PS3
While nowhere near as gorgeous as the PC version, the PlayStation 3 version of Battlefield 3 is the prettier of the console iterations. It’s very crisp, very smooth, and textures only appear slightly blurred when close up. Trees sway nicely in the breeze, although they do suffer from some pop-in when viewing them from a distance, which can be a little bit offputting.
There’s also some quite noticeable texture pop-in, which is a little unfortunate. But the water effects are beautiful, the lighting and shadow effects are extremely strong, and overall it’s a lovely-looking offering.
Xbox 360
Alas, it’s the weakest of the bunch. That isn’t to say it doesn’t look nice. Even on Xbox 360, the Frostbite 2.0 tech is strong. Unfortunately, there was some noticeable framerate stuttering in larger outdoor areas during my time with the game. That’s the biggest hurdle Battlefield 3 Xbox 360 will have to overcome before release, lest it be a little annoying.
Lighting and shadows, as well as reflections, are decent but not quite as strong as the PlayStation 3′s, and nowhere near the level of the PC. There’s some foliage pop-in as well, along the lines of that in the PS3 version. Interestingly, texture pop-in seemed to be almost entirely absent, although said textures are markedly lower-res – disappointingly blurry when up close, in fact.
