It can be a bit difficult to talk about the new Tomb Raider without also talking about Uncharted. Naughty Dog's PS3 series has always had a lot of Tomb Raider in its DNA, and Crystal Dynamics' new Lara Croft adventure has clearly been taking notes from Uncharted.
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"I think Tomb Raider COMPLETELY blows away Uncharted. It's my GOTY for 2013 so far, and I don't see it getting beaten. It's just so badass in so many ways, it makes Uncharted look like Sesame Street.
The super dark, gritty world REALLY blew me away. I'm at the part where I just got knocked off the bridge into a certain "river" if you know what I mean. SO AWESOME!!!!! Man ... this is the darkest game I've played in a long time.
The bow, and pretty much all the combat blows away Uncharted. The dodging, the stealth takedowns, the counter kills, the cover system, the animations during crouching stealth and combat, all far better! The axe is awesome. The rope arrows are totally awesome. The jumping is far better, and allows you more control - including air control.
Drake really comes off like a clown, and I've always hated that in Uncharted, and I never liked his character. Lara though is just totally serious and really is on par with Rambo at times. It's just no comparison for me.
I have no doubt Tomb Raider will blow away Last of Us as well.
And yeah, Tomb Raider has a lot more content too. I feel like I've been playing for a while now and I think I'm 42% in. GOTY for me easily."
Sounds like a pretty arrogant comment to me.They basically call Uncharted a kiddie game and they say this game already blows The Last of Us away which hasn't even been released. It's ignorance I guess
In fact I think that person is a casual xbox 360 owner, tomb raider is good but bisoshock, the last of us and watch dogs are so far on a different level right now.
Also please note I said casual because even a core xbox gamers would have common sense to know tomb raider cannot win goty of those games. Nost xbox gamers will say watch dogs or bioshock infinite.
It makes me think do some people not play Uncharted because they are bitter over the fact Uncharted has beaten Tomb Raider. You know those obsessed TR fangirls who are full of nostalgia.
This comment is just as arrogant as the Uncharted looks like Sesame Street one.
OT: It's all opinion based. Tomb Raider if you want a semi-realistic emotional survival experience and Uncharted if you want a popcorn action film with better characters/writing than most films.
Either way, I already know most of the people here will blindly say that Uncharted is the better game(for obvious reasons that we all know), so theres really no point in arguing this any further...on N4G of all places where the preponderance of the community think/act similarly.
Highly disagree with you there. Uncharteds writing and characters are pretty much just on par or equal to most films.
I know I'm going to get disagreed to hell with what I'm about to say, but I'll say it anyway(oh and by the way, I haven't played Tomb Raider, so don't take this as a comparison and start saying "well tomb radier isn't as good blah blah").
Uncharted is overrated. Nobody in Uncharted has any real unique characteristics that exist only in Uncharted. In fact they're characteristics that are found quite commonly in movies and tv. Drake the wisecracking average joe hero, Elena the sweet/kind love interest who knows how to handle herself in a fight, Chloe the mysterious former love interest who isn't really a law abiding citizen, Sully the old perv/mentor who always has something creepy yet funny to say.
Those character archetypes have been done to death in tv and movies. It's not a terribly bad thing, but it certainly doesn't merit as much praise as it gets (in my opinion).
But don't mistake this comment as a dislike for the franchise. I like Uncharted. I've beat all 3 ps3 games (Platinum'd the second game even). Uncharted beats out every other game in terms of cinematics and cinematic gameplay, and graphics. It's the best action flick style franchise there is.
BUT, it's JUST that. People speak as if it has the best characters/writing/story in any game ever, but it doesn't. There's no real deep emotion to the game. It's a "fun", a charming game with light hearted spirit, but not a deep game. It doesn't make you think, it doesn't make you feel, other than a tiny few moments that don't really matter all that much (u3 improved quite a lot on this by showing drake as a kid though, I did like that). I wouldn't usually complain about these things if it were any other game, but I feel as though I have to when I see this game get so much praise on the elements it's simply AVERAGE at (story,characters).
The Last of Us looks to be much better though. Two people, both who have lost probably many people who were important to them, trying to survive in a world where most human beings have lost their humanity (both figuratively and literally), now that's what a deep story is and what great characters are.
