Tomb Raider: Legend — IGN
Nearly 10 years ago a little-known British developer crafted a title whose impact on the videogame world would be massive and permanent. Tomb Raider starring Lara Croft graced game systems in November 1996. Within a year, the sexy, smart and sassy heroine would go on to become world-famous for her voluptuous build, can-do attitude, and endless mass market appeal. Along with Shigeru Miyamoto’s brilliant Super Mario 64, the first Tomb Raider illuminated new corridors in 3D game development, showing fresh possibilities in character and game design, 3D control, and camera work.
A lot has happened since the heady days of Core Design and Eidos Entertainment’s first big splash. It’s been nearly a decade. Lara’s popularity has continued to thrive well into this century, especially with two movies starring Angelina Jolie, but though she remained a cultural icon to the masses, her games went down the toilet. After Tomb Raider 2, fans got five progressively worse sequels, the last of which was so second-rate that Eidos canned Core Design from its own series.
Enter Crystal Dynamics, the Menlo Park, Ca. developer best known for its gothic action-adventure game, Legacy of Kain. Crystal D spent more than a year researching the Tomb Raider series before it actually started the design proper, digging up the essentials to figure out what people loved so much about the originals and how to return to that point. Among other beneficial moves, original designer and animator Toby Gard was retained as a consultant. And the team’s research pointed to a few things: people love exploring enormous exotic locales, they love great stories, and they want the freedom of making an acrobatic character move nimbly and athletically. That’s exactly what we get with Tomb Raider: Legend. Crystal D’s fresh approach, erudite design and execution, and its focus on good controls, smart puzzles, and competent combat, do the trick. They’ve resurrected an icon and a legacy from its tumultuous past by making the best and most definitive Tomb Raider yet.
Slated for PC, GameCube, PS2, Xbox and Xbox 360 (with a PSP release in May), the game starts with a focused thematic storyline that carries all the way to its final moments. In one of the first of many flashback moments, Lara and her mum begin the game traveling in a small airplane. Suddenly an engine catches on fire and they have to crash land. The two make it through the crash unharmed, but they find themselves in an ancient land with strange iconography and mystical architecture. Lara activates an ancient artifact and her mother is sucked into a magic vortex that pretty much ends Lara’s childhood on the spot. The game proper starts soon thereafter in modern times in Bolivia with Lara Croft climbing cliff sides, a little reminiscent but a lot less vain than Tom Cruise’s intro to Mission Impossible 2.
The narrative proceeds through in-game dialog, cutscenes, and flashback sequences, both watchable and playable. Just like in Resident Evil 4 (or Diehard Arcade if you want to get technical), many cutscenes demand quick interactions to keep Lara alive, and the extra effort pays off.
It’s clear Crystal D has done its homework. The story unfolds at a healthy pace, the dialog is extremely well handled, and while there are some obvious videogame archetypes, the enemies aren’t terribly comic or over-exaggerated. The dialog is crisp and nicely edited. Lara is witty, and then it’s back to the action. But Crystal D does develop Lara’s character. You do get the feeling that she has a past that drives and haunts her, and she shows some real emotion. As Lara says to an engineer friend, she is in the business of digging up things. That’s what this narrative does well. Crystal D builds her character and makes you care for Lara. Considering the history of the series, that’s a daunting task.
The funny thing about Tomb Raider: Legend is how much has changed, yet remained the same. Crystal D made distinct changes to the game’s every aspect, yet Legend is still very much a Tomb Raider action-adventure title. The core evolution to the once diminished series is how Lara controls.
