G_H_G
01-03-2007, 01:11
I've just completed the game on normal difficulty (and I'm contemplating whether to go through it again on hard because it was so much fun and the achievement points), so I thought I'd write a review on it.
Graphics
Suprisingly good for a game that is a so called 'port' from current gen (or is that last gen now?) consoles. Although its not fully true that its a port (it was actually developed alongside the last gen offerings), you can still see certain current gen assets in some areas (although this is rare). The textures in places are great, the forest levels really show off the lighting (which is brilliant BTW) and the character models are well done (Lara has good assets, as expected), although they are a bit on the 'plastic' side. Water refelects the environments realistically and the draw distance is very good. The explosions could be better done however, they don't look or feel like 'expolsions'. When you throw a grenade its more like a burst of bright light than anything. Also worth of note is that there are no framerate or vsync problems at all.
Easily enough to keep graphics whores satisfied here.
8.5
Gameplay
The tomb raider series started off with great gameplay, took a dip for about half a decade, then the series dissapeared for a couple of years. Now that its back, it looks like Crystal Dynamics went back to the drawing board and started all over again because the gameplay in this game is much more alike the games early in the series. In other words, its good old fashioned tomb raider and as a result, its lots of fun. The platforming aspects are never frustrating, the puzzles (I will go into greater detail about them later on) are suprisingly varied but the combat could be better.
For the platforming aspects of the game you are usually jumping from ledge to ledge, swinging on ropes, sliding down rocks and they have even stolen aspects from the PoP series with pole swinging. There's also a new arival to the series. Lara has something called a grappling hook. You can use this to hook onto objects and either pull them or if the object is high enough, you can use it as a rope. All in all its a lot of fun and it is never difficult to figure out where you need to make the next jump to and where you need to finally end up. The camera helps this as it shifts in such a way that it becomes obvious where you need to go.
Puzzles are quite commonplace in this game, as you would expect with it being a Tomb Raider game. On average there will be between 2-3 puzzles a level (there are 8 levels in total). You have your traditional block pushing puzzles, there are physics puzzles (the physics engine in this game is very good BTW), you have boulder puzzles and then you have puzzles which require the use of your grappling hook. You have goggles in the game that can go into analysis mode and you have the help of a guy called Alister on voiceover who will give you hints as to what you could use each object in your vacinity for in order to complete the puzzle. He will also warn you of unseen dangers ahead in platforming sections.
The combat is fun. Its all in 3rd person and you have a GTA style targeting system (although you can override this should you need to and go into 'accurate aim' mode which is basically an over the shoulder view and you get an aiming reticle). You start out with the classic double pistols but as you move through the game a variety of guns (dropped from enemies) become available to your disposal. You have smgs, shotguns, rifles, grenades, grenade launchers, etc. Every weapon has a different impact level as expected, but that is not enough for it to really matter what weapon you are using at any given time no matter how many enemies you are surrounded by. This and the fact that you don't really get the sensation that you are hurting anyone with the weapons is what lets this area of the game down for me. I also think that they could have been more creative and let you make use of the grappling tool in combat as well. There are also about 10 different melee attacks, but you never need to use them through the game.
The level design is brilliant though. Some of the views you get in the game are great (and no, I am not talking about Lara's boobs), and you get a real sense of size and scope in the environments. There are also vehicle based sections, but these are far too easy, the controls are rubbish and they are boring (I also think they go on for too long). The graphics in those sections are also ripped straight out of the current gen.
All in all, the gameplay is good in some areas but poor in others. The whole experience is fun, but you can't help but think they could have made the game a lot better and innovated a lot more with what they put in the game.
7.0
Sound
The voice acting is British (yay!) and very well done in my opinion. The musical score is also suprisingly good and certain tunes wouldn't feel out of place in a film. The gun and explosion sounds are weak though. Lara's 'getting hurt' and death sounds are also poor IMO (one actually sounds like she's in orgasm, no joke).