It's a more human story, a story you care about more than "wisecracking hero looks for treasure, unnecessarily kills a bunch of 'bad guys' (despite the fact that he could simply just go home at any point, he doesn't NEED to find treasure and kill hundreds of people, he just chooses to because he thinks the treasure is worth a few hundred dead people, which is why I can't really 'like' Drake, and no, it's not really self defense when he intentionally and unnecessarily puts himself in a situation he doesn't need to be in) and ends up saving the world as a side effect.
As far as character emotion and story depth, Uncharted will never be able to stand with games like Mass Effect/Ni No Kuni etc.
But clearly Uncharted has been the better series this generation......Tomb raider was irrelevant majority of this gen with its subpar games but I'm glad they finally got in back on track with this one.
It's funny to see people down talk Nathan Drake's character, IMO he's ONE OF the FEW characters in gaming to that feels real...... Character wise he's a digital Indiana Jones for goodness sake.
Also that poster was so happy that Tomb Raider is Dark and Gritty.....IMO that's not always good, it sucked for the Dark Knight Rises and it would suck if Indiana Jones had that tone......Dark and Gritty isn't for everything, if Uncharted was Dark and Gritty it would be Gears of War
Edit @ Logic
Well if Uncharted was a RPG I'm sure they could obtain that amount of emotion and depth but its a 8 hr action game vs 30+ hr RPGs.
Emotion can easily be pulled off in 3-10 hour experiences. Spec Ops: The Line, The Walking Dead, and Journey are good examples. Uncharted games are great because they rarely do anything wrong, but I can't say that I was ever emotionally connected to Drake. He's a good character, but I've never "cared" for him as I would a human.
Some of the most popular games are about invincible protagonists Halo and CoD... That invincible feeling goes over to the multiplayer when it comes to CoD
I can't wait to see what ND do with the Last of Us because I feel like this game just kinda came out of nowhere and gave us what the last of Us promised to give. Except for one thing, LoU will have survival elements which I like alot.
Anyhow, Tomb Raider completely destroyed my expectations, I thought it would be nothing but a devious Uncharted clone...but the additions to the gameplay have really set it apart from Uncharted imo
Edit-- I'm a bit shocked to see Uncharted fans pull out the whole review thing again. Yes. GTA4 has a high Meta score. So it's better than both of them. Right? No. No it's not. Awards and reviews really mean **** all. Tomb Raider will not will nearly as many awards...do you know why? It has other amazing games to compete with this year. LoU, Bioshock etc...Uncharted 2 didn't have much to compete with did it?
Seriously, people only trust reviews when it suits their argument. And if the new God of War recieves a lower average and is considered the worst god of war to date - Reviews are wrong.
I just finished a playthrough this on ma pay cee and I think this is one of the better looking games ever made letalone better than uncharted. but i think that might be highly conditional. cause this game seems to shine in certain lighting conditions and almost fail in others
Overall liked the game. plain and simple. I also liked uncharted but in a different way.
both games have artifacts that you can view upclose with the sticks/triggers. in that respect uncharted artifacts look much better and have much better shaders.
What it's fantastic about Tomb Raider though, is the controls. The game just plays beautifully. There are things to improve, and certainly they will (unless they ruin them like Guerrilla did with Killzone 2's perfect controls for KZ3) Anyways, Lara always did what I wanted her to do in the game. Not once did a button not respond well or messed up a jump or a shot due to the controller. The aiming was perfect. I moved the sensitivity up to 8 and it was amazing. Everytime I used the bow, I did headshots, and there wasn't any auto aim, or aim assist (at least not noticeable at all).
I am very eager to know what Naught Dog will do with Uncharted on PS4. Surely the graphics will be amazing even if they launch it early, but I wonder how they will respond to Tomb Raider. They know and are aware of the success that Tomb Raider is having, and as long as both try to outdo each other, we all gamers win.
this new reboot for tomb raider is a good first step but there is room for huge improvements, story is pretty mediocre, but i am hopeful for next games in the series that aspect will see huge improvements.
i like both but my favorite is Uncharted, not because of the game so much as its made by ND who IMO are the best development house in business
enjoy both, instead of having 1 great game now we have 2 so nothing to complain about just play and enjoy
Also graphics. While obviously uncharted looks very special as Naughty Dog can push the system well, I find the overall art direction in TR to be stunning places, beautifully detailed and lovingly crafted. UC3 seems a bit more 'fake' in comparison. All shiny prefabs. Tomb raider does nature much better.
Gunplay is a lot better in Uncharted though, they have the cover system down well.
