p00rdevil

Not previous Tomb Raider fan so I can't compare this outing to any of the others. Never played Uncharted either so I can't compare to that franchise, which seems to be a common thing to do.

In fact I have never played any game quite like this. The closest I can think of is Metal Gear 3. But Tomb Raider is far more focused on over the top action, in creating an intense experience of flying by the seat of your pants and hanging on by the skin of your teeth.

I went into this game thinking it was going to be mostly about roaming through dungeon size tombs full of puzzles, enemies and loot. Actually the game is mostly negotiating surface environments while engaging a lot of baddies determined to stop you. At it's core the game is a shooter more than it is a game of exploration and puzzle solving. Which is fine because it is very well done. Everything the devs tried to present as a gaming experience succeeds in a grand way.

So they have a new fan of the series here. That said I would like to see the next installment break away from having so much predetermined gameplay. There is a little bit of variance in how to approach environments and enemies, but not a whole lot. I think one game in the series like this is enough, and to keep the game vibrant the next installment should feature a change in direction. Not that this style of game is bad - it's great! - but once is enough.

But even if they don't change it up and the next game is a lot like this one, I will probably pick it up and play it anyway, because this team knows how to make a great game. That is a proven fact.

Tomb Raider. Don't usually fork out top dollar for a newly released game, but I made an exception in this case. Can't say I made a mistake, pretty awesome action game.

I just booted this game up last night on the PS3. I am relatively new to the console and I have never play any Uncharted game. I am generally a PC gamer and almost always pick the PC version of a game when I have that option. This time though I chose the PS3. Dang thing was 60 bucks! lol.

First of all I am impressed with how this game looks on the console. I play on a Sony super fine pitch CRT, which is a wide screen HDTV. I am stunned by how gorgeous this game looks and how fast and smooth it runs. The last game I played on my PS3 was Dark Souls and this game looks even better, so yea I am impressed!

My next impression was the production. This is a genuine AAA game. I haven't gotten too far into it, I am taking my time, trying to savor the experience ( I wanna get my $60 worth-- what if it's a short game! ) but I can tell right off the bat that Tomb Raider has a lot of money and talent behind it.

The last time I found myself moving through the jungle like this was in Metal Gear 3, so not having played Uncharted that is my comparison, or what Tomb Raider most reminds me of early on.

This game is very cinematic and coming off Dark Souls feels very guided. The two gameplay elements that keeps it from being a totally led by the hand experience are the puzzles, which have been cool ( I hope there are more of them ) and the fact that you need to explore the environment for upgrades. The overall path you follow is predetermined and the jumping, climbing, log walking, are all pretty much done for you. Press X and you are good to go. I am having fun with the game, it is enjoyable and I don't want to come off like I am feeling disappointed with TR, just making observations about the game design.

Most of my time has been learning to handle this bow in a efficient manner. Swinging the bow around quickly and getting a bead on an enemy is not easy with a DS and thumb stick. Been practicing on wolves. I have the option to run past them but I am determined to kill them all! Besides I need to get better with this bow.

Nvidia 580 3gb. Play on a single Sony fw900 monitor which is a high end wide screen CRT. I play in 2304X1440 resolution and most games will run with all video options maxed at 40 fps or higher. Since I only have a single monitor the 3gb might be over kill in the RAM department, but I wanted to future proof my rig some. My CPU is getting old, it's a i7 quad core 2.6ghz, and I have 6gb system RAM.This 580 was an upgrade from HD4850. Most radical upgrade I have ever done. Night and day as far as running games. I had to compromise all my games under the 4850, this 580 runs PC games like they were meant to be!

I enjoy Joe. Yea it's an act but so what? I find him more entertaining than annoying. He is intelligent, knowledgeable, and not without talent. Watching his Dogma review I feel I came away with a good overall idea of what this game's strength's and weaknesses are. He could change things up and play it straight, but I don't think that would be as much fun. There are plenty of reviewers doing that already.

