Graphics and Audio - Page 5

Tomb Raider - Graphics and Audio

Details: Category: Games; Published: Tuesday, 09 April 2013 05:12

Page 5 of 6

Graphics and Audio

If one thing is for sure about Tomb Raider it is that it has some of the most brilliant graphics I have seen this year. I actually played the game with two different video cards and two different settings. With the GTX 460 and the game on mostly medium graphics the game looked good, and ran fine, but it certainly wasn’t anything to write home about. The game also still looked fine on low graphics, but many of the things that made the game great were being missed out on.

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With the GTX 660 and the settings all on ultra the game looked amazing. The biggest difference I noticed was with the minor details and oddly enough the hair particles. NVIDIA and Crystal Dynamics put a lot of work into the TressFX system that really takes Lara’s hair to that next level of realism. It does take quite a bit of processing power to turn TressFX on however, so if your video card isn’t the best and you are experiencing framerate lag I would suggest turning this off.

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The one complaint I do have with the game is that the scenery always seems to be the same. I get it, its Tomb Raider, and she is out raiding tombs, but please give me a little bit of variability. I can only look at the same trees, rocks, and corpses for so long before I crave something more. This is probably me just being picky at this point, but I did find the scenery to get a bit dull after a long session.

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The audio in the game is surprisingly pleasing. The voice acting is all very good and even though the cast isn’t very well known I was pleasantly surprised. Normally there is a weak link or two that really stands out to me when playing a game with a lot of dialogue, but I have no complaints in this particular game. Even the journal entries, which I kind of expected to get less love, were of awesome quality. The ambient noise was also acceptable, but would probably get a bit stale after a while if it was all you heard. Luckily there was plenty of dialogue and not a stale moment for me. The guns did sound a big generic, but in a game where all other audio did well, I found myself not hearing the gunfire as much.

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Posts in discussion: Tomb Raider

Teh_tourist replied the topic: #30338 09 Apr 2013 23:44

FIRST

trgtprctc replied the topic: #30341 10 Apr 2013 03:30

I have been intriguied by this franchise but have never bought a game. I will add this to my Steam wish list and pick it up on sale based on your recommendation. Thank you Fildy!

Lersar replied the topic: #30342 10 Apr 2013 03:45

Man, a lot of those screen shots could be backgrounds. Very nice captures!

SpeedBump replied the topic: #30343 10 Apr 2013 06:12

Good review. I have a bit over 10 hours in atm. Those hours have me a little over 50% as shown in my save slots. I am REALLY enjoying the game for the most part, and I have to agree 110% with the excessive use of the quick time events.

As for puzzles, for me..I enjoy them, but unlike you Fildy, I don't crave them. I am more than happy to stumble across them, figure them out and move on.

Controls...I have been using a XBox 360 and find it much easier to move about than with the keyboard. That is probably due to me being an "arrow key" user instead of WASD. I struggled at first with the shooting events with multiple enemies using the gamepad, but at this point in the game, I am doing decent with it. I switched back and forth for a bit between GP and Mouse/keyboard and that also seems to get the job done.

I REALLY wish I could play the game at highest settings on my GTX670, but alas, I can't Horrible crashes mixed with even more horrible sound loop lockups plague my setup. Seems there is a major issue with the 600 series cards, especially the factory overclocked versions. Mine will run the game ONLY if I manually UNDERclock it to nearly the lowest speed. At those settings, I can't hold high enough FPS to run ultra settings. Soo sad they have not released a WORKING patch for this yet. Well, Im off to put in a few more hours with Laura. Ahhhh, sweet, sweet Laura. BTW...she is one tuff SOB. SOOO much punishment and pain and yet she continues on...

Fildy replied the topic: #30349 10 Apr 2013 23:12

SpeedBump wrote: Good review. I have a bit over 10 hours in atm. Those hours have me a little over 50% as shown in my save slots. I am REALLY enjoying the game for the most part, and I have to agree 110% with the excessive use of the quick time events.

As for puzzles, for me..I enjoy them, but unlike you Fildy, I don't crave them. I am more than happy to stumble across them, figure them out and move on.

Controls...I have been using a XBox 360 and find it much easier to move about than with the keyboard. That is probably due to me being an "arrow key" user instead of WASD. I struggled at first with the shooting events with multiple enemies using the gamepad, but at this point in the game, I am doing decent with it. I switched back and forth for a bit between GP and Mouse/keyboard and that also seems to get the job done.

I REALLY wish I could play the game at highest settings on my GTX670, but alas, I can't Horrible crashes mixed with even more horrible sound loop lockups plague my setup. Seems there is a major issue with the 600 series cards, especially the factory overclocked versions. Mine will run the game ONLY if I manually UNDERclock it to nearly the lowest speed. At those settings, I can't hold high enough FPS to run ultra settings. Soo sad they have not released a WORKING patch for this yet. Well, Im off to put in a few more hours with Laura. Ahhhh, sweet, sweet Laura. BTW...she is one tuff SOB. SOOO much punishment and pain and yet she continues on...

I read about the crashing issues with 600 series cards, but as of now I haven't experienced any issues myself so I was unable to write about them. I do think the game grew on me a bit over time, but it had a bunch of room for improvement in my eyes.

trgtprctc replied the topic: #30869 19 May 2013 01:35

I picked up this game recently on a 50% off Steam sale, and I am LOVING it. Quick time key mashing scripted events are irritating, but everything else about the game is enthralling. I have 2 OC'd EVGA 670 FTW cards in SLI, and have only seen one crash. The graphics are fantastic at the highest detail settings.

I am particularly mesmerized by the story of a "virgin" Lara Croft developing into the Tomb Raider badass portrayed in the movies. Definitely worth the money....

trgtprctc replied the topic: #31806 21 Jul 2013 05:08

Finally got around to finishing the main story. This definitely goes down as one of my all time favorite games. Anyone who picked this up for $12.50 during the Steam sale got one hell of a deal.

SpeedBump replied the topic: #31811 21 Jul 2013 23:36

Little update. Finished the game awhile ago. Great game. As for the 670issues...all gone. Dont know what they did but I have no problems now. Guessing some auto updates got pushed thru. The game looks fabulous with 1920x1200 Res on ultra settings.

SpeedBump replied the topic: #31812 21 Jul 2013 23:38

trgtprctc wrote: Anyone who picked this up for $12.50 during the Steam sale got one hell of a deal.

I actually paid zero for it. Used a $50 steam credit I won at FITES LAN in the case mod contest. Woot for me. Lol

Deb0 replied the topic: #31854 25 Jul 2013 22:24

Much more Uncharted then Tomb Raider but that obviously isn't a bad thing. A little short but perhaps I am just better at games then when I was 12. Achievements weren't unlocking for me when they should but whatever. I was surprised with just how brutal the game was.