It most definitely is. This is the Tomb Raider I've been waiting for since TR2, which to my mind wasn't nearly as good as the first. Got the ol' magic back.
A few niggles - some tearing, on the VGA cable connected to the monitor there's some wierd black band on cutscenes that looks plastered on in an attempt to thin the screen down but leaves a shutter-like crack at the top for the game to seep through. It also seems a bit stretched out which makes me think the ratio is off. The fps also drops considerably in some places - but not enough to effect gameplay. Any issues with the camera were my own fault for dicking around.
That said, despite all this it really looks great. Not realistic, but then, it's not meant to be. It just looks sexeh.
I've also got the PC version here running on a mid-spec machine. It actually has more glitches, so I'm glad I opted for the 360, but I do miss the higher res. That said, the effects are actually far more subtle on the xbox, which comes off as realistic - particularly when Lara gets wet. (IMG:
style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif) The other thing is the xbox version feels tighter, whilst the PC with a gamepad even with the settings changes feels very loose to me.
What DOES get me was the gameplay. The demo is really smooth, and if the full title is anything like this then count me in. There is, of course, the possibilty that the minor FPS issues are ok in the full version, as will Full Auto. That said I could put up with them if the rest of the game is as good as the demo.
Forgot to mention, great soundtrack. But I'm a soundtrack geek. It's nice not to have a soundtrack on an action game completely composed of heavy metal riffing - it actually reminds me of Jack Wall's work on Myst III Exile.
This post has been edited by squarejawhero: Apr 6 2006, 12:44 AM
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Topic: Tomb Raider Demo Is Up For Download (Read 1376 times)