Finishing one usually rewards Lara with a new skill such as a bow technique or an increased proficiency in ancient Greek. When you solve a riddle-usually after flinging Lara's body to manipulate an ancient, massive, multistep mechanism-the sense of scale is only rivaled by the sense of accomplishment. Tombs liberally spread across the map provide one-off puzzle rooms where players have to slow down and really think about how to proceed. Rise of the Tomb Raider absolutely fixes this problem. Shooting arrows to both silently kill faraway enemies and open new paths in the world unites the game's refreshingly varied but occasionally disparate gameplay styles.Īngel of Darkness The Tomb Raider reboot took some criticism for not featuring that many actual tombs to raid. Rise of the Tomb Raider might have one of the most satisfying and versatile bows in gaming, though. The light RPG elements let you customize your combat perks and craft new items from collected materials, but systems like these are nothing special. When a full-on firefight breaks out, the game turns into a cover-based third-person shooter, but its mechanics aren't as solid as the nine-year-old Gears of War. Quiet kills are encouraged but the sneaking isn't anywhere near as robust as in a dedicated stealth game like Metal Gear Solid V ($18.95 at Amazon). The combat, by comparison, is a little less inspired. On their own, each of these tasks is simple enough, but as your abilities become more layered, keeping track of them all becomes a rewarding challenge. Shoot arrows to create zip lines or new platforms to stand on, and, if something flammable is in your way, just burn it down. Jump from a ledge and plant your pickaxe in an ice wall to climb higher. Players need to recognize precisely how to navigate each type of structure and skillfully transition between them. The events unfold in a gorgeously detailed, open-world version of Siberia with large interconnected areas like snowy valleys, Soviet installations, and hidden groves.Įxploration nicely splits the difference between smooth-looking, automated-feeling movement, like an Assassin's Creed ($39.99 at GameStop) game, and environmental puzzle-solving very similar to that of The Legend of Zelda. Gameplay is roughly split between combat and exploration sections occasionally punctuated with big, rollicking moments of cinematic action like evading a helicopter and staying alive in a collapsing chasm. It takes about a dozen hours to reach the Karen O-scored credits, but time flies by because the action is so varied and so well paced. Guardian of Light Fortunately, Rise of the Tomb Raider borrows more from action movies than just hammy scripts. The plot also ends on a huge sequel tease, in case it wasn't pulpy enough. Trinity is essentially the Knights Templar-meets-Blackwater, and one of Lara's major allies might as well be Jesus Christ. This premise leads the story into goofy The Da Vinci Code territory. But Trinity has its zealous eyes on the prize, too. Obsessed with the idea that her father was discredited and murdered by a shadowy group called Trinity, Lara ventures to Siberia to find a lost city supposedly holding the secret of immortality, a discovery that would vindicate her father's work. However, it also doesn't care about avoiding cheesiness. The recalibrated tone means Rise of the Tomb Raider can tell a good, old-fashioned, supernatural conspiracy yarn without caring too much about realism. And while the action is still violent, it's less jarring and fetishistically brutal than Lara's gruesome, horror-movie deaths in the reboot. But instead of having her do nothing but mope around and dwell on the past, the script wisely lets her grow from the experience into someone closer to the strong, witty Croft of the original games. Rise of the Tomb Raider, once again written by Rhianna Pratchett, acknowledges Lara's psychological trauma. Lara agonized over all the death around her, including the deaths she caused. This Xbox One game is a one-and-done experience, but in our post-Uncharted world, it's great to see Lara Croft remind everyone why she's the real Indiana Jones of gaming.Ĭradle of Life The Tomb Raider reboot may have ended with Lara exorcizing Japanese weather demons, but its big hook was that it injected some gritty humanity into the series and its protagonist. With all that hard work already accomplished, the Xbox One ($200.00 at eBay) exclusive Rise of the Tomb Raider ($59.99) hits the ground running and delivers more of what worked in the reboot while reintroducing classic concepts that had initially been stripped away. Fortunately, 2013's Tomb Raider not only returned the series to AAA gaming heights it hadn't seen in over a decade, but it also managed to turn Lara Croft from a sexy cipher to a well-rounded action heroine. Reboots may be an overdone entertainment trend of the past few years, but Tomb Raider was truly in need of one.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |