Tomb Raider Review - An Icon Reborn

[m19]

Letting a franchise die is also a good option. Maybe this franchise was already milked to death and doesn't need any more installments? I'd prefer that it would die, rather than have it become something completely different.

Because the new Lara will burn all your old CDs at night?

How about you just don't play the game and let those who would enjoy something different have their fun.

 

[Doom972]

Why even call her Lara Croft? If they wanted to tell a new story in the Tomb Raider setting with a brand new character, then why didn't they just do it? She isn't anything like her except in her name: She doesn't act like her or sound like her and she barely resembles her.

While the new Lara might be good (some might like her better, which is fine), this seems like a slap in the face for everyone who liked Lara Croft and the Tomb Raider franchise before.

Simple.

If they had made this game without the Tomb Raider title, people would be calling it a Tomb Raider rip-off, and it'd be constantly compared to those games. The differences are enough to be noticeable to those who enjoyed the games, but they are also similar enough to have a lot of comparisons.

We're going to have to agree to disagree on that point I guess. I don't see how someone would've though that this is a Tomb Raider game if they had named the game and its protagonist differently.

I didn't say they'd think it's a Tomb Raider game, I said it'd be similar enough to be called a rip-off. Like how people are complaining about how Bungie's new game Destiny is just like Halo, purely because of some aesthetic similarities.

Similar in what way? Where's the platforming/riddle solving? Where are the ancient tombs? Where's Lara's personality/looks/signature weapons?

There are more similarities between this game and Uncharted, rather than Tomb Raider.

 

[Rawbeard]

A high profile reboot and they still did not think of letting the story guys in on what type of game they made. The story of a vulnerable girl and her alter ego the murder hobo. Oi vey.

 

[Uber Waddles]

The only thing I ask of Susan is: How does this game hold up compared to the previous titles? Is it similiar, fresh, etc?

I've been people panning this game as great, but no one says "yeah, they've gotten rid of the annoying crap like lineal ledges that sometimes are climbable and other times just background pieces".

It certainly looks better - but this late in the console cycle, LOOKING like a good game and BEING a good game are two COMPLETELY different things

 

[gamernerdtg2]

What annoys the hell out of me is that "cartoony" and "unrelatable" matter. It's a friggin game! Why do people even care about the alleged "disparity" between her frailty and her assasin like qualities? Here we go with story driven b.s. and art in games - why can't we leave the game part alone?

Well, it must be that we're now phasing out backwards compatability and used games so nevermind. Ok yah, the old games are all cartoony and unrelatable.

Well, pardon us for having different tastes than you. How dare we?!

Personally, I like playing something every now and again that doesn't feel like it was made for a child.

Not sure if this particular game qualifies, not having played it and all, but we shall see.

I said nothing about taste - Tomb Raider has always been for adults as far as I know. That's not my complaint. If they made her "frail" then playing this version of Tomb Radier would be a total drag. They bring this crap up while the basic gameplay that made Tomb Raider fun to play gets passed over. I don't see why she had to say that bit about being "cartoony and unrelatable" b/c Tomb Raider has always been accesible. It's like she's putting down the older games like Legend, Anniversary, Guardian of Light, etc- all of which were great games. Who says that they're now corny? That's BS. No modern gamer bias there at all.

 

[gamernerdtg2]

And what happened to improving on what they did for Guardian of Light? That was a solid game. I really hope that this current version of Tomb Raider is good.

 

[axlryder]

That Machinima review seems overly focused on potentially trivial aspects, but I imagine his points are legitimate. The game loos like an 8 out of 10 to me.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

eh, I'll be skipping it; the series was never exactly a sacred cow even at the best of times and nothing about this one really does anything for me from previews. There's are just far more interesting releases in March

 

[Zhukov]

What annoys the hell out of me is that "cartoony" and "unrelatable" matter. It's a friggin game! Why do people even care about the alleged "disparity" between her frailty and her assasin like qualities? Here we go with story driven b.s. and art in games - why can't we leave the game part alone?

Well, it must be that we're now phasing out backwards compatability and used games so nevermind. Ok yah, the old games are all cartoony and unrelatable.

Well, pardon us for having different tastes than you. How dare we?!

Personally, I like playing something every now and again that doesn't feel like it was made for a child.

Not sure if this particular game qualifies, not having played it and all, but we shall see.

I said nothing about taste - Tomb Raider has always been for adults as far as I know. That's not my complaint. If they made her "frail" then playing this version of Tomb Radier would be a total drag. They bring this crap up while the basic gameplay that made Tomb Raider fun to play gets passed over. I don't see why she had to say that bit about being "cartoony and unrelatable" b/c Tomb Raider has always been accesible. It's like she's putting down the older games like Legend, Anniversary, Guardian of Light, etc- all of which were great games. Who says that they're now corny? That's BS. No modern gamer bias there at all.

When I say different tastes I'm referring to the fact that some of us enjoy "story driven b.s."

And those old game were corny. Very corny. That doesn't mean they were bad, although I balk at the notion of calling Legend and Anniversary "great".

