320°

The Harsh Truth about Today’s Tomb Raider

Alex from GamersFTW writes:

“No other franchise represents the general dumbing down of video games quite like Tomb Raider. Gone are the days when you might be stuck for months, working on the same puzzle or finicky little jumping sequence. This general decline can be traced, I think, to Angelina Jolie successfully butchering an English accent worse than Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins…”

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gamersftw.co.uk
joedom3065d ago

I'm not a huge fan of how Tomb Raider has tried to be more like modern adventure games when the original Tomb Raider is the inspiration for most action adventure games. Tomb Raider should be showing them how it's done, not copying games like Uncharted!

lelo2play3065d ago (Edited 3065d ago )

I find it amusing people saying Tomb Raider copied Uncharted... when it's mostly the other way around.
Uncharted copied more of Tomb Raider then Tomb Raider copied Uncharted.
If you want to criticise Tomb Raider then you also should be criticizing Uncharted.

You will find very few original game ideas out there. Someone is always "borrowing" ideas from others in gaming development.

VerminSC3065d ago

I honestly don't agree at all.

Uncharted feels nothing like the ORIGINAL tomb raiders yet the new tomb raiders feel a lot like uncharted.

That being said, I love both series.

InTheLab3065d ago

Let's end this now. Please tell us how Uncharted is copying Tomb Raider.

Then compare the rebooted TR to all of the games prior. You see when people say "modern", they're referring to Uncharted. So when Lara is in her Tomb and that camera zooms in close for a dramatic shot, or she leaps for a ledge and misses and somehow catches the next ledge with two fingers...ask yourself where that came from.

Now if Drake starts doing somersaults from a ledge or dual welding unlimited ammo pistols while gunning down dinosaurs. ..

subtenko3065d ago

Thing is, Tomb raider went after the uncharted pie. But I've played tomb raider and it just doesnt hit the same note as uncharetd imo.

Nathan Drake > Laura croft. I'd even take chole over laura.

Automatic793065d ago

I believe people need to stop making comparisons and appreciate the games for what they are. I love Rise of the TombRaider because it brings back what Lara was all about TombRaiding the enjoyment of solving puzzles and trying to obtain an upgrade is satisfying, exploring the unimaginable or what has been described to Lara as not existing is fascinating. I love Uncharted for its Michael Bay action sequences and finding new locations. Both have great pacing, aesthetics and Story. Enjoy them both and support them. Please dont ruin another fantastic genre because of meaningless comparisons. After all, action adventure just like Horror is at an all time low with regards to how many releases there is out in the retail space.

shadowknight2033065d ago

Uncharted inspired by tomb raider but revolutionized the genre in the same way tomb raider was the staple of action adventure back in the day. Yes tomb raider copied uncharted, and now i love tomb raider almost as much as i love uncharted. Its a win win

dkp233065d ago

Is this based on tomb raider being out before uncharted. Meaning the originals? THe old tomb raiders are nothing like the new tomb raiders if anything so how did uncharted copy?

D-riders3065d ago

Uncharted did copy tomb raider. Tomb raider wasn't the game it is today until Uncharted came out and now it's struggling to find its own identity

asadachi3065d ago

Where did it copy exactly? Or do you mean they're both archaeology themed action adventure games? If anything, they both owe credit to Indian Jones movies. The original Tomb Raiders were fun because they were challenging (kinda what the article is about) while UC is just a great example of technical excellence. Influenced, maybe, but copied? No, then Uncharted would have to dumb itself down.

Why o why3065d ago

Mr lito

I agree with ya. Enjoy both, don't pit one against the other.

himdeel3064d ago

@subtenko I need that Chloe game from ND!

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u4one3065d ago (Edited 3065d ago )

Wasn't tomb raider released before uncharted.? I mean it's been an adventure game since it was conceived. If anything uncharted seems inspired by tomb raider (among other things as well). *shrug*. I really enjoy both franchises personally and don't feel the need to take sides on this but TR has been around longer.

QuickdrawMcgraw3065d ago

I don't see anyone saying UN was not inspired by TR....

Realms3064d ago

The Tomb Raider series definitely borrowed from the Indiana Jones movies so nothing really exists on it's own they all feed off each other creatively. If you ask me Indiana Jones definitely influenced some game developers in to wanting to create such a world's in video games.

PizzaSteve3065d ago

Uncharted took the treasure hunting theme from Tomb Raider. Tomb Raider took the play style of Uncharted. They both are basically copying Indiana Jones.

Yukes3065d ago

May just be me but, rose-tinted nostalgia spectacles off, I NEVER enjoyed being stuck for weeks on a frustrating platforming section or puzzle. I for one am glad that that's a rarity nowadays.