Moving Lara around environments is not an issue any longer. She is not tied to an invisible grid. There are no rigid means to make short jumps and or three-step rules to make a long jump. With the exception of gravity, she’s free. Particular changes to her means of locomotion are all in the details, however, and these improvements make this adventure game worth your while. Lara can still jump, swim, walk and run, climb on poles, ladders, ropes, cliff sides, and she can shimmy and vault. When shimmying across a cliffside or climbing up a mountain, for example, by pressing a single button Lara can double time it across the object. This is pulled off by rhythmically pushing the button to her motion. Seems simple enough, but it actually speeds up the game’s pace, an idea the previous six games could’ve used. While clinging to a cliffside, she can jump backward or aim at a 45-degree angle. This addition was in Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness, but here it actually works smoothly and without frustration.
Little flourishes create a sense of experimentation and playfulness in Legend. Lara pulls off a beautiful swan dive from a 20-story African cliff into a massive lake. By pressing and holding a button while grabbing a cliffside, Lara can transform a normal jump into a silky smooth back-bend to a perfect landing. If you time it right, she executes a series of back flips and summersaults into a mid-air summersault finish. She feels nimble and athletic, easy and actually fun to manipulate. Not such a hard concept for most people to grasp, but for this series, control has been a bane. The swimming mechanics are smooth and likeable too. Mind you, Tomb Raider: Legend isn’t as artistically stylistic or as mechanically high-end as Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, but overall, Lara’s fluidity and dexterous nature are of high caliber.
Combat was also once a thorn in Tomb Raider’s side, but not any more. Lara doesn’t control that much differently, strangely, but many improvements have been handled with skill and attention so that combat isn’t arduous.
Lara’s been given more moves, she animates very well, and she is quick to respond at all times. You’ll still control her from a third-person perspective, she still has auto-target lock-on aim and, when in combat, simultaneously jumping and shooting are a must. But that’s about it. Crystal D grafted on a free-range shot, which is slow and still targets to the chest, but it aims the gun at anybody, any object, at any time. You’ll also find a little bullet time going on. When in punching range, Lara can jump off an enemy’s chest or head, enter into «focus» mode, and spring behind them and shoot — all in one swift set of motions. (This works especially well with guards wielding shields.)
There is more. Her multi-purpose grappling hook hauls enemies into her clutches. She also has a slide attack, which can send enemies into a nice juggle; and she can hit and kick, too. On the weapons front, Lara can wield two weapons and grenades simultaneously, and her trademark pistols never run out of bullets.
On the consoles, switching weapons is as simple as pressing down on the D-pad, and grenades are handled with the shoulder/bumper buttons. The grenades mechanic is weak and those hot potatoes will bounce like Mexican jumping beans (often returning to you). By the way, the D-pad also activates her PLS (personal light source) fashioned on her chest, refills the health meter, and pulls up a slick little set of binoculars, which come in handy when confronted by a tough puzzle. All of her weapons and tools are a single button press away, streamlining the action and stepping up the game’s pace. Thank God for Crystal D.
You’ll actually feel good about getting into a fight now. After you play through the built-in training session a gang of thugs immediately ambushes you. It’s all good. Crystal D loads the environments with interactive obstacles ranging from exploding barrels to breakable cliffsides, loose rocks, zip lines, and other things. Gone is the clunky stealth mode from Angel of Darkness, the run and walk buttons, and the inane, awkward, and painful fighting and shooting schemes.
Crystal has made Tomb Raider a competent, fun-to-play action-adventure game. They didn’t reinvent the wheel, but Tomb Raider is functional and exciting on many levels.
Too bad the animal fights are still retarded. Wild dogs and lion fights seem to be just like they were before. It takes like 5-7 shots to kill one of these things. On that same subject (on things that the team might want to do away with in the future), Lara still rides a handful of vehicles. The main new vehicle is a motorcycle, which Lara will mount twice in the game. The motorcycle riding is simple, arcade-style stuff. It serves more to break up the action than to provide much of a thrill. The cycle segments are OK, but their addition isn’t worthy enough or distinct enough to get terribly excited about.
Speaking of old ideas, the Croft Mansion is back. Instead of a training ground, however, it’s Lara’s own personal tomb to raid, filled with an array of genius-level puzzles.
