Tomb Raider Review | Everybody Plays

Everybody Plays' resident Tomb Raider expert delves into Lara's latest adventure - also known as Gears of Lara: Optional Tomb Raider.

[Ulf]

I'll sum up the review, so clicking it is not necessary:

"I don't normally like any shooting in my Tetris or Bejeweled, or female protagonists, so I thought I'd give this one a review"

[Commanderq]

wut?! The review is good.. which you clearly didn't read, otherwise you would have seen the last paragraph where the reviewer says they've played every Tomb Raider game.

[kurac]

This is the best review of this game I've read because I totally agree. This is not a true TR game, it's a TR game adjusted for shooter-fan, american-shooting-obsessed, ADHD crowd.

[Irishguy95]

This ain't a TR game - It's better.

From a Tomb Raider fan looking for a new TR and judging the new TR off the old ones - The new one is not good.

Judging the game on it's own merits. It's better than the old Tomb Raiders

[kurac]

Well, it's better for some, for some it isn't. That's the question of individual taste. Better or worse, it's not a TR game. They could have made another shooter franchise and leave TR as it is. Low sales do not mean something is bad. Some of the best things in the world didn't have blockbuster sales. That goes for books, movies etc. Sales are good for mediocre things, adjusted for an average IQ and taste of the population in given time.

[Lykon]

he reviewed it on 360. it's a completely different game on ps3 .. there are more tombs and it's less COD-alike. The graphics, story, everything are completely different. The wii version is the best with cute little pixel character like the lego games.

[Blacktric]

Clearly you haven't played the Sega Gamegear version, which is the superior one.

[LOGICWINS]

"he reviewed it on 360. it's a completely different game on ps3 .. there are more tombs and it's less COD-alike"

lololol

[HarryMasonHerpderp]

It really didn't feel like a Tomb Raider game to me.
Don't get me wrong it was a good game and I enjoyed it but the atmosphere from the old games wasn't there.
I also really didn't like the new Lara Croft, she didn't sound English and all she did was whine and groan all the way through the game. Not to mention the complete lack of actual Tomb Raiding and puzzles. Still I have hope left for the sequel, hopefully they listen to the few complaints and we get our arse kicking Ms Croft back.

[kurac]

Totally agreed, this is a shooter, not what Tomb Raider game should be.

[vikingland1]

I had fun with this game. But yes it is more of a shooter.

[mt]

I totally agree with you. it is a shooter game hiding under tomb raider shell.
but it is not bad I loved it.

[Roper316]

Hopefully a sequel will go back to the more traditional style of a TR game where the emphasis is on exploring & puzzles.

[MontyQ]

this game was great for a reboot story was kool graphics great....no puzzles wtf no puzzles the only ones were so tiny a monkey could do it in 1 minutes or less for a banana. I luv tomb raider for action/puzzles not action action story action farcry 3 in 3rd person idea.....over good but they need to add more thinking back in...I know it is hard for people to use their brain and just want to shoot pew pew pew ect, but damn.

[kurac]

Yeah...but those people already have plenty of mindless shooters to choose from. Give us the intelligent TR game!

[Eldyraen]

As all reviews are basically opinion pieces and in most ways the reviewer was looking at it through old school TR goggles I can't argue about most of his qualms. The game was noticeably less TR than the old games but still a great game which is my main problem with the review (the final score). On its own the game can hold up pretty well with all the 8-9+ reviews it received.

Essentially all of the review's most negative issues were in relation to TR of old (too much shooting/not enough puzzles). Some of the characters were a little iffy and rarely had any impact on the story (mostly used to flesh out why Lara got there and then shown a couple times as you go along) but each character also had a purpose in the story as well as a life outside of it (most of which you learn about in collectibles).

I too would had prefered a few more puzzles and perhaps a little more Traditional TR vibe but as an origin story reboot it was great and allows for her to become more of her old self next time. She won't be a greenhorn anymore as in this she was basically a college grad on her first major expedition.

Next time though they need to focus a little more on puzzles as they were not all that difficult and relatively few in number. I actually liked some of the Tombs but perhaps it would had been more interesting if they made them required to progress or expanded on them next time. They were for the most part too straight forward and held little risk. If they were longer, more involved and had enemies more along lines of story segments (think mini levels on their own) than it would had been much better.

[kurac]

And less shooting. How come people don't get bored of that shooter overload already?!? I mean, it's going on and on and on for 6 years! I have a feeling those managers in big gaming corporations think gamers are monkeys. Heh, maybe a majority are. Da*n.

[Eldyraen]

Some of the enemy wave sections were a little over the top ;) I didn't think it was too bad at most other times though.

I actually liked it as long as it wasn't too crazy as you had to worry about melee, ranged, and explosives its just it went from one extreme to the other quite often (light to heavy resistance) which can get monotonous after a while. Different enemy types (and not ao many of each at once) would had helped keep action up without feeling quite so shootie (such as the wolves, although you only fight them twice I think).

I got in the habit of spending as much time as I could playing stealthily but too often its just not an option. I really enjoyed when I could pick off some here and there before gunfights much more than pure gun blazing action. Stealth and Acrobatics/Platforming should be bit more of a combat focus (or option to consider) next time as enemies seemed to have radar once you started combat.