That said, I do agree that the kill count gets a little ridiculous in the later games, and the sense of adventure has been replaced with that all-too-common sense of exploration.

c00lvilKid693065d ago (Edited 3065d ago )

Yeah, I agree, being stuck for weeks isn’t exactly fun, but there’s definitely a difficulty aspect missing in most games these days. And there’s nothing wrong with rose-tinted nostalgia spectacles! I’m leaving my pair where they are!

Immorals3065d ago (Edited 3065d ago )

I prefer the new games to the old. Let puzzle games be puzzle games, don't kill the flow by adding a pointless puzzle in an action oriented game.

Spikeantestor3065d ago

Well the reason people could get stuck was because the games were designed under the assumption that giving a player something to overcome was better than giving a player something to watch. Games are easier now because they are about the experience of play. Difficulty gets in the way of seeing everything the designers want you to.

Im ok with difficult games but not because I want to feel accomplished. I enjoy the atmosphere difficulty can engender.

When you don't take interaction into account, when that's not what drives your design, then it's much harder to do interesting things with Interaction. Uncharted isn't about interaction but about exposition. The game telling you things. It does this explicitly whith story elements but it also uses its game play elements as a kind of exposition. Again it's not about what YOU see and do, only what the game wants to SHOW you.

Bah, I know I've been rambling. Oh well, anyway, everyone go play Bloodborne. It's fantastic.

1noobgamer3065d ago

I like the idea of the game but agree with the comments, it still is too much of a puzzle for me and would like it to be a little more open world

susanto12283065d ago

Figuring out puzzles is not my style of RPGIng...
I do think that all the senseless killing takes a bit away from the RPG aspect of the game. TOmb Raider has been mostly about action combat with little RPG I wish they would go more RPGesque style. It's dumbing down because of all the teen players we have now at days and they have to hold their attention longer than 2 seconds.

c00lvilKid693065d ago

Holding today’s ‘teenage’, instant gratification orientated player’s attention with some kind of ‘cognitive flow’ does seem to be the main attraction for video game developers - this and the tried and tested ‘reward and recognition’ mentality of ‘the level up’ model. As for the senseless killing, well, I feel like that represents the total antithesis of what Lara Croft was originally about.

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70°

It’ll Be Fine, Right? Five Games With Unfortunate Release Strategies

Mark from WellPlayed writes about five game launches that were impacted by unfortunate scheduling.

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well-played.com.au
jznrpg345d ago (Edited 345d ago )

Zero Dawn sold really well so I’m not sure this belongs. The second game released next to a big game again and it hurt it some I forget what it was though, oh yeah Elden Ring .
But a good game is a good game to me I don’t care when they release personally but they do have to think about it when you want to get more people to buy it.

250°

The Tomb Raider Survivor Trilogy's Take on Lara Croft Deserved More Recognition

The Survivor Trilogy was a drastic reimagining of Lara Croft and Tomb Raider, and it provokes changes for the character that are truly fantastic.

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gamerant.com
isarai458d ago (Edited 458d ago )

Deserves less IMO, i think the 1st in the new trilogy was a perfect 1st step for the new direction. The next 2 games were half steps at best. Not only that, every character in the series including Lara is just annoying and doesn't make sense in terms of motive, like yes they have a motive, but none of it seems proportional to the lengths they are willing to go through for it. The most annoying thing is every one of the games say "become the Tomb Raider" yet 3 games later and we're still not there? No thanks. Then there's the mess of the 3rd game, massive skill tree that serves almost no purpose as there's literally only like 3-4 short encounters in the whole game, and they took till the 3rd game to finally manage some decent puzzles even remotely close to previous games in the series. Nah, the trilogy infuriated me to no end as a long time fan of the series, i hope we get better going forward cause that crap sucked.

Army_of_Darkness456d ago

The first in the trilogy was my favorite. I thought they were going into the right direction with that one until the second one came out and seemed like a graphical downgrade but the gameplay was okay. As for the Third, Graphics were really nice but it was kinda boring me to death with its non-stop platforming and exploring with not enough action! Well, for me anyway...

DeathTouch456d ago

Graphics on the 3rd one were abysmal. It’s more colorful and has more variety, but everything else was a noticeable downgrade.

The more open world with NPC quests was also handled very poorly, to the point I missed Angel of Darkness.

thesoftware730456d ago

I know it is your opinion, but she did progress as a character in each game, she even got more muscular and seasoned.

That is the thing, people first complained that there was not enough platforming and actual tomb raiding in the first and second games. Shadow remedied that and kept the combat elements.

