The Game, Graphics Engine & Settings
Any game with Star Wars in the name is bound to garner attention. Star Wars Battlefront II is no exception. The publisher (Electronic Arts) and developers (DICE for the ground scenes, Criterion Games for the space combat) have a high bar to reach.
As was the case for Star Wars Battlefront back in 2015, Battlefront II uses the same Frostbite 3 technology. Although the cross-platform engine debuted in 2013's Battlefield 4, it remains wholly modern and relevant. Recently, we've seen it at the heart of Battlefield 1, FIFA 17 and 18, Need for Speed Payback, and even Mass Effect: Andromeda.
Initially, the engine was exclusively DirectX 11-compatible, but later incorporated the option for DirectX 12 rendering. During the course of our performance exploration, we'll try figuring out if that's a feature you want to use or not. We're eager to see for ourselves.
Benchmark Sequence
For games that do not include a built-in benchmark, picking the right sequence to test is stressful indeed. After all, there's no such thing as a perfect passage. We've gotten into the habit of measuring graphics card performance across multiple missions and picking the most demanding action that's also reproducible.
What follows are some preliminary results gathered using MSI's Radeon RX 580 Gaming 8GB. Based on the data, you can see why that scene from the Royalty mission, which takes place on Naboo's capital Theed, interests us most. No, we didn't just pick the map because it features Princess Leia.
The exact test sequence is documented in the video below. You'll have no trouble retracing our steps thanks to the legendary skill of Stormtroopers firing their blasters at who-knows-what. This does give us plenty of lighting and shading effects, though, along with lots of particles. Basically, the scene is full of everything our GPUs love!
Minimum & Recommended System Requirements
EA/Origin's page for the game tells us what we'll need for a good experience (more than 60 FPS). The minimum requirements are reasonable, especially with respect to the GPU. The recommended configuration asks us to beef up our RAM and choose a notably faster graphics card. We also see that a host processor with at least four cores is needed. More on that shortly.
| Configuration | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | Intel Core i5-6600Kor AMD FX-6350 | Intel Core i7-6700or AMD FX-8350 |
| Memory | 8GB | 16GB |
| Graphics Card | GeForce GTX 660 2GBor Radeon HD 7850 2GBDirectX 11.0 | GeForce GTX 1060 3GBor Radeon RX 480 4GBDirectX 11.1 |
| Operating System | Windows 7, 8.1, 10 (64-bit only) | Windows 7, 8.1, 10 (64-bit only) |
| Disk Space | 55GB | 55GB |
MORE: Wolfenstein II Performance Review
MORE: Destiny 2 Performance Review
MORE: DiRT 4 Performance Review
(opens in new tab)