The proto-God of War in that it's another franchise reboot that really wants to be a Naughty Dog game but fails in some key ways. In fact, this game wants to be two Naughty Dog games simultaneously. In it's attempt to have both the high energy adventurous spirit of Uncharted, and also the dark survivalism of The Last of Us, it confuses the tone of both its gameplay and its narrative.
The game starts off with a shipwreck as Lara and crew are trapped on an island. As an origin story for the character, the player is inexperienced and must scavenge and find ways to survive a harsh wilderness. Eventually you run into some guys who capture you and eventually this leads to your first time killing another person. Lara is traumatized by this event for all of 30 seconds, before the cutscene is over and she then proceeds to ruthlessly murder every single person on this island without batting an eye.
This is where the game turns into Uncharted and the previous survival elements are rarely if ever seen again. And as an Uncharted game, it isn't even particularly great. Yes, the shooting and the platforming all feel up to par with Uncharted. However, none of the scenarios Lara is put in gave me any thrills I hadn't already previously experienced in Uncharted. And as Lara is doing all of this Uncharted stuff, the visual language of the game, particularly in the cutscenes, are still trying to tell me it's a dark and gritty survival game, but the game itself want me to be thrilled like I'm watching an Indiana Jones movie.
As for the titular Tombs that are being Raided, even the puzzles in this game are dumbed down from previous entries. The one thing this game could've tried to do to give itself its own sense of identity is gone now. Instead we have optional tombs that offer no challenge whatsoever. Overall, I'd give this muddled game a hard pass and just replay one of the Uncharted or The Last of Us games, depending on the kind of experience you're looking for.
The game starts off with a shipwreck as Lara and crew are trapped on an island. As an origin story for the character, the player is inexperienced and must scavenge and find ways to survive a harsh wilderness. Eventually you run into some guys who capture you and eventually this leads to your first time killing another person. Lara is traumatized by this event for all of 30 seconds, before the cutscene is over and she then proceeds to ruthlessly murder every single person on this island without batting an eye.
This is where the game turns into Uncharted and the previous survival elements are rarely if ever seen again. And as an Uncharted game, it isn't even particularly great. Yes, the shooting and the platforming all feel up to par with Uncharted. However, none of the scenarios Lara is put in gave me any thrills I hadn't already previously experienced in Uncharted. And as Lara is doing all of this Uncharted stuff, the visual language of the game, particularly in the cutscenes, are still trying to tell me it's a dark and gritty survival game, but the game itself want me to be thrilled like I'm watching an Indiana Jones movie.
As for the titular Tombs that are being Raided, even the puzzles in this game are dumbed down from previous entries. The one thing this game could've tried to do to give itself its own sense of identity is gone now. Instead we have optional tombs that offer no challenge whatsoever. Overall, I'd give this muddled game a hard pass and just replay one of the Uncharted or The Last of Us games, depending on the kind of experience you're looking for.