In an era of gritty reboots, few franchises deserve reimagining
more than Tomb Raider. Series heroine
Lara Croft has been the punch line of many jokes since her debut in 1996 on
account of her over-sexualization, so a new perspective on the character stands
to propel the series back into relevance in today’s market. And the new Tomb Raider has many of the
elements necessary to do just that.
Tomb Raider serves as an origin story of sorts, introducing
us to Lara Croft, a young and spunky archaeologist, as she travels with her
mentor and their colorful crew in search of the lost Japanese city of Yamatai . As tends to be the case in this sort of
story, the crew ends up shipwrecked on a small island in the Pacific and must then
fight for survival as they try to make their way back home. Along the way, Lara explores ancient ruins
and struggles against deranged foes.
The overall presentation is fabulous. A lot of the narrative is given in
collectible documents, coming in the form of letters or journal entries, so it
preserves the feeling of isolation while revealing fascinating
backstories. This interesting story is
enhanced by beautifully rendered cinematics and a number of gorgeous vistas
throughout the game. The sound quality
is similarly high, with engrossing ambient sounds and a few themes that amplify
the emotional tension and fear of many of the game’s scenarios.
And it all supports one of the most compelling gaming
protagonists in recent history. Lara is
surprisingly well developed, primarily through realistic writing and small
details that make her seem like someone you might actually know. Even though the game doesn’t spend too much
time exploring her relationships with the other survivors, the brief
interactions you get to observe make the status of those relationships quite
clear. This development culminates in a
powerfully emotional adventure, where you can’t help but feel Lara’s fear,
grief, and elation as the plot progresses.
The gameplay mechanics are divided pretty evenly between jumping
around like a monkey and shooting arrows into people’s faces. The platforming stuff is great; scaling
cliffs, crossing rooftops, and looking for the next handhold are all smoothly
integrated into the basic movement controls.
This somewhat acrobatic system combined with the open, beautifully
detailed environments gives Tomb Raider a fantastic feeling of exploration. It’s exciting to search new areas for hidden
goodies and see the wonderful world that’s before you, and the intuitive controls
make it hugely entertaining.
The combat is surprisingly similar to good third-person
shooters. Over-the-shoulder aiming with
several available weapons is a familiar concept for many gamers, and the
implementation here is about as good as you could hope for. Lara’s pretty squishy, though, so she can’t
take much abuse; instead, the game incorporates some nice stealth features,
too, as you’re usually better off killing enemies silently from a distance than
rushing into a firefight.
My only complaint about the gameplay (really the game
single-player game in general) is the fact that distractions don’t work very
well. Early in the game, you are told
that shooting an arrow into the wall behind an enemy will distract them,
allowing you to kill them from behind or sneak past while they’re investigating
the sound. The only time this technique worked for me was immediately after that
tutorial; I was never able to distract anyone again. It’s not a big deal, as distractions are
never really necessary, but it was annoying to have it pointed out, only to be
unable to make it work later.
But that’s a minor flaw; the overall experience is amazing – great controls, awesome world, and beautiful presentation make Tomb Raider a
stellar game.
And if it had stopped there, I’d say that it is an incredible package all around…
In another instance of “unnecessary multiplayer,” Tomb
Raider includes competitive online modes that embody just about everything
that’s terrible about online gaming in the modern age. The basic mechanics aren’t anything special,
but they’re also not hideous: deathmatches and a couple objective-based team
modes pitting shipwreck survivors against island inhabitants put the
single-player combat and platforming to reasonably good use.
Like many games these days, the online component of Tomb
Raider has multiplayer levels, earned by competing in online matches. Unlike many games these days, the multiplayer
levels in Tomb Raider are almost explicitly rewards for time spent, not measures of skill or success. You get XP for damn near everything in this
game, including dying three times in a round or by being killed by the same
enemy five times. You’ll still progress
more quickly if you’re successful, but the game grants an alarming amount of XP
for failing miserably.
To make matters worse, higher levels unlock more powerful
weapons and perks. These unlocks, in
turn, make it easier to annihilate your enemies, which pose a huge obstacle for
new players, especially when combined with experienced players’ familiarity
with the trap-laden stages. The
matchmaking system doesn’t help, as you can easily change teams in the
lobby, allowing you to stack teams with no problem. As such, high-level players can easily and
repeatedly dominate their low-level opposition.
It all creates a terribly hostile environment for new
players. Of course, if you can push
through the oppressive lower levels and gain some familiarity with the
battlefields, there’s a fun multiplayer game underneath. It only really appears if you get into a game
full of players on your skill level, and the matchmaking does absolutely nothing
to help find such a game. I find that
maybe one in every five matches is really fun, due primarily to the glaring
design flaws mentioned above.
As a single player campaign, Tomb Raider is one of the best
adventures out there, and I’d say it’s one that every gamer should experience. As a complete package, though, Tomb Raider
falls a little short because the multiplayer is so full of frustrating design choices
that it’s not worth exploring unless you’re willing to invest a lot of time.
My Rating: 8/10 – great.
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