing distances are pulled, obscured by fog (luckily in a way that does not affect gameplay). The effects work is also reduced, with transparency effects that decrease the bandwidth also working with a much lower fidelity. Trees and shrubs are maintained, but the quality of the assets is also lower. Details of incidental ground objects are also reduced massively.
Perhaps the most controversial cut concerns grass and foliage, the vast majority of which has been completely removed – typically a cut that developers are reluctant to make in multiplayer experiences, as it fundamentally changes the ‘legibility’ of any scene. It also tends to be a locked configuration on the PC, preventing players from gaining an unfair advantage by turning off visuals. On the one hand, it is clear that other players are much more easily exposed when viewed through the Switch’s lens, which can be a problem. On the other hand, Apex Legends does not have a prone function – players hiding in the undergrowth are not a central part of the experience. It seems like a cut too far, but at the same time, with users on all other platforms running at 60 frames per second against the Switch’s 30 fps target, some might say that CrossPlay is stacked against Nintendo hybrid users straight from Caixa. Likewise, Xbox, PlayStation and PC users can adjust the field of view – this option is not available on the Switch.
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What users actually get is a good enough representation, albeit with an inferior polymer, of the game world. Everything is as it should be and renders correctly within reach. Think of it as a less complex, but sufficiently decent representation of the world. Reflections are also retained, lens flares are maintained, while tissue physics is present and correct. Enemies also render at the same distance, crucial for a fair experience for all players. The unique benefits of the switch are scarce, but the gyro scope is included.
As for performance, things start shaky when the initial jump sees frame rates drop to the 20fps range – not crucial to the core of the experience, but as an initial ‘handshake’ with the game, it’s not the best exhibition. The 30 frames per second target is largely maintained during the crossing, with the initial cleanup phase of the classic Battle Royale formula normally working as it should, although an inconsistent frame rate can sometimes intrude. The main problem is that frame-rate problems get in the way of confrontations with other players – exactly where performance should be at its best. Also, is there a feeling that the frame-rate may start to fail simply because it is in close proximity to other players – a kind of unlikely early warning system?
Ultimately, this is Apex Legends and it works, but the concessions are usually brutal. It’s a free download, it’s complete content with season 8 parity and I certainly recommend trying it out – you have nothing to lose, after all. However, CrossPlay is enabled by default and I can’t help thinking that the experience cuts are so severe that you can have more fun by turning off the feature and playing exclusively with other Switch users, if only to level what would be a highly uneven playing field.