Story? The overall plot is better in Uncharted but the immersion is better in TR because it feels more visceral and weighty. Darker.
Overall I can say I much preferred TR to UC3, but Uncharted 2 was amazing so I'd have to give them both a 9/10.
Mr Tom Braider has more emotion too, I actually felt so bad for (SPOILER...................... .......)
One of the mad guys in the 'cells' in the geothermal caves asking to be killed. I shot him with a flame arrow and actually felt sorry for him and relief - don't think I've ever felt that in a game before. It was just well crafted and immersive enough to make me feel it.
..............
Though I do spot the UC rip offs throughout TR - mainly the climbing up dangling pieces of wrecks with mad camera angles (like UC2's opening).
I find TR has a more cohesive and fun to explore/less linear (far less linear) environment and seems more current than UC does.
Can't wait for both sequels on PS4 but uncharted REALLY needs to back off the scripted events and 'cinematics' and go back to good old fashioned interaction - UC3 was a bridge too far for me - got boring in too many places.
And I'm really turned off by the extreme unnecessary almost God of War levels of violence in this Tomb Raider game. I mean... really? Did they really have to make Lara die in those ways? It's just a little out of place IMO.
Sorry but the way Lara dies is true to the series roots. It was possible to have Lara killed in loads of different and quite horrible ways in the original.
But don't get me wrong, like I said the game is really good and there is a lot to like. It's just I didn't like the extreme violence in my adventure games.
I'm sure if Nathan Drake fell down a pit and got sliced up into bits or goes around and stabs arrows in peoples eyes I'd be turned off too.
Uncharted 2 has Tomb Raider beat
BUT
Tomb Raider >>>> Uncharted 3 and 1
Uncharted 3 is one of the most overrated games of this generation.
I don't see anything wrong with that personally.
Every platformer in existence wouldn't be around if it weren't for Mario, but does that take anything away from gems like Outland or Closure?
Btw my first comment wasn't directed @rit. I came to here to read about TR but most the comments are just bashing UC for some reason.
Not really because in my opinion Tomb Raider, despite being a good game still didn't scratch the surface of something like Uncharted 3 or even Uncharted 2.
I don't see anything which the new Tomb Raider did better....if your going to say "Well she can explore more...she has more freedom" then I'm sorry but that's not something ND was going for anyway with Uncharted.
I don't even feel like Uncharted copied Tomb Raider, it was trying to be a movie and it's obviously ND copied Indiana Jones more then Tomb Raider. The things people compared between the two is that they are both treasure hunters and that the platforming is similar but you can't do realistic platforming any other way so of course Drakes platforming is going to look like Tomb Raiders, same goes with Prince of Persia's or Assassins Creed, they are realistic games, not like they can double jump.
"that Naughty Dog decided it was worth digging into his backstory. And, to be honest, I wasn't all that interested even when they did."
What you don't want to know about Drakes past....why, it's one of the many un answered things in Uncharted. Drake is a complete mystery but with Lara we know her backstory, hell it's been changed three times and we still know it.
"Yes! Or, well, I've spent more time shooting people than raiding tombs, but, you know."
Oh Patricia...even when you havent played the old games you actually think thats what you call raiding tombs in the new games. You don't even raid any in the main story, they are optional and the puzzles are easy as hell. If you actually played the old ones I bet you would think very differently.
I hate Kotaku but Patricia is so out of touch with most games, she was the one that started that thing about Sony being sexist because they had no women at the PS4 reveal show
"Patricia: Oh, are some people saying it's not a Tomb Raider game? Wow."
Yet you've said this...
"Ah, that's interesting. This is actually my first Tomb Raider, so I've never experienced the franchise as it used to be!"
So don't call people when you don't know what were going on about.
Seriously why hire people like her if they don't know anything about games
I thought he was old but apparently she's 22...older then me and she's never played the old TR games. Come on...
How the hell am I "stooping to her level"....what because I said she sounds out of touch....which she is. She even said she never played the old games so there's the evidence to back that up.
Oh and it makes me out of touch because I said the new TR dosen't scratch the surface of Uncharted 2. It doesn't, it's my opinion, it tried to copy Uncharted instead of being it;s own game. Least I've actually played on the old games
Oh and I don't get how I sound bitter, I'm just getting sick of this debate when some people make it out it's better then Uncharted 2 when it's not. I love the game but it has it's faults. Hell I even found Uncharted 3 more enjoyable, it even had a good online that I would play more on then TR so there's a bonus.
