My Impressions After Rolling The Credits

Never played any Uncharted game and this is my first stint with any Tomb Raider game, so I am coming from a different perspective than many.

This has been among the more entertaining single player games I have played, either console or PC ( I played on the PS3 ). It was one of those rare games that kept me eager to boot it up and play it from beginning to end!

Through out my time with TR I was making mental comparisons to Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater more than any other game. They were different in a lot of ways, but I saw a lot of similar design too. Metal Gear 3 was stronger in two key areas, the character development and boss fights. But as far as the fun I had moving through the environments taking on baddies, exploring, they were pretty equal.

But the bosses in MGS3 are really the best I have ever encountered and holding TR to that standard is holding the bar pretty high. Even so I think the game would benefit by having some boss fights that rival the flesh and blood characters like Kojima's creation instead of the rather generic fellows we took down. I know it is a tall order, but a successful attempt would push this franchise to the next level. The boss fights in TR really seemed weak, especially when compared to the rest of the game which was so stellar.

I thought the balance the devs struck between combat, stealth, puzzle solving, platforming, exploring was pretty good. I think the game could have been be a little lighter on combat and stronger in stealth options and puzzles, but as it was it wasn't bad. I wouldn't shed a tear to see the the QTEs get the ax in the next outing either. At least for the most part.

Sound effects, music, camera, controls, graphics are all excellent. Nothing to be critical about with any of that important stuff at all. In fact I remember having a heck of a time with the camera in MGS3 before I got use to it and learned how to work with it. There was none of that in this game. The only time I had to give the camera any thought at all was during intense melee combat.

Interesting comparison. I sort of understand how sneaking through the jungle as Lara and capping wildlife has the same vibe as doing it as Naked Snake. However, I'm not really seeing any other overlap between the two games. I guess what I'm saying is that Tomb Raider could have used some impossibly long ladders and was really lacking in the dude-on-dude crotch grabbing department.

The general level design, the way you moved from one play field to another. Both games were laid out in a similar way with maps that funneled you from one large area to the next and used a solo hero to move through them, using cover. The stealth element was more consistent in MGS3, but in the earlier game lara was sneaky. The concrete broken down buildings and bunkers set in a wild environment were in both games. There was much difference in the two games as well, but I do think TR drew a lot of inspiration from Metal Gear, as well as from Uncharted.