Review #549: Tomb Raider Legend

 Still no tombs to be found, but at least there's a legend or two!

Oh, this Lara is pretty badass alright.

 After the spectacular failure that Angel of Darkness was, mostly due to Eidos poor planning, Core Design got the boot from their prized Tomb Raider and Crystal Dynamics was brought in. Legend would mark the beginning of their new trilogy.

 In a strange twist, Legend's continuity takes quite a few pointers from the movies. Missing parent? Check. Yesmen under her command and in continuous contact thanks to headsets? Check. Even Croft manor was modeled after its movie counterpart! I liked this somewhat new direction, and Crystal Dynamics managed to make a sort-of-interesting tale. That said, the supporting cast wasn't very interesting. Lara's henchmen were lame and the villains tried too hard, but at least Lara had a very charming personality, plenty of snark and badass one-liners.

Puzzles are simple, but entertaining.

 Gun-toting action, environmental puzzles and platforming puzzles are all here and accounted for, with a bigger emphasis on the shooting. It's a more action-based take on Tomb Raider anniversary, trading the more complex puzzles for shooting-bike segments. The game itself plays pretty much like Anniversary, but without the Rage mechanic. L1 will automatically lock-on to the nearest baddie and R1 is your trigger finger. R3 lets you aim in first person. Lara always carries her unlimited-ammo dual pistols and can carry a single alternate gun, which is usually a shotgun, automatic rifle or a SMG. She can also carry up to three medikits, but enemies drop them pretty regularly and reloading a checkpoint completely refills Lara's health. Shootouts are fun, Lara is very acrobatic and these encounters are very fast-paced.

 The platforming is, for the most part, pretty entertaining. There're a lot of exciting segments in which Lara must jump from edge to edge, on platforms, columns or use her rope to hang-on to grappling points. There're a very few segments in which the camera might get in your way, but it works pretty well most of the time. There's a single QTE segment on every stage(Except one) and they are as unnecessary as QTEs have always been, but at least they are mercifully short. The horrid 'press triangle not to fall' mechanic is here too, sometimes upon grabbing onto something Lara will lose her grip and you must press triangle not to fall. It's a dumb mechanic.

As graceful as ever.

 While environmental puzzles are fewer, smaller and simpler than in Anniversary, there're still plenty of hidden relics to find which will reward the player with unlockable costumes, of which there are even more than there were on Anniversary. It's also a shorter game, clocking under 6 hours on my first playthrough.

 While most of the game is pretty darn great, you should be warned that the game is rife with glitches and bugs. There's a very famous bug in the Sea Serpent stage which can render the boss battle unwinnable unless you reset the stage. On the first snow stage, after activating the Tesla Machine, the broken doors might become impossible to traverse, which means there's no way back up unless you've got an earlier save or restart the stage. These are but a couple, there're more, and I came across the Tesla Machine one, so everyone will probably have their progress momentarily halted on a different glitch at some point on their playthrough.

Shooting mechanics are very simple, but work well.

 I liked Legend quite a bit. The more purer third-person shooting, without the Rage mechanic, was fun and the bike stages were relatively decent, but something about the smaller puzzles didn't feel quite right in a Tomb Raider game. All the bugs and glitches are quite annoying too. All in all, Legend is pretty good, but I think Anniversary has a better mix of Puzzles, platforming and shooting which make it the superior game.
 7.5 out of 10

Review #548: Prince of Persia - The Fallen King

 The only thing that fell here was the Prince.

Sure, making a sequel aimed at kids is gonna sell well.

 I was wary when I approached Forgotten Sands on the DS, for I knew it was a stylus-only gimmick game that improved upon The Fallen King, but it wound up being pretty darn good, so I was cautiously optimistic when it came to The Fallen King. Sadly, all optimism was crushed very early into this game, for it's the Prince's most boring adventure yet.

 The game is set after Prince of Persia(2008)'s DLC's non-ending, with the Prince setting out to gather help in order to defeat Ahriman. Early into the game he comes across Zal, a mysterious wizard that's trying to defeat the land's King, for he has fallen under Ahriman's corruption and now threatens the world. This unlikely duo will travel together throughout 6 different worlds, and about 40 stages, combining their abilities in order to progress. The premise isn't too bad, but the delivery is dumb. And that's probably because, as you can see on the cover, they went for a very childish direction that's present in both the art and the script. Underwhelming, disappointing and senseless, why would you make a sequel to a game that was aimed at teenages and above but now shift the target audience? It alienates both audiences, children won't have played the previous game and the older demographic won't care about this one. Truly idiotic.

Oh, this grapple-blocks will be something you'll get used to seeing over and over and over and over again.

 But whatever, games aimed at children can be good games in their own right... this isn't one of those though. Firstly, the controls, everything is done with the stylus. Tap to walk, tap to jump, tap to attack, tap to slide upwards or downwards a wall, tap(and hold) to block... it's a lot of actions tied to tapping, and the game does a wonky job of recognizing what you want to do. The acrobatics just aren't very fun when the Prince isn't doing exactly what you want to do, and expect most deaths to come from sloppy responses to your inputs. Not that it matters, since stages in this game are BORING, it's incredible how they managed to make platforming in Prince of Persia boring, but they did so.

