"Shadow of the Tomb Raider" Review

Publisher:  Square Enix/Crystal Dynamics

Genre:  Action/Adventure

Summary:  In tracking down the nefarious Trinity organization, Lara Croft becomes entangled with apocalyptic Mayan artifacts and the fate of a secret city.

Gameplay:  As usual, Lara makes her way through the jungle ruins with a mix of puzzles and combat.  Despite the option of separate difficulties for puzzles and combat, tomb puzzles nevertheless seem unusually difficult in this game.  To the previous climbing and jumping elements have been added rappelling, diving, crouching, and overhead climbing.

Leveling has been altered once again so that higher levels require more points.  There seem to be fewer and less useful abilities than previous games.  Buying items is more prominent and a major way to get useful items and upgrades.

Stealth is an even greater part of combat; Lara can use mud to hide, various abilities to hide herself or bodies, and generally can pick off her enemies unknowingly.  Instead of just for healing, there are now plants for endurance, focus, and perception as well (which was too complicated and too many buttons for me, frankly.)

Instead of automatically reading (or listening to Lara read) about an artifact, you must choose to look at it in the inventory to do so.  While seemingly minor, this bugs the heck out of me.  Why did they make this change?  Were people mad they were forced to learn about things?

Also, the map feels less useful due to the increase in side quests which are first poorly marked and then seem to disappear at will from the map.

Style:  Each game has been more gorgeous than the last, and the jungles of South America, including green pools, fireworks, and cliff-side views, sometimes make for a beautiful game indeed.  Unfortunately, the game is also very muddy (so much mud!) and dark.  It shows off lighting and detail, I guess, but I must admit I prefer the crisp mountain aesthetics of the previous game.

"Shadow of the Tomb Raider" also brings back some of the gross gory elements "Rise" was thankfully lighter on.  While I expect a little blood and sacrifice from an action/adventure game with some Aztec influence and it's not quite as bad as the infamous first game, it was still a bit more than necessary in some places.

A new notable element is lots of people!  There are towns full of folk chatting, living, and complaining when Lara bumps into them (but not, oddly enough, when she shamelessly steals all their stuff.)  The only weak spot is how many of them have the same faces.

All of the "Tomb Raider" games have had great cinematics and "Shadow" probably has the most and best of them all.  Several times there was no dialogue and I was memorably impressed just by the acting.

Story:  "Shadow of the Tomb Raider" has an interesting, complicated story to tell with some good themes that nicely concludes the Tomb Raider games.  It's a pity it does such a bad job at it.  Oh, the themes and characters manage come through.  Although still surprisingly similar to the previous games, there are some unique twists and lovely thematic elements like Lara's repeated falling into water.  And there are multiple elements and characters that fit the title "Shadow of the Tomb Raider."

But crucial details are badly conveyed.  There are a lot of proper nouns and names that are referenced but not reinforced or further explained.  After hours of wandering around, I'm still not sure how the city of Paititi's politics work or the history of the cult of Kukulkan.

Usually reading documents to delve further into the game's lore would help with this (I love to do this) but these were so scattered and confusing in this game they did not help in figuring out the main plot, much less helping give additional information.

The pacing does not help.  Shadow of the Tomb Raider is organized around hub areas, but the side quests all badly interrupt the flow of the game.  They can't really be done logically afterward (unlike, again, "Rise of the Tomb Raider") and especially make no sense during the game!

Conclusion:  "Shadow of the Tomb Raider", while providing a good story and conclusion to the "Tomb Raider" trilogy, also suffers from some unfortunate gameplay changes and frustrating storytelling.

"Rise of the Tomb Raider" Review

Publisher:  Square Enix/Crystal Dynamics

Genre:  Action/Adventure

Summary:  Lara Croft's investigations into her father's search for a Byzantine prophet's source of immortality take her to Siberia, but the sinister Trinity organization is also on the trail.

Gameplay:  The game is similar to the previous in offering opportunities for exploration and puzzles by jumping and climbing and shooting with timing.  It gradually adds some new twists with swinging, swimming, cutting, and climbing on arrows.

"Rise" is also a bit more free-range than its predecessor, with several larger areas to explore and optional side quests, but also still more constrained narrative sequences (which can be jarring when unexpectedly triggering a transition from the former to the latter.)

Combat is similar, with Lara gradually acquiring more weapons, although there are (eventually) more options for types of ammunition.  Crafting is also a bit different, as there are various materials she collects from the environment or kills to make weapon or inventory modifications.  I enjoyed the greater specificity for the former, but I didn't like having limits on different types of inventory.

Style:  The game is beautiful, offering icy mountains, wandering animals, exploding fire, and gorgeous Greek ruins.  The music enhances the wonder perfectly.

