OFFICIAL Rise of the Tomb Raider (Review)

[RCoon]

Introduction

Rise of the Tomb Raider is Crystal Dynamics' next instalment in the Tomb Raider reboot series. It's an action adventure game with numerous elements like stealth, climbing, hunting and just generally surviving, making it a bit of a jack-of-all-trades kind of title. The game features a full storyline set in Serbia, along with a fair few hours' worth of optional exploration content, challenging tombs, and masses of treasure hidden about the place. You'll be climbing mountains, exploring lost cities, and making friendly with the rather varied locals. There's plenty of weapon crafting and upgrading to keep your gameplay fresh throughout, and even an expedition mode should you want more content to dive into once you've finished the main game.


To read the full review, go to: http://www.nextpowerup.com/articles/rise-of-the-tomb-raider-review/
To read the performance analysis, go to: http://www.nextpowerup.com/articles/rise-of-the-tomb-raider-performance-analysis/

See below for the video review summary

 

[rtwjunkie]

Woohoo!! I'm off to NPU to read!

 

[RCoon]

Woohoo!! I'm off to NPU to read!

I didn't expect to post this until tomorrow alongside Bombshell. Fortunately I wasn't aware the game was so short, so I got the review up 30 minutes after launch time

Video is only 360p atm, should process to 1080p over the next hour on YouTube.

 

[lilhasselhoffer]

Didn't watch the video, because so often the written word is easier to dissect without the presentation.

It's kinda depressing that Squeenix is getting so stingy with their games. This one, as you pointed out, was short. Hitman is going to come in bite sized chunks. The FF7 remake is going to be episodic. It almost seems like they're trying to make games for pooping (read: Angry Birds), rather than full experiences.

To that end, what do you think their first DLC is going to be? IE, will it be new adventure or just fleshing out the existing area with additional tombs. It seems like a 15 hours game (for completionists) is just...depressing. 10 hours, at $60, is $6 an hour. That's more per hour of entertainment than some movies.



Good knowing that Lara isn't walking down the same path towards irrelevancy again. Even if it's short, it sounds well worth the investment once is drops into the discount category.

 

[rtwjunkie]

Great review!! It got me more excited than I already was! I mean, who doesn't like Tomb Raider games!?

So, on 1080p, the 46% GPU usage means on my single GPU it should be right up near 90%, right? I also see at "only" 1080p this is going to use up every bit of 4GB VRAM! More and more keep coming that push that 4GB limit.

 

[lilhasselhoffer]

For those interested in this game, and in the US, Newegg is running a promotion on the game now (ends 2/3/16).

Standard edition - $59.99 (get a $10 promotional card)
Digital Deluxe - $89.99 (Get a $15 promotional card)

 

[RCoon]

To that end, what do you think their first DLC is going to be?

Outfits! http://store.steampowered.com/dlc/391220

So, on 1080p, the 46% GPU usage means on my single GPU it should be right up near 90%, right? I also see at "only" 1080p this is going to use up every bit of 4GB VRAM! More and more keep coming that push that 4GB limit.

Yep, saturated a single 290X core on 1080p at max settings, with very nice FPS results. You should be tip top. It teeters very close to the 4GB limit, but not quite fully. You'll notice 4K really pushes it to the brink to the point of it being a bottleneck. I imagine with SSAA on 1080p it might teeter over the edge of 4GB on 1080p, but FXAA is good enough.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

Holy shit my 780 is getting old.

2016 might be the year I start not being able to max out AAA titles.

May have to start looking for a 2nd for SLI.

 

[Toothless]

Holy shit my 780 is getting old.

2016 might be the year I start not being able to max out AAA titles.

May have to start looking for a 2nd for SLI.

Personally I'd say bump to a 980TI because these SLI issues are annoying at times.

 

[lilhasselhoffer]

Outfits! http://store.steampowered.com/dlc/391220

Yep, saturated a single 290X core on 1080p at max settings, with very nice FPS results. You should be tip top. It teeters very close to the 4GB limit, but not quite fully. You'll notice 4K really pushes it to the brink to the point of it being a bottleneck. I imagine with SSAA on 1080p it might teeter over the edge of 4GB on 1080p, but FXAA is good enough.

Dang it.

Let me re-ask the question. What is the first substantive content you think they might make into DLC? By which, I mean something than an art team couldn't slap together in a couple of hours, and sell for spare change.


Sigh, I should have known it'd be cosmetic BS with Squeenix. I feel foolish for not having covered my backside on that one.

 

[rtwjunkie]

Dang it.

Let me re-ask the question. What is the first substantive content you think they might make into DLC? By which, I mean something than an art team couldn't slap together in a couple of hours, and sell for spare change.


Sigh, I should have known it'd be cosmetic BS with Squeenix. I feel foolish for not having covered my backside on that one.

