Bethany's 2-cents: Tomb Raider
I have been a fan of the
Tomb Raider series ever since I got my first PlayStation in the 1990's. I stuck with Lara Croft throughout the decades (even through the whole
Angel of Darkness disappointment) so it was with a mixture of excitement and trepidation that I awaited the new installment to the series.
I have only played though a portion of the game, but here is my preliminary impression.
A New Lara
We, the fans, had been previously warned of the changes Lara Croft would undergo, and I have to admit I was a bit worried. It's be all too easy to take away what makes Lara the dynamic character she was in the original series (circa the PlayStation 1) and it would have been difficult to watch a character I had grown up with be changed beyond recognition.
Thankfully this is not an issue. Though Lara is certainly different at the beginning of this game, it can be attributed to her age and inexperience rather than any jarring character change. At the beginning, Lara is still a fairly novice adventurer - though past fieldwork and training is implied. But despite her misgivings, you can still feel the basic characterization that is the Lara we know and love, she's just a bit green around the edges at this point.
You can imagine how this Lara might eventually become the woman we expect from the original series and her new look is easy to accept.
She also
spends more time commenting as you navigate the environments. Usually simple comments like: "you can do this" or "oh, god" or "what does that mean?" that help the player connect with Lara in a way that was admittedly more difficult in the earlier PS1 games. The remarks do not occur often enough to be annoying, and they are always appropriate to the situation. It is entirely feasible to have a young, inexperienced Lara making idle comments to psyche herself up for what will undoubtedly be difficult tasks - you have a lot of opportunities to die particularly in the hectic beginning.
Her face does keep reminding me of someone though. Maybe I'm thinking of Yuna (via
Final Fantasy X and
X-2).
Plot
To be honest, I wasn't expecting much by way of plot. In the past,
Tomb Raider games - for me - had been more about the gameplay and environment than about the storyline because it was not the main focus. Half the time, I didn't know why I was in a particular tomb or why I was collecting a certain item, but I hardly cared when there were engaging buildings to navigate (despite the 16-bit system) and puzzles to solve.
In this new Tomb Raider
the environments are still engaging (even more-so with the enhanced graphics of the 7th-gen consoles) and the game is still riddled with puzzles but this time the plot is not only present but in your face.
From the moment the game starts it continues on in an almost hectic scramble of progression, where even the lapses and downtime are filled with a sense of suspense and urgency. They do not let you forget why Lara is on the island, nor the dangers the island presents. I found myself caring just as much about the plot progression as I was enjoying the environment and
Tomb Raider nostalgia.
There are a few
fun new enemies as well. Including one that
reminds me a bit of a Pyramid Head ripoff, but if you're going to emulate a horror game foe, he's the one.
The plot also has this creepy, disturbing undertone that gives a new atmosphere to each location. You know the dangers island presents, but some of that stems from the uncertainty of what is really going on behind the scenes, coupled with the veil of the supernatural that hangs over the landscapes. There are several moments that are chilling even in their simplicity.
The problem, however is the sheer
lack of tombs. Part of what I loved so much about the original
Tomb Raider games was the whole idea of not only isolation, but entrapment. You're scavenging around in an underground tomb - riddled with bobby-traps and supernatural elements - with no certain way out. Ever since the fiasco that was
Angel of Darkness (and to an extent
Tomb Raider: Chronicles) the series has attempted to add more human enemies, more urban locations, and more shootouts. While I like a good firefight as much as the next girl, I do not turn to
Tomb Raider to appease my trigger finger. There are plenty of games in my arsenal better suited for such a task.
Tomb Raider is meant to be about isolation and navigating an environment that is entirely against you. I desperately miss this.
This game
does have little 'hidden tombs' but they are s
mall and only include one puzzle. The best thing about these tombs is the
atmosphere.
Gameplay
The
controls are fairly basic. There's no real instances of button mashing or stumbling over the controls. And
the camera movement was relatively smooth, something that always worries me when tackling an adventure game where awareness of surroundings is key.
