Dragon Ball FighterZ PC Performance Review

The Framerate Cap 

Dragon Ball FighterZ is designed to run at 60FPS, no more, no less. Like many other high-end fighting games, the correct timing of your moves is crucial for high-level play. 

Each character has their specific tells that show to opponents exactly what they are doing, be it a heavy punch or an upcoming special or super attacks. Character movements run at locked framerates, allowing people to see these moves clearly, while camera movement is a 60FPS, giving the game an almost modernised sprite-like appearance with fast arena scrolling. 

A constant framerate allows these movements to always be shown to players, offering no opportunity critical information to slip through the cracks. The framerate of the game is controlled, and everything that is shown in the frame is controlled, creating a fair experience. 

So what happens if the game’s framerate is too low? Simple, the game slows down. If the game is running at 30FPS, the game will run at half speed. This slowdown is fine for offline matches or the game’s campaign mode (you will just be playing the game in slow-motion), but online framerate dips that last for more than a few moments will result in players being kicked from online games due to “connection issues”.  

In some regards, the game does not run at a true 60FPS, as while scrolling operates at 60Hz character movements and other effects can run at much lower frequencies, which will allow some motions to look janky. While some PC gamers will desire an unlocked framerate with no slo-mo or a higher refresh rate cap, it must be remembered that FighterZ is designed to be a competitive fighting game, not another Xenoverse.  

While arguments can be made for a mode with 120Hz scrolling, the benefits of such a change are minor. Yes, map scrolling will look smoother, but the base animations of each fighter will be the same, having an overall minimal effect on the game. 

 

(If your framerate is too low in an online battle, you will get kicked)