Tomb Raider
Reviewed By Tristan Tancredi
It's been 17 years since the original Tomb Raider dominated consoles and introduced the world to one of (if not THE) greatest female video game characters. A myriad of Tomb Raider games have been released since, the last of which was Underworld, released in 2008.
Five years on and the folk at Crystal Dynamic and Square Enix have been hard at work to give the brand a rebirth. The answer is Tomb Raider, a game that takes gamers back to where it all began; how Lara became the cultural icon of the 21st century. A risky step to take, but let's find out if the 2013 Tomb Raider is a successful re-launch of the Tomb Raider brand..
This "new" foray into the Tomb Raider franchise seems to have one objective: To show the origin of how Lara Croft became the independent, brave, treasure seeking, ruthless woman that we all know and love.
Developed by Crystal Dynamics, the basic gist of Tomb Raider sees Lara and her team attempting to find the lost Japanese Kingdom of Yamatai, the home of the 'Sun Queen'. We learn that this is Lara's first expedition and so it is here that the gamer (if not already) becomes aware that this is a complete revamp of the series.
After becoming shipwrecked and separated from her Team, Lara must quickly (much like Jason from Far Cry 3) adapt to her surroundings. Overcoming her fears of the island, Lara emerges as a sexy, kick-ass heroine on a mission to save her crew and uncover the mystery of the island.
Now, people may completely disagree with me on this point, but the "mysterious island" storyline continually reminded me of the TV show, "Lost". Not joking, about 5 or 6 times I actually thought JJ Abrams had to have some form of input into this plot. The comparisons were uncanny. That's not a criticism, there are just comparable elements to each storyline. Thankfully, Tomb Raider is original enough to be damn good in its own right.
Gameplay wise and there are few complaints from this end. Combat is tied down to two areas; third person shooter and hand to hand combat. Hand to hand combat is rare (and ridiculously easy). The shooting aspect of Tomb Raider is simple to use and heaps of fun. Nothing beats putting an arrow through someones skull from 50 metres away! Rewards are aplenty for gamers willing to perfect their aim and stealthily take out a convoy of enemies with their bow and arrow.
The Bow and Arrow is the first weapon Lara stumbles upon and is THE most loyal weapon throughout your campaign and THE most fun. Every couple of hours Lara will for some reason or another stumble upon a different weapon or tool. From a pistol, to a rifle, a shotgun and finally a handful of grenades. None of them your cup of tea? Silent take downs are also a Croft specialty. If anything, combat can perhaps be a little too easy during the latter "boss" stages.
As well as weapons Lara will also stumble across various tools to aid her in her quest. A climbing axe enables Lara to climb specific mountainous terrain, a rope (attached to the bow) allows Lara to transport from ledges using a "flying fox". All gadgets, tools and weapons can be upgraded at scattered camp sites using collectable scavenge points.
True to its roots, Tomb Raider is not without its puzzles. Although rare (and mainly during optional tomb quests), the puzzles are moderately challenging and will often leave gamers scratching their chins. The optional tomb quests offer some of the more memorable gaming experiences.
On a side note, Pressing L2 will highlight clues for Lara on where to go next. Although taught as a vital tool, we rarely used this button and I doubt any gamer will use it more than once. Also gamers are tutored to hunt and kill animals at the beginning of the game. Not once did we use this skill throughout a play through.
The game looks and sounds beautiful. The various settings; Tombs, Beaches, Forrests, Swamps, Mountains, Villages and Towns are all interactive and immensely detailed as the entire game plays as a cinematic movie. Lara and the supporting cast are smoothly refined. The cut scenes are seamless and clean, whilst throughout gameplay Lara simply glides across the screen.
After a brilliant 8 hours or so of the main story I was hooked. I needed more of Lara Croft, so it was off to complete the side objectives after the credits rolled. It was here that I felt disappointment for the first time playing the revamped Tomb Raider. For completionists and hardcore gamers, the side missions and collectable challenges are frustratingly poor.
It's not the gameplay that is poor rather the set-up of the map (icons, zoom functions, etc) and moving to and from fast travel locations. Did I mention there is a whole lot of backtracking? Things became so intensely annoying that I packed up Tomb Raider and decided the only time i'm bringing this gem out again is to replay the main story. For those that are determined to reach 100% completion I bid you good luck and the virtue of patience. A lot of patience.
It was also during this play through after completing the main story that I encountered a massive visual glitch. It was somewhere in "Shantytown" where Lara was engulfed by massive black squares resulting in a frozen screen. A reset was required. But if there is a positive to take from this, at least the game was glitch free during the main story.
You may be thinking, what about online? Surely that'll keep gamers coming back for more. Alas, multiplayer is a messy affair. Our brief foray into the online world of Tomb Raider encountered glitches, dodgy connection issues and erratic gameplay. There are a few game modes available; Rescue, Team Death Match, Cry For Help and Free For All. Basically Tomb Raider offers nothing new to the action/adventure multiplayer world. If you have played online before, you've played something like this already!
We've all heard the comparisons and we think it is unfair to say Tomb Raider has a lot of Unchartered about it, because in fact Uncharted had a lot of original Tomb Raider about it. Nonetheless Tomb Raider is very comparable to the Unchartered franchise. Whether it be climbing walls or finding relics, Lara Croft is essentially a female version of Nate Drake. In fact, they are a match made in heaven. Imagine their offspring!
Regardless of the replayability issues and the disappointment of side challenges and missions, the massively impressive gameplay, visuals and storyline of the main mission is more than enough to deserve the $80 odd bucks. True to the original, this is an awesome re-launch of the Tomb Raider franchise. An exciting new era of Lara Croft.
Game: Tomb Raider
System: PS3
Developer/Co-Developer: Crystal Dynamics
Publisher: Square Enix
