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Shadow of the Tomb Raider

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    Shadow of the Tomb Raider

    A weekend of play where I've focused on the core game rather than finding all the collectibles and hidden tombs has seen me reach what I think is around two thirds of the way through the game.

    I'm playing the game via PS4 Pro and it's frankly a stunning looking game, especially when you factor in that it's a multiformat third party effort. You have two options if you're not on a base machine which are focused on performance (1080p/60fps) or quality (Checkerboard, 30fps), from playing the past two games on PC 60fps is damned nice but not essential for this type of game and I found the 1080p to look too soft and Vaseliney for my tastes.

    The game follows up on the past two in a very similar vein but attempts to bridge the tomb moaners issues by setting up a narrative whereby tombs are more central to the plot. So, the gameplay is the same as before but you don't spend your time travelling through abandoned Russian bases and ruins etc but instead making your way through jungle terrain and crypts. The set pieces have been toned back, they're there but in far lower numbers and mostly without QTE elements, the same goes for combat with encounters lowered and more support for stealthily moving around and taking down foes though the combat is and remains superior to that found in Uncharted.

    My main issue is that much has been made about this closing out the origins trilogy before the fourth game shakes things up and whilst it seems set to do that there's a distinct lack of a sense of event about it, this is a continuation rather than a culmination, but there's nothing to dislike here if you enjoyed the previous two entries.

    By the looks the game will be as passed over as the past two amidst a slew of moans about the games not being what the franchise has almost never been and would likely suck if it tried to be which is a shame, whilst UC4 drew wide praise these games do an astounding job of recreating the gameplay style without the weary self-analysis and without giving in as much to the walking simulator vibe. This doesn't reinvent the wheel but once again I'm enjoying it more than I did the other big name and more dated major Sony release that's dominating the charts at the moment.

    Hopefully the last third builds things up to an impressive close out.
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    #2
    Looking forward to this - should have my copy in the next few days. Supposed to be more puzzles and less combat? Hmm not too sure if I like that!

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      #3
      Definitely a reduced focus on combat but I think that's had the effect of creating the illusion of there being more puzzles to an extent though they could be more confined to side missions I haven't gotten into on this playthrough. I know the games have received flak for their previous Uncharted style excesses but I think they're the thing I miss the most this time out as they happen on a much rarer occasion and there was really no reason to cut them to fit other aspects in.

      Fans of Tomb Raider are an odd bunch that the devs should routinely ignore. They moan about the storylines as though the past games were any better, they complain about the control accuracy which only exposes their own inadequacies as gamers and they rant about it being unrealistic how Lara would escape-say-a cave collapse action sequence and yet a gun fight with a T-Rex in Egypt is still okay.

      I'm just shy of the 'Point of No Return' at the endgame point and it's been a good run, if more low key than the last two.

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        #4
        Finished and... gah, almost ruins itself at the end. The last few areas and the final boss are easily the weakest of the game and the trilogy as a whole but stop short of being too poor to ruin the overall experience which is generally a strong one.

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          #5
          Lovr the impressionsame SF. Added a like for use of the term 'vaseliney' when talking about 1080p!

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            #6
            78% and on the home straight.Really enjoying this so far.There are some stunning cities that look superb on the X.

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              #7
              I’m enjoying it too, but it’s very similar to the last two games. Hard to see where they could take the franchise....

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                #8
                My gut tells me the fourth game will be a continuation of the same canon but a reboot gameplay wise, some sort of hybrid between these three and the old open ones.

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                  #9
                  Anyone remember that Ghost Recon Wildlands had that vs predator dlc, this game needs that, lara vs predator, the ultimate hunters. Thats how i feel playing the game.


                  *edit update* ok finished the game, i enjoyed it, i thought the focus on towns and such a bit unnecessary. At any rate it was enjoyable and the combat and stealth stuff was awesome, lara felt like the freaking predator.

                  However, i dont quite understand how this is the cap on the trilogy, in the last game lara met someone who had everlasting life and learnt of the object that gave that power, yet nobody mentions it again. Even trinity are a bit miss matched now and seem to have lost much of their force/power relying more on a sort of local militia style of recruits.
                  Its just really bugs me in story telling and sadly the majority of this seems to be games, where extraordinary things happen and nobody stops to talk about it. Nothings really been explained. Now if you played rise of the tomb raider there was some er maybe it was dlc but there was a croft mansion exploration side mission. And in that missions there were diaries about how laras mum died and how her father tried to use an artifact to return her to life. Very much in the same vain as the main story, the divine source etc. Why that was not explored further i have no idea.

                  Its like in gears of war 2, when the squad meet the locust queen and shes clearly human, and nobody mentions it or talks about it afterwards....why wouldnt you bring that up, every player in the world is going "what, huh!" at their tv and the characters in the story dont even pass a comment about it.

                  Anyway i was just hoping to see some kind of resolution about these 'divine' artifacts or something around the subject of the previous games, everlasting life etc. and sadly it doesn't materialise
                  Last edited by Largo; 25-09-2018, 22:14.

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                    #10
                    I'm a few hours in to this now but I'm not really convinced I'm enjoying it or not. I think I much, much preferred the combat heavy first of this trilogy and the meandering through towns and stuff is a bit dull. Will see it through as I've brought the PS4 away to work with me this week to play in the hotel, but as lovely as it looks, it's just a bit meh.

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                      #11
                      Completed this a month or so back while trying to 100% most areas.
                      It was a good game but I don't feel I had as much fun with this one as I had with the last game, Rise of the Tomb Raider.
                      Last edited by Yakumo; 04-12-2018, 09:26.

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                        #12
                        Looking back I feel like mechanically the game is the best one but they made a mistake by listening to moaner fans and thereby dialling back the set pieces and amount of combat etc making for a flatter experience. That and Lara is so utterly dislikeable in this one.

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                          #13
                          The loot in the second game kills it for me. Just boring!

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                            #14
                            I had spent an age wondering why I couldn't have any gun other than the pistol. I hadn't spotted the upgrade that leveled up weapon handling. Ridiculous. It's a bit of a trudge this game though I've kept at it this week as it's the only game I brought with me while I'm away from home. The amount of climbing you have to do is utterly tedious, and the action is pretty poor. Definitely the weakest of the modern Tomb Raiders. In my opinion they started brilliantly with the first (ignoring the awful QTE's) and have gotten gradually worse. Shame really, as I'd massively been looking forward to this.

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