Xbox One Backward Compatibility: Xbox 360 Games That Work (And The Ones That Fail Miserably)

Xbox One backward compatibility is a killer app for Microsoft's current console. Porting over games from the previous generation is no easy task, which is why some games perform better than other titles. Digital Foundry ran performance tests on the biggest Xbox 360 games currently available to play on the Xbox One. For the most part, they performed well, but many fans should forget about playing " Halo: Reach."

Digital Foundry has a full technical and performance breakdown for major titles such as "Fallout 3," the "Gears of War" franchise, "Halo: Reach," "Assassin's Creed II," "Mass Effect" and a few indie titles such as "Braid" and "N+." They note Xbox One backward compatibility is integrated seamlessly throughout the console. Gamers can use Xbox 360 discs or downloads while previous saves are easily moved to cloud storage and accessed by the Xbox One.

Xbox 360 games are meant to run on the Xbox One as they did on their original console, but that doesn't mean performance wasn't enhanced in some cases. Games did not perform at higher resolutions, but the Xbox One's mandatory vertical sync eliminates screen tearing from Xbox 360 games.

"Fallout 3" was an early Xbox One backward compatibility highlight when Digital Foundry analyzed the game in November. In some instances, the game performed better on the Xbox One than it did on the Xbox 360.

In the latest analysis, the "Gears of War" franchise was mostly a success.The first "Gears of War" performed slightly better on Xbox One, according to Digital Foundry. "Gears of War 2" performed much like it did on the Xbox 360 with only minor framerate drops. In "Gears of War 3," framerates dropped during extended combat sequences on the Xbox One, but switching between loading points was improved when playing on Microsoft's new console. "Gears of War: Judgment" was unplayable on the Xbox One after suffering huge framerate drops during combat.

Games that pushed the technological limits on Xbox 360 fared the worst on Xbox One. Much the way "Gears of War: Judgment" was an impressive statement when it was released on the Xbox 360 in 2013, "Halo: Reach" was a similar high-water mark for the system when it was released in 2010.

Unfortunately, "Halo: Reach" suffers many of the same problems as "Gears of War: Judgment." Framerate drops to 15 frames per second, hindering the gameplay experience. Heavy combat in "Mass Effect" also suffered on the Xbox One, but there were a few improvements during exploration sequences.

"Shadow Complex" and "Assassin's Creed 2" were fine on the Xbox One, but "Hydro Thunder" and "Condemned" saw improved performance on the Xbox One. "Braid" and "N+" performed smoothly on the Xbox One.

Digital Foundry considers the Xbox One backward compatibility a success, with the only recommendation being better quality control from Microsoft. With games featuring taxing framerate sequences, it may be best for Microsoft to delay their release.