The mansion is a freestanding home that’s meant just for exploration, outside of the story proper. It’s filled with collectibles, secrets and hidden stuff. In fact, the Mansion is my favorite level of them all. Overall, there are eight huge missions that take place in Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Africa, England, and the Himalayas, each mission mixing indoor and outdoor environments.
TR: Legend is primary 70 percent adventure and 30 percent action, in that order. In every level, you’ll find that getting from point A to point B isn’t like crossing the street to get a gallon of milk. It’s an act of life or death and requires acrobatic heroism of the highest order. But hey, it’s a videogame, not real life. Helping you cross terrain and attack enemies is the grappling hook. This new tool works nicely into Lara’s repertoire, breaking up basic jumps, flips, and pole spins. It also works into boss fights (of which there are five). Every step of the way, you’ll encounter puzzles of some magnitude.
The puzzles range from simple to moderately difficult, but thankfully there is no trace of the annoying Tomb Raider 3-style cross-the-country-for-one-tiny-hard-to-see-item-then-return-to-another-country-to-unlock-a-door-then-return-to-obscure-spot-#876-if-you-can-find-it. Instead, you’ll find block and giant ball puzzles. A good bit of physics were added to the puzzle-solving, requiring you to observe your environment and recognize the required objects in it.
Regardless of which system you buy this on, Crystal Dynamics’ art direction and design are top notch. The attract cinematic is Bond-like and on target. The menus and interfaces are all sleek, easy, and fast. The game really is attractive on all levels. Obviously, the Xbox 360 and PC versions will shine the brightest. In particular, the Xbox 360 version offers an enormous amount of specialty shaders and lighting techniques that add texture and detail to otherwise normal environments. Still, GameCube players are going to get the shaft in this category, as the game supports no 480p despite being a direct cross-over of the PS2 verison.
Weak.
Though it’s still tough to believe, Eidos’ changing of the guard was the right one to make. Over the years Tomb Raider had become a regular industry joke, and TR: Angel of Darkness was the epitome of Core’s unfortunate demise. Tomb Raider: Legend, on the other hand, is an example of focused design, priorities, and good mechanics winning out over fancy cutscenes (Though Legend has its share of those too).
If you’ve been pining for a good adventure, Tomb Raider: Legend is waiting for you. The cliffhanger story is well put together. The action is simple and effective. The controls not only work, they’re fun. And Crystal D has developed a bunch of great new locales filled with imaginative monsters, beasts, and bad guys to slaughter. Best of all, the sense of discovery and adventure is captured with a fresh sensibility.
Tomb Raider: Legend Review — GameSpot
Tomb Raider: Legend is a brief but fun adventure that just about anyone can enjoy.
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It’s been almost 10 years since the first Tomb Raider was released, and while video games have come a long way since then, the Tomb Raider series hasn’t kept pace. Problems such as clunky controls and a frustrating camera, which were excusable in the early games, have steadily degraded the quality of the series releases over time. The latest installment, Tomb Raider: Legend, finally brings the series into the 21st Century while staying true to the adventurous spirit of the early games.
Lara Croft is back to kick some ass and collect some artifacts in Tomb Raider: Legend.
Tomb Raider: Legend follows the exploits of Lara Croft as she tries to solve the mysteries of her past.
Specifically, she’s investigating the death of her mother several years earlier. One thing leads to another and somehow the legend of King Arthur becomes involved, along with a magical sword that has been broken into fragments and scattered throughout the world. The story is barely coherent, but it serves its purpose in that it gives Lara an excuse to travel from one exotic locale to the next in search of these artifacts. The game takes you to places such as Ghana, Peru, Tokyo, England, and Kazakhstan, and all of the locations look great. And while Lara sticks mostly to tombs and ruins, she also spends time exploring a deserted research facility, hopping about atop skyscrapers, and shooting up bad guys in a rustic village. The variety of levels is great, although you’ll end up seeing pretty much the same platforming and box-pushing puzzles wherever you go.
