<p>Unfortunately i have only ever played games on consoles as i no nothing about computers in a hardware sense and would be too scared to ever buy one because i wouldn't even know where to start. So most of the time i am completely okay with the quality of visuals you tend to get on a console,(there are some exceptions like far cry 3 or crysis 3 where i can tell it would be so much better on pc.) Anyway to the point, i got Tomb raider today and have put about 5 hours in and have been genuinely floored by the way the game looks, it also runs quite well. I just don't understand how you can take really old hardware and produce something like this.</p><p>Sorry if my grammar is bad, I'm writing this on a windows phone and the box is tiny so i can't see what im typing too well.</p>

lol I like that you're asking this in the actual 'Question' format. Anywhoo while console games naturally pale in comparison to their PC counterparts, some are able to surprise and look relatively OK. Hitman Absolution first springs to mind where I was stunned that a console game (and a multi-platform one at that) can still manage to look that good.

Happy to know that Tomb Raider is also perfectly fine on consoles.

Dat 1280x720 resolution.

Because a lot the assets in the game are not "real", that is to say there is a lot of pre-rendered (the assets and lightning are loaded when you enter that level) lightning and ambient effects going on, as opposed to a game like Crysis where most of the graphical effects are dynamic (they are loading and changing on the fly). It's the same way Alan Wake worked, or before that Resident Evil on the gamecube - you've got this narrow path which features some dynamic effects going but everything around you is like a snow globe of highly optimized graphics.

I don't think the game looks that great tbh. I'm playing on 360 and the character models and animations are pretty standard. This could be due to me just finishing DmC, but the graphics look pale in comparison.

I would love a gaming pc but i wouldn't know what i was looking for or even where to start.

The "Wind Temple" area when you first get the shotgun looks really great. Theres this weird "noise" effect and I almost wish they used it everywhere else.

Magic.

Fucking Eidios man. Don't underestimate them. That was an absolute get for Squarenix.

lol this

The console exclusives all come to mind as the highlights of graphical power, except they longer wow me as much cuz I've grown accustomed to 1080p or more for everything.

Here.

I have yet to play the game (planning to though) but just from looking video footages of the game on YouTube, I was under the impression that the graphics were just standard (character model looked a bit muddy). But good to know that the console version is looking great.

I came in here to just say that. Like he expects us to know how to answer that. Oh you're so silly, pompouspizza.

More on track with this actual discussion, I am glad to hear that it plays and looks good on consoles. Now I just wait, for Gamefly is shipping it now.

Based on footage I've seen of the 360 version, I think the game looks just normal. It looks okay I guess, but nothing special.

I played it on the 360 and it does indeed look very good, but it's not like this is the first game to look spectacular on the 360. Gears 3, Halo 4 and the Dead Spaces look equally as good. I just guess it's because the consoles have been around for so long at this point that the developers know how to get all the juice they can out of them, kinda like how so many of the late PS2 games looked amazing.

@redbullet685: Now I'm going to admit a very silly error I made...I was writing the topic on my phone and a little check box appeared that said something along the lines of 'let people answer this topic' and I had never seen that before so I assumed (very stupidly, because it makes no sense whatsoever) that if I didn't check the box people wouldn't be able to reply to the topic. Yes I am ashamed but there I said it.

@gunstarred: You are right all them games look fantastic, two others that come to mind are Devil may cry and Hitman absolution. But for some reason Tomb raider is the one that made me stop and think about it.

Gears of War 3 still better.