Tomb Raider

[Phil]

Eh, did you not read any reviews? Almost every review pointed this out. This is not Tomb Raider 1 & 2 with prettier graphics.

No, I clearly did not.
Even if I did, I still think the criticism is valid - people buy games based on expectations. I like Uncharted to be Uncharted, just as I like other games to be other games. If you change the style of the game too much, there's a chance you might alienate your target customer.

Anyway - I played some more over the weekend, and dare I say, I like it more and more. For all my criticism of it being a different game, I'm actually quite liking the changes...

The gameplay mechanics are very good. They might be just like Uncharted, but I guess that is a good thing after all. I also like that for the most part, you're adventuring and not shooting bad guys. The biggest faults are IMO the real-time-events, when something is happening and you're supposed to press a particular button to avoid getting killed. The time you have to press that button can be painfully short at times - even knowing that you have to hit damn triangle in that instant, I still managed to miss it a couple of times, resulting in death and the loading screen to try it again.

Apart from that, the story is getting better too. I still would prefer "mature Lara" on some secret mission rather than "insecure Lara" finding out who she really is, but for what it's worth, this game might actually be a good start and basis to relaunch the series.

It's a whole lot better than Tomb Raider Underworld that was - well, more of a Tomb Raider game, but just far too cheesy in some places. The gameplay mechanics in this game are a whole lot better.



eloyc; Have you completed the game yet? Still standing behind your criticism or did you change your mind as well?

 

[Cyan]

This game and Call of Juarez: Gunslinger are the only games that I am interested in to say goodbye to this rather old but really fun generation of consoles, at least for me.

I don't want to miss out on this game. My only fear to buy the game is paying 60-70€ for it and not playing it much for personal reasons. I have many games that I barely played this generation.

I mean, I grab games thinking that I will play eventually and then.... months to years later, some of them I never booted them up once. Some have hooked me enough to play lots of hours and completing them, but others not so much, despite being great games. Maybe an anxiety thing, who knows...

But I truly fancy this new version of Tomb Raider!!

 

[nightshade]

Every set piece in this game has something to do with the building/floor/island collapsing...stuff's falling apart every 10 minutes, seems like they were out of ideas pretty fast. It makes Uncharted's set pieces look 10 times more sensible simply because they aren't as ridiculous. Also the game is very stupid, stuff's blowing apart...let's blow more stuff to get out.

 

[L. Scofield]

I really like the SSAO implementation in this game. It looks like indirect shadows a lot of the time.

 

[eloic]

Every set piece in this game has something to do with the building/floor/island collapsing...stuff's falling apart every 10 minutes, seems like they were out of ideas pretty fast. It makes Uncharted's set pieces look 10 times more sensible simply because they aren't as ridiculous. Also the game is very stupid, stuff's blowing apart...let's blow more stuff to get out.

Watch it! This forum's gonna blow, too.

OT, on older Tomb Raider games, developers provoked on the player feelings of hurry and haste only at certain times, but oh my when they did. Do you remember the magnificent trap section in the Chinese Wall level? Ah...

 

[Phil]

Watch it! This forum's gonna blow, too.

OT, on older Tomb Raider games, developers provoked on the player feelings of hurry and haste only at certain times, but oh my when they did. Do you remember the magnificent trap section in the Chinese Wall level? Ah...

Oh yes. Or I still like to think back to the Venice levels, the boat ride... I actually think Tomb Raider II was my favorite one. Although being a huge fan of the franchise, I never quite completed TR3, also not TR4. At that point, the games were also quite dated on the PSone (lots of clipping). I still think TRII and the original one (pretty much everything about the first one, sans the Atlantis levels which I didn't dig much) were epic for its time.

I also loved the control mechanism too in the old games. Never quite understood what was so hard about it - if you needed a timed long jump, progress to the edge with the walking button, press back and then run and jump. Easy and simple.

Of course, the control mechanisms have progressed quite a bit since then and having something like this in todays games would be hopelessly outdated. So, what they've done with this game IMO works - and the Uncharted-esque controls work great.