The puzzles in Tomb Raider: Legend can be a bit deceptive at first, but once you learn how the game works, the puzzles become very simple.
Most of the game is spent solving basic switch puzzles as you work your way through each level in search of the next artifact. Aside from dragging around boxes to weigh down switches or jam traps, there are a lot of fun platforming sections that let you take full advantage of Lara’s affinity for high-flying acrobatics. You can hang on ledges, swing on ropes, swing between platforms (via a magnetic grapple), and vault off conveniently placed beams. The controls are a lot more fluid and responsive than they have been in previous Tomb Raider games, which makes Lara movements feel much more natural than before. The controls are precise, but not punishingly so. You often only have to jump in the general direction of the next platform and the game will compensate by automatically connecting Lara to the intended surface. Once you get the hang of it you can effortlessly overcome even the most imposing obstacles without difficulty. It’s also always abundantly clear which ledges you can hang on or jump between, so the only challenge is positioning the camera so you can see where you’re trying to go, which can be frustrating.
In tight spots it can be difficult to get a good view of the ledge you need to jump to, and sometimes it’s easy to misjudge a jump if you don’t have the camera aligned just right. The camera problems are intermittent though, and most of the time you have a fairly good view of the surroundings. And even though the platforming is fairly easy, it’s still satisfying thanks to some great-looking animations and level designs that convey an excellent sense of peril.
Of course, Lara is skilled with weapons and is more than willing to serve up some hot lead when the situation calls for it. You’ll have to shoot up plenty of generic enemy goons and a few leopards here and there. You can lock on to an enemy by holding a button, and then you mash the fire button until the enemy is dead. You can also throw grenades, as well as perform slide tackles or aerial assaults. When you run up to an enemy, you can jump off his head and flip through the air in slow motion while shooting him. It’s a neat effect, but not especially useful or necessary, since it takes more time to get in close to an enemy than it does to just blast him from afar.
Sometimes you can shoot at certain objects in the environment, which are clearly indicated with a large button icon. You can shoot barrels to blow them up, shoot stone pillars and watch them fall on enemies, and initiate all kinds of other scripted events. The gunplay is not that fun though, because it’s easy and because the guns don’t feel powerful or distinct at all.
Aside from solving puzzles and indiscriminately killing enemies, there are a few other activities you can partake in. There are two motorcycle levels where you have to hop on an improbably placed Ducati and speed after other vehicles while shooting wave after wave of mobile enemies and catching air off jumps. The motorcycle physics are very loose, and the riding sections in Legends feel more akin to a rail shooter than a racing game. There are a handful of interactive cutscenes that require you to press a certain button as an icon appears on screen, much like the cutscenes in Resident Evil 4. And like Leon Kennedy, Lara can meet her demise in many different ways with some crazy death sequences that you get to see if you fail to hit the right button at the right time.
On your first play through, you can easily beat the game in less than seven hours on the default difficulty setting. You can then go back through and play again on a higher difficulty, but it doesn’t make much of a difference because the challenge in Legend comes from the puzzles, and those never change. Once you’ve figured out how to solve each puzzle, the only challenge left is to find all the hidden items in each level or to replay each level in time-trial mode. You can unlock new outfits, movies, models, and so on, but even with all that, you can easily see all this game has to offer in a single weekend.
Luckily, there are plenty of heavy boxes lying around in ancient ruins just in case you need to weigh down a switch or something.
Legend looks great on each of the consoles, with convincingly dark and decrepit environments and plenty of detail and lighting effects. The Xbox 360 version offers some sharper detail, nicer lighting effects, and an abundance of shiny surfaces.
Each version of the game suffers from occasional frame rate instability, though. It never gets unbearably slow, but it never quite runs as smoothly as it should. The sound is excellent in each version of the game, with good music, plenty of ambient noise, and excellent voice work that really lends a lot of personality to each character—especially Lara.