I never make it out that my opinion is "the end all be" so just stop it....your being immature and trying to pick a fight. Probably why you only have two bubbles so I;m not surprised.
Fu(k !t -- Kotaku are the @rse end w@nkstains of gaming journalism!
Graphics wise I still give the edge to Uncharted but Tomb Raider is still a fantastically looking game with some set pieces that were just amazing. For example when Lara slowly raises her head from the river of blood. Too awesome for words.
Bottom line, Tomb Raider was a much more enjoyable game and story for me.
your right it has to have poor metacritic scores from over 56 review sites, sold under 1 million and never won any Game of The Year awards... yup about sounds like the secret sauce to a "good game."
Face it: the most awarded game in history is Uncharted 2. Not just Game of the Year awards, but awards from within the industry: from other developers and such. Tomb Raider has HUGE shoes to fill if it wants to take that crown.
Frankly, as good as it may be, I don't think Tomb Raider is up to that level.
As for your other comment, it's nothing to do with "strong PS3 fanboyism" and more to do with you making a completely STUPID comparison.
On a side note, I know people love giving out GotY awards in March, but can we see TLoU and let's not forget GTA5 releases this year.....Tomb Raider has stiff competition this year, it not a Walking Dead cake walk type of year.
You consider IGN to be credible games journalists and reviewers? So you, as a Sony fanboy, agree with their 9.8 review of Halo 4? Please, PM me an answer...
Uncharted 2 is a tremendous title, undeniably fantastic, but stating Uncharted to be nothing in comparison? Be mature. Have you even played both games? Tomb Raider's multiplayer is woeful in comparison to U2's, but the single player is astonishingly good at times, as was Uncharted's.
Both great games.
longer campaign
more interesting protagonist
better written story
less cut scene filler
vs
linear poorly penned story that is over in 6 hours
we have a clear winner.
Strong PS3 fanboyism is bound to erupt and claim my preference is somehow wrong
You can almost see the bitterness in some of these comments...(like zha1tan and Vickers above)
It's okay to like Tomb Raider better but to say Uncharted is just an all out bad game with bad story and characters is above and beyond the call of stupidity.
And I dont know why we have to have a division between the two games. Own a PS3 and play both. Simple.
Like me and Jessica Alba.
Tombraider was mostly about the puzzles and exploring. The combat was crap and she barely had any character. None of thats a knock on the games, the original is a landmark title and deserves as much credit for bringing 3D to gaming as Mario64 but people always over look that.
With Uncharted, the story and Drakes likable character were big parts of it. The platforming was like and it was combat heavy with amazing action set pieces.
The two games are as unalike as Halo and Call of Duty, similar yet completely different.
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
Now I not going to argue with you about which is better, You might actually think it's not as good as uncharted, that's your opinion. My opinion tomb raider wipes its ass with the entire uncharted series period, Regardless what any review say, now that's just my opinion and you can't do nothing but respect it.
As for it being like Uncharted you're wrong. The tone is more series, Uncharted is action comedy, if anything Uncharted plays more like the OLD Tomb Raiders did. Uncharted is more liner, Tomb Raider is open island. Sorry but they are nothing alike.
because I think you never touched an uncharted game before if you think they share any thing with old TR games
this new one is taking a lot of uncharted ...a lot
but still far from being on the same level
I really don't care about your opinion and never will
but what I find in your comment is that you say your opinion as a fact when even the reviews disagree
and even MOST of who played both disagree
the fact that this TR has lower scores than UC1 prove you are wrong let alone Uc2-3 scores
but hey, ps3 owners get to play uncharted games and the best version of TR on consoles
both are great but uncharted games is just on another level
What the Fu? Dude you about to make me say some bad words are your head really that far up sony ass, what did they take from TR what the hell didn't they take from them, When this game was announced every body was calling it TR with a male character for the star.
"I really don't care about your opinion and never will"
THEN WHY DID YOU RESPOND TO MY POST?
"but what I find in your comment is that you say your opinion as a fact when even the reviews disagree"
When the hell did I Say my opinion was fact? I said to be honest because that's my honest opinion, I mean dam what the fuck is the deal with you Sony fan boys? you think everyone has to think that Sony is god if they think other wise there opinion is wrong or not respectful get a life and get off sony's dick.
"but hey, ps3 owners get to play uncharted games and the best version of TR on consoles"
http://www.explosion.com/24...
