Tomb Raider (2013)

Finished Tomb Raider. Tomb Raider is well-written, sympathetic, exciting, dark and a well-made game. The single-player rarely makes a mis-step, and though Lara's quick transformation into a hardened killer seems at odds with the narrative at first, the game quickly moves past it. It is a superb action game that brings a new emotional dimension to one of gaming's most enduring icons, and repositions her alongside Nathan Drake at the top of gaming's action-hero heirarchy. It is rather quite short though for my liking.

RATING:

GAMEPLAY : 7

• No Boss fights. Traversing the world is great, and the character growth feels satisfying
• Puzzles are harder on the side content but overall can also be hard too
• Great overall feel for the game, from combat to platforming.

STORY & THEME : 7

• The only thing memorable is Lara Croft herself
• Atmosphere is great a new take for the IP
• I find the content lacking for a "Tomb Raider" title

VALUE : 6

• Completed the game with 74% completion in about less than 15 hours
• Too short, can be fleshed out more with Lara raiding other 'tombs'

A solid 7/10. The games bold move in moving Lara into a more dark centric direction gives it the 'danger' that an action game requires. The narrative though is very linear and lacks the mystery factor a tomb raider game should have. But overall, compensated with its awesome combat and exploration. Tomb Raider fans should give this a shot.

You can watch the entire playthrough here:

Curious for advice from the wider Grouvee community. My brother's partner recently completed all of the games in the Tomb Raider reboot trilogy, and is on the hunt for similar game. I have a shot list of ideas below, but does anyone have suggestions? They have access to a PS4 and and Series X|S.

• Horizon Zero Dawn
• Control
• Uncharted: A Thief's End
• Uncharted: the Lost Legacy
• Uncharted: Nathan Drake Collection
• A Plague Tale: Innocence
• Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

I'm truly enjoying the gameplay, but I have my problems with the story, and the main one is that this incarnation of Lara is deeply, deeply unlikable, yet everybody acts like she's this pure angel who can do no wrong and is the center of everything and the one character who puts this in doubt is immediately criticized by the others.

Lemme make my own opinions, game. I don't like to be told to like a character who has done nothing to earn it.

So, for the most part, I'm having a good time with this game. Sure, the constant QTEs are a bit annoying, but it was the norm on 2013. The game looks great and the action sequences are fun.

However, I have a serious problem with this game. It is broken. Very, very broken.

Exhibit A: Lara and her new friend, the rope.

Lara should not be hugging the rope. Lara should be going zoom on the rope, as Youtube proves:

And not only that, but Lara refuses to stop hugging the rope. I've pressed every single button on the keyboard with no luck. I can move the camera, the map and the pause menu come and go, but Lara refuses to do anything.

Few days back I had a similar situation with a ledge. Lara went right, Lara went left, but Lara refused to climb the ledge or let go of it.

I want to enjoy the game, but every softlock and forced reload makes it harder and harder.

Please tell Lara to behave, for she ignores me.

Beat on Hard with 87% completion. I got all skills except the one that reveals tombs and the bonus ammo from enemies. I first got the skill to retrieve arrows from kills, but that was not needed at all. Then I went for bonus loot and xp. The assault rifle was my favorite weapon and I liked to save it for tougher fights vs multiple enemies. Did not use its grenade launcher that much because the fact that it has timed detonation rather than impact makes it far less useful. I got all upgrades except silencer; don't need that when I have a bow. I usually used the bow to head shot assassinate until my stealth was blown. Almost never used it in an open fire fight unless I was out for everything else, though the bow is decent vs melee and archers. I never tried out explosive arrows and had 1 upgrade left to buy. The shotgun was my only maxed out weapon, and I used it fairly extensively for close range, but I found it a bit underpowered. It took too many body shots at close range to kill; 2 is passable but 3 or more is unacceptable. The whole point of a shotgun is dropping enemies quickly at close range without needing excellent aim. I used the pistol to conserve ammo for the other 2 guns and got all upgrades except burst fire. I did all of the tombs and pretty sure I got all the documents and relics. I did not bother getting GPS caches that were out of my way because the xp reward was so tiny. I also did not go out of my way to get the bonus xp side activities or kill many animals.

I was pleasantly surprised by this game because I thought it was going to be another open world Far Cry/Assassin' Creed type. Nice to see a more old fashioned straightforward linear game that does not waste the player's time. Fast travel and free backtracking are excellent additions. The game was an excellent cinematic experience, like watching an action movie. Even the runner segments added to the intensity of the story, and were not annoying. Puzzles and platforming were well crafted. I especially liked the subtle camera shifts that point you in the correct direction, and some of the voice hints. I only had to check a walkthrough once near the end at the swinging cage puzzle; I did not think to do it from the 2nd floor. Combat was quite satisfying and I especially liked the powerful gunshot audio. Only 2 things annoyed me. The low sensitivity, which made looking around take too long and the combat far more difficult than it needed to be, and quick time events. I failed most of the QTEs 1st try but at least they are not tricky and the checkpoint saves are extremely generous. Otherwise I would not be praising this game. Most of my deaths were from QTEs. I had a few random falling deaths and a few in combat. Assault rifle enemies were definitely the most dangerous and could kill me in 2 seconds with a good burst. I went for them first. I did not see many of the graphic death scenes because I rarely died at those parts.

8.3/10

So now I'm literally holding a grenade launcher and murdering people by the dozens while shouting "I'm going to get you!" and they cry "She's killing us all!". Moments later, I'm hunting people in the dark, headshoting them one by one. Also knowing that all of these dudes have been psychologically and physically tortured into joining this cult (in which none of them seem to believe, btw) by the Big Bad really shows how fucked-up is the narrative of this game.

Still, mechanically the game is entertaining. Traversal is fun and the few puzzles are mildly amusing (they are far too easy).

Still enjoying the game quite a lot. It manages to get the momentum going pretty well (albeit at the expense of some linearity). The level design is also impressive. How these almost linear corridors are actually interconnected minilevels that make clever use of the z axis it's something to behold.

The story is still laughable. Now, after murdering hundreds of people and looting their still-warm corpses, Lara feels apprehensive about looking into some unknown dead pilot's clothes for some first aid. I had to stop playing because my eyes had rolled out of my skull.