Tomb Raider: Legend is a good return to the roots of the series. It doesn’t do anything new or different, but it has a great blend of action and adventure that will always keep you moving and interested. The problem is that it moves a bit too fast, and it’s all over way too soon.
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Tomb Raider: the birth of a legend
Genre action/adventure
Platforms Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Developers Crystal Dynamics
Publisher Square Enix
Website www.
bratomider.com0003
Graphics, «live» Lara, atmosphere
Insipid characters, some problems with the game logic
Good remake, much more interesting than all the latest games in the series
In the new Tomb Raider , a young girl goes on one of her first serious expeditions in search of the ancient Japanese state of Yamatai, which was once ruled by Queen Pimiko. According to legend, Pimiko owned magic, and not the kindest. The expedition is looking for a lost country on the islands in the dragon’s triangle, the Japanese analogue of the famous Bermuda triangle, so the result is obvious — abnormal storms lead to the crash of the ship, and the team is divided into two parts. And, as if these troubles alone weren’t enough, the island where the team members end up is inhabited by… wait a minute… evil Russian cultists. nine0003
Pimiko’s cult has been formed for many years from the survivors of various ship and air crashes. Of course, there were those who refused the generous offer of the mysterious Matthias, but in this case death awaited them, and it was by no means always quick.
Judging by the buildings belonging to different time periods and the mountains of bones and corpses with which the island is literally littered, after the fall of Yamatai, people made several attempts to populate it again, but they did not succeed in surviving in these anomalous conditions or leaving it. nine0011
Lost civilizations, tombs with treasures, terrible curses and crazy enemies who want to resurrect an ancient ruler — isn’t it the perfect place for Lara Croft? It’s just that what the Lara we know would have taken as a great adventure turns into a nightmare for the young Lady Croft. The girl is clearly not ready for such a turn of events and behaves accordingly — first of all, she is afraid.
Hungry, cut off from her friends, armed with a homemade bow, Lara wanders through the forest at night, fleeing from wolves, hiding from armed people who, for some reason, kill everyone they meet on their way. She does not yet perform acrobatic somersaults with the precision of a professional gymnast, does not shoot without a miss, and generally has little in common with one of the main sex symbols of the gaming industry.
It’s just a scared, hurt girl. The girl who learns to survive. nine0003
And while Lara’s body is covered with scars and clothes turn into rags, her spirit and body are hardened. She no longer grimaces as she searches for corpses, her hands no longer tremble when she sends an arrow at an unsuspecting enemy, she stops screaming in fright as she jumps from rock to rock. Lara begins to see previously imperceptible little things, learns to sneak up on animals, masters various types of weapons and even learns various types of «fatality» — bloody finishing off enemies. A simple role-playing system helps to realize this moment, but its charm is that it really works. nine0003
What Tomb Raider series was complete without sheer rock climbing and logic puzzles? None, and here everything is in order with this, you will have to climb a lot and often, the puzzles, however, are smaller and they are quite simple. One could be outraged about this, but this approach fits into the general ideology of the game.
Lara is young and inexperienced, she is just learning to be a cool tomb raider, too difficult tasks for her so far are not up to the task. Here, of course, you can ask how an inexperienced girl manages to bring down packs of hefty men with well-aimed headshots, but we will not pay much attention to this, especially since the combat system in Tomb Raider is good. nine0003
The game also pleases with a picture that creates a wonderful atmosphere, the ruins, as expected, look gloomy and ancient, the tombs really look like tombs, and the forest is a forest inhabited by predators, dark and dangerous.
Is there a fly in the ointment in this barrel of honey? There is not even a spoon, but a small bucket. The characters in Tomb Raider are completely insipid. And Lara is well written only in the first third of the game, and all the rest are nothing more than extras. Ryan Pratchett, the daughter of the same Terry Pratchett, was responsible for the script, and this is exactly the case when the surname does not mean absolutely nothing.
