Tomb Raider: Initial Impressions - Not Half Bad.

[Zhukov]

One thing that has been remarked upon by pretty much every reviewer is the discrepancy between cutscene Lara and gameplay Lara and... yeah, it's a thing.

In my opinion, I still think this is a part of the game that is in general misunderstood. Lara Croft and Jason Brody are what I call true survivors. What I mean by that is the end, they will do whatever they must to survive. They're inexperienced but they're not noncombatants. In fact, they're very natural combatants. But since we're talking about Tomb Raider, I'll make an example with Lara Croft alone. Before Lara kills a person for the first time, she and Dr. Whitman are surrounded by two mercenaries and unknowingly a third. Dr. Whitman surrenders in the hopes that by doing so, they can live. "Just go along with them Lara." Lara's reaction is much different. Before Dr. Whitman surrenders, she tells him that he has the gun. And even when he surrenders, Lara tries to fight back before the third mercenary grabs her. What this scene reflects is what does one do to stay alive. In Lara's case, it has been and always will be, fight. Most of us would be like Dr. Whitman. Who would take their chances going up against three or even two mercenaries even if we have the gun? Not many people. But Lara Croft would. It's real call of the wild stuff. Roth says to her it couldn't have been easy to kill the people she did. She responds that it was scary just how easy it was. At that moment she starts to sense that her will to survive is far stronger than she realized. So strong that despite her initial horror at killing someone, she can do it again and she knows it. She starts hardening up because she gradually comes to stop fearing it and also because she comes to the realization that the men on this island are completely unforgiving and relentless. They have no sense of mercy.

My problem is not with Lara becoming a stone-cold killer. I'm fine with that.

It's the speed with which it happens that I find questionable.

She's clearly not meant to be sociopathic. The first time she kills a dude she's obviously distressed. Several of her lines make it clear that she'd really rather not kill people.

However, within ten minutes of her first kill, she's popping heads like a pro. It takes a while for her characterization to catch up with her in-game actions.

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

How's the PC port? I heard that it was a good game but the PC reviews haven't come out yet. I was worried that it was a little shaky.

I've heard it's good and I'd feel confident in my purchase if I were planning to buy it. Square Enix have produced some this generation's very best PC ports.

 

[TheSapphireKnight]

Back with another question. What difficulty are you playing on and have you played at all on the higher difficulties?

It seems many people have issues with the reluctant protagonist to wading through bad guys transition. Do you think it would be better to start off on a higher difficulty to ramp up tension in combat in order to make it feel more desperate? Or would it be a double edge sword where the player is pushed towards using more efficient but less 'natural' behavior(such as going for mostly headshots)?

 

[Zhukov]

Back with another question. What difficulty are you playing on and have you played at all on the higher difficulties?

I started on normal, found it a bit too easy and bumped it up to hard, which I like.

Enemies are quite aggressive, very mobile and will actively flush you from cover, preventing the fights from becoming a game of peek-a-boo. I've died quite a few times during the harder encounters.

The only thing I don't like about hard difficulty is that enemies with automatic weapons can kill you in one burst if they catch you in the open.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

It's pretty bad. Soulless, not much different from Far Cry 3 but with far less personality (and I liked FC3). I just want to explore tombs and they have me hammering my keyboard on prompts, shooting a bunch of guys every couple of minutes, following far too obvious paths to my next checkpoint, completing ridiculously easy platform puzzles and watching 5 minute of movie for every minute of gameplay.

I suppose I have to mention the story. It's terrible. The old Tomb Raider may have been soulless too, but it didn't claim to have a soul. It was just what the title said - raiding tombs. This isn't even that.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

I freaking adore this game. I love it so much. It's perfect. I was worried about the QTE's but they are forgiving and not too fiddly. I just finished it.

Lara is great in this incarnation too. I'd recommend it to anyone. The story is great too and really makes you feel for the characters and Lara's desperation to help them.

It reminded me a lot of resident evil 4 as well for some reason. Which is definitely not a bad thing.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Lastly, I personally had a lot of difficulty playing for long sessions because there was a half-naked, often soaked, sighing and moaning female on the screen (she's wearing nothing but a tank-top). I guess that could be a plus or minus, depending on who you ask ^^

She also wears these things called trousers, no?
Haven't played it myself but if she somehow loses the trousers half-way through the game and really is "half naked" with naught but a tank top and underwear then this whole "we're making her a strong character" flies out the window.
I doubt anyone would be dumb enough to propose that goes into the game though.

She rips her pants and her top a bit but to the dismay of horny lads everywhere she has a second top on underneath. Her trousers also survive pretty much intact.

She is a strong character, for serious.

 

[hazabaza1]

Lastly, I personally had a lot of difficulty playing for long sessions because there was a half-naked, often soaked, sighing and moaning female on the screen (she's wearing nothing but a tank-top). I guess that could be a plus or minus, depending on who you ask ^^

She also wears these things called trousers, no?
Haven't played it myself but if she somehow loses the trousers half-way through the game and really is "half naked" with naught but a tank top and underwear then this whole "we're making her a strong character" flies out the window.
I doubt anyone would be dumb enough to propose that goes into the game though.

