Crystal Dynamics Announces PC Specs for Tomb Raider

Square Enix Ltd today announced that Tomb Raider developer, Crystal Dynamics, has released the system requirements for the PC version of the eagerly anticipated game; scheduled for release on March 5th 2013, in line with Xbox 360 and PS3. The PC version of Tomb Raider has been developed in tandem between Crystal Dynamics and long-time partner Nixxes; a collaboration that has spanned over a dozen PC titles and dates back fifteen years.

Jurjen Katsman, Director of Nixxes stated that: “The team at Crystal intended to make the game of their careers and we are extremely proud of the part we have played in the project’s development.”

Tomb Raider for PCs has been extensively optimized to heighten the gameplay experience; with the goal of taking advantage of the PC platform. Enhanced features include: full integration with Steamworks, increased detail tessellation, improved SSAO and post-filter effects, and very high resolution textures, shadows and cloths.

“AMD Graphics and Crystal Dynamics have partnered to capture the realism of one of video gaming’s most iconic characters, Lara Croft of the Tomb Raider franchise,” said Matt Skynner, corporate vice president and general manager, AMD Graphics. “By leveraging the power of AMD Radeon™ and Graphics Core Next, Lara and her environment have come to life like never before.”

Additionally, for PCs that are capable, the game will support AMD HD3D and AMD Eyefinity technologies, the latter of which allows up to six simultaneous displays off a single graphics card.

The game’s enhanced features on the PC version include:

General

• Full integration with Steamworks to offer cloud storage for saves, multiplayer matchmaking, achievements, as well as automatic updates and new content.
• Support for Steam Big Picture Mode.
• Configurable mouse and keyboard support.
• Gamepad support.

High-end graphics

• Very high resolution textures with up to 16x the amount of data
• Detail Tessellation to enhance the detail on many surfaces in the game
• Higher quality shadows
• High quality bokeh depth of field with near-blur
• Tessellation algorithms used to smooth out geometry
• Improved cloth, SSAO, quality wetness effects, and post-filter effects.
• LOD quality is adjustable for better quality on higher-end machines.

Low-end graphics Crystal care about TR fans being able to run on older systems, unlike many other games they still support Windows XP. A lot of scalability options to suit a range of machines.

Darrell Gallagher, Studio Head of Crystal Dynamics commented: “With over a decade of experience working alongside AMD and Nixxes at Crystal Dynamics alone, we had rock solid partners on board to create a superb Tomb Raider experience for PC gamers around the world. At Crystal we approach each of our projects with the sole intention of creating the best possible consumer experience for that format, and we are proud to have worked alongside two great partners who hold the very same values.”

The full list of PC minimum and recommended system requirements is listed below:

Minimum system requirements for PC

• Windows XP Service Pack 3, Windows Vista,7,8 (32bit/64bit)
• DirectX 9 graphics card with 512Mb Video RAM:
• AMD Radeon HD 2600 XT or above
• Nvidia 8600 or above
• Dual core CPU
• AMD Athlon64 X2 2.1 Ghz (4050+)
• Intel Core2 Duo 1.86 Ghz (E6300)
• 1GB Memory (2GB on Vista)

Recommended system requirements for PC

• Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8
• DirectX 11 graphics card with 1GB Video RAM:
• AMD Radeon HD 4870
• NVidia GTX 480
• Quad core CPU:
• AMD Phenom II X2 565
• Intel Core i5-750
• 4GB Memory

So is it time you went our and bought your self a new system for this new installment, or will you be happy with the components you have already?