so basically they screwed up the game.... the water effects should look better in next gen mode not totally dissappear. and whats with the global light source? in RL im not lit by a global light source there are many light sources and this should of been incorperated into both modes not just normal mode.

do you think they will fix the next gen mode in a patch?

is it just me or does she looked like she just crapped her pants.

Also i dont really find any mode what you would call breathtaking. Especially in nex-gen mode lara looks like she is made out of plastic. It should be renamed to: Barbie the game

dunno where you were looking!

and could you post a screen shot of lara on the new card....just to see the difference between the 7600 and the newer card. it could be a limitation of the gfx card. and it would be nice to see a comparision with next gen between new and old cards incase the mode scales to different cards.

Holy crap what a crapfest that game is!

Talk about a botched game - oooh and that is a feature, yes!?

you dirty git. although i don't play the game i read it anyway to see how well it came off. to be honest i wouldn't expect a different mode to come off too well. the fact that to try and reflect real peoples comp they used a 6800 ultra might have made things worse. perhaps it is to do with what shader model it supports. does the 6800 properly support the latest shader model and to that matter does the game.

Ha ha ha, this is rather surprising. Max out your video card. This game might max out my 6600GT, but come on if a 6800 still gets 60-200 fps on it, that's not maxing in my book. This game is just another soft porn title. I'm sure it's all about the gameplay. Sure it is.

But how much of the "maxing out" is just due to shitty coding?

I'm sure these morons could make tetris a resource hog...

I liked the article. I'd like to see more just like it on various games. I'm always curious what I'm getting for my expensive graphic card purchases. Good article.

I wonder if there's a nude patch for this game I'm 30 and still think that would be just great fun.

Yeah thats what I need, me sitting upstairs jacking off to nude lara and then my wife unexpectingly walks in on me

The pictures seem to be mostly down Lauras top or from behind angled up at her ass.

I mean come on!

I'm not impressed with the screenshots of the next gen mode at all. That plasticcy effect looks like crap IMO and what's with the lack of any light source other than the global one. I've seen plenty of games that can handle both at once. I personally think the graphics on F.E.A.R. look better and that's been out for awhile now.

I lack a sense of humor? I don't think so.....What I posted is the truth and that is what makes it so dang funny. Is there anyone out there who would honesty play this game?

I havn't actually played the game. But, from what I've seen, it looks fairly lame after playing FarCry1 and Oblivion. The charactors also don't look any better than Sims2.
I know the article was about the new power-mode. I just don't see a great improvement. It's like going from low settings to medium settings in Oblivion.
I'll be more impressed if all this came last year. (like before HL2)
I am sure people will disagree, but I just don't see it.

Question: Why on earth was this tested ONLY on a 6800GT? Why not at least a 7600GT/7800GT/7900GT? Or an ATI Radeon 1800X??/1900X?? "Next generation" cannot even resemble such if it is being activated on a graphics card that is from the previous generation, no?

The Geforce 6 series supports Shader Model 3.0.

A real next gen card would be a G80 or R600.

Anyway, am I the only one here thinking that Lara looks more "alive" in normal mode?


No you are not I agree with you 110%. The nextgen mode is way too dark. I still think it is odd that they reviewed this game. Is this the only game with the nextgen mode option? I don't think I would ever play this game even if someone gave it to me for free. And if I did paly it I would never admit it :-)

Well, the only way you would know if he's telling a lie, is if you had a similar PC, at least a 7900GTX... and play the game, of course

Someone in Tom's is doing something wrong...
First, the "Graphics Buyer's Guide", really lame mistake there... Now, this "next-gen" graphics review that is kinda useless...
Where's the good people that used to make this an awesome web site for hardware enthusiasts?? 8O

Here:
'In Next Generation mode this moist skin effect is invisible, even with light from the flashlight.'
'In the third example, too, Lara's skin is moist in normal mode.With Next Generation Content the skin no longer glistens'

This was taken from the review so i gues he is lying...
Now about the game: i think its name should be 'Army Men: Agent Lara" heheheheh
But she kinda look good comparing to today games...

The game was written for a new driver that hasn't been officially released by nVidia yet. The understanding was that the driver would be released at the same time as the game, but it never happened.

If you get the 84.43 drivers from other sources, the water in next gen mode looks so much better. In the shot where it's shallow and looks milky, it now looks clear again, but shiny and it even ripples slightly as you move things around. Other things in next-gen mode are fixed too.

I think the article should be amended at the end to show some of the changes the new driver makes. There is also a performance increase.

I've got a AMD 4400+, with w/2 7800 GTX in SLI and this game skips like crazy in 1600x1200 with Next Gen turned on. It looks good (better IMHOP) with Next Gen on but it isn't playable. Does anyone know if any new driver updates have occurred in the last week to correct all this? Pretty sad that the game starts with a Nvida the way it supposed to be played promo then sucks on the 2nd highest card available.

I just wonder what that "let's throw that game to the market, even if it's only playable in half a year" will lead to.

I am concerned. And as a consequence I will refuse to buy any such game. (In this case especially because it is obviously a crappy piece of shit)

I hope I am not alone.

Next Gen ??? what next gen??? 8O no way those graphics can even be considered next gen. Heck even Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory looks far better than this... i think the term next gen is being used for more than its worth...

-"Hmmm, the game has to look next-gen, and feel next-gen..."
-"Well then, let's throw some physics calculation!"
-"But... where?"
-"I can think of 2 perfect places..."