Tomb Raider: Underworld

[deepbrown]

Sounds like we played different versions of the demo Is your 360 hooked up via component? Maybe that's whats messing up things. Some displays do somewhat better with hdmi than component. I fired up the Uncharted demo immediately after playing the TR demo. It looked sharper....and that's it. TR looked better to me with far more variety. Uncharted had the same tree next to the same tree next to the same tree next to the same...etc. But I'm not gonna get in a pissing match, so chalk it up to different strokes for different folks I guess.

I'm playing Far Cry 2 on PC so I didn't compare to that, since console vs. pc is like bringing a knife to a gunfight.

I'm comparing it to what I saw at the Expo...plus all the screenshots people are playing. It's just flat, muddy and messy. I don't agree with your Uncharted analysis - the textures are light years ahead of Tomb Raider, as is the lighting...and well almost everything. Comparing it to Far Cry 2 PS3. I also found the camera to be very annoying, deciding to focus infront of her, or on her ass when i wanted to see straight ahead. She also controlled quite sluggishly...the animation felt old fasioned, even though she had a lot of moves.

Edit: I'm being unkind. It's just...OK. Not amazing, not awful. I am a Tomb Raider fanboy. I wait for my opinion to change when I buy the game. If I do I will eat Lara's...hat.

 

[RobertR1]

Sounds like we played different versions of the demo Is your 360 hooked up via component? Maybe that's whats messing up things. Some displays do somewhat better with hdmi than component. I fired up the Uncharted demo immediately after playing the TR demo. It looked sharper....and that's it. TR looked better to me with far more variety. Uncharted had the same tree next to the same tree next to the same tree next to the same...etc. But I'm not gonna get in a pissing match, so chalk it up to different strokes for different folks I guess.

I'm playing Far Cry 2 on PC so I didn't compare to that, since console vs. pc is like bringing a knife to a gunfight.

PC version pics:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=13442607&postcount=323
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=13441001&postcount=312

 

[Neb]

Looks slick and nice, DX10 to?

 

[ShootMyMonkey]

I do have a question.
As a European residing in Switzerland, does the game feature selectable language? I'm asking because English without subtitles is a must for me. If we get a German-only version, I'd rather just import it from the UK. Since most game-shops overhere have no idea, I thought I'd ask you.

It is multilanguage. I know I've personally had to go through a lot of testing involving changes in the language settings while in game through the menus and so on.

All the text is basically done up as a series of separate files corresponding to a string that has several versions of itself tied to each language. In memory, that text is essentially acquired through a table lookup and the language is effectively a table selection. A few strings are, of course, not subject to localization (e.g. numbers, friends list names, etc.).

I fired up the Uncharted demo immediately after playing the TR demo. It looked sharper....and that's it. TR looked better to me with far more variety. Uncharted had the same tree next to the same tree next to the same tree next to the same...etc. But I'm not gonna get in a pissing match, so chalk it up to different strokes for different folks I guess.

"Nathan and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" account for pretty much everything people have to say about Uncharted's visuals. It's pretty, and high color saturation. Although I couldn't ultimately get to like Uncharted myself, it really wasn't anything to do with the visuals. Admittedly, the PC version of TR can't do some things we can do on the consoles due to the fact that the DX-spec limitations are absolute on PC, so there is bound to be some more of that "flatness" that he speaks of. I haven't personally run a PC build of the game in almost 2 years, so I can't say (remote debugging ftw!! ).

 

[joker454]

PC version pics:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=13442607&postcount=323
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=13441001&postcount=312

Dangit, I so want to get it on PC but I want the downloadable content that's only on 360

Admittedly, the PC version of TR can't do some things we can do on the consoles due to the fact that the DX-spec limitations are absolute on PC, so there is bound to be some more of that "flatness" that he speaks of.

Hmm interesting, I figured the PC version would smoke it. I guess I'll download the PC demo and check it out.

 

[ShootMyMonkey]

Hmm interesting, I figured the PC version would smoke it. I guess I'll download the PC demo and check it out.

It's just the fact that on PC, you're effectively limited to the API spec and not the hardware spec. On consoles, the API spec is the spec of the hardware. So in practice, we can basically run bigger longer shaders and such on consoles. Sure on PC, you might be able to turn on 32xAA and 128xAF and run at 2880p or something, but it's simply a victory on performance alone.

 

[Hazuki Ryu]

It's just the fact that on PC, you're effectively limited to the API spec and not the hardware spec. On consoles, the API spec is the spec of the hardware. So in practice, we can basically run bigger longer shaders and such on consoles. Sure on PC, you might be able to turn on 32xAA and 128xAF and run at 2880p or something, but it's simply a victory on performance alone.

Have you played the PC demo yet? I played both 360 and pc demos and they look pretty much the same with the exception of resolution and AF AA quality.

 

[Neb]

...so there is bound to be some more of that "flatness" that he speaks of.

As in lighting quality or vegetation/shading/volume?

I can think of several games above this one regarding those things and they run under DX9 with roughly same perfomance (Opt 185 + 7900GT)!

 

[ShootMyMonkey]

Have you played the PC demo yet? I played both 360 and pc demos and they look pretty much the same with the exception of resolution and AF AA quality.