Pratchett Jr. did not bother to come up with interesting biographies, all these people dying around Lara do not cause any emotions at all. Did any of the people Lara went on the search with die? There they are dear, all the same, we know practically nothing about them, which means that we can’t empathize with all our desire. nine0003
The prehistory of both the group of researchers and the aborigines is extremely sketchy, and if you do not bother to search for diaries scattered around the island, then the essence of what is happening will be generally incomprehensible. What is this bunker and why is it here? And God knows. Why are there literally tens of thousands of bodies on the island, both ancient and comparatively fresh? Because the mountains of corpses look gloomy and cool and no one wonders why the authorities were not interested in such an incredible number of missing people. Why are Pimiko’s guards still alive? Because magic, that’s why and generally leave behind with your stupid questions, here’s a new bow for you, bows are now in fashion.
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The hunt praised in trailers also looks strange. Lara seemed to be supposed to survive on the island, to hunt in order to get food and so on. But we will see this hunt only once, when the plot requires it, in the future it will be necessary to kill peaceful animals only to collect «spare parts». Yes, Lara’s equipment can be improved, for which these same spare parts are used. And no matter what you do — search metal boxes with nuts or skin boars, in any case, you can install a new barrel on your shotgun or screw a silencer on your gun and this is officially the most stupid thing I have seen this year. nine0003
Tomb Raider was conceived as a sandbox and what’s interesting — there seems to be an open world, but there is practically no reason to return to the old locations, except for those cases when the plot development requires it. If seven small tombs that are not mandatory for passing can still somehow interest the player, then collecting “trophies” is frankly boring.
All you need to know about multiplayer in Tomb Raider is here. Don’t ask why, just accept the fact. In principle, there is something in the idea of two dozen Lars chasing each other with ice axes and bows, but in order to open the avatar of Miss Croft, you need to reach the maximum level of 60. Which, given the meager number of maps and quickly boring modes, is quite difficult. Well, do not forget that the multiplayer in third-person shooters usually looks very strange, chaotic and, by and large, ridiculous. nine0003
What is the result? Many expected that the new Tomb Raider would have some overlap with Far Cry 3 and wanted the game to be a kind of Uncharted for PC. Some similarities with Far Cry 3 are indeed observed, but Uncharted, the updated Tomb Raider loses in almost all respects except, perhaps, the combat system. At the same time, this is the most interesting Lara Croft game in the last ten years, so if you like good adventures, don’t miss it.
Tomb Raider (2013) — the birth of a legend. Review / Games
| Genre | Third Person Action |
| Publisher | Square Enix |
| Publisher in Russia | «1C-SoftClub» |
| Developer | Crystal Dynamics |
| Minimum requirements | Intel Core 2 Duo 1.86 GHz/AMD Athlon 64 X2 2.1 GHz, 1 GB RAM, DirectX 9 graphics card.0c and 256 MB memory, e.g. NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT/AMD ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT, 12 GB hard disk space, internet connection and Steam account |
| Recommended requirements | Intel Core i5 Quad 2.4 GHz/AMD Phenom II X2 3.4 GHz, 4 GB RAM, DirectX 11 graphics card, 512 MB RAM, such as AMD ATI Radeon HD 5870/NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 |
| Release date | March 5, 2013 |
| Age limit | from 17 years old |
| Platforms | PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 |
| Official site | |
Game tested on PC
Reloading is not new to many game series.
However, the decision to start over can just as much take a franchise to new heights as it can easily ruin it. We will not give specific examples and stretch the story, but we will immediately get to the point. Crystal Dynamics has succeeded in taking the first path, bringing the incomparable Lara Croft back into the first-rate action-adventure arena. And Lara came fully armed. nine0003
It is gratifying that at the same time, the developers did not try to reinvent the wheel, preferring thoroughness in the implementation of long-tested and working ideas to innovation. As a result, all the components are so well adjusted to each other that they allow you to completely immerse yourself in what is happening and go along with the main character from an insecure student to a hardened tomb raider. Square Enix PR people are not cunning — we really have the birth of a legend in front of us.
