One of the March 2016 PlayStation Plus free games, Broforce for PlayStation 4 suffers from major frame-rate drops, a Digital Foundry analysis finds.
Designed to run at 60fps, the above video shows that Broforce can reach as low as 15fps on PS4. According to Digital Foundry, this is a result of the game’s ability to let you destroy entire levels:
Of course, Broforce is a two-dimensional game built on pixel art visuals – a game you wouldn’t suspect would test any modern gaming hardware as it apparently does. It’s also one that absolutely revels in destruction physics, and particularly with four players, everything on-screen is apt to explode, showering the screen in particles. Indeed, entire levels are blown apart as players tear through each new stage, and it’s this dynamic that ultimately brings the frame-rate to a crawl. At peak action, Broforce’s main selling point sadly ends up reducing the game to a nearly unplayable state.
With the 15fps drops in Broforce, this places it near the lowest on PS4, only ahead of The Last Tinker: City of Colors. Digital Foundry points out that both of these games, as well as Firewatch, run on the Unity engine, making it “clear that certain Unity titles aren’t translating as smoothly to console hardware as you’d hope.”
There’s also an issue at the beginning of a new stage where the bro freezes in place within the first few seconds of play (2:15 of the video). Although the game continues, it can lead to mistimed jumps early in a level.
“As far as Broforce’s overall playability is concerned, the game’s rapid lateral movement really flags the issue up though. At a sub-30fps refresh, we’re often simply struggling to play the game,” they add.
What do you think of Broforce’s performance on PS4? Have you encountered any issues?
[Source: Eurogamer]
