Meg
Well-known Member
Tomb Raider review
After years of games featuring the dual-pistol wielding badass, Lara Croft, the Tomb Raider timeline is getting turned back to the beginning. The latest Tomb Raider game is an origin story that shows us how Lara became the woman we know her as. She may start out timid and unsure of herself but as the game goes on Lara slowly grows into a stronger, confident person. The pacing of her character development is really well done.
The game starts out with Lara on the Endurance, a ship looking for the lost island of Yamatai: located somewhere off the coast of Japan. An unexpected storm hits and the ship is ripped to shreds. The survivors of the crew wash onto the shore of the very island they were looking for. What follows is arguably the best part of the game.
Lara is forced to fend for herself as she’s been separated from everyone else. This includes her struggling to find shelter, hunting, and gritting her teeth and baring the cold night. The level of animation and detail that went into this game is staggering, and it really shows in this opening hours. I was enthralled by it, and even had to take a moment to just lean back and take in the moments. While the whole game is filled with gripping moments, the game’s opening really is something else.
Once Lara meets up with her companions, the story starts to develop. The island is crawling with cult members who all want the Endurance crew dead. What follows is a chilling scene where Lara is forced to make her first kill and escape. I’m really happy the developers made her first kill an actual moment in the game. You can really feel how devastating it is for Lara, and I commend Eidos for doing a great job.
After these few opening hours, the game gets into a sort of rhythm. Fight a wave or two of crazy cult guys, run/jump/climb, solve a painfully easy puzzle, and repeat with cutscenes through out. This isn’t a bad pattern; I was never bored while playing. However, it’s hard to ignore the number of enemies Lara mows down through out her adventure.
Considering how this is an action game, I can understand the developers making sure we get enough fights, but this is an island in the middle of nowhere. Surely there is more wildlife roaming around than the wolves you’re attacked by in the beginning? So why do you spend 98% of your time fighting humans? It gets repetitive after awhile, and for a game telling a realistic origin story, it isn’t realistic at all to have someone, anyone, plowing through wave after wave of human enemies and not come out of it completely insane. Where’s Spec-Ops: The Line when you need it?
I would have greatly preferred if the game wove everything together more—the platforming, the fighting, the puzzle solving—instead of breaking it up into three separate sections. It would have improved the pacing of the game as well as did wonders to fix the plowing through wave of enemies problem I stated.
Now, don’t get me wrong, Tomb Raider is a great game, so don’t let that one problem deter you. Everything has been polished until it sparkles. I encountered one measly glitch over the course of the game’s 12-15 hour campaign. One. And I’m surprised I noticed it at all. Character animations are detailed and realistic. Aiming and firing your weapons is smooth and responsive. You can’t play this game and not compare it to Uncharted because it draws so much inspiration from it. That said, Tomb Raider beats Uncharted in terms of…well everything.
Speaking of which, unlike the plothole ridden Uncharted 3, Tomb Raider’s plot is solid. It’s not too complicated, and yes it is a tad predictable, but it is good. I was always interested in seeing what happened next. Since the emphasis of the game is on Lara’s personal journey, it makes sense for the game to have a more straightforward plot.
The characters in Tomb Raider are all well characterized and feel like real people. The writing and voice acting in this game are all well done as well. Lara’s voice actress does an especially good job, but there weren’t any times when I thought the dialogue itself or its delivery missed the mark.
The island of Yamatai itself is also well made. Each area may be linear, but they’re all beautiful. In fact, many areas have hidden tomb entrances filled with puzzles for you to solve. Each area also has hidden collectables for you to find (or ignore) that give background information on the story and characters.
The game’s conclusion is satisfying as well. I was really nervous about the game stretching out the ending with unnecessary, stupid boss fights. But no, I had a blast working through the final level and thought the final enemies you face were all well done. Even though the ending isn’t really shocking, I was happy with the conclusion I got. In fact, I had a big smile on my face as I set the controller down and watched the final cinematic, and it’s rare a game makes me do that.
In fact, it’s rare any game keeps me invested in its story the whole way through without ever having a moment that bores me or ****es me off. But Tomb Raider is that rare game that just succeeds in every area. Okay, so there’s some “meh” QTEs, but that’s barely anything.
Tomb Raider was my most highly anticipated game of 2013, and while it isn’t as good as I was hoping, it is still one of the best games I’ve played in a while and am really happy with it. I can’t wait to see where the series goes from here.
Pros:
-Great character development
-Tons of awesome moments
-Solid plot, voice acting, and writing
-Obscene amount of polish
-Fun gameplay
-Good, satisfyingly long length
Cons:
-QTEs are “meh”
-Plot kind of predictable
-Too many human enemies
Overall:
I don’t like arbitrary review scores. So, instead, I rate games with “buy,” “rent,” or “pass.” That said, if you like action/adventure games then you need to buy this game. It’s worth your money.
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I hope you all like this review!
P.S.
Oh, there’s a multiplayer? Well I played one match, and it was terrible. So I won’t be touching it again with a ten-foot pole. But who honestly was going to buy this game for the multiplayer anyway?