The
environments are stunning, and the atmosphere is well pulled off. It is fairly easy to forget how small and linear the environments are - though they are that, unfortunately (at least at first): fairly small and linear.
I, personally, prefer games that leave a lot of room to make your own choices; for instance when leveling a character up. You have the ability to teach Lara different skills regarding survival, combat, et cetera but
the level up process is fairly simple and not quite as well set up as I'd like. When highlighting an upgradable skill, it is almost impossible to read the description (even on my reasonably sized 32-in television, but if you accidentally choose wrong button, you will waste a point in mastering the skill rather that seeing the description - a mistake I made twice, quite unfortunately. And there really aren't a lot of skill options, though you do seem to get more as the game progresses.
Overall,
there are a lot of little details that make this game seem more realistic: she'll clutch at her wounds, get increasingly dirty as she travels or when she kills, the way Lara moves about the environment varies - occasionally she'll put her hand out to follow the wall or a low ceiling, she'll dodge small obstacles, limp, and twist her body in different ways to navigate tight spaces.
There are a lot
more human enemies in this game, so you can expect to have to fight more than just the wildlife. In addition there are new weapons and challenges. Most people have resorted to using bows - presumably to conserve bullets which are undoubtedly scarce here - though you are also equipped with several guns as you come across them. You also have to fight while disoriented, and there is certainly a level of stealth added to the experience.
The
sheer amount of enemies, however, is a bit ridiculous in a logical sense. I am already against the idea of Lara running about murdering endless human foes - because
Tomb Raider is (or used to be) about solitude. Lara was always alone in the tombs and rarely encountered other humans and she usually killed them pretty quickly if she did. But the argument can be made that this is young Lara Croft who is presumably still a novice adventurer, so she is unlikely to be running around by herself like a pro. Still, these human enemies are
everywhere. The fact that there could be that many people on an island that cannot kill a single stranded outcast is more than a little unbelievable. You know Square Enix, ut's okay if you want to replace some of those enemies with wolves every now and then. It'd certainly be more
Tomb Raider-esque if not simply more realistic.
I'd love to be able to
do more exploring. There's very few containers you can riffle through, and notes and relics are fairly sparse. But in all fairness there was never an abundance of this in the original games either. Actually, even less so.
There are a lot of
new weapons and weapon combinations. For instance, you now have a bow which you can use to shoot rope arrows or fire arrows, and the shotgun will clear out obstacles for you. You can also use the environment by shooting exploding barrels or lanterns to burn your enemies.
vs. Uncharted
I feel the
Uncharted series must be mentioned in correlation with
Tomb Raider as the similarities of 'experienced explorer traverses unexplored lands in search of treasures' is hardly easy to miss. I have played a bit of the first two games of the series and almost finished the third and overall while the series was engaging it did not hold the same level of interest as
Tomb Raider. Part of this is undoubtedly personal bias and nostalgia for the latter series, but
Tomb Raider in my opinion is far more engaging in plot - this game in particular - and feels significantly less 'cheesy' to me. Perhaps it is Lara's experience in spanning so many more games, but her series seems less cliched and the plots richer.
That's not to say
Uncharted doesn't have it's perks, and honestly if you like one you will undoubtedly enjoy the other.
Overall: 8/10
---------------------------------------------------
My preliminary impression is thus: it's a great game. Lara has changed but does not disappoint, and everything from the pacing to the game controls fit my expectations of such a well-seasoned series - though it does deviate a bit too much from the themes of the original games at times. Still, if you have loved
Tomb Raider in the past - or just have a penchant for adventure games - then you need to pick this one up.
Links:
A few weeks ago, I had begun to notice that my Tumblr Dashboard (formerly consisting of little other than the charming Benedict Cumberbatch) had become intermittently swamped with various Supernatural related posts. Now, I have been part of the general fan community for (ahem) "quite some time" and if I have learned anything it's that you can usually trust something that has a large online fanbase. So equipped with little more than blind faith and mild interest, I stepped once again into the proverbial breach.
