The Need for Speed series harks back to the days before 3D-acceleration. Provided, the latest release, Need for Speed Underground 2 allows gamers to enter the shoes of a modified car racer. The timeline of the game is mostly nocturnal, providing dazzling reflection effects on the chassis of the cars as they wiz by illuminated cityscape.
Need For Speed Underground 2 Test Settings
Need For Speed Underground 2 Test Results
Notorious for its successor's rather CPU-intensive engine, I was hoping for a sequel that would push new features provided by next-generation video cards. Unfortunately, the performance bottleneck lies in the system as only the 1600x1200 with 4x AA and 8x AF setting would deviate from the 37-39 fps window of the other settings.
The results are obtained by utilizing FRAPS on the quick race option of the single player demo.
F.E.A.R. SINGLE PLAYER DEMO
F.E.A.R. First Encounter Assault Recon is the next First Person Shooter that most gamers are looking forward to. It is powered by the Jupiter EX engine, an evolution of the Jupiter engine which powered TRON and No One Lives Forever. One of the highlights of the Jupiter EX engine is the lighting model, which provides per-pixel lighting effects, and is sure to generate some awesome lighting effects while stressing the latest generation video cards.
F.E.A.R. Test Settings
F.E.A.R. Test Results
The second game to utilize FRAPS for testing purposes. A 3 minute stretch of the game was played three times as detailed in Clay's BFG GeForce 7800 GTX review. Throughout the gunfights I used a number of features which dropped the performance in certain areas, such as using the flashlight in corridors, activating "bullet-time" and using two grenades. 1280x960 is the setting I'll be using once the game is available in retail.