After years of games featuring the dual-pistol wielding badass, Lara Croft, the Tomb Raider timeline is getting turned back to the beginning. The latest Tomb Raider game is an origin story that shows us how Lara became the woman we know her as. She may start out timid and unsure of herself but as the game goes on Lara slowly grows into a stronger, confident person. The pacing of her character development is really well done.
The game starts out with Lara on the Endurance, a ship looking for the lost island of Yamatai: located somewhere off the coast of Japan. An unexpected storm hits and the ship is ripped to shreds. The survivors of the crew wash onto the shore of the very island they were looking for. What follows is arguably the best part of the game.
Lara is forced to fend for herself as she’s been separated from everyone else. This includes her struggling to find shelter, hunting, and gritting her teeth and baring the cold night. The level of animation and detail that went into this game is staggering, and it really shows in this opening hours. I was enthralled by it, and even had to take a moment to just lean back and take in the moments. While the whole game is filled with gripping moments, the game’s opening really is something else.
Once Lara meets up with her companions, the story starts to develop. The island is crawling with cult members who all want the Endurance crew dead. What follows is a chilling scene where Lara is forced to make her first kill and escape. I’m really happy the developers made her first kill an actual moment in the game. You can really feel how devastating it is for Lara, and I commend Eidos for doing a great job.
After these few opening hours, the game gets into a sort of rhythm. Fight a wave or two of crazy cult guys, run/jump/climb, solve a painfully easy puzzle, and repeat with cutscenes through out. This isn’t a bad pattern; I was never bored while playing. However, it’s hard to ignore the number of enemies Lara mows down through out her adventure.
Considering how this is an action game, I can understand the developers making sure we get enough fights, but this is an island in the middle of nowhere. Surely there is more wildlife roaming around than the wolves you’re attacked by in the beginning? So why do you spend 98% of your time fighting humans? It gets repetitive after awhile, and for a game telling a realistic origin story, it isn’t realistic at all to have someone, anyone, plowing through wave after wave of human enemies and not come out of it completely insane. Where’s Spec-Ops: The Line when you need it?
I would have greatly preferred if the game wove everything together more—the platforming, the fighting, the puzzle solving—instead of breaking it up into three separate sections. It would have improved the pacing of the game as well as did wonders to fix the plowing through wave of enemies problem I stated.
Now, don’t get me wrong, Tomb Raider is a great game, so don’t let that one problem deter you. Everything has been polished until it sparkles. I encountered one measly glitch over the course of the game’s 12-15 hour campaign. One. And I’m surprised I noticed it at all. Character animations are detailed and realistic. Aiming and firing your weapons is smooth and responsive. You can’t play this game and not compare it to Uncharted because it draws so much inspiration from it. That said, Tomb Raider beats Uncharted in terms of…well everything.
Speaking of which, unlike the plothole ridden Uncharted 3, Tomb Raider’s plot is solid. It’s not too complicated, and yes it is a tad predictable, but it is good. I was always interested in seeing what happened next. Since the emphasis of the game is on Lara’s personal journey, it makes sense for the game to have a more straightforward plot.
The characters in Tomb Raider are all well characterized and feel like real people. The writing and voice acting in this game are all well done as well. Lara’s voice actress does an especially good job, but there weren’t any times when I thought the dialogue itself or its delivery missed the mark.
The island of Yamatai itself is also well made. Each area may be linear, but they’re all beautiful. In fact, many areas have hidden tomb entrances filled with puzzles for you to solve. Each area also has hidden collectables for you to find (or ignore) that give background information on the story and characters.
The game’s conclusion is satisfying as well. I was really nervous about the game stretching out the ending with unnecessary, stupid boss fights. But no, I had a blast working through the final level and thought the final enemies you face were all well done. Even though the ending isn’t really shocking, I was happy with the conclusion I got. In fact, I had a big smile on my face as I set the controller down and watched the final cinematic, and it’s rare a game makes me do that.
In fact, it’s rare any game keeps me invested in its story the whole way through without ever having a moment that bores me or ****es me off. But Tomb Raider is that rare game that just succeeds in every area. Okay, so there’s some “meh” QTEs, but that’s barely anything.
Tomb Raider was my most highly anticipated game of 2013, and while it isn’t as good as I was hoping, it is still one of the best games I’ve played in a while and am really happy with it. I can’t wait to see where the series goes from here.
Pros:
-Great character development
-Tons of awesome moments
-Solid plot, voice acting, and writing
-Obscene amount of polish
-Fun gameplay
-Good, satisfyingly long length
Cons:
-QTEs are “meh”
-Plot kind of predictable
-Too many human enemies
Overall:
I don’t like arbitrary review scores. So, instead, I rate games with “buy,” “rent,” or “pass.” That said, if you like action/adventure games then you need to buy this game. It’s worth your money.
------
I hope you all like this review!
P.S.
Oh, there’s a multiplayer? Well I played one match, and it was terrible. So I won’t be touching it again with a ten-foot pole. But who honestly was going to buy this game for the multiplayer anyway?
