When Bethesda revealed that it was working on a port of Doom 2016 for Nintendo Switch, it was hard to believe that a worthwhile conversion was possible – until we went hands-on. Panic Button had somehow produced an impossible port, flawed in several ways, but definitely playable – and from a technological perspective, it was quite unlike anything we’d seen on Switch before. Naturally, when a conversion of the more demanding Wolfenstein 2 was announced, we were once again sceptical about the game’s chances, especially considering Doom’s frame-rate issues. But the proof of the pudding is once again in the tasting, and as a technological achievement, Wolfenstein 2 on Switch is even more miraculous than its predecessor.
I really hope that somewhere in Nvidia’s R&D labs, the architects of the Tegra X1 have seen this game – to see just how much fidelity has been extracted from what is fundamentally a mobile processor. Like the Doom 2016 port, it’s clearly not the best version of the game, but playing it in handheld form on a three-year-old Tegra, using a GPU running at a max clock of 384MHz, sipping around seven watts of power, the visual return is staggering. Of course, there are compromises, but by and large, the full Wolfenstein 2 experience is here and if you were put off by the Doom port’s wobbly performance, you’ll be pleased to know that Panic Button has actually improved overall frame-rate stability on what is a more complex game. And in doing so, there’s the strong possibility that Panic Button may have utilised techniques and technologies derived from PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X development to get the job done – possibly another first for Switch.
In many ways, Wolfenstein 2 is an interesting study in the choices made when porting a game to less powerful hardware. The goal with any conversion is usually to deliver an experience as close to the original source material as possible by making the right choices during development. Switch’s FIFA Soccer saw EA opt for an entirely different game engine with a focus on performance and resolution – an upgraded last-gen engine rather than a downgraded Frostbite. Or how about Fortnite? From Xbox One X to mobile phones, the Switch and beyond, each version of the game is focused on delivering the full experience on each target device no matter what visual sacrifices are necessary to get there. Even if you’re playing on an iPhone 6S, it’s still the same basic game.
Source: Eurogamer Wolfenstein 2 on Switch: can mobile hardware really run a cutting-edge shooter?