![]() It's actually the weapon I used to defeat the final boss. Upgrading the bow with things like rope arrows, fire arrows, and damage bonuses kept it useful throughout the game. When it comes to Lara's new dual-purpose weapon-tools, the bow and the pickax are both fun to use. Similarly, while there are some branching pathways, side-routes, and optional nooks to explore throughout the game, thoroughly scouring each area doesn't take long. ![]() It's a nice touch that there are a number of optional tombs to explore along the way, but most of them basically amount to a single-room puzzle. There are still some environmental puzzles to be solved-my favorites being ones that involved using Lara's rope arrow upgrade-but you're not likely to get stumped by them, nor are they likely to test your dexterity much. For better or worse, Tomb Raider seems to have cribbed a lot of developer Naughty Dog's playbook for the Uncharted series. The action is punctuated with some visually-impressive, scripted roller-coaster moments, quick-time events, and cinematics. It's not long before Lara has armed herself with a bow, pistol, machine gun, shotgun, and pickax and is mowing down scads of bad guys while en-route to a linear climb to her next objective. Whereas the primary focus was on environmental exploration and puzzles, with a dash of combat thrown in for spice, the new Tomb Raider pulls a complete one-eighty. The design ethos of the new Tomb Raider game is actually quite different from prior games in the series. The rest of the game's presentational attributes are great, including an impressive variety of character animations and great-looking locations. It's also a bit strange that the story doesn't involve much in the way of ancient artifacts or treasures of any kind, which are relegated to the role of optional collectibles. Given the harsh weather and temperatures Lara encounters wearing nothing but her iconic tank top, suspension of disbelief can be tricky, given how seriously the story takes itself. The story itself, despite a good amount of expository cinematics, is relatively one-dimensional, as is the games generic lead villain. Overall, the voice acting is good, although the script erratically jumps between being decent and overly melodramatic. They're beset upon by some strange cult of mercenaries, and Lara has to escape, try to survive, and rescue her friends. The setting is confined to a single, but large island where Lara and her group of archaeologist friends find themselves stranded (and separated) after a shipwreck. Blood, gore, and decomposing corpses are used liberally in the set dressing, and there are a number of visually gruesome ways for Lara to meet her demise. ![]() The overall story line is infused with a hefty dose of the kind of supernatural elements you might expect from an Indiana Jones movie, but there aren't many (if any) moments of levity. There's also a lot mechanically and structurally familiar about Lara Croft's new "origin story" experience alongside the new stuff, though that familiarity doesn't stem much from past Tomb Raider games.įor starters-and either good news or bad news, depending on your attachment to the more carefree tone of the series' prior games-Tomb Raider is much darker and violent than it's predecessors. ![]() Tomb Raider by Crystal Dynamics does both of these things in a number of ways. Push your material to the next level in every conceivable way, but stray too far from the core type of experience that made your source material successful, and you risk disappointing your built-in fanbase. Rebooting a beloved and long-lived series in any entertainment medium is a challenging prospect. ![]()
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