Is that were you heard that BS at? Don't listen to them As usual the 360 has the best version
"both are great but uncharted games is just on another level"
Yes they are, your opinion uncharted is better, That's fine. My opinion TR is leaps and bounds better, Respect my opinion has I do yours don't try to force me to agree with you because for these games that's not going to happen period.
first all you did is insult with nothing to back you up
which say's it all
and you still didn't name one thing uncharted took from older TR games
and then you say xbox version of TR is the best ?!
OK
here from DF TR face off
http://www.eurogamer.net/ar...
DF : "the sharper visuals better suit the overall feel of the game, highlighting the richness of the environments without as many unwanted side-effects. In that respect the PS3 version gets our recommendation as the preferred choice of the two console releases."
GET OUT OF YOUR BUBBLE ,dude
and the way you talk and insult any one disagree
make no one respect you
Here's ezz2013's trophies page, do you see tomb raider? You're arguing with someone that never played the game lol. He keeps making comments on games he never played
http://us.playstation.com/p...
yeah because i only own ps3 ...right? no xbox360 and no pc ...right?!
i'm not a sad guy like you who only own one console and cry about it
dude you fail on soo many levels every time you comment...just stop
i don't go online and i don't upgrade my profle ..so?!
and who told you i have TR on ps3 ?!
i own it on pc
why i buy it on consoles when i can get it on my pc ?!
can you fail even more ?!
but then again i don't need to prove any thing to you or even care about you
and funny non of you still didn't prove what i said is wrong
and stop stalking me you creep me out lol..you make alt accounts to feel better about your life
again what a sad life you live
i will put you on the ignore list from now on
Uncharted will take some notes from Tomb Raider and step it up (i'd like to see Drake have upgradeable gear that stays on his body like Lara did, along with the characters' model changing throughout the game with the clothes tearing and becoming dirty.
Both series are great, its good to see TombRaider have such a huge comeback, and this will make NaughtyDog step up the next Uncharted to make it an even more epic game. Everybody wins.
This game looks great and cant wait to try it but its almost a GUARANTEE if uncharted 4 comes out, naughty dog will push it even further.
If we really want to compare this game to a game of survival, lets wait until the last of us comes out since that is more of a game close to this new tomb raider which is more of a lara fighting for her life then the old bad azz lara who is use to kicking the snot out of her enemies including great white sharks & tigers & other creatures wit her pistols.
I think the combat is smoother and more organic and the platforming more flexible and free with the level design. Lara controls like a dream. Enemies and combat never got annoying and the story doesn't pull roided Na'vi bullet-sponges out of nowhere. The exploration of the island is something I greatly appretiated over Uncharted and I empathize with Lara better as a character. The unflinching pacing and brutal deaths are a plus, too.
That said, I will say Uncharted does cinematic integration to the gameplay fairly better and it goes without saying the PS3-exclusive series has substantially better graphics. The supporting cast of Uncharted is also much more entertaining. And we all know Uncharted does almost all of its elements very well despite some gripes.
Honestly I feel they're pretty different games even with all the similarities. The tones are way different and there's some definitively different priorities in the experience. Both are excellent and I'm not going to pit them against each other to the death even if one is a little more to my liking. I'm excited to see where they both go in the future.
However I can't help but feel like this tomb raider has lost a bit of the tomb raider feel.. I mean there was very little puzzle compared to the others which was one of the reasons I loved it. Also some levels felt very similar to that of uncharteds, such as the burning house you have escape as well as the shipping yard etc,
Obviously they are both adventurers so will be compared but both offer a great gaming experience
I'm just shocked Kotaku did a Good article!
One good point, I wanna hear about Lara Croft and not her dad who is NOT the character I'm controlling. All the dad stuff is annoying.
Just my opinion on the matter & o each their own.
But if you look back at which franchise had the biggest impact on gaming it would definitely be TR which took platform gaming from 2D enviroments and gave us full 3D enviroments to play in.
The Reboot is more an adult type progression imo, more serious then before and I as well did not feel pumped for the enemies until deep into the game nearer the end.
It's still a very good game, just takes some getting used to compared to the past.
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Uncharted 1 blew me away, I totally loved it(plat) and still think it's an amazing game, second was awesome and the 3rd is great as well. I found I really connect to drake as a character and the relationships between sully and Elena, Stories are easily told and the gameplay just falls into place.
I'd still favour Uncharted, but i'm also looking forward to a new Tombraider(needs more tombs) as well.