7.5
Story
Weakest part of the game by far. Its something to do with her wanting to find out about her mother and there is a power struggle with the 2 main enemies Rutland and Amanda over some artifacts that bring great power to those who use them. The artificats are what will lead Lara to finding out about her mother and she has to go all around the world to pick up the pieces from Tombs. Thats just the general jist of it, but its crap. I was never pulled in and most cutscenes I wasn't even paying attention it was so weak.
3.0
Lasting appeal
The game spans across 8 levels (all different locations around the world). You have the option of 3 difficulty levels. I just completed it on the normal setting and my final game clock read 10 hours 34 minutes. So its pretty short (and sweet I'd say). The hard difficulty is supposed to add 2 hours to the time but I'd say that if you've already completed it on the normal setting and then play through it again (even on the more difficult setting) it can probably take about an hour or 2 less time as you wont be running around trying to figure out the puzzles (you'll know what to do).
There are time trials for each level that you unlock upon completing the level. With these the aim is to dash through the level within a certain time. The only reason I could see someone wanting to do these is if they want the achievements. There are also bronze silver and gold awards scattered throughout each level. Bronze being most easy to find/get and gold being the most difficult. Again, the only reward for getting all of these is acheivements (oh and costumes for Lara if you're into that sort of thing ;) ).
All in all, the game is a good rent IMO (its also worth it if you can find it on the cheap). There are no online options (not even any moneymaking downloadable content :o ) so its just the single player game. I'm trading my copy in for Lost Planet when that drops as I wont be playing this again seen as there is no incentive to.
6.5
Final score (not an average)
All in all, this game is good fun and a solid single player experience (albeit a short one). The game excells in many areas but falls just shy of greatness in many others. There are one or two areas where the game isn't good at all, but luckly those aren't in important areas. If you're a fan of platformers, adventure games or just a fan of Lara herself this is well worth a pickup if you spot it on sale, in your bargin bin or at your local rental store. I don't think its worth a full game price considering what else you can get now, but its still a good game none the less. Hell, who'd be mad enough turn down 10 hours with Lara on the cheap?
7.9
Graphics
Suprisingly good for a game that is a so called 'port' from current gen (or is that last gen now?) consoles. Although its not fully true that its a port (it was actually developed alongside the last gen offerings), you can still see certain current gen assets in some areas (although this is rare). The textures in places are great, the forest levels really show off the lighting (which is brilliant BTW) and the character models are well done (Lara has good assets, as expected), although they are a bit on the 'plastic' side. Water refelects the environments realistically and the draw distance is very good. The explosions could be better done however, they don't look or feel like 'expolsions'. When you throw a grenade its more like a burst of bright light than anything. Also worth of note is that there are no framerate or vsync problems at all.
Easily enough to keep graphics whores satisfied here.
8.5
Gameplay
The tomb raider series started off with great gameplay, took a dip for about half a decade, then the series dissapeared for a couple of years. Now that its back, it looks like Crystal Dynamics went back to the drawing board and started all over again because the gameplay in this game is much more alike the games early in the series. In other words, its good old fashioned tomb raider and as a result, its lots of fun. The platforming aspects are never frustrating, the puzzles (I will go into greater detail about them later on) are suprisingly varied but the combat could be better.
For the platforming aspects of the game you are usually jumping from ledge to ledge, swinging on ropes, sliding down rocks and they have even stolen aspects from the PoP series with pole swinging. There's also a new arival to the series. Lara has something called a grappling hook. You can use this to hook onto objects and either pull them or if the object is high enough, you can use it as a rope. All in all its a lot of fun and it is never difficult to figure out where you need to make the next jump to and where you need to finally end up. The camera helps this as it shifts in such a way that it becomes obvious where you need to go.
