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Tomb Raider PS3 review

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    Try setting your audio settings on the ps3 to auto detect.

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      Some of the design decisions and gameplay mechanics in this are downright strange. Secret tombs with hugely conspicuous graffiti arrows pointing out the entrances. Rope arrows required to open doors (ie, rip them off their hinges) when they have perfectly good handles. The need to burn hanging bundles to get at loot, when you could simply reach inside. Videogame logic here is on the loopy juice. Still an enjoyable romp, tho. Opening out a bit now.

      Comment


        Originally posted by Golgo View Post
        Some of the design decisions and gameplay mechanics in this are downright strange. Secret tombs with hugely conspicuous graffiti arrows pointing out the entrances. Rope arrows required to open doors (ie, rip them off their hinges) when they have perfectly good handles. The need to burn hanging bundles to get at loot, when you could simply reach inside. Videogame logic here is on the loopy juice. Still an enjoyable romp, tho. Opening out a bit now.
        It's the metroid school of game design...you know, like how one colour doors requires you to shoot bullets to open it, while another colour requires bombs instead. Blame Nintendo.

        Comment


          Fair enough, rmoxon, but it's all the more jarring when implemented in a game with real world/physics pretensions. I'm sure the game wouldn't have suffered if Lara didn't have to create an inferno to torch her way through the most trivial conundrums. Or even if she'd had a lockpick ability instead of needing to use a bow, ropes and ungodly strength to tear heavy wooden doors to splinters.

          BTW she's got more grunt than Kratos, and could light a barbecue with a single wet match in a torrential downpour. No wonder she's a 'survivor'! Just encountered

          a guardian. I'm surprised she didn't just punch it out cold.

          Last edited by Golgo; 06-04-2013, 23:19.

          Comment


            The 'secret' (massively highlighted) tombs are a disappointment so far. Feel like brief tech demos for the physics puzzles of Half-Life 2, which were thrilling back then. I'm being hugely entertained by Lara's witless banter on the various finds, however:


            "Could these be the remnants of...an ancient civilization?"

            "This mask was most likely used by a peasant or a nobleman."

            "It's probably a genuine ancient 19th century tobacco pouch."



            How did this girl graduate with a degree in archaeology/antiquities, I should like to know?! David Dickinson has nothing to fear lol.

            Anyway, the research and writing in this game is execrable. Pratchett should be taken aside and given something to read. Makes one realize what a good job Amy Hennig did on the Uncharted games, weaving real historical people, places and legend into the gameworld and plot. Anyway, I must press manfully on, if only to see what Lara comes out with next. In her own words: "I can do this..." / grunts with exertion...
            Last edited by Golgo; 08-04-2013, 11:03.

            Comment


              Well, I'm delighted to say that the game really picks up in the second half. Instead of Lara

              running in a more-or-less straight line gobbling up collectibles hidden in plain sight like some kind of crazed Pacman with tits and endlessly falling off lots of collapsing things

              , you get

              the environments opening out into some real complexity (the beach area is fantastic), combat gets more challenging, the other characters come back into it to create some really fabulous tensions and standoffs, and even the 'hidden tombs' start to provide a little bit of a challenge.

              I'm really enjoying it now and wish there had been this quality throughout.

              Comment


                Well i did tell you Dog you where being overly harsh in your assessment of it, and said it comes together when you know what the main story is about, i know you may not like it, but im hardly ever wrong. LOL
                Last edited by MisterBubbles; 09-04-2013, 11:33.

                Comment


                  Originally posted by MisterBubbles View Post
                  im hardly ever wrong.
                  You should put that as your tag - lol.

                  If it was this good from the start it would be an Uncharted 2 beater, for sure, but I think that game still edges it in the '3rd person archaeological action adventure' category. That said, I haven't got to the end yet...back to adventure!

                  Comment


                    Now that this is on sale I picked it up (Also sleeping dogs). I'm a few hours in and it was better than I expected. It also reminds me that Uncharterd has flawed combat dynamics, which TR seems to be far better in executing.

                    Anyway my fave part so far was the "The Tomb of the Lost Adventurer" (Free DLC) which was one of those puzzles that makes you think, and feels very satsifying to complete. I hope there are plenty more Tombs to explore, but understand this has less focus in the game than before.

                    For kr299 with the DLC, I feel this is a very good purchase and am optimistic it will end being a solid 8+ it just has the "Quality" feel to it, even the front end was cool.

                    Comment


                      Borrowed this from a friend over the weekend. But after completing it wish I hadn't, as apart from the visuals - which are stunning, the game is completely forgettable.

