Yesterday Microsoft released FPS Boost, a new backwards compatibility feature for the Xbox Series X and S. FPS Boost will … dramatically increase the frame rate in specific older games when played on a next-gen Xbox. After playing around with FPS Boost for a bit, I am thrilled and impressed. This can be a big change in the way we experience old console games.
Microsoft has big plans with FPS Boost, with the promise of supporting many more games in the future, but for now, only five can take advantage of it. They are Far Cry 4, New Super Lucky’s Tale, Sniper Elite 4, UFC 4 and Watch Dogs 2. Two of these titles, New Super Lucky’s Tale and Sniper Elite 4, are currently on Game Pass. So I downloaded them to see how well FPS Boost worked.
My first impression was not great. I have booted Sniper Elite 4 and it wasn’t 60 frames per second. It was still running at 30, with dips below. Then I booted up New Super Lucky’s Tale and it was the same. It ran at 60fps, not the promised 120. A quick Google search seemed to show that others had this problem. (There is currently no icon on the screen indicating that FPS Boost is activated, nor is there a way to turn it off or on. That will come in a system update this spring.) I restarted and restarted my Xbox Series X the games again and luckily FPS Boost started to work. But I’m glad it didn’t work at first as I was able to better compare the games before and after enabling the feature.
People I’m very very impressed.
G / O Media can receive a commission
Sniper Elite 4 was slow and thick for FPS Boost. I found it difficult to play. With FPS Boost, it now runs at a nearly locked-in 60fps. I played the whole first level and saw only a few minor dips, which I think most people won’t even notice in most situations. Doubling the frame rate greatly improves the game. Aim, shoot, move, it just all feels better. For example, I didn’t plan on playing the whole first level, but I did because I just loved it too much to quit.
One thing to keep in mind is that while FPS Boost may seem like magic, being able to double the performance in older games, it’s no wonder feature that improves everything. Enter the resolution, textures and HUD on the screen Sniper Elite 4 are still the same as on Xbox One. On my big dumb 4k OLED screen, this is noticeable, but the smoother performance still makes for a huge improvement in the overall experience. I will probably play the other levels now.
New Super Lucky’s Tale is more interesting. Microsoft claims that FPS Boost will eventually double the frame rate in many games, and even around 60fps titles will benefit. Example of this Lucky’s Tale, which is now running at a solid 120 fps. This is only something you can see if you have a TV or monitor that supports 120Hz. That big, dumb, expensive TV I mentioned earlier supports 120Hz and holy shit, New Super Lucky’s Tale feels great in FPS Boost mode.
Before FPS Boost, New Super Lucky’s Tale felt fine and looked nice enough. But at 120Hz everything feels faster and more responsive. Even spinning around and opening menus feels better at this frame rate. Running and jumping benefit greatly from the doubled performance. I felt like I had more control over the character, and coupled with the Xbox Series X’s improved load times, it became difficult to stop playing again. Like it Sniper Elite 4, I’m excited to go back and play more of this delightful platformer. I was worried about playing Lucky’s Tale right after playing the newly re-released Super Mario 3D world wouldn’t be fair to the poor fox. But now I’m worried about going back to Super Mario 3D world.
The impressive thing about FPS Boost is that, according to Microsoft, these improvements require little or, in some cases, no work from the developer. This means older, less popular games that are unlikely to be remastered or next-gen patches could still see radically improved performance in the future if Microsoft chose them for the FPS Boost treatment. This is also exciting for games that were never released on PC and are stuck on consoles like the Xbox One. Without PC ports, such massive performance gains were unlikely. Now things have changed. We can see Red Dead Redemption finally running at 60 fpsI’m not going to put my life into it, but I’m happy to say that yes, that now seems like a possibility. The future is exciting.