 It probably has to do with the fact that there's very little creativity in them. Most of it went to the puzzles, which are mostly done in the form of obstacles that Zal must clear for the Prince. Simply hold any button and tap to make Zal shoot energy, or rub against surfaces to put out fires, or turn on portals, etc, etc. Zal's powers should've added more depth to the game, but they don't. You'll have used so many grappling points by the game's end that it stopped being fun, and having to rub on stuff wears out its welcome pretty early into the adventure.

Twice the enemies, double the snorefest.

 What also adds to the tedium is how slow progress is. In every world, midway through a stage Zal will get corrupted and you'll be kicked out of the stage and forced to replay an older stage in order to rescue him and earn a new power. Sure, you'll be able to clear a few obstacles that you couldn't before, but it sucks having to replay a stage and then having to redo part of the staged you were kicked out of. Big, Yellow doors also hide health upgrades behind them and they require a ton of coins, so you'll probably have to replay a stage or two at some point if you want every health upgrade. The game isn't fun, and making the player have to retread old ground is not a good thing.

 Controls? Mediocre leaning to poor. Platforming? Boring with slightly unresponsive controls to boot. Puzzles? Equally so. What about the combat? Boring too. Just tap on yellow guys to defeat them, block red guys' attacks and then counter-slash them, tap on black enemies to push/defeat them with Zal. Later on you'll face bigger monsters that require both Zal and the Prince's abilities to defeat but they just act as time sinks. Wait for the Mole-monster to slam three times against the ground then freeze him, with Zal, and then slash him, twice, in order to defeat him. Tap on the flying eye to shoot at him with Zal until he falls over and then slash him with the prince, twice. Wait for the Wizard to shoot the fire ball and then shoot at him with Zal to deflect the fire ball so that you can slash him with the Prince, twice. These battles aren't fun, they're just boring. Just like the rest of the game.

The combat looks dynamic on screenshots but is anything but.

 Prince of Persia - The Fallen King is a bland, boring game that fails to provide anything of interest for fans of the franchise. If you want something like this but that is actually decent, go with Forgotten Sands on the DS, which follows the same stylus-gimmick but to a better result. If you want Prince on the go, the PSP's got you covered. Just avoid this one.
 3.0 out of 10

Now Playing: Tomb Raider Legend

 Well... it's a catchier title than 'reboot' or 'now with a new developer'.

Looking kinda villainous there, Lara.

 Well, since the Uruguayan customs screwed up again and messed up the package, I'm rushing through Tomb Raider Legend to make sure the game is completely functional.

 I've played the first few levels, and the game is pretty dope. It's pretty much exactly like Anniversary but with less puzzles and platforming and more shooting. The bike sequence(s?) also add up to the fact, and how alternate weapons work: You can carry up to one other weapon and seamlessly pick them up from fallen enemies.

 It's good, really good. Different from previous Tomb Raider games, since the emphasis is on the action and not the exploring, but it's very enjoyable.

Review #547: Tomb Raider Anniversary

 Double the bits, double the breast size.

Now with extra polygons.

 Tomb Raider was a great game, but let´s be honest here, even by the PS2 era´s standards it had aged a lot, requiring a more retro-taste to be enjoyed. But Crystal Dynamics had proven themselves with Tomb Raider Legends, and thus they were tasked with remaking the first game. The end result is surprisingly good, despite its flaws.

 The story is pretty much the same as it was on the first game, Lara is enticed into helping NATLA find some Atlantean relics, gets double-crossed and then finishes the job by herself. One thing I would have wanted from the original was a bit more story, and in Anniversary we get that. There are more cutscenes that flesh out Larson and Phillip, the first two bosses, and even Lara gets more time to showcase her personality. She is a bit more of an unwilling hero in this game, showing doubt when it comes to finishing off her enemies, but it kinda works considering how most enemies in this game were, and still are in the remake, animals.

Mummies don´t explode upon death this time around.

 Alright, first of all... this is not a 1:1 remake, almost everything has changed, kinda. You will recognize a ton of elements, stages, objects and the such, except that  they look gorgeous now, but most puzzles are entirely different. Take the gods´ keys level, where you have to visit various rooms named after gods, like Thor, and get four keys to open a door at the bottom. That is still here, even the electric-orb room is back... but the way you clear the puzzles is completely different, even if you have the same end goal of getting artifacts. Everything is familiar... but it is also different. Relying too much on your knowledge from the previous game might even bite you in the back, take the three-cogs puzzle near the beginning of the game... I spent hours fumbling about searching for the third cog, since in the original you needed to place all three cogs in order to operate the mechanism... but now you need to get two cogs, put them in place, navigate the newly operational machinery in order to finally get the final cog! I found the new puzzles to be, on the whole, fairer, more sensible and more fun... even if at a few times I was lost on where to go next.