I am not a big fan of the game either. I wish I did love it because I enjoy a wide open combat intensive RPG. There is little in specifics that I can point to and say "this flaw is a game breaker for me". But when I add up the sum of its parts Skyrim leaves me uninspired. I enjoyed Gothic 3 way more and it has far more problems with performance and gameplay quirks than Skyrim. When I play Skyrim I tend to be bored. I hardly ever get a feeling of excitement or challenge that a game like this is intended to deliver. I have tried to get into the swing of things several times, built probably ten different characters, but after level 20 or so I loose interest. I've tried following the main story quest, tried different faction quest lines, tried striking out on my own and doing whatever seems interesting in the world to do. I dunno, Skyrim is just not my kind of RPG I guess, although I can see it is a well crafted beautiful game. I play on my gaming PC with all the mods available and maxed out visuals. I give it every chance I can, trying hard to find the fun, but so far, by and large, that key gameplay element has eluded me.

I got this game cheap. I don't generally buy a game because it is cheap, but I kind of dig Conan so I snagged it. I am not enjoying it much at all. First of all it is very linear. No exploring a wide open 3D world. You are forced down a specific path and you stick to it. There is not even a way to move the camera around to check things out. A default camera and a default path to follow, feels very restricting, Ugh!

I am trying to get into the combat, really there is not much else to get into. The graphics are sub par in my opinion and the story is just meh. The combat is okay I guess, nothing too deep unless you consider hitting square, square,square, triangle, triangle deep. It is just not a high production game, very mediocre in fact in every way that matters to me.

If you are looking for a cool sword and board hack and slash cut 'em up I would recommend Viking Battle for Asgard over this, even if you are a Conan fan. Viking is actually a pretty good game, much better than Conan.

Here is an interesting tid bit in light of the recent THQ business, Conan was a THQ published game.

Please excuse the necro :) but the first Turok was one awesome FPS. It was among my favorite games on the N64 up there with Goldeneye and Zelda OOT.

What made Turok Dinosaur Hunter unique among the then current crop of FPS games was the primitive theme and jungle environment. You played as this bad ass Native American, a down and earthy warrior who finds himself in this twisted world of ancient ruins and teleporting enemies. You start out with a hunting knife and find progressively more damaging weaponry as you advance through the world. The whole place was full of mystery, exploration, and danger. You could swim and dive deep under water in the lakes and ponds, climb the vine covered cliffs, enter subterranean caves, search out the old ruins in the vein of a tomb raider. You could hunt wildlife for health. The game was like no other FPS at the time, a big step in another direction from the standard Quake and Doom.

I think Gears of War is the best exclusive on the Xbox. In fact I think it is among the better shooters to be had on any platform, period. However it is not strictly exclusive to Xbox because Gears 1 ( and only Gears 1) was offered on PC. If you like action shooters Gears is a great one, I liked it better than Halo. I'm talking Gears of War 1, I never played any of the other Gears games and I played it on PC not the Xbox, so my experience is a little different. It was better looking on the PC and had some additional content, but basically the same game.

Gothic 2 is getting old, so be ready for dated graphics. The interface of the game is rather clunky as well, far from streamlined. But the game is challenging and the open world environment mirrors the open ended, almost sandbox style gameplay. It doesn't hold your hand and it can become frustrating difficult at times. There is a ton of exploration in a well detailed game world, and combat is a large part of questing. It is a very combat oriented RPG, which is the way I like my open world RPGs, but the combat system itself isn't the most user friendly having a unrefined feel about it, but it is not horrible.

I like Gothic 3 more. It is a much better looking game in every way. There is a new community patch out for it [ 1.75 ] that really cleans up most of the game's technical and performance issues. The game running maxed out in a high resolution looks fantastic! I have always enjoyed playing the game, but tech issues made playing through it a real chore. This latest patch makes Gothic 3 run like a dream on my computer! I always thought G3 was among the better open world RPGs to be had, and now this latest patch makes it a lot more fun to play. If you have been a fan of Gothic 3, but couldn't get past the tech and performance issues, it might be time to patch it up and revisit this classic title. It has a lot to offer the open world RPG genre, especially if you favor lots of combat, exploration, and looting!