DH Review: Tomb Raider: Legend

Zardon · Apr 25, 2006, 12:41 AM

Read the review here
_____________________

Tomb Raider has been developed for everything from the current generation consoles like the Playstation 2, all the way to the next generation consoles like the Xbox360 and since the PC can have millions of hardware configurations, you can have your graphics range from PS2 quality to Xbox360 quality. To have the highest quality visuals, you must enable a “Next-Generation” setting which turns on everything you can imagine (and then some), ranging from High Dynamic Range, parallax mapping, self shadowing, high resolution textures and dynamic shadows. In summary, you get the whole lot of goodies and usually, this will completely and utterly destroy your system unless you’re lucky enough to have a very powerful Crossfire or SLI system. You must not forget that you need a PixelShader 3.0 compatible card too if you wish to enable this.

swimtech · Apr 25, 2006, 01:47 AM

Nicely detailed review Arush, and great looking layout and design Allan!

I hadn't looked at the ongoing thread about the game (I just now noticed...) in the forums so the difference between the two graphics settings available in the game came as a surprise. I appreciate the attention you gave to the positives and negatives about the game - allows someone to make a good judgement about it. I'm gonna check out the demo as a result of the review when I get a chance - even if I have to look at the NextGen graphics as a slide show, I'd still like to see what it "feels" like in gameplay on this lappie. Thanks!

BulletTheory · Apr 25, 2006, 01:51 AM

Nice review Zardon!

pr0digal jenius · Apr 25, 2006, 06:49 AM

wow...the game looks like crap for such high specs, and next gen completely ruins the water, or just ignores it altogether.

Splinter Cell Chaos Theory is 6 monthes older and looks far better, not even going to mention Doom 3 or Quake 4.

Add in the apparently short story [6-8 hours?] and this game might be worth $19.99....maybe $29.99 if they bundled in the older Tomb Raiders?

Zardon · Apr 25, 2006, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pr0digal jenius

wow...the game looks like crap for such high specs, and next gen completely ruins the water, or just ignores it altogether.

You think? the next gen setting has some mighty impressive graphical work. pity it runs terrible on most setups. most of the pictures in the review (apart from the comparison shots) are with next gen off.

LeanWolf · Apr 25, 2006, 10:28 AM

Excellent review! Well written, good attention to detail and entertaining. I'll be playing this one soon, maybe before I get into Oblivion and Dreamfall as it's so short. Cheers!

IvanV · Apr 25, 2006, 01:36 PM

The comparison shots were not the best ones possible, just by looking at them one might get the same impression PJ has: if you look at the first one, it does look as if lara is levitating! But others I have seen are breathtaking! It's a pitty they made it all or nothing.
It was a really good review, Sandok. I really like how you in short described all the good and bad sides of the game, and gave us a good insight in what to expect from it.

Sandok · Apr 25, 2006, 04:18 PM

Thanks for the comments but the real credit has got to go to Zardon and all for the editing

Hahaha anyways, PJ, don't forget as I mentioned, the pics are all without the next gen effect and the compariason ones are there to help you see what is added...

Play it on a Xbox360, it's a GORGEOUS game, easily at the same level as Oblivion.

pr0digal jenius · Apr 25, 2006, 05:29 PM

I know they are without i on....but still....the next gen doesn't look to be anything very much beyond things we've seen before [Quake 4, Chaos Theory, etc], and it still seems to run with a limp.

And I'm not really going to hold the next gen b0rking the water against them, this is hardly the first game to blatantly abuse shaders, particularly messing up water...not all water can look like FarCry I suppose

Tipstaff · Apr 26, 2006, 01:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sandok

Play it on a Xbox360, it's a GORGEOUS game, easily at the same level as Oblivion.

Blasphemere.

Nice review, btw. I have the game for both the PC and 360, but I have to say that I enjoy it more on the 360.

Short or not, Crystal D did a good first effort, and it's good enough that I'm sure we'll see another one.

Edit: btw, for me, the 360 version is simply beautiful. Playing Tomb Raider on my PC with an X800XTPE vs. the 360 version... well.. there is just no comparision. 360 version has better textures, better lighting, better water effects.. better everything.

swimtech · Apr 30, 2006, 02:36 AM

The video is awesome - nice work!

Just installed it on the laptop - the water effects look very nice to me, but that is likely due to me just not seeing the really good stuff for so long. I know I don't have the NextGen graphics on because Lara's hair still has the rope texture. The game runs very smooth at 1280x720(?) - widescreen resolution - and is responsive.

What I am most impressed with in this game is the fluidity and realistic look of the characters (esp. Lara's) motions in swinging, jumping, and swimming (someone who actually swims must have had input to her motions) thoughout the game - very involving...

Thanks again for the review guys!

Sandok · May 1, 2006, 09:15 PM

Hahaha thanks for the vid

And glad you like the review and all... Honestly, it's a fun game!