Story:  While building on and referencing the previous game, I don't think "Rise of the Tomb Raider" requires playing "Tomb Raider" to understand.  I found "Rise of the Tomb Raider" more enjoyable than that game, although that may just be due to my liking of snowy landscapes and the Byzantines.

The twists in the game are all fairly predictable, but the characters are still complex and interesting.  The game also occasionally mirrors the previous game to a sometimes weird extent, but the different setting keeps it from feeling too much the same.

The pacing can also feel strange, with the biggest issue being at the end, which feels very rushed; I honestly wondered if there were expository scenes missing.

Conclusion:  "Rise of the Tomb Raider" offers fun exploration, puzzles, and combat in beautiful places while telling an engaging, albeit sometimes predictable and strangely paced, story.

"Rise of the Tomb Raider Baba Yaga: The Temple of the Witch" DLC Review

Publisher:  Square Enix/Crystal Dynamics

Genre:  Action/Adventure

Summary:  Lara Croft investigates the Wicked Vale of Baba Yaga.

Gameplay:  There are no new gameplay elements but the DLC innovatively uses existing ones, and rewards at the end include upgraded ability options.  The difficulty can be considered a step up, including the last puzzle and the last battle (to its detriment, as it's clearly meant to be an intense action-packed sequence, but the puzzle bits mean it always take me longer to complete.)

Style:  "Baba Yaga" features some neat sights like a new tomb and hallucinogenic nightmares.  The introductory character of Nadia feels miscast.  I realize she's supposed to feel young and helpless, but the overly American accent feels very out of place on a Siberian Remnant and takes me right out of the game.

Story:  The overall story is touching, but with an obvious twist (a common issue with these "Tomb Raider" games, it seems), especially if you read the documents.  It's also a bit hard to figure out how to fit it into the overall "Rise of Tomb Raider" pacing, although at least that is up to player discretion.

Conclusion:  "Baba Yaga:  The Temple of the Witch" is an interesting story with some cool visuals and frustrating gameplay.

"Tomb Raider" Review

Publisher:  Square Enix/Crystal Dynamics

Genre:  Action/Adventure

Summary:  After her expedition to a mysterious storm-wreathed Japanese isle is shipwrecked, Lara Croft must survive a murderous cult and find a way to escape.

Gameplay:  Getting around in the game requires having Lara jump, climb, and shoot her way through obstacles.  Sometimes it requires good timing and sometimes it requires some thinking (especially in tombs.)

Lara gradually gains access to more options over the game, and this includes weapons.  Combat includes a good variety of styles with stealth or explosions or otherwise cleverly using the environment often possible.

Weapons can be improved through salvage Lara finds and Lara also has a choice of abilities that she levels up in over the game, although these are somewhat awkwardly tiered.

Style:  The game looks great.  The island has a nice variety of environments, from moody forests to snowy ruins to rusted shipwrecks, but what really impresses is the weather and lighting effects.  Lone lamps sputter in the dark, blazing embers fly away in the wind, and water spatters against the other side of the computer screen (I especially like the last touch.  It lends to the cinematic aspect of the game and also fits the story of a stranded documentary crew--as if this is the film they never got to make.)

It's also very gory.  Many of the settings abound with corpses and blood.  It got so in may places I found it went over the top into silliness.  A light touch would have kept it at horrific.

Story:  Lara's story is very engaging and fun to play, but there are a few problems in the telling.  The first part is that it's missing its first part.  The game begins with the shipwreck and we get flashbacks later to introduce us to the crew, but I found myself wishing there was a prologue to learn a bit more about everybody, especially Lara.  To emphasize her growth into a survivor and explorer, it would help to understand more about what she was like before.

There's also Lara's mutant healing ability.  Not including whatever might happen during in-game combat, throughout the story Lara suffers impalement (which goes without treatment through appalling conditions and then said treatment isn't exactly great), horrible foot injury, and getting knocked unconscious at least three times, in addition to various other cuts and scrapes.  I was half expecting some mystical explanation for how she was still moving.

I realize it's just the action hero cliche of being able to shake everything off, but it clashes with the game's story when Lara is inexperienced and reacts realistically to being wounded at the start.  Likewise, when Lara first kills someone and comments on it, it feels rather bizarre that the armies of men she has to slaughter later don't merit any response.

The plot moves easily through cinematic set-pieces, but I found myself pondering what a more open-world version of the game would be like that allowed for a bit more wandering (Lara does has some freedom of movement within some areas, but that just makes it feel all the more awkward when she goes off to explore a tomb when she's supposed to be rescuing a pilot or whatever.)

All that said, the story and characters are fun, even if nothing is too unpredictable.  I especially like the light parallels between the main villain and Lara.

Conclusion:  "Tomb Raider" is a beautiful and entertaining game.  Despite some oddities in the plot, it tells an engaging story about the growth of the adventurer Lara Croft.