                      The gameplay is tedious, the story is tiresome, full of cliched characters, it's too short, too easy (is it even possible to die?), the framerate is cack (thanks for that, pretty visuals), the puzzles are a joke with token tombs so simple to solve that you wonder why they bothered, and, well, it just isn't Tomb Raider. It's an amalgamation of other games with a square root less than the sum of it's parts and epitomises everything I've come to dislike in modern videogames.

                      I don't wanna be overly hard, but it just wasn't fun or rewarding to play. Tomb Raider is a great series, an intelligent and subtle series, a series that drops the player in an environment, gives them a set of tools, and then leaves them to it; any sense of drama or tension or reward is the player's making, and better for it. There's none of that here because throughout the entire journey the game grips the player's hand like a frightened child clutching at the skirt of it's mother. Any so-called 'drama' is rammed down your throat in ****ty cutscenes and cheesy set pieces. It wants you to care, but doesn't give you reason to. It's all action, action, action. It's mindless and it's dull and I don't like it.

                      It's Lara Croft, but this isn't Tomb Raider. And you don't even get to see Lara's tits. I mean what's that all about? Eight hours of my life gone and no pretty titties to make up for it. Geez...

                      *I shouldn't need to say this but I am not criticising anyone's taste in games here. I am criticising the game (because it's ****) and the game only.*
                      Last edited by Charlie; 15-04-2013, 10:38.

                      Comment


                        Originally posted by Charlie View Post
                        Borrowed this from a friend over the weekend. But after completing it wish I hadn't, as apart from the visuals - which are stunning, the game is completely forgettable.

                        The gameplay is tedious, the story is tiresome, full of cliched characters, it's too short, too easy (is it even possible to die?), the framerate is cack (thanks for that, pretty visuals), the puzzles are a joke with token tombs so simple to solve that you wonder why they bothered, and, well, it just isn't Tomb Raider. It's an amalgamation of other games with a square root less than the sum of it's parts and epitomises everything I've come to dislike in modern videogames.

                        I don't wanna be overly hard, but it just wasn't fun or rewarding to play. Tomb Raider is a great series, an intelligent and subtle series, a series that drops the player in an environment, gives them a set of tools, and then leaves them to it; any sense of drama or tension or reward is the player's making, and better for it. There's none of that here because throughout the entire journey the game grips the player's hand like a frightened child clutching at the skirt of it's mother. Any so-called 'drama' is rammed down your throat in ****ty cutscenes and cheesy set pieces. It wants you to care, but doesn't give you reason to. It's all action, action, action. It's mindless and it's dull and I don't like it.

                        It's Lara Croft, but this isn't Tomb Raider. And you don't even get to see Lara's tits. I mean what's that all about? Eight hours of my life gone and no pretty titties to make up for it. Geez...

                        *I shouldn't need to say this but I am not criticising anyone's taste in amaes here. I am criticising the game (because it's ****) and the game only.*
                        This is exactly the type of view that stopped me playing the game in the first place, I assumed it would be rubbish.

                        I'm glad I picked it up on sale, as it seems quite good. *

                        *I shouldn't need to say this but I am not criticising anyone's tastes.

                        Comment


                          I definitely think I'm in the minority. My mate loved it too. I wish I could say I'm glad others are enjoying it, but I'm not, because it increases the likelihood of Tomb Raider sticking to this new formula.

                          Comment


                            I think Charlie, Tomb Raider is very much the modern game. It pretty much plays itself and is of the era where games are made to be completed pretty quickly. There's nothing wrong with that of course, it's just a pity that some of the best loved franchises are trying to be other, more modern franchises.

                            Comment


                              Tomb Raider is another great franchise from BITD which appears to have morphed into something that apes more recent series and seems characterless and without vision as a result. See also: Ridge Racer, Resi.

                              Comment


                                Originally posted by nakamura View Post
                                I think Charlie, Tomb Raider is very much the modern game. It pretty much plays itself and is of the era where games are made to be completed pretty quickly. There's nothing wrong with that of course, it's just a pity that some of the best loved franchises are trying to be other, more modern franchises.
                                I tend to agree with that. I must admit I didn't even think of this game as a "Tomb Raider" game and of course the puzzles and "Tomb raiding" were central in the experience. One assumes TR is a "Reboot" as the interest in the series dropped, and they are catering to a newer audience.

                                I suppose I also have grown into the "Newer audience" myself, and it is important to occasionally look behind our shoulders and see what we are leaving behind. For dedicated gamers that like a proper challenge and sense of reward, gaming is perhaps in a bad place these days.

                                I look back and think of how much fun the very first TR was on my PSX, but also the fact that I could spend an entire weekend playing and not think twice.

                                As a large % of gamers are in their 30's, married, tired and with maximum 10 hours a week for games, I believe the market has changed.

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