Lara Croft - Optional Tomb Raider
Tomb Raider is an interesting little gem. You see, like most people around the PS1 era, I grew up with Tomb Raider. I loved those games, with their interesting stories about Mythological Artifacts and Raptors, their fun, fluid combat system. And I also loved the character of Lara Croft who was a wise-cracking English treasure hunter with (in the original PS1 game) triangular breasts. This new instalment in the Tomb Raider franchise is a far cry from what the original games were and is almost in no way connected apart from by it's name. And whilst I have my problems with that and other issues, I generally think this is a solid game.
First of all, this is a Prequel to the original Tomb Raider and shows her origins of how she 'because a treasure hunter'. However, it doesn't really feel like that. Because of the very strong willed but generally well humoured Lara Croft I grew up with all the gritty stabbing, shooting by tough grizzly men and the stabbing and shooting from Mother Nature who is your worst enemy in this game, it really makes this game feel incredibly out of place in the rest of the franchise. And yes, whilst I realise this is a REBOOT, it still should have some feel of the originals. The puzzles are gone, and the platforming is really stripped down to scaling pre determined walls and traversing via rope one anchor point to another. And before I move on I must go back to Mother Nature. In this game, the entire freaking island is trying to kill you, whether it be from conveniently placed sticks and spikes or the ground beneath you collapsing, Mother Nature is out to get you. And never in any video game ever I seen the main character been abused as much as in this game. Whether it be from being stabbed through the side with a stake, stabbing yourself with a burning arrow, being crushed by a rock or getting a wooden spike driven through your neck, you are going to have a lot of moments in this game where you cringe from the sheer brutality.
And with all that it makes the game seem rather realistic, however this vision of Realism is shattered by two major things. Firstly you have the RIDICULOUS amount of people that Lara kills during this game. She has slaughtered THOUSANDS of people by the end of the game and she crys about killing a deer and goes "Oh God" when she shoots another human being and that is about it. At least in Far Cry 3 at the end Jason Brody acknowledges the copious amount of blood he has spilt and has vowed to never do it again. In her she says nothing and continues on with her life, leading me to believe that she is a Psychopath and a Masochist. And the second thing that breaks the tone of realism is the fact that they decide to KEEP the mythological side of the Tomb Raider series and add in the Island from Lost and ghostly Samurai, because why not?
However, as much as I've been complaining about this game it is genuinely a fantastic experience. The combat is fun and satisfying and following the current trend of Bow and Arrow wielding heroes you get to use one. Several in fact, and they are very satisfying and later have multiple uses. The story is interesting and really puts you in the shoes of Lara and makes you care for her. You feel every blow she takes, every hit she deals and it is rather exciting. It's interesting to see her struggle play out and to help her through these horrendous situations. The sound design is brilliant, whether it is the whistle of the wind or the loud bang of firing a shotgun. The visuals are stunning and has many varied areas to explore, including the Tombs. And here is the thing about this game. It is CALLED Tomb Raider. You'd expect to raid some tombs in it. And you can, and they are all rather unique and contain interesting puzzles. But they are ALL optional. They should have just called this game "Lara Croft presents - Optional Tomb Raiding".
There is also a Multiplayer mode which is interesting at first glance, with it's Versatile maps with Ziplines and Climbing points, but when you get down to it, it is rather generic and won't keep you playing for very much longer. It feels very tagged on and would have been better left out entirely.
In all seriousness however, this game is fantastic. Yes, it has it's problems, some can be overlooked, others cannot, like it's disgusting use of QTE's, but it is a very unique journey with an unfortunately lack lustre and sequel bait ending. However, this is one of those games that really shouldn't be overlooked.
