Perhaps inevitably for a beta with so much development time remaining, there's definitely the sense that this is work-in-progress code that's somewhat rough around the edges, but there's certainly a wealth of technical improvements to appreciate. To start with, the game makes use of physically-based rendering to deliver more realistic materials, as we saw in Gears of War Ultimate Edition. This is coupled with sharp textures, plenty of high quality screen-space reflections, clean shadows, and good overall image quality. We also appreciate the copious amount of environmental effects present in each environment - from blowing tarps to GPU-accelerated rain droplets, the three maps in the beta certainly manage to feel alive.
That said, there are certainly a number of issues that we're expecting to see improved by launch - texture pop-in is an issue, animation is often unrefined, maps appear blocky and many post-processing effects are almost completely absent. However, the main issue is lighting - or the curious lack thereof. There's a flatness to the look, suggesting that only a preliminary round of lighting has been implemented. Ambient occlusion appears to be absent, while Unreal Engine's pre-computed lighting system - Lightmass - isn't fully exploited. The scenes in general appear unfinished, which obviously they are. Microsoft tells us that this is an actual beta designed for testing purposes and to gauge feedback, so we're not unduly worried at the moment.
So just how close are we to the intended performance target six months out from launch? Well, across the run of play, we're basically looking at a general level of performance of around 55fps on average, with mild screen-tear. In addition, we observed plenty of skips and stutters that interrupted fluidity at various points - something mentioned within the body of text shown when you launch the game. In beta form, Gears 4 isn't that smooth yet, but the 60fps lock doesn't look completely out of reach. Thankfully, the title doesn't actually launch until this coming October and The Coalition still has plenty of time to smooth things over.