⇡#Stay alive
We will not be mistaken if we assume that many fans of the series have ever asked themselves the question: how did the formation of Lara Croft go, how did it all begin? Well, Tomb Raider 2013 fully satisfies such curiosity.
Together with the crew of the ship «Endurance» young Lara goes on an expedition to the shores of Japan. However, upon entering the Dragon’s Triangle, the ship is caught in a storm and, like a dead whale, is washed ashore on a mysterious island. Our heroine finds herself cut off from the rest — she is wounded and vulnerable, and the locals seem to be not averse to taking advantage of this. The fight for survival has begun. nine0003
And this is only the beginning
The amount of suffering that falls on a girl exceeds all conceivable limits. In just the first half hour, she gets burned, falls on a metal rod, scratches, gets hurt and beats so much that it seems that anyone in her place would have folded their paws a long time ago and helplessly waited for the end. But all these torments only harden Lara — gritting her teeth, she continues to move forward. Looking at this, you are completely imperceptibly drawn into what is happening and you begin to empathize and sympathize with the heroine, rejoicing at every minor success as if it were a matter of personal concern to you.
Tomb Raider evokes an amazing sense of presence that is usually lacking in third-person games. nine0003
⇡#Test Land
The environment for what is happening is perfectly chosen. At a gloomy sunset, the last rays of light break through low clouds, heralding a night so dark that a torch is indispensable. This is not a tropical Far Cry idyll, but a real testing ground, dotted with gray rocks and overgrown with tough dark green grass, swaying anxiously in the wind. And the beaches can hardly be called an ideal place to relax — the remains of a variety of ships lie around, from Viking ships to the once formidable war machines of the Second World War. nine0003
The treacherous island has long served as the last stop for those who had the imprudence to approach it. The few survivors build unprepossessing dwellings and mechanisms from improvised means, garbage and debris. These miserable attempts look especially colorful against the backdrop of half a century old military facilities, as well as majestic ancient temples, which seem to rest against thunderclouds with their peaks.
This land is both harsh and beautiful, just like the Sun Empress Pimiko, who ruled here many hundreds of years ago. By the way, the Tomb Raider story was based on real historical information about the ancient Japanese state of Yamatai, but the scriptwriters creatively reworked it and added a generous portion of oriental mysticism. It turned out surprisingly organically and at the same time quite suits the dominant theme of Lara’s spiritual development. nine0003
Perhaps the plot has only one problem. Exploring spacious locations and finding various notes, diaries and books, we will learn more about the history of the island and its inhabitants (both current and those left in the shadow of the past). Just stepping back a little and devoting a little time to collecting records, you can get a whole picture of what is happening and even predict the ending. At the same time, Lara herself does not react to your premature discoveries, “realizing” what is happening only in the scenes strictly designated for this — in story clips and during dialogues.
Such is the unpleasant dissonance. nine0003
⇡ #Kill or die
On the other hand, the gameplay is devoid of such miscalculations — everything is so verified and polished that it leaves no loopholes for indignation. The basis of Tomb Raider consists of several key elements — these are skirmishes, exploration and movement around the island, as well as solving puzzles that periodically arise along the way. In all these aspects, as in history, the idea of the continuous development of the main character can be traced. For example, at first Lara has nothing but a primitive bow, from which it is difficult to shoot even a rabbit, not to mention a person. In the future, we will get a pistol, a shotgun and an automatic rifle. The arsenal does not stand still — it can and should be improved by getting spare parts they no longer need from the boxes and pockets of the dead. nine0003
Shooting from all this is no less pleasant than watching the transformation of a rusty sawn-off shotgun into a fire-spitting thunderstorm of the lost souls of a cursed island.