There are a handful of things that can't be done on PC simply because it pushes us over the instruction count limit. I can personally easily spot them because I happen to know what many of them are to a certain degree of specificity...

Part of that has a lot to do with the fact that we weighted texturing operations rather heavily as this is the main way we cut down on memory footprint, and this often eats up quite a lot of instruction count. There are several cases where using complex blending, layering, tiling, rotation, etc. gives you more effective texture resolution with significantly smaller memory footprint (in some cases as much as an 8:1 difference). It's a common weapon especially on the environment where it exhibits many times more efficient than trying to create massively huge individual textures. Had we not done that, we might have gotten more illumination complexity on the PC, but less texture/geometric complexity given the same memory constraints. It's a universal truth in the nature of software development that compromises almost always transform into hard dichotomies in the worst possible way.

 

[RudeCurve]

The PC shots do look flatter than the X360 version. The lighting in the console version looks better, everything looks more solid. It adds so much to the "feel" when you are IN the game.

 

[groper]

The PC shots do look flatter than the X360 version. The lighting in the console version looks better, everything looks more solid. It adds so much to the "feel" when you are IN the game.

There is also a nice cinematic motion blur that is missing from the pc version...

 

[AzBat]

Finally finished the demo. Definitely feels like Tomb Raider Legend. I plan on purchasing it, but not sure when. I still have other games I want to play first. I'll most likely wait and get it used at a low price. There's very few games I'll buy new.

Tommy McClain

 

[deepbrown]

It is multilanguage. I know I've personally had to go through a lot of testing involving changes in the language settings while in game through the menus and so on.

All the text is basically done up as a series of separate files corresponding to a string that has several versions of itself tied to each language. In memory, that text is essentially acquired through a table lookup and the language is effectively a table selection. A few strings are, of course, not subject to localization (e.g. numbers, friends list names, etc.).


"Nathan and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" account for pretty much everything people have to say about Uncharted's visuals. It's pretty, and high color saturation. Although I couldn't ultimately get to like Uncharted myself, it really wasn't anything to do with the visuals. Admittedly, the PC version of TR can't do some things we can do on the consoles due to the fact that the DX-spec limitations are absolute on PC, so there is bound to be some more of that "flatness" that he speaks of. I haven't personally run a PC build of the game in almost 2 years, so I can't say (remote debugging ftw!! ).

Actually I'm not talking about high-saturation. I'm talking about high-res hand painted and layered textures. Since every texture is different in uncharted, and you can differntiate between them, it has a very clean look. In comparison, TR looks flat and every piece of foliage muddy's into one another.

 

[digitalwanderer]

The PC demo's controls seemed laggy to me, making the game unbearable.

 

[RudeCurve]

Actually I'm not talking about high-saturation. I'm talking about high-res hand painted and layered textures. Since every texture is different in uncharted, and you can differntiate between them, it has a very clean look. In comparison, TR looks flat and every piece of foliage muddy's into one another.

Maybe in the PC version but the console version's textures look really good and unique. I hardly see any repeating identical textures.

 

[woundingchaney]

Actually I'm not talking about high-saturation. I'm talking about high-res hand painted and layered textures. Since every texture is different in uncharted, and you can differntiate between them, it has a very clean look. In comparison, TR looks flat and every piece of foliage muddy's into one another.

I was under the impression that Uncharted used a good amount of repeated textures, though through layering it helps break the monotony. Though honestly it has been sometime since I have played Uncharted and I havent sat down to play TRU demo yet.

 

[macabre]

Maybe in the PC version but the console version's textures look really good and unique. I hardly see any repeating identical textures.

I hope so. I`d like to try a PS3 demo to see ...and hopefully the final game has higher settings than the demo. I´m with deepbrown here, the PC demo is a letdown both graphically and control wise , it feels and looks rough and unfinished...I hope the game will not ship in this state..

 

[ultragpu]

it seems like console version is the way to go, i just hope the ps3 version to be 720p. would not buy if it's sub hd.

 

[AlNom]

would not buy if it's sub hd.

Really? :|

 

[woundingchaney]

nooooooooooooooo must not be sub HD (never mind that 30%-50% of games this gen are)
lol jk

Anyways just got done playing the PC demo and 360 demos. Very enjoyable title overall with a lush and detailed world. I personally do not have any complaints about textures or input lag on the pc (I played with a gamepad) though I do feel that lighting is a bit better on the console. Although by and large I preferred the PC demo simply for the amount of optimization (higher res, higher framerate, etc). The shadows are poorly done in either version (imo).

The animations are beautiful as well. Though I would still say I prefer the animations in Ass. Creed over anything else this gen.

As far as does the game look better than Unch. I would say that for environnment yes, but the Laura character model doesnt look anywhere near as good as Nathan.

My primary problem with the game is not anything to do with the game itself but the release date. I simply cannot validate going out to purchase this title when I already have Far Cry 2, Fable 2, Fallout 3, Little Big Planet, Resistance 2, Gears of War 2, and Left for Dead to play over the holidays.

SMM was there any talk of delaying the title until after the holidays or was there concern that TRU would get overshadowed by the other titles appearing on shelves this holiday season.