3-4 encounters? huh? did we play the same game? there was plenty of combat and, the skill tree did matter, like being able to hang enemies from trees, set explosives traps on bodies, being able to counter, and that are just a few of the combat skills. The skill tree also had things like being able to hold your breath underwater longer, crafting upgrades, zipline upgrade, and climbing upgrades that all changed how you can approach situations.

Not knocking your opinion, but we definitely had different experiences. I had 98% completion on the shadow.

SoulWarrior456d ago (Edited 456d ago )

Sorry but i'm with him about the low number of encounters, the game throws loads of weapons and skills you're way with a comparatively low amount of places to actually use them, so they felt under utilised.

-Foxtrot458d ago

Yeah...no

It was awful, for THREE GAMES it was "become the Tomb Raider" where she went back to square one after each game. Not to mention after a huge reaction of killing someone for the first time she then becomes Rambo straight after and goes on a slaughter spree without a single other reaction. Her development was all over the place.

She was whiney, weak and in later game a little arrogant and selfish

Oh and the voice actress compared to the previous ones was not as good

Lara Croft deserved better and while they are decent games as they are, we deserved actual Tomb Raider games, we could have had better survival games if they just stuck with the original Lara Crofts origin about her plane going down. Surviving 2 weeks in the Himalayas...I'd have liked to seen that, who knows what mystical threat she could have faced in the mountains or underground some secret concealed cave.

Tacoboto456d ago

I thought Shadow of the Tomb Raider had better gameplay than Rise, but it annoyed me the most of the trilogy when I stopped to think about the story.

It's like they deliberately decided to make her unlikeable and did nothing to make the character you're playing as likeable or have even one sign of humility.

SoulWarrior458d ago

2013 I thought was a fine entry, but Rise and especially Shadow were painfully mediocre follow ups imo, I really didn't like how selfish and angry her character was in those two.

Terry_B456d ago

No. Please forget the crap completely.

northpaws456d ago

First one was decent, played through it twice.
Second one was okay, played through it once.
Third one was really bad, tried twice a year apart, still can't get through the first two hours, it is just really bad.

thesoftware730456d ago

Honest question, what did you find bad about it? the opening 2 hrs of Shadow were fantastic imo.

The opening was very similar to the first 2, what did you find really bad?

Not looking for an argument, just an honest question.

Starman69456d ago

3rd one just didn't feel like a tomb raider game. Possibly because the development was passed to another development team. Big mistake! Microsoft killed tomb raider making the first game a timed exclusive. Never recovered after that.

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200°

Get three Tomb Raider games free at Epic Games Store

Starting today, Tomb Raider, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and Rise of the Tomb Raider are free at Epic Games Store. The free game offers run until January 6 at 11 AM Eastern. Once you claim them, they’re yours to keep.

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gamefreaks365.com
CrimsonWing69837d ago (Edited 837d ago )

They're all solid games, but nothing quite matched the epicness of the first one for me. I think the 3rd one started off strong but once you got to that Peruvian area it took a massive nose dive for me.

lelo2play837d ago (Edited 837d ago )

You got to be kidding!
The first one was great at the time... but this latest trilogy of Tomb Raider games are also great.

LiViNgLeGaCY837d ago

I think he means the first one in the new trilogy.

CrimsonWing69837d ago

I meant the first of the new trilogy.

Furesis837d ago

yeah i remember liking the first one when it came out, so i tried the second one sometime after release and i just could not get into it, i couldn't finish it. So i might try the 3rd now that i got it for free but ehh. But i do remember enjoying the first one, i wonder if i'd feel the same way if i played it today? Better not taint those memories lol

ANIALATOR136836d ago

I was the same for some reason. Never finished the second one. I got like half way through maybe.

ActualWhiteMan836d ago (Edited 836d ago )

The first one of the latest trilogy is a masterpiece

Fishy Fingers837d ago

I'll take a copy of Shadow... Cheers.

Profchaos837d ago

Great games I've played them all on ps4 but it'll be good to finally try shadow on my rtx card.

Double_O_Revan837d ago

Trying to claim them and the store keeps crashing. lol.

gamefreaks365837d ago

EGS has been having issues all day.

RedDevils837d ago

Weird I don't has that issue.

Double_O_Revan837d ago

I finally got it after a while. But it was real bad for a while.

PeeShuter837d ago (Edited 837d ago )

Claim games by going to the website and login using ur credentials. I did the same as i couldnt use epic launcher. Also try reinstalling Epic Launcher I did it and it worked.

Double_O_Revan836d ago

I always go through the website. It was all just down for a while yesterday it seems.

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