Apr 25, 2006, 12:41 AM	#1
Zardon DriverHeaven Founder Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 32,480 Rep Power: 179	DH Review: Tomb Raider: Legend Read the review here _____________________ Tomb Raider has been developed for everything from the current generation consoles like the Playstation 2, all the way to the next generation consoles like the Xbox360 and since the PC can have millions of hardware configurations, you can have your graphics range from PS2 quality to Xbox360 quality. To have the highest quality visuals, you must enable a “Next-Generation” setting which turns on everything you can imagine (and then some), ranging from High Dynamic Range, parallax mapping, self shadowing, high resolution textures and dynamic shadows. In summary, you get the whole lot of goodies and usually, this will completely and utterly destroy your system unless you’re lucky enough to have a very powerful Crossfire or SLI system. You must not forget that you need a PixelShader 3.0 compatible card too if you wish to enable this.

Apr 25, 2006, 01:47 AM	#2
swimtech HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: North Carolina Posts: 4,040 Rep Power: 124 System Specs	Nicely detailed review Arush, and great looking layout and design Allan! I hadn't looked at the ongoing thread about the game (I just now noticed...) in the forums so the difference between the two graphics settings available in the game came as a surprise. I appreciate the attention you gave to the positives and negatives about the game - allows someone to make a good judgement about it. I'm gonna check out the demo as a result of the review when I get a chance - even if I have to look at the NextGen graphics as a slide show, I'd still like to see what it "feels" like in gameplay on this lappie. Thanks! __________________ It's not so much getting your way that matters or not - what matters is how you go about getting it.

Apr 25, 2006, 01:51 AM	#3
BulletTheory Forgiveness is a Six Gun Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Quebec City Posts: 1,329 Rep Power: 55 System Specs	Nice review Zardon! __________________ Asus P8Z68-Pro \| Intel i7 2600K @ 4.4Ghz \| Asus GTX580 Matrix @ 940/4630 \| 8GB Corsair Vengence \| Intel 510 120GB SSD WD Black 1TB \| Corsair AX750W PSU \| Corsair Obsidian 650D Case \| Samsung 245bw 24inch LCD Razer Lycosa \| Razer Imperator \| Razer Goliathus Extended Edition \| Razer Megalodon Headset

Apr 25, 2006, 10:28 AM	#6
LeanWolf alpha male Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Skyrim Posts: 5,713 Rep Power: 84 System Specs	Excellent review! Well written, good attention to detail and entertaining. I'll be playing this one soon, maybe before I get into Oblivion and Dreamfall as it's so short. Cheers! __________________

Apr 25, 2006, 01:36 PM	#7
IvanV HH Assassin Guild Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 5,912 Rep Power: 333 System Specs	The comparison shots were not the best ones possible, just by looking at them one might get the same impression PJ has: if you look at the first one, it does look as if lara is levitating! But others I have seen are breathtaking! It's a pitty they made it all or nothing. It was a really good review, Sandok. I really like how you in short described all the good and bad sides of the game, and gave us a good insight in what to expect from it. __________________ If anyone has Portal 2 and hasn't played the co-op and wants to do me a favour, let me know (PM me or whatever).

Apr 25, 2006, 06:49 AM	#4
pr0digal jenius Delete Me Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 14,648 Rep Power: 0	wow...the game looks like crap for such high specs, and next gen completely ruins the water, or just ignores it altogether. Splinter Cell Chaos Theory is 6 monthes older and looks far better, not even going to mention Doom 3 or Quake 4. Add in the apparently short story [6-8 hours?] and this game might be worth $19.99....maybe $29.99 if they bundled in the older Tomb Raiders?

Apr 25, 2006, 04:18 PM	#8
Sandok DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 9,472 Rep Power: 0	Thanks for the comments but the real credit has got to go to Zardon and all for the editing Hahaha anyways, PJ, don't forget as I mentioned, the pics are all without the next gen effect and the compariason ones are there to help you see what is added... Play it on a Xbox360, it's a GORGEOUS game, easily at the same level as Oblivion.

Apr 25, 2006, 05:29 PM	#9
pr0digal jenius Delete Me Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 14,648 Rep Power: 0	I know they are without i on....but still....the next gen doesn't look to be anything very much beyond things we've seen before [Quake 4, Chaos Theory, etc], and it still seems to run with a limp. And I'm not really going to hold the next gen b0rking the water against them, this is hardly the first game to blatantly abuse shaders, particularly messing up water...not all water can look like FarCry I suppose

Apr 30, 2006, 02:36 AM	#11
swimtech HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: North Carolina Posts: 4,040 Rep Power: 124 System Specs	The video is awesome - nice work! Just installed it on the laptop - the water effects look very nice to me, but that is likely due to me just not seeing the really good stuff for so long. I know I don't have the NextGen graphics on because Lara's hair still has the rope texture. The game runs very smooth at 1280x720(?) - widescreen resolution - and is responsive. What I am most impressed with in this game is the fluidity and realistic look of the characters (esp. Lara's) motions in swinging, jumping, and swimming (someone who actually swims must have had input to her motions) thoughout the game - very involving... Thanks again for the review guys! __________________ It's not so much getting your way that matters or not - what matters is how you go about getting it.

May 1, 2006, 09:15 PM	#12
Sandok DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 9,472 Rep Power: 0	Hahaha thanks for the vid And glad you like the review and all... Honestly, it's a fun game!