Review #296: Tomb Raider(2013)

 's fine, 's fine.

 And now it's Tomb Raider's reboot turn at my hands. By the by, I find it hilarious that this game took a huge cue from Uncharted... since Uncharted borrowed a lot from Tomb Raider back when it was released! It went full circle!

 How to tackle the story? It's a bit of a mess... Lessee, the supporting cast is cliched, stereotypical, bland and predictable. You've the fat 'native' guy that believes in supernatural stuff from the get go, the short tempered black woman(They went there), the guy that's totally not suspicious and totally not a coward and totally not putting a front for the cameras even though he behaves like a character from a cartoon show with all his mysterious pauses while he speaks, etc. You'll be able to predict the fate of most characters, because they are just that uninspired. Then there're some truly jarring moments, like when Lara is administered CPR when... she totally didn't need CPR but somehow it saves her, or how she decides that the best way to deal with impalement is to... just remove the arrow there and then, which would've caused tons of bleeding and internal damage. It's also a bit inconsistent, Lara just shrugs off said impalement, and gets beat up(While the wound is still fresh) and... just walks it off. But later on, she receives some blunt hits, and now suddenly she needs first aid(Which is conveniently nearby). There's a lot of contradictions between what you are supposed to do in game, and what the cutscenes portray. For instance, Lara cries when she has to kill an animal to survive. SHE CRIES. But then you are allowed to freely hunt any animal you want, not for food but for sport, and you are rewarded for it. And she's supposedly scared and a bit of a wreck since she has to kill... yet you are killing enemies by the hundreds as if nothing. The game even rewards you for finishing them off in special ways, 'Headshot', 'Axe finisher', etc. So much for making such a big deal of her first kill. And there's a lot of cutscene incompetence as well, sometimes Lara seems to forget that she has taken care tens of enemies at the same time, yet she is easily captured by a few. There's this moment where she has a clear, easy shot against the big bad and yet... lets everything unfold, because why not. Or she does really silly stuff that gets her in danger. You are a badass as you slay enemies as if nothing, yet when the cutscenes start, Lara suddenly turns into a foolish weakling. As for Lara herself, I don't agree with the direction they took her in, wanting to make her more vulnerable and wanting to make the player want to protect her, but, BUT, the new Lara is very likeable, and you just root for her. But I still don't agree with them doing it to Lara. Even Young Lara, back in the PS1 days, was much more of an adventurer than this one.

 You'll be surprised to learn that this game is a Metroidvania. Kinda. The game never forced me to backtrack, but most of the time you are free to backtrack(You can 'fast travel' from specific 'Camps' on each area) and search for collectibles with your new upgrades and tools. I do wish that there were more of these camps, or at least allow Fast Travel from any camp, since the map isn't very clear at times, and some areas are rather large, so just for convenience's sake, it would've been nice. They also took a page from Batman with 'Survival Vision', by tapping L2 the environment will turn grey, and both enemies and interactibles will be highlighted. Speaking of collectibles, there's a ton of them, plus, 'goals'(Like setting X amount of banners on fire) and a few Tombs to explore. Tombs consist of one-puzzle 'challenges' that rewards you with a fair amount of XP, scavenge and a map that shows all the collectibles in the area.

 But when you are not exploring, you'll be shooting your way through, and combat works pretty smoothly. Lara will automatically duck besides any object higher than her waist, and you pop out by simply holding L1(Aiming). It works very well and doesn't make Lara stick to the surfaces, which allows for more movement when it comes to evading. There's four weapons in the game, Bow, Gun, Shotgun and an Automatic Rifle. Truth be told, I spent 90% of the game with the bow, it's easy to use, lethal, you'll recover more ammo than the one you use, and by the end of the game enemies come with armor... but the bow can be upgraded to ignore this armor. That said, sometimes it's a bit slow, so I did alternate between shotgun and bow on some of the latter shoot-outs. Lara can also use her climbing axe, once she finds it, for melee attacks, which were fairly fun to pull off.

 One aspect I really liked about the game was all the upgrading. By defeating enemies, or hunting animals, or finding a few collectibles, you'll earn experience points, and upon leveling up you can acquire different perks. From more damage resistance, carrying more ammo, to having Survival Instinct highlight collectibles as well. But it doesn't end there, you will also come across crates, as well as searching enemy bodies, for scavenge, which is then used to upgrade your weapons! The upgrades actually change how your weapons look, and randomly, you may come across 'upgrade parts' that will upgrade the weapon, change the entire look of the weapon, and enable purchasing even more upgrades.

 One thing I did not appreciate, however, were the many, many QTEs. QTEs to kill enemies, QTEs to hold onto ledges, QTEs to avoid rocks... the entire first half hour of the game is filled with these, and gave me a fairly bad first impression. Their frequency does lessen, somewhat, as you advance through the game though. There's also bugs, I came across two. The Rope Ascend Bug, that is almost gamebreaking, if only there wasn't another bug you can exploit to proceed forwards! Then another one during an elevator section, where you are to break some jammers, the game allowed me to break one of them when I shouldn't, and while the floor didn't break, as it should've, it let me kill myself and upon reloading, the way was cleared.

 This game has been compared to Uncharted, and it's... somewhat deserved. There's a fair amount of scripted sequences throughout the game, or stuff breaking as Lara 'parkours' over it. From highlighted climbables in yellow or white! But when it comes down to it, the game is its own beast. The cover-based shooting is completely different, the Metroidvania approach is different, etc. Inspired by? Definitely. A ripoff? Not even close.

 Tomb Raider is a pretty fun game, even though I don't agree with the new direction they took Lara in, Lara as in the character, as for the game itself, I did enjoy this new direction, but then again, I do love Metroidvanias....
 8.0 out of 10