Following Lara Croft on an adventure to find the secret to immortality and restore her father’s reputation, ROTR received rave reviews for its striking visuals and beautiful imagery on the Xbox One. So how exactly does the PC version stack up to a next gen console?
But enough about the story, we’re here to see if the PC version of the game really was worth the wait.
The PC version of ROTR sees the addition of many PC exclusive graphics settings and enhancements, allowing for a much more personalised experience. On the PC, you are given the option to choose your shadow quality, ambient occlusion, level of detail, depth of field, tessellation, motion blur, foliage quality and more.
One of the first things I noticed about ROTR was how realistic Lara’s hair appeared in the game’s cutscenes. But alas, we all know the truth – actual gameplay is never as polished or as attractive as its cutscene counterpart. Well, I’ll gladly be the first to admit that ROTR proved me wrong on that account. The graphics from cutscene to gameplay were practically identical.
The full atmosphere of ROTR on PC is best felt when playing the game slowly, rather than rushing through areas. While I doubt the soundtrack will go down in history as one of gaming’s greatest, the sound effects sure are a big contender. It is these subtleties in ROTR that I found really engaged me the most. Hearing the snow crunch beneath Lara’s feet, the sound of running water from a river, and the calls of nearby animals, all add to the authenticity of your adventure. Think walking through a snow-covered forest complete with bird noises, wind and camera lens flares when you look towards the sun. It’s the little things like this that show the amount of effort and love that Crystal Dynamics put into their game, and it really makes it stand out from other contenders.
Another difference between the Xbox One version of the game and the PC version is the plant life. The world of ROTR is rife with vegetation, and the PC has dynamic foliage settings that can be placed up to ‘High’. This will see plants and trees swaying in the breeze for added realism, as well as increase the movement the plants have as you hide in them to take down enemies with stealth kills. The Xbox One has dynamic foliage that is comparable to the PC’s ‘Medium’ to ‘Low’ settings. Whilst this isn’t essential to the gameplay, the added level of detail in the plants really do help Lara Croft’s adventure come to life.
While it’s clear that the PC game outshines the Xbox One version with its superior graphics and realism, both offer an entertaining experience, with a world that you can easily engross yourself in.
I feel like it also needs to be mentioned that I’m still so amazed by the fact that the game – on both Xbox One and PC – has no loading screens. After playing Fallout 4 and having to deal with a loading screen every time you open a door for so long, it’s an extremely welcome change of pace. So regardless of what platform you buy the game on, we can all enjoy the bliss that is zero loading screens.
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good read :)
#pcmasterrace
@BandaiNamcoAU welcome Sarah :)