This was my 4th attempt at starting the Tomb Raider reboot game as previous attempts did not hold my attention or make me want to go back to it. The start of the game just has you pushing forward on the joystick and tapping the action button when required. The first hour of the game though is where the most interesting things happen. Where you learn all about the game mechanics, do some stealth, and strategically kill enemies. After that it just turns into a game where you run forward and kill any enemy in your way with little diversity.
I think I am spoiled in 2023 with game mechanics from such games as Horizon that would have been very welcome in this game. Such as tactile feedback on the controller when aiming a bow, being able to see the costumes before you change into them not after, and a sprint button. Throughout the whole game, even though I was telling myself not to, I kept finding myself pressing the L3 button to make Larta sprint but to no avail. Tomb Raider (2013) has game mechanics which we have slowly seen die off in games of late such as Quick Time Events. I really did hate them, you can’t sit back and enjoy a cutscene without the game wanting you to be involved. I found the map frustrating, poor view control of the map and it was hard to tell how to get from one side of a map area to another. Not to forget the fact you can either be completely zoomed in or completely zoomed out, no inbetween which is frustrating. I relied heavily on the map to find the almost impossible to see collectables without use of the map. I did spend a lot of time looking for the collectables and I got all the main ones but when it came to getting every area’s special challenges I couldn’t see a benefit worth getting for spending the time finding them all, so I just left them.
The old Tomb Raider games were grid based puzzle 3D platformers filled with jumps you had no idea whether or not you would make, perfectly timed and angled jumps and hidden crevices. The new game just has you jump and grab, jump and grab not needing to worry if you will make it or not. Traversing between areas is either a ‘Temple Run’ style run and jump as the scenery collapses around you or Lara is treated as a human pachinko ball constantly falling down holes and hitting everything on her way down, standing back up as if nothing happened. I got so fed up with them. Despite being called ‘Tomb Raider (2013)’ (the 2013 is silent) the tombs are completely optional, and when Lara said “I hate tombs” my eyes rolled that hard I nearly did a back-flip.
I understand this is a reboot and all the developers need to do is have the same character, they are not obliged to include any other features from any of the other games but the old games had such iconic music it would have been amazing to have it featured in the game. Lack of inclusion from old games started to annoy me as I was playing the games, I really missed tropes from the old games, such as dual wielding handguns, Lara abruptly saying “NO” when you selected something wrong or the secret found jingle. That was until I finally found all of the tiny GPS collectables and there it ws, the secret found single and Lara saying “ah ha”. Despite now not being a complete failure to include tributes to the old games I would have liked to have seen more of them. That’s not to say there are more that I just didn’t see.
The game isn’t too long either which is good, it didn’t take the piss with padding the game out which a lot of games are guilty of these days. Everything you did was to push the story forward, that’s if you know what the fuck is actually going on. Despite my moans, I do look forward to playing the other two games in this series but will space them out so I don’t get Tomb Raider fatigue.
I think I am spoiled in 2023 with game mechanics from such games as Horizon that would have been very welcome in this game. Such as tactile feedback on the controller when aiming a bow, being able to see the costumes before you change into them not after, and a sprint button. Throughout the whole game, even though I was telling myself not to, I kept finding myself pressing the L3 button to make Larta sprint but to no avail. Tomb Raider (2013) has game mechanics which we have slowly seen die off in games of late such as Quick Time Events. I really did hate them, you can’t sit back and enjoy a cutscene without the game wanting you to be involved. I found the map frustrating, poor view control of the map and it was hard to tell how to get from one side of a map area to another. Not to forget the fact you can either be completely zoomed in or completely zoomed out, no inbetween which is frustrating. I relied heavily on the map to find the almost impossible to see collectables without use of the map. I did spend a lot of time looking for the collectables and I got all the main ones but when it came to getting every area’s special challenges I couldn’t see a benefit worth getting for spending the time finding them all, so I just left them.
The old Tomb Raider games were grid based puzzle 3D platformers filled with jumps you had no idea whether or not you would make, perfectly timed and angled jumps and hidden crevices. The new game just has you jump and grab, jump and grab not needing to worry if you will make it or not. Traversing between areas is either a ‘Temple Run’ style run and jump as the scenery collapses around you or Lara is treated as a human pachinko ball constantly falling down holes and hitting everything on her way down, standing back up as if nothing happened. I got so fed up with them. Despite being called ‘Tomb Raider (2013)’ (the 2013 is silent) the tombs are completely optional, and when Lara said “I hate tombs” my eyes rolled that hard I nearly did a back-flip.
I understand this is a reboot and all the developers need to do is have the same character, they are not obliged to include any other features from any of the other games but the old games had such iconic music it would have been amazing to have it featured in the game. Lack of inclusion from old games started to annoy me as I was playing the games, I really missed tropes from the old games, such as dual wielding handguns, Lara abruptly saying “NO” when you selected something wrong or the secret found jingle. That was until I finally found all of the tiny GPS collectables and there it ws, the secret found single and Lara saying “ah ha”. Despite now not being a complete failure to include tributes to the old games I would have liked to have seen more of them. That’s not to say there are more that I just didn’t see.
The game isn’t too long either which is good, it didn’t take the piss with padding the game out which a lot of games are guilty of these days. Everything you did was to push the story forward, that’s if you know what the fuck is actually going on. Despite my moans, I do look forward to playing the other two games in this series but will space them out so I don’t get Tomb Raider fatigue.