Lara just gets better and better

On November 10, 2015 we were graced with two grand games one of which was the next installment of the Tomb Raider game. Yes you guessed it (and perhaps the title gave it away anyway) I’m talking about the recently released Rise of the Tomb Raider.

Lara Croft from the 2013 reboot returns and this time she seeks new and amazing truths and nothing is simple in this game. Even on Adventurer mode where you can take things a bit easier it’s still difficult with the enemies whether you’re talking about the humans or the animals. I will state (or spoil?) that the bears in the game are incredibly hard to take down as I put over 90+ bullets in him so you better be careful trekking into caves because Yogi ain’t having it. (Should have brought him a picnic basket, shame Lara)

Hey Boo-boo... I forgot the picnic basket again...

  You do get the return of the weapon types from the previous game such as the bow, pistol, rifle and shotgun but this time they give you a choice of 4 types you get from various missions or just picking up the parts as you explore. There are even newer special weapon ammo types as well which I’ll let you have the fun of finding them out. Each variation of the weapon you pick be it pistol, rifle or so on each style has different traits that may be better suited each time you needs to head into a gun fight. There are also various outfits you automatically get as well as acquire on the way through the storyline. Some of which, can come with special bonuses or just look rather nice for you to switch from each time you stop at a camp site.

Now as for the characters they are pretty much in and out most times and you don’t get to learn too much about them at first and they aren’t going to draw you into automatically liking them but this game is about Lara and the way she becomes the Tomb Raider we know and love. This game does a delightful job of doing that by highlighting aspects in Lara’s life that led her to who she becomes.

There is a steady downfall of a few glitches I did encounter such as ‘random teleportation’ and I say this because I was drowning a man underwater and was suddenly; while drowning him, teleported outside and at the edge of a water tower of some sort before falling to my death and having to restart that moment before I died. Another was Lara’s arm at one point was stuck broken backwards and hand to her upper back/shoulder area. That one was not as bad and actually just looked kind of awkward but fixed itself within about a minute or so.

Another downfall to the game is… (Sigh.) the Micro-transactions. Yes the bane of gaming existence returns; revealing its ugly head within a good franchise such as Tomb Raider. Though I hear the people already barking to say ‘but it’s only in Multiplayer’ sure you have a point but the more you buy them the more you tell the game company you want more which could move that micro-transaction crap into the single player area. The issue is they literally FORCE you to buy them if you are one of the achievement hunters as 2 achievements are:

·         Quite the Collector: Collect 150 cards

·         There belong in a Museum: Collect 300 cards

Yes they WANT you to buy them; they are forcing you to pretty much. And so what you get the bronze pack that is not sold for cash but credits you can get within the game, you’re still feeding a biscuit to the dog that took a crap on your rug like he was a good doggie. The downfall of these cards is also that common and uncommon do not even stick around they are one time only use meaning you now have to buy more cards to get them back hopefully. The serious issue with the cards is also that being the gold pack for 60000 credits has more rare/permanently around cards means people will go for those enforcing the game companies to further make and put in micro-transactions.

Back to the game in general, I found the tombs to be a great and much more challenging side addition that made the puzzle solving so much more worth my time and effort. Lara gives only very subtle hints which lead you to have to figure out the rest of the puzzle and figure how you will go about solving it. And aside from the Challenge Tombs I found several fun and kind of creepy crypts that like some strong boxes give you weapon parts to create not upgrades but new weapons entirely. The only issue I had was the gold coins you collect to buy things from this one guy. The total of everything is about over 700-800 coins and most times you’re only picking up 2 coins at a time until you unlock a skill making it so much harder to get everything you want from him.

Though hard to collect the coins, this in turn forces you to carefully look around for coin cashes and small litters of coins in tombs or crypts you enter as well as in small jars which Lara seems to simply smack and they fall over open.

The game features many new and oh so gruesome ways to die which had me cringe in pain for Lara’s sake each time they happened as well as new functions to Lara’s facial expressions. This is due to the fact that you see more emotion and realism within the movements of her mouth, brow, eyes and expressions such as fear, shock, anger and more. The physics for Lara’s hair has even improved to look more realistic and move as it should, she even fixes her ponytail each time she exits water.

When Lara gets into a fight and gets hurt she will look bloody or rolling around in mud and dirty will make her filthy. Exiting water in cold climate areas you will see Lara shiver and almost hug herself to keep warm or she will warm her hands by a fire. With Rise of the Tomb Raider she’s become more lifelike and easier to relate to as we see her grow from a simple survivor to a full on truth seeking, tomb raiding woman of legend.

For this game in an overall sense is outstanding and made a big impact into the Tomb Raider reboot making it stand out more so than the previous two other boots of the same name. Now I wonder if they will have this Lara also have to kill a dinosaur or if they will steer clear of such craziness and make it more truth seeking adventure like as this one with a heavy dose of survivor like in the first game back in 2013. My score for Tomb Raider is a delightful 9.2/10 falling short mostly because of the odd glitches though does any game come out full functional anymore? Maybe; maybe not. Anyway, this is a very nice game to own if you love the franchise or well the 2013 reboot.