She rips her pants and her top a bit but to the dismay of horny lads everywhere she has a second top on underneath. Her trousers also survive pretty much intact.

She is a strong character, for serious.

Yeah, I figured that's the furthest they would go.
The guy I was quoting made it sound like it was literally just a tank top and bikini pants or something. That would have been just a touch out of place.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Lastly, I personally had a lot of difficulty playing for long sessions because there was a half-naked, often soaked, sighing and moaning female on the screen (she's wearing nothing but a tank-top). I guess that could be a plus or minus, depending on who you ask ^^

She also wears these things called trousers, no?
Haven't played it myself but if she somehow loses the trousers half-way through the game and really is "half naked" with naught but a tank top and underwear then this whole "we're making her a strong character" flies out the window.
I doubt anyone would be dumb enough to propose that goes into the game though.

She rips her pants and her top a bit but to the dismay of horny lads everywhere she has a second top on underneath. Her trousers also survive pretty much intact.

She is a strong character, for serious.

Yeah, I figured that's the furthest they would go.
The guy I was quoting made it sound like it was literally just a tank top and bikini pants or something. That would have been just a touch out of place.

Hehe. She also gets some pretty vicious scars which is actually kinda awesome. I'm really excited for this reboot I hope they get Rhinna Pratchett back for the next one too.

 

[Maximum Bert]

Only played for about an hour so far so these are very early impressions but I am having a blast with the game I have never liked Lara before or any of her other games much (Cores I hated and earlier Crystals I found a bit meh) but this one actually feels good to play.

I like Uncharted 2 and 3 as well so I wasnt worried about it being a clone of those but it does feel different Lara feels rougher and has an edge that Nathan Drake dosent I suppose if Uncharted felt like your typical high profile blockbuster action film Tomb Raider feels more like a lower budget but grittier and more realistic film (not saying its realistic though or that Tomb Raider is low budget as it looks great for the most part) at least to me anyway.

I am liking her character progression so far but am also glad they didnt stunt the gameplay by sacrificing playability for a slavish attempt at realism i.e she cant die from running out of energy and blood injuries dont seriously cripple her she actually controls well so you can kill enemies even though in reality she would not be that great at it and of course she dosent die from a single gun shot.

Oh and her proficiency is put on fast forward and tied to a universal system allowing more flexibility so I can actually do things I enjoy and progress in other areas if I want broadening my skill base without say having to skin 50 animals to get better at skinning no I can just kill people and put that skill point in skinning its not realistic but its a good idea.

Optional objectives also give xp which adds further incentive to find them some give you loads which again isnt realistic but its handy and keeps the game flowing.

Of course it may fall apart later but at this moment I think they have done a good job and I am actually liking Lara so far in this one which is something I never saw coming.

Oh and the QTEs havent bothered me so far they arent that great these arent like in Cyberconnect2s titles but they are harmless enough they remind me of Resi 4s QTEs a bit tiring sometimes but not a terrible idea or inclusion.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

her she actually controls well so you can kill enemies even though in reality she would not be that great at it

I'm sorry what? Pretty sure hitting someone in the face with a climbing axe does the job dude. Also she's trained in firearms from Roth. Or do you mean she wouldn't be killing so many at a time?

 

[Smertnik]

Great game, I wasn't disappointed. Probably the best looking "realistic" game I've played up until this point. Surprisingly long, too, even without hunting for collectibles.

I kinda wished the game would be focused more on stealth and platforming, though. Or that ammunition would at least be scarcer. It also bugged me a bit that you just walk off all but one cutscene related injuries. Although forced walks Mass Effect-style probably wouldn't be much fun for most people, I guess.

Between this, Human Revolution and Hitman Absolution, Squeenix have actually been doing really well with PC ports lately.

That's because they keep hiring Nixxes Software to do the porting.

 

[m19]

I like that many of the collectibles are basically narrated documents (in essence audiologs) that tell the story of your crew and the island. It's a good excuse to explore the environments.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I only had an hour to play it but it's a lot of fun. If not for the dreaded QTE's it would be even better. Add a couple of more complex platforming puzzles and it would be perfect.

That hair thing on PC is a big failure, though. It looks amazing, it really does. But it cuts the FPS in more than half. And I have an AMD card (7850 currently). Personally, I'd rather have all the other graphical effects on. Maybe they'll release an optimization patch or maybe AMD will release a driver update that deals with the issue.

 

[TheLycanKing144]

I bought it and so far I'm very impressed. So far my favorite game this year, I doubt it will beat The Last of Us though for my personal GOTY, but it's probably going to be the runner up. I also like the new look of Lara, she looks far more like a real woman, no super big boobs or anything silly. And IMO it makes her look more attractive.

