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    Tomb Raider

    Game » consists of 22 releases. Released Mar 05, 2013

    A young and inexperienced Lara Croft is shipwrecked on a mysterious island in this reboot of the beloved action adventure franchise, which departs from the mood of prior games in the series.

    doc_awesome's Tomb Raider (Xbox 360) review

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    Tomb Raider: The Quicktiming

    I haven’t played a Tomb Raider game since the first one came out on the PC. At the time, the graphics were pretty mind-blowing: it was the first 3D game I had ever played. Guiding the angular Lara Croft through polygonal puzzle-solving and platforming was fun even though combat could be pretty frustrating. So when the latest was available on Xbox Live for only $6, I decided to see how much it had improved. Few things can truly show you just how far technology has come like skipping a few generations between games. On the whole, the new Tomb Raider is just as impressive now as that first game was when I booted it up over a decade ago, but it is sadly hobbled by one terrible design choice repeated ad nauseam.

    Let’s start with the basics. Lara Croft, intrepid explorer, leads a research expedition into the Dragon’s Triangle to discover the secret of a mysterious island shrouded in storms and, of course, littered with tombs that need raiding. When their ship crashes they are attacked by a tribe of castaways led by a madman named Matthias. Lara must rescue her friends, find a way off the island, and above all, survive. This new game is essentially a reboot of the series, and it’s a great entry point if you’ve never played before, or just haven’t in a long time. While she begins as a scared girl lost in the woods, over the course of your journey together you will see Lara gradually become the legendary badass we all know and love. Unlike most games, this happens through more than just spending skill points and upgrading weapons. The first time you have to kill a man, Lara cries through the whole ordeal. But about halfway through the game, as you storm an enemy outpost with your new grenade launcher, you can hear the bad guys shouting to take cover and Lara yells back “That’s right you bastards! I’m COMING!”

    The setting is as well-developed as the characters, and you will journey through jungles, mountains, ancient ruins, shanty towns, shipwrecks and World War II bunkers. They all look incredible, though some of the more treacherous crossing and climbing Lara must do raises the question of how all these angry castaways get about the island so quickly if every bridge and building is just a step away from collapse. Regardless, traversal works wonderfully. Jumping, climbing, crouching, crawling and ziplining all feel solid, and never once did Lara start climbing the wrong wall or get stuck on a weird piece of level geometry, something Assassin’s Creed continues to struggle with.

    The most stellar improvement of all is the combat mechanics. Lara is quite nimble and responsive when the shit hits the fan, takes cover automatically without getting stuck, and has a dodge move that is actually useful. While the weapons are hardly original (a bow, pistol, shotgun, machine gun/grenade launcher and an axe) they all handle well and are suited to specific purposes. I did notice that after a few upgrades the bow easily outclassed all the other weapons except maybe the shotgun at close range, but hardly minded because shooting arrows is one of the single greatest joys in this game. The archery is even better than Skyrim’s, and I maxed out that skill at least five times. Other than the regenerating health, the combat feels very realistic. Arrows to the head are always fatal, and you can even hobble your opponents by shooting them in the legs. Lara can’t just soak up damage and shower waves of enemies in bullets, which is unusual for a video game action hero. Every encounter has to be approached cautiously and methodically, slowly advancing forward as you find the best way to thin the enemy ranks before engaging in open combat. One of my favorite features is that Lara will immediately draw her weapon when you’re in range of an enemy encounter, and she will put it away once all foes are dead, so there is never any confusion about when you need to be fighting and when it’s safe to explore.

    The game’s most egregious flaw is the over-reliance on quick time events. I’ve never been a fan of QTEs, as they strike me as lazy attempts to make cutscenes interactive. They don’t need to be, that’s why they’re cutscenes. And if you want the player to accomplish the action themselves, why not just use the excellent combat system you already have in place? For something that strives (and often succeeds) at being a playable action-adventure film, the massive brightly-colored button prompts are literally glowing reminders that you are in fact playing a video game. It would be like seeing Gandalf knock over a lighting rig in The Lord of the Rings. The only place where this mechanic is remotely appropriate (but still totally unnecessary) is when Lara must use her axe to pry open a door or turn a crank. Unfortunately, Tomb Raider quick times everything. There are QTEs in the climbing, in the combat, the puzzles, and even the final boss fight. That’s right—after spending the whole game gathering salvage and upgrading your skills to make Lara a serious ass-kicker, your ultimate foe’s defeat hinges on whether or not you can mash a button when the game tells you to. When the event ended, I waited for the real battle to begin. But instead the ending began to play and I asked aloud “Are you fucking kidding me?” As if in response, the credits began to roll.

    It’s really a shame that was the last impression Tomb Raider left on me, especially after such a great ride. If you can tolerate the QTEs, I’d highly recommend it. And I have to admit, I’m still looking forward to the next installment. Lara Croft is once again one of the most interesting characters in video games.

    Other reviews for Tomb Raider (Xbox 360)

      Whether you're a Tomb Raider fan or just in the mood for some thrilling action, this reboot's got you covered. 0

      Lara Croft has had something of an interesting career in the video game industry. Once a pinnacle in the original Playstations' library of games, the Tomb Raider series began to lose some steam after the second or third title. With each new chapter, developers promised a return to Lara's golden days as an adventurer, but what players were left with was some poorly aging controls and questionable story decisions. So, when Square Enix announced that they would be rebooting the long standing series...

      6 out of 6 found this review helpful.

      Crystal Dynamics and Lara both take the Reboot term seriously, delivering an adventure worthy of a true survivor. 0

      Tomb Raider (2013) (Xbox360) REVIEW____________________________________________________________________________Long time veteran of the medium Lara Croft is no stranger to adventure, but in Crystal Dynamics new origin tale, we aim to achieve a closer relation to the newly redesigned heroine, and simultaneously bring a game long known for its puzzles and adventurous platforming into the new age of video game storytelling, all without sacrificing the tomb raiding the game built it’s name upon. Do...

      3 out of 3 found this review helpful.

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