Tomb Raider Review

Tomb Raider is a third person action game in which Lara Croft, a young archaeologist, goes in her first expedition in search of adventure but, instead, is trapped on an island where a somewhat unbalanced individual wants to sacrifice his best friend and anyone who gets in his way to appease some inexplicable storms surrounding the mysterious piece of land. In this Tomb Raider analysis I review  the keys that will make this game a new myth.

Overall, Tomb Raider succeeds on two levels: The narrative is good and gets a connection to the main character rarely seen outside of an RPG, and the mechanics are solid and fun for the duration of the game. In fact, right now I can not think of anything bad about Tomb Raider.

New Lara Croft

Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics have made a major commitment here. Lara Croft has been in our lives since 1996. For some players this year will meet the twenty-few, Lara is as iconic as Sonic. Even more. When a character receives a redesign and restart your franchise to retell her story from a different point of view, the fans take to the streets with torches.

Tomb Raider present us a different  Lara Croft than we are used to. The whole game is put to use reforge a part of the video game story. With excellent results. I can not tell you how many times that of pure empathy, I closed my eyes and let out an "ouch" during the game. The new Lara is credible and deep, you can feel identified with it and would like to be her at times. Their decisions are brave but justified. All this is excellently integrated into the gameplay.

Lara's movements, and reacts to the proximity of enemies and the things she says to her heart, will evolve as Lara Croft goes from innocent and finally to Survivor. The very model of the protagonist changes at certain points of the game, physically representing the psychological and emotional change. It brought a smile to me when, in the middle of a firefight, Lara began to threaten their enemies the first time demonstrated to be afraid of "foreign".

Nothing new, Everything is Fine

To Game Level, Tomb Raider has a difficult job. The narrative of the game and its protagonist can be very attractive but without a fun gaming experience, it would be a good movie too expensive. Luckily, Tomb Raider is up to the challenge. Unfortunately, the risk was so high that they would not do anything too new. Tomb Raider reuses already proven formulas almost exclusively.

What are you going to be doing is moving between fights. To help movement is both easy and fun, Lara's control system is fluid, dynamic and fun. We require very little and there are only a handful of short sections where you need to go in a hurry. Halfway are stealth sections, some of them very intense. Other times the game jumps straight into battle without your permission. As you get used to is no longer annoying.

The combat is well balanced, which is saying a lot. Not much choice of weapons but each behaves different enough to find them eventually. The shotgun gives you more stuck in short-range, while the gun has that sense of subtlety that does not need a gun. If there is anything to complain about here, is the supernatural ability of enemies to know your exact location at all times. Just an enemy sees you for that with his telepathic powers, alert all their friends, who come to empty boots on feet wall behind which you are hiding.

While the campaign is pretty linear, the amount of collectibles and semi-open maps give enough room for exploration, which is properly rewarded for worthwhile. The tombs are moving puzzle challenges rather than logic. It's a shame, but better fits the atmosphere of the game.

Hell in paradise

As for the graphics, you have to look Tomb Raider with two lenses. On one hand, Lara models, the three that are used during the game, have a level of detail and quality with their impressive animations, especially in video scenes. Moreover, the environments are very nice ... until you get too close.

It is clear where the is interest on Tomb Raider. The balance is difficult but very accomplished. While a picture is generally rich environments are intended to convey emotion. When the camera descends to detail, it is normal that you're setting the protagonists, especially Lara, whose models have a flawless finish.

The level design of Tomb Raider goes along the narrative. Each phase corresponds to a point in history, to a situation where the nightmare that is the island. The objectives are well defined and obstacles, ground to cross or people to shoot are suited to the level expected of the player. From my perspective, this is one of the great triumphs of Tomb Raider: Making always feel challenged but never stuck.

Conclusion

9/10

An outstanding game that lacks only a little innovation to have marked an era. I love the new Lara Croft and I can not wait to see what the next mess mess in which the children of Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix.

Tomb Raider will appear on shelves next Tuesday March 5

As for the multiplayer, if any of you are going to buy this game, I'll be online on Tuesdays from 21:30 on XBOX Live Gamertag with ShishaMushroom, happy to take a few games and try it with you.

Play it if:

Looking for an adventure with a strong focus on the protagonist and its evolution
Today still think Lara Croft is a sexist and offensive stereotype
Want to see an innocent girl to survive and improve despite falling great distances and damage done muchisismo

Do not play if:

Want a Tomb Raider to solve puzzles like those of yesteryear. The franchise has reinvented
You had enough with Uncharted Uncharted
Some 18 hours of campaign you seem few. The game is much longer if you pick something that's on the way

Three random reasons to buy:

The reference to the "arrow in the knee" from Skyrim
Count the number of times incredible Lara falls embankments, cliffs and hills
Not a awkward single mini-game to arrange a radio, splinting an injury or anything else