In this regard, Tomb Raider is a solid cover shooter. Aiming, recoil, sounds made by barrels — all this is perfectly implemented. And the enemies, although they are not very resourceful, do not let you get bored. Melee fighters shorten the distance, shooters pour bullets and arrows from cover, and «pyrotechnicians» do not hesitate to throw grenades and incendiary mixtures at Lara. nine0003
In general, everything here provokes you to fight aggressively and not sit in cover. Opponents always attack in various groups — you have to dodge explosive «gifts» and constantly switch between all types of weapons, destroying either a guy with an impressive cleaver who has crept up close, or a machine gunner who has sat in the distance. By the way, dodging melee attacks is easy, but brutal finishing moves keep the interest in face-to-face fights.
One second before…
After sending a dozen or two scoundrels to the next world, you will finally be able to catch your breath. Small but rich multi-level locations allow you to take a break from the action and engage in gathering.
Like a real archaeologist and explorer, Lara shows an interest in everything: books, diaries, ancient artifacts and, of course, secret tombs. The developers seem to remind you that the game is called Tomb Raider for a reason — in a gloomy cave hiding a sanctuary or tomb, the project becomes most similar to its predecessors. To solve the next riddle (all of them are tied to the correct application of local physics), you need to stop and think a little, and the further you move along the plot, the more difficult the puzzles will be. However, no brain-breaking difficulties will arise even at the very end. nine0003
There are also moments in Tomb Raider when the game partially deprives us of control over the heroine, raising the pace to some crazy heights. When Lara urgently rafts down the river at the fifth point or rushes among the age-old pines with a parachute, thinking becomes deadly. Priority goes to the spinal cord, which is only required to dodge sharp branches in time or, say, shoot at obstacles that come across on the way.
It would seem — a banal linear attraction, of which we have seen thousands, but an incendiary production takes such thoughts somewhere far away. nine0003
It should be said that Crystal Dynamics paid great attention to the beautiful staging and the correct presentation of everything and everything. Therefore, in Tomb Raider, we can see a lot of grandiose moments that are breathtaking and make you want to shout out something not entirely censored. It makes no sense to list various episodes like climbing a rusty radio tower or a duel with a machine gunner — you should definitely see and experience it yourself.
In general, the whole game does not leave the feeling that you are experiencing a real adventure. Unfortunately, the multiplayer does not cause such enthusiasm. This is the most common collective entertainment, which is here simply because it is fashion. If you do not pay attention to this misunderstanding, then you can say with a clear conscience that the restart of the Tomb Raider series was a success.
You will not find any new ideas in the game, but everything that has been invented in the genre over the past ten years works and sparkles as if it was created just now. nine0003
Localization
The guys from 1C-SoftClub approached the matter with all the thoroughness, as a result of which we got an excellent localization. The actors, including the performer of the role of Lara, coped with their tasks perfectly, and the translators, proofreaders and editors of the text part did not give any chance to mistakes and typos. It’s a little frustrating that the dialogue sounds a little quieter than all the other sounds, but that’s the only nitpick about the otherwise excellent performance.
Localization Score: 9
Pros:
- An interesting story that depicts Lara’s transformation into a hardened adventurer;
- a convincing sense of the development of the main character;
- gameplay is well paced;
- is a nice handful of side activities not related to the main story.
Disadvantages:
- plot predictability;
- some scenes of violence may seem redundant; nine0238
- typical and forgettable multiplayer.
| Graphics | From the artistic side, the game is impeccable, and the technical side of the PC version for once received due attention. But there are some rough edges. However, nothing that new game patches and drivers for NVIDIA cards could not fix — rejoice, owners of AMD hardware, this time you are on horseback. | 9 |
| Sound | Everything is perfect here, from Lara’s emotionally accurate lines to the sound of the surf and mighty shotgun blasts. Excellent work — rich, juicy and high quality, as befits an AAA project. | 9 |
| Single game | The developers skillfully alternate roaring skirmishes with periods of calm, puzzle solving and beautifully staged scripted episodes.
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