IIRC from the Steam site, one of the early ones is expected to be an additional tomb. Very little has been provided through their veil of secrecy.

 

[NightOfChrist]

I am convinced. I am going to buy the game now. Assuming NVIDIA does not screw up with the recent driver, I suppose my GTX 980s are alright for this game, but I will still disable some visual effects like DOF and screen effect similar to what I did in the reboot because personally I never like them. And just like in the reboot, tackling the QTE will be easy with my G510s and G502.

Thank you @RCoon and @rtwjunkie for the advice and encouragement.
Good job with the review and analysis, and cheers for the hard work.

IIRC from the Steam site, one of the early ones is expected to be an additional tomb. Very little has been provided through their veil of secrecy.

The Endurance mode and Baba Yaga tomb are availabe as DLC for 1,080 Yen each, the rest of DLCs are costumes and probably equipments for 324 Yen each. But I think I pass. Square Enix once sold to us our own native language as DLC for the Tomb Raider reboot. If they are still living up to their ill reputation, skipping the DLC contents until Game of the Year edition is released is probably a wise thing for me to do.

 

[the54thvoid]

Great review!! It got me more excited than I already was! I mean, who doesn't like Tomb Raider games!?

So, on 1080p, the 46% GPU usage means on my single GPU it should be right up near 90%, right? I also see at "only" 1080p this is going to use up every bit of 4GB VRAM! More and more keep coming that push that 4GB limit.

1440p with everything maxed (but FXAA on) gives steady 60fps (game limit?) with 80-95% gpu usage scene dependent on my 980ti at 1500Mhz. Memory peaked above 6 gig but seemed to be steady indoor at just over 4 gig.

 

[rtwjunkie]

1440p with everything maxed (but FXAA on) gives steady 60fps (game limit?) with 80-95% gpu usage scene dependent on my 980ti at 1500Mhz. Memory peaked above 6 gig but seemed to be steady indoor at just over 4 gig.

Thank-you very much, kind sir!

 

[MxPhenom 216]

C

Personally I'd say bump to a 980TI because these SLI issues are annoying at times.

Can't afford it. Hoping to get a 780 for ~$200. Use SLI till 2nd Gen Pascal.

 

[Toothless]

C
Can't afford it. Hoping to get a 780 for ~$200. Use SLI till 2nd Gen Pascal.

Same idea as me.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

Same idea as me.

Sell me your card. then you can get a 980Ti

 

[okidna]

Game looks very pretty on Very High, but I got a little bit stutter when I make a sudden movement, I guess because VRAM usage is close to 4 GB (around 3.7 GB).
Got to tweak the settings and found the sweet spot for GTX 970 (@1080p, FXAA) : Very High preset with Texture Quality reduced to High, Depth of Field to ON, and Dynamic Foliage to Medium. Texture quality drastically reduce VRAM usage, with High setting it only consumes around 2.5 GB.

Spoiler: settings

Good news though, now Lara can sprint!

 

[RCoon]

Somebody asked why I didn't put the high VRAM usage in the negative red box. That's because it was expected. Game doesn't look this good without using a tonne of memory. I especially like that you can't tell the difference between a pre rendered cut scene and in game assets.

 

[Toothless]

Sell me your card. then you can get a 980Ti

I'll sell both to you for 3-way SLI and then I'll get a 980TI.

 

[rtwjunkie]

Game looks very pretty on Very High, but I got a little bit stutter when I make a sudden movement, I guess because VRAM usage is close to 4 GB (around 3.7 GB).
Got to tweak the settings and found the sweet spot for 970 : Very High preset with Texture Quality reduced to High, Depth of Field to ON, and Dynamic Foliage to Medium. Texture quality drastically reduce VRAM usage, with High setting it only consumes around 2.5 GB.

Spoiler: settings

View attachment 71498

Good news though, now Lara can sprint!

Very nice of you to share those settings!

 

[rtwjunkie]

With the traffic already on this review, would it be premature of me to suggest there be an OFFICIAL Rise of the Tomb Raider thread?

 

[the54thvoid]

With the traffic already on this review, would it be premature of me to suggest there be an OFFICIAL Rise of the Tomb Raider thread?

Might be a short official thread if the game is too short...

Oh, yeah, my settings - didn't realise there was 'very high' for Hair, not just on. Put that on and tried X4 SSAA - killed frame rates to 30-40. AA down to 2 and it's between 40-50. Does Super Sampling at x2 double resolution and then downscale again? If so, at 1440p, 1.5 DSR gives me 4k res, so 2x is still silly.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

There is a lot of ass and cleavage in this new tomb raider. I can run it on all high at around 45fps which is good enough for me.

 

[ne6togadno]

@RCoon
review shows as "suggested for you" review again and not performance annalysis as usual