Maxing Out Your Graphics Card With Tomb Raider Legend

The New Power Mode

Tomb Raider's status as a classic title can be traced back to the availability of the first viable 3Daccelerator based on a Voodoo processor from 3Dfx. The device was able to filter textures while bringing real speed to the game.

A highlight of the game, of course, was the main character. Until then, there had not really been a heroine in PC games. Characters from Drakan or Blood Rayne would never become as famous and well-known as Lara Croft. After Angelina Jolie played the title role in both movies, Lara Croft then became a well-known character in the film world as well.

For the seventh installment, the game's designers announced they were returning to the title's roots. Level design and game experience should be as they were in the beginning of the series, the developers said, and the end result lived up to their aspirations The graphics are first rate. Water, light, shadow and flora harness DirectX 9's potential. The system requirements are relatively low andspeed output is incredible. With the game's video effects set to a maximum, speed with a system based on a Geforce 6800 GT with a 3.2 GHz CPU barely sinks below 40 fps. The game's fps value at normal settings is between 60 and 200 fps, with the V-Sync signal deactivated of course.

The Next Generation Content power mode, when activated, gives the effects a real push. The details of its function and which shader version is necessary are not specified in the system requirements.

Here the differences can really be seen in Lara Croft's appearance. In normal mode, her skin is dirty. The lamp in the background is lit and Lara is always brightly rendered. With Next Generation Content activated, all lamps are out. The environment is lit by a global light source, which you can see from the shadows cast by the lamp in the background. The square stones in the wall, the artifact and Lara all seem plastic.