As for the story - seriously, this is so much better than Tomb Raider: Underworld. Maybe it was just me, but I thought that was so bad. This Tomb Raider finally feels like it has a solid basis for future games to come. Just imagine, with these mechanics, a proper Tomb Raider like the first one would absolutely be magnificant.

 

[nightshade]

Incidentally I came here to post how horrible the story is, it's list a Lost only much worse. I thought the arc was ok-ish in TR Underworld, but that game wasn't story focused anyways.

 

[orangpelupa]

is there a game option to make the enemy super dumb?

i dislike the battle scene with human because i cant punch and when i use pistol or shotgun or bow, the 3D stereo make my head dizzy trying to align the weird crosshair to their body/head.

for wolfie i can use the QTE melee so its not problematic.

 

[Phil]

is there a game option to make the enemy super dumb?

i dislike the battle scene with human because i cant punch and when i use pistol or shotgun or bow, the 3D stereo make my head dizzy trying to align the weird crosshair to their body/head.

for wolfie i can use the QTE melee so its not problematic.

I think it gets better as the game progresses. I think once you upgrade by using skill points, you can actually attack them with melee attacks pretty easy and effective (not when fighting groups though, as they'll kill you easily).

What I usually do is when human enemies come close to me, I switch to the shotgun quickly and blast them away. Very effective. Otherwise, I use the bow or guns at long range.

 

[orangpelupa]

you can melee by unlock? wow thanks a lot
with a bit tinkering with cheat engine, it should be unlocked horray

 

[Phil]

you can melee by unlock? wow thanks a lot
with a bit tinkering with cheat engine, it should be unlocked horray

To be really honest, I'm not sure.
When I started playing the game, I fought myself through the game with the bow. Then at some point (I'm probably mid-way, nearing the end of the game), I figured out that you could press Triangle (not sure what it is on Xbox) to do melee attacks.

Given that you can use skill points to upgrade these melee attacks (I think they become more sophisticated, more deadly and you use the pick you cary around with you as a weapon). But since I've only been using it since midway through the game, I really can't know how effective it was at the beginning of the game in the first place.

I can tell you though, towards the later parts of the game, melee becomes an effective way to kill enemies without alerting the others (it's not as pronounced as in Uncharted or MGS mind you, but it's better than using a gun in some places). The bow is still very a good weapon though for silent kills (headshots).

 

[eloic]

Oh yes. Or I still like to think back to the Venice levels, the boat ride... I actually think Tomb Raider II was my favorite one. Although being a huge fan of the franchise, I never quite completed TR3, also not TR4.

Yes, the Venice level, the boat ride... Memorable (I still remember the music, hehe).

At that point, the games were also quite dated on the PSone (lots of clipping). I still think TRII and the original one (pretty much everything about the first one, sans the Atlantis levels which I didn't dig much) were epic for its time.

Dated? Yes, it had lots of clipping, but with each game they improved the graphics departments in many ways (dynamic lighting in TR2, multiple, coloured lighting in TR3 and other effects, etc.). TR4 had one of the prettiest lighting systems for the PS1.

 

[dagamer]

To be really honest, I'm not sure.
When I started playing the game, I fought myself through the game with the bow. Then at some point (I'm probably mid-way, nearing the end of the game), I figured out that you could press Triangle (not sure what it is on Xbox) to do melee attacks.

Given that you can use skill points to upgrade these melee attacks (I think they become more sophisticated, more deadly and you use the pick you cary around with you as a weapon). But since I've only been using it since midway through the game, I really can't know how effective it was at the beginning of the game in the first place.

I can tell you though, towards the later parts of the game, melee becomes an effective way to kill enemies without alerting the others (it's not as pronounced as in Uncharted or MGS mind you, but it's better than using a gun in some places). The bow is still very a good weapon though for silent kills (headshots).