Puzzles are quite commonplace in this game, as you would expect with it being a Tomb Raider game. On average there will be between 2-3 puzzles a level (there are 8 levels in total). You have your traditional block pushing puzzles, there are physics puzzles (the physics engine in this game is very good BTW), you have boulder puzzles and then you have puzzles which require the use of your grappling hook. You have goggles in the game that can go into analysis mode and you have the help of a guy called Alister on voiceover who will give you hints as to what you could use each object in your vacinity for in order to complete the puzzle. He will also warn you of unseen dangers ahead in platforming sections.
The combat is fun. Its all in 3rd person and you have a GTA style targeting system (although you can override this should you need to and go into 'accurate aim' mode which is basically an over the shoulder view and you get an aiming reticle). You start out with the classic double pistols but as you move through the game a variety of guns (dropped from enemies) become available to your disposal. You have smgs, shotguns, rifles, grenades, grenade launchers, etc. Every weapon has a different impact level as expected, but that is not enough for it to really matter what weapon you are using at any given time no matter how many enemies you are surrounded by. This and the fact that you don't really get the sensation that you are hurting anyone with the weapons is what lets this area of the game down for me. I also think that they could have been more creative and let you make use of the grappling tool in combat as well. There are also about 10 different melee attacks, but you never need to use them through the game.
The level design is brilliant though. Some of the views you get in the game are great (and no, I am not talking about Lara's boobs), and you get a real sense of size and scope in the environments. There are also vehicle based sections, but these are far too easy, the controls are rubbish and they are boring (I also think they go on for too long). The graphics in those sections are also ripped straight out of the current gen.
All in all, the gameplay is good in some areas but poor in others. The whole experience is fun, but you can't help but think they could have made the game a lot better and innovated a lot more with what they put in the game.
7.0
Sound
The voice acting is British (yay!) and very well done in my opinion. The musical score is also suprisingly good and certain tunes wouldn't feel out of place in a film. The gun and explosion sounds are weak though. Lara's 'getting hurt' and death sounds are also poor IMO (one actually sounds like she's in orgasm, no joke).
7.5
Story
Weakest part of the game by far. Its something to do with her wanting to find out about her mother and there is a power struggle with the 2 main enemies Rutland and Amanda over some artifacts that bring great power to those who use them. The artificats are what will lead Lara to finding out about her mother and she has to go all around the world to pick up the pieces from Tombs. Thats just the general jist of it, but its crap. I was never pulled in and most cutscenes I wasn't even paying attention it was so weak.
3.0
Lasting appeal
The game spans across 8 levels (all different locations around the world). You have the option of 3 difficulty levels. I just completed it on the normal setting and my final game clock read 10 hours 34 minutes. So its pretty short (and sweet I'd say). The hard difficulty is supposed to add 2 hours to the time but I'd say that if you've already completed it on the normal setting and then play through it again (even on the more difficult setting) it can probably take about an hour or 2 less time as you wont be running around trying to figure out the puzzles (you'll know what to do).
There are time trials for each level that you unlock upon completing the level. With these the aim is to dash through the level within a certain time. The only reason I could see someone wanting to do these is if they want the achievements. There are also bronze silver and gold awards scattered throughout each level. Bronze being most easy to find/get and gold being the most difficult. Again, the only reward for getting all of these is acheivements (oh and costumes for Lara if you're into that sort of thing ;) ).
All in all, the game is a good rent IMO (its also worth it if you can find it on the cheap). There are no online options (not even any moneymaking downloadable content :o ) so its just the single player game. I'm trading my copy in for Lost Planet when that drops as I wont be playing this again seen as there is no incentive to.
6.5
Final score (not an average)
All in all, this game is good fun and a solid single player experience (albeit a short one). The game excells in many areas but falls just shy of greatness in many others. There are one or two areas where the game isn't good at all, but luckly those aren't in important areas. If you're a fan of platformers, adventure games or just a fan of Lara herself this is well worth a pickup if you spot it on sale, in your bargin bin or at your local rental store. I don't think its worth a full game price considering what else you can get now, but its still a good game none the less. Hell, who'd be mad enough turn down 10 hours with Lara on the cheap?
7.9