Also, this particular reviewer really liked Guardian of Light and highly recommended it. I remember because I bought it after reading her review and found it to be enjoyable.

 

[gamernerdtg2]

When I say different tastes I'm referring to the fact that some of us enjoy "story driven b.s."

And those old game were corny. Very corny. That doesn't mean they were bad, although I balk at the notion of calling Legend and Anniversary "great".

Also, this particular reviewer really liked Guardian of Light and highly recommended it. I remember because I bought it after reading her review and found it to be enjoyable.

That's good to hear. None of the games that I've mentioned (especially Legend) have corny stories though.

Ok so I guess I don't know what she means by unrelatable. How is it that a game can now be corny, esp any of the games in the Tomb Raider series? I'm seriously not getting it. And I love a story driven game just as much as everyone else. If it's balanced out well enough with the gameplay, I love story in my games.
I'm just super hormonal about the way modern gamers criticise older games as though the new stuff makes the old irrelevant. Many of the older games have more replay value than these current ones, with a few exceptions. Underworld had its flaws I suppose, but it's not corny at all. I guess I don't git it.

 

[Quellist]

It looks nice but the bit about Tombs being linear really disappoints me, was hoping for some hardcore puzzle action. This really looks like Tomb Raider lite, also it looks a lot like Far Cry 3 as far as the upgrades go, even the XP bar was identical

 

[Madkipz]

It looks nice but the bit about Tombs being linear really disappoints me, was hoping for some hardcore puzzle action. This really looks like Tomb Raider lite, also it looks a lot like Far Cry 3 as far as the upgrades go, even the XP bar was identical

Its worse than far cry in every respect aside from the shitty qte riddled bossfights. Even the tombs in Far Cry were more complex than the ones lara visits in this game.

This is a biased review that glosses over the shitty side characters, and the poor gameplay mechanics when brought up against the plot running the game and say's its fine: 10/10 / 5 stars whatever. The escapist was never any good at reviewing games anyhow. Just look at their Dragonage 2 review.

 

[Erttheking]

It looks nice but the bit about Tombs being linear really disappoints me, was hoping for some hardcore puzzle action. This really looks like Tomb Raider lite, also it looks a lot like Far Cry 3 as far as the upgrades go, even the XP bar was identical

Its worse than far cry in every respect aside from the shitty qte riddled bossfights. Even the tombs in Far Cry were more complex than the ones lara visits in this game.

This is a biased review that glosses over the shitty side characters, and the poor gameplay mechanics when brought up against the plot running the game and say's its fine: 10/10 / 5 stars whatever. The escapist was never any good at reviewing games anyhow. Just look at their Dragonage 2 review.

An opinion that disagrees with yours does not a bad review make. Also I don't follow how you know it's quality when the world wide release isn't until March 5th.

 

[Madkipz]

It looks nice but the bit about Tombs being linear really disappoints me, was hoping for some hardcore puzzle action. This really looks like Tomb Raider lite, also it looks a lot like Far Cry 3 as far as the upgrades go, even the XP bar was identical

Its worse than far cry in every respect aside from the shitty qte riddled bossfights. Even the tombs in Far Cry were more complex than the ones lara visits in this game.

This is a biased review that glosses over the shitty side characters, and the poor gameplay mechanics when brought up against the plot running the game and say's its fine: 10/10 / 5 stars whatever. The escapist was never any good at reviewing games anyhow. Just look at their Dragonage 2 review.

An opinion that disagrees with yours does not a bad review make. Also I don't follow how you know it's quality when the world wide release isn't until March 5th.

Oh i dont disagree with Susan's review. I disagree with the score because i don't know by what measure this game is a 5 star game considering that comparably with far cry 3 this game has more qte's (Not hard considering Far cry only used them for bossfights and sneak attacks), and we already know from the review that the dungeoneering aspect is a one room / limited deal, while the island itself is limited or at least segmented by areas that you select from the mapscreen.

So given all of its negatives which are mentioned from the review itself. HOW COME ITS 5 STARS?

 

[Erttheking]

It looks nice but the bit about Tombs being linear really disappoints me, was hoping for some hardcore puzzle action. This really looks like Tomb Raider lite, also it looks a lot like Far Cry 3 as far as the upgrades go, even the XP bar was identical

Its worse than far cry in every respect aside from the shitty qte riddled bossfights. Even the tombs in Far Cry were more complex than the ones lara visits in this game.

This is a biased review that glosses over the shitty side characters, and the poor gameplay mechanics when brought up against the plot running the game and say's its fine: 10/10 / 5 stars whatever. The escapist was never any good at reviewing games anyhow. Just look at their Dragonage 2 review.

An opinion that disagrees with yours does not a bad review make. Also I don't follow how you know it's quality when the world wide release isn't until March 5th.

Oh i dont disagree with Susan's review. I disagree with the score because i don't know by what measure this game is a 5 star game considering that comparably with far cry 3 this game has more qte's (Not hard considering Far cry only used them for bossfights and sneak attacks), and we already know from the review that the dungeoneering aspect is a one room / limited deal, while the island itself is limited or at least segmented by areas that you select from the mapscreen.