Melee can be unlocked along with countering. You really do have a lot if options for killing enemies that you actually learn. In Uncharted, it always felt like picking up a random gun and just shooting people.

 

[Sigfried1977]

Dated? Yes, it had lots of clipping, but with each game they improved the graphics departments in many ways (dynamic lighting in TR2, multiple, coloured lighting in TR3 and other effects, etc.). TR4 had one of the prettiest lighting systems for the PS1.

I'm pretty sure Core also upped the resolution for TR3 and its sequels.

 

[eloic]

I'm pretty sure Core also upped the resolution for TR3 and its sequels.

Yeah, I think so.

 

[Phil]

Yeah, I think so.

I guess, what I wanted to say, was that I felt that Tomb Raider later on the PSone (well, I'm refering to IV) started to feel a bit "old" for lack of a better word. There was also a few annoying bugs in it - namely right at the beginning when you are more or less forced to follow your "professor" / uncle or who ever he was and beat him to the artefact. I remember getting there and the door or whatever being closed/didn't open and that point, the uncle suddenly disappeared as well and there was no way to restart the "race". Then I also thought that the clipping became more obvious with each game - maybe it's due to the higher resolution, maybe the hardware was more taxed as a result of them improving the visuals. Maybe it's also history playing tricks on my mind. I will definately need to go back to the old games eventually - I still rate them among the best gaming-experiences of my childhood (well, my childhood was actually streetfighter, emeral mind, the great giana sisters, impossible mission on the Amiga). I actually have them installed on my PSP and I guess it would be quite well playable, with the exception of the mission L2 and R2 buttons (which I think are mapped differently, so no big deal).

Anyway, now that I think about it - I still think the most memorable part was my first ever encounter with that bloddy T-Rex in the cave of Tomb Raider. That was just, OMG, WTF experience. Or the wolves, and the puzzles. I was probably daft when I reached the golden hand of middas level and needed 4 hours to solve that I simply needed to turn those bloddy rocks into gold. But it was so damn rewarding when I finally figured it out without any cheats or walkthroughs and progressed to the next level. or the monkeys or aligators... Yeah, I still miss that game.

Yeah, that cave and the level design there is still amazing and I am actually still waiting for a modern Tomb Raider to recapture that feel. Maybe I'm getting old too.

Anyway, I think I'm nearing the end of Tomb Raider now. It's been a good show, I must admit and the game mechanics are very solid. Graphics are nice too. I think this is going to be a game I wouldn't mind coming back to, just to be able to explore the parts of the game that I walked through earlier (because it does come across as being big and I at times wondered if I was walking the right way and when it later turned out I was, I wondered what would have been in the other direction? Some side-mission cave perhaps? Definately have to go back to it...). Nice.

 

[Cyan]

Hear, hear, he is a developer -if my memory doesn't fail me- so that's very interesting to know. I didn't play the game as of yet, but I am really interested in it.

I have many good memories from the original Lara Croft game, which was one of my first games ever on the PC. And maybe I somehow have unrealistic expectations about the new version, but I think I'd enjoy it immensely.

Cheers

 

[pjbliverpool]

Well I've not played this yet but my girlfriend is in the middle of it at the moment (she's a big Tombraider fan) and she won;t stop raving about it. Sounds like the best game she's ever played from the way she goes on. Personally I can't wait to play it now!

 

[dagamer]

Everyone universally agrees it's a good game. Some people question whether it's a good Tomb Raider game though because of the lack of classical puzzle solving elements and at times it devolving into a third person cover shooter.

Regardless, everyone should go play it. I actually invested the time to 100% the game, took 21 hours. Not bad for what I paid for it.

 

[Billy Idol]

Everyone universally agrees it's a good game. Some people question whether it's a good Tomb Raider game though because of the lack of classical puzzle solving elements and at times it devolving into a third person cover shooter.

Regardless, everyone should go play it. I actually invested the time to 100% the game, took 21 hours. Not bad for what I paid for it.

Already bought it, guess I can play it next week...sounds good!