The best way I can describe this game is that it's kind of a mix between Uncharted (platforming, treasure hunting, 3rd person shooting....) and Far Cry 3 (stranded on an island, extreme survival elements, open world.....)

It's a very good game and I'm also very impressed with the story line.

 

[Maximum Bert]

her she actually controls well so you can kill enemies even though in reality she would not be that great at it

I'm sorry what? Pretty sure hitting someone in the face with a climbing axe does the job dude. Also she's trained in firearms from Roth. Or do you mean she wouldn't be killing so many at a time?

Ok ill rephrase that its true killing someone with a gun or climbing axe isnt that hard being able to use them effectively to be a threat to such a huge amount of enemies as she faces (or even one on one if they are similarly armed and experienced and know she is about) on the island is another matter especially as they dont exactly seem like amateurs in the murdering department either and seem far more sure about their ability to kill.

So when I say reality she would not be anywhere as near as efficient at killing enemies especially as she is facing squads of them on her own. odds are if that happened she wouldnt last long whether she was trained in firearms or not and as for getting close enough to use the axe or try and kill someone with the bow by sneaking well thats a little risky i.e with the bow using the stealth kill she could be overpowered or someone may notice the scuffle etc and with the axe well what happens if she misses or they also have a hand weapon like a knife im pretty sure she is weaker than them for the most part hell at the start she gets koed by a single punch.

But reality dosent exactly lend itself well to a lot of games and I have no qualms here about having to suspend my disbelief if I want reality I can just turn the game off after all.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

snip

Well male characters take on similar odds and you don't see anyone complaining about realism there I'm pretty sure a woman is capable of killing a man. I get what you mean about the numbers though.

As for the sudden disregard for human life apparently the narrative team wanted her to go longer without killing many dudes but the gameplay guys disagreed.

http://penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/tomb-raiders-writer-discusses-the-press-gender-and-lara-crofts-body-count

 

[Siyano_v1legacy]

the visual of the game are gorgeous, like a lot of people already said, it basically a clone of uncharted, there is quite a lot of menial platforming with barely any challenge and some randomly QTE thrown here and there, the game was fun for the time it lasted. I didn't had any trouble finishing the game in 15 hours with 60% completion in normal without very great challenge, the game doesn't have much replayability. I would suggest it has a rental.
My 2 cents

 

[jcfrommars9]

My problem is not with Lara becoming a stone-cold killer. I'm fine with that.

It's the speed with which it happens that I find questionable.

She's clearly not meant to be sociopathic. The first time she kills a dude she's obviously distressed. Several of her lines make it clear that she'd really rather not kill people.

However, within ten minutes of her first kill, she's popping heads like a pro. It takes a while for her characterization to catch up with her in-game actions.

When you say popping heads like a pro, I'm not sure what you mean. If you're saying Lara's accurate, then I would expect her to be considering Roth taught her how to shoot. If you're saying she's doing it without distress, I can't agree. I don't see it as her being sociopathic but rather than having to quickly face the reality that these men are merciless killers. In a very short time, not only does one attempt to assault her (and this after he practically pistol-whipped her) but then she's shot at by another two. It doesn't take her long to figure out what she's dealing with and how she has to respond. Like I was trying to show by the example I made with Dr. Whitman, it's not that it takes a while for her characterization to catch up with her in-game actions, it's the other way around. Granted she hasn't killed at that point but it shows just how Lara reacts to danger. I found it very interesting that so many reviewers were asking the question how can Lara be so distressed about killing someone and yet do it again so quickly. It only tells me that Lara was a very engaging character. But unlike what so many think, the game does address it. There's even a part more than half way through the game when Lara says to herself while reading a journal that the price of surviving is too high. She realizes exactly what's she done.

 

[Kopikatsu]

My problem is not with Lara becoming a stone-cold killer. I'm fine with that.

It's the speed with which it happens that I find questionable.

She's clearly not meant to be sociopathic. The first time she kills a dude she's obviously distressed. Several of her lines make it clear that she'd really rather not kill people.

However, within ten minutes of her first kill, she's popping heads like a pro. It takes a while for her characterization to catch up with her in-game actions.

Immediately after a section where she kills like ten guys, Vladimir included, she calls Conrad and they discuss what happened. He said that it must have been hard for her, but Lara said that she was scared over just how easy it was (to kill).

Later in the game you get access to Gears of War style executions, which usually consist of things like Lara hitting a guy to daze him, then ram a rifle into his stomach and holding the trigger so the recoil brings the gun up, shooting him seven times with the final shot being in the head, or kicking someone onto the ground and riddling their prone form with bullets. In the final segment, you fight a very large number of melee enemies that go into dazed mode very easily.

So yeah. You just get the image that she's gone completely insane. Especially if you do what I did and just spent most of the game using the scamper ability, so Lara looks like a wild animal searching for her next victim.