So given all of its negatives which are mentioned from the review itself. HOW COME ITS 5 STARS?

Because just because a game has flaws, doesn't stop it from being immensely enjoyable. And five stars does not mean perfect.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/7149-What-Our-Review-Scores-Mean

 

[Quellist]

It looks nice but the bit about Tombs being linear really disappoints me, was hoping for some hardcore puzzle action. This really looks like Tomb Raider lite, also it looks a lot like Far Cry 3 as far as the upgrades go, even the XP bar was identical

Its worse than far cry in every respect aside from the shitty qte riddled bossfights. Even the tombs in Far Cry were more complex than the ones lara visits in this game.

This is a biased review that glosses over the shitty side characters, and the poor gameplay mechanics when brought up against the plot running the game and say's its fine: 10/10 / 5 stars whatever. The escapist was never any good at reviewing games anyhow. Just look at their Dragonage 2 review.

An opinion that disagrees with yours does not a bad review make. Also I don't follow how you know it's quality when the world wide release isn't until March 5th.

Yeah, i just took a look at that DA 2 review and i Winced, while nothing is actually untrue (though i utterly disagree with a lof of his opinions especially about combat being improved) it totally glosses over the worst changes. I was never going to preorder Tomb Raider, especially not since the A:CM debacle but now i think i'll rent it before i even consider buying. Thanks for the pointer.

*Edit* Oops, this was supposed to be quoting Madkipz, not erttheking

 

[Casual Shinji]

Whether it's a good game or not, I just don't see the point in humanizing Lara Croft and turning her into a frightened little girl. It's like humanizing Indiana Jones.

Now Lara was never as likable as Indy, but her main purpose was to be a simple badass action chick, and in that regard she did a good job. I don't see why they couldn't simply expand on that, and give her more of a personality, instead of going with this "Look how so not Lara Croft she is; Isn't she relatable now!?"

More than that though I'm sad the grand trapeze style puzzle rooms have been replaced with Uncharted styled "epic vista" corridor levels.

 

[Susan Arendt]

It looks nice but the bit about Tombs being linear really disappoints me, was hoping for some hardcore puzzle action. This really looks like Tomb Raider lite, also it looks a lot like Far Cry 3 as far as the upgrades go, even the XP bar was identical

Its worse than far cry in every respect aside from the shitty qte riddled bossfights. Even the tombs in Far Cry were more complex than the ones lara visits in this game.

This is a biased review that glosses over the shitty side characters, and the poor gameplay mechanics when brought up against the plot running the game and say's its fine: 10/10 / 5 stars whatever. The escapist was never any good at reviewing games anyhow. Just look at their Dragonage 2 review.

Oh, so you've played the game?

 

[jcfrommars9]

Whether it's a good game or not, I just don't see the point in humanizing Lara Croft and turning her into a frightened little girl. It's like humanizing Indiana Jones.

Now Lara was never as likable as Indy, but her main purpose was to be a simple badass action chick, and in that regard she did a good job. I don't see why they couldn't simply expand on that, and give her more of a personality, instead of going with this "Look how so not Lara Croft she is; Isn't she relatable now!?"

More than that though I'm sad the grand trapeze style puzzle rooms have been replaced with Uncharted styled "epic vista" corridor levels.

In this game, Lara is still a badass action chick. The only difference between this game and the Tomb Raider from '96 is that in the former, she is learning to be one and to trust herself as an archeologist. This Lara Croft has yet to accomplish the things the Lara Croft from the original Tomb Raider did before the events of that game. The point I saw in humanizing Lara Croft was to make her more relatable to today's audience and better establish where she comes from. I understand that's not for everybody, but from my part, this game works beautifully at that. It's been a while since I've been so genuinely invested in a character getting through their struggle in a game. Now does it have the spirit of Uncharted (as well as other games) in certain parts, yes. But to say for instance that it is plagiarizing Uncharted (or Far Cry 3) is far too disingenuous to me. The tone of the game alone made me forget all about Uncharted. As for Far Cry 3, Lara does become more confident and savvy whether she's fighting someone or exploring but she never gets the thrill Jason Brody gets from killing or the anger. Lara is young and afraid, but she's not a coward. She's inexperienced, but she has training and great instincts. When it comes to fight or flight, Lara's response is clearly fight.

 

[The Funslinger]

I never really had much experience with Tomb Raider. This looks interesting, though, and I might have to pick it up when I'm no longer a complete pauper.

It looks nice but the bit about Tombs being linear really disappoints me, was hoping for some hardcore puzzle action. This really looks like Tomb Raider lite, also it looks a lot like Far Cry 3 as far as the upgrades go, even the XP bar was identical

Its worse than far cry in every respect aside from the shitty qte riddled bossfights. Even the tombs in Far Cry were more complex than the ones lara visits in this game.

This is a biased review that glosses over the shitty side characters, and the poor gameplay mechanics when brought up against the plot running the game and say's its fine: 10/10 / 5 stars whatever. The escapist was never any good at reviewing games anyhow. Just look at their Dragonage 2 review.

Oh, so you've played the game?