 Combat is easily the game´s blandest mechanic. R1 shoots your infinite-ammo guns, L1 locks on an enemy, you can toggle first-person, static aiming with the right analog stick,  X jumps and circle dodges. There are ammo-consuming Shotgun, Uzis and Magnums but they are useless, or rather, unnecessary. Firstly, every single human boss is a simple QTE section. Remember Larrson and Phillip? QTEs. Remember when you had to get your equipment back from the three stooges? QTEs. Then there´re the beast bosses, like the giant T-Rex, in which case you shoot to enrage them, then dodge their incoming attack and use the ´dodge-and-shoot mechanic´ to cause damage. So, y´see, other guns only make the rage bar fill faster, not do more actual damage, which makes other weapons unnecessary.

 Combat is a bit bland, but it´s not too bad.

 Normal enemies are just as lame, you just shoot at them until they die or get enraged, in which case the ´dodge-and-shoot´ mechanic instantly kill them. It is basically a QTE, since when enraged enemies and bosses charge and you the screen gets a red tint, indicating that you must dodge with circle, and then, in slow motion, two crosshairs will slowly home in over the enemy, once they merge together and turn red you press R1 and BOOM, you just killed the enemy or caused damage to the boss. Optional weapons have silly ammo caps too, and there is a surplus of ammo encouraging their use, but you don´t need to.

 The platforming fares much better, and it did some thing a few months before Uncharted 1 hit the scene. The whole climbing over various ledges and jumping from ledge to ledge? Tomb Raider Anniversary did it first. It is not perfect though, in order to reach some ledges you have to press and hold X to perform a longer, higher jump, which is silly since there is not a single time you´ll want a shorter jump. It is just a way to kill you more often since you forgot to hold the X button. Some times Lara will even lose her balance upon reaching a ledge, so you have to press triangle in order to get her to get a grip before she falls to her death, which is dumb. Dropping off platforms in order to cling to the edge, seems to be a gamble at times, since sometimes she will refuse to grab on to the edge and just fall to her doom. Back to ripping on Uncharted, Anniversary had Lara using a rope to pull objects, swing on hooks and all that hooplah over 10 years before Uncharted 4 arrived. And it works great.

 At least QTEs are only used on a few boss battles

 The games deserves to be commended on all the extras it has. You can search for hidden artifacts, in order to unlock cheats, or find relics in order to unlock many costumes... which sadly can only be worn on replays and not an entire playthrough. The Croft Manor returns, and now it is its own entire level, with tons of puzzles that almost feels like a mini-metroidvania, as you find your guns and the rope in order to access new keys and objects. It is short, but very fun.

 While the game is very easy, you will die a lot. It is easy because dying refills your entire life bar, so it is not weird to reach the final stage with over 70 healing items, and the checkpoints are very generous. What will kill you are the many jumps. You will die a ton of times while figuring out where to jump to next, figuring out if that was a length that Lara could jump or not, double checking if maybe you forgot to hold X and that is why she did not make it or even because the camera is not very good when clinging on ledges. Sometimes you will have to remember that there was a ledge or platform behind you, since you lose all 360 degrees of camera control when clinging. This also happens on a few columns, in which it´s impossible to turn the camera to the right angle for the jump. The game is fun, puzzles are entertaining, controls are smooth, movement is smooth so even though I died countless times, I was not getting frustrated... if only the loading times were not so lengthy. On their own, they´re OK, but taking into account just how easy it is to die... all the time you spend waiting for the stage to reload starts becoming increasingly annoying.

Combat is just spectacle to add spice to the adventure

 Tomb Raider is really good despite its shortcomings. It speaks volumes of its quality when you are willing to endure so many loading screens, brought upon from various deserved and undeserved deaths. Levels are large and fun to explore as you solve the many, many puzzles. Combat is lame, but it is far from being bad, and it helps add some action to the adventure, even though it is very clear that the focus is on the explorations.

 For my part, if I ever feel like revisiting Tomb Raider I will stick to this remake. The story is more polished, levels are better and the puzzles are more engaging. Being such a different game also makes it so that it does not replace the original game, but rather, stands beside it. This is not a replacement, but a modern take on an aging game. And it is a great one.
 8.0 out of 10

Now Playing: Tomb Raider Anniversary

 Moving sideways instead of onwards.

Lara is sporting more polygons than before, praise the gods.

 Well, I could've continued with Tomb Raider 2, but instead I'm skipping all the way into Crystal Design's second Tomb Raider game, the remake, since I feel I'll be able to better compare both games this way.

 I started the 'Lara's Home' mode, because that's always been the best mode, and was pleasantly surprised with how it was it's own fully fledged level, with puzzles and what not. I also played a bit of the first level.

 The game seems very good, although Lara seems a bit too loosey-goosey for my tastes. It's like playing Uncharted but with no traction. Lara's moveset is smaller, which is a good thing, as jump distances won't be so hard to judge.. I hope. Although the game seems rather fun, hopefully there'll be less animals to kill and more real threats.

Month Overview: March 2018

 Tally:
Prince of Persia - The Forgotten Sands(Wii) 8.5
Galactic Wrestling - Featuring Ultimate MUSCLE 8.0
Disaster Report 6.0
Prince of Persia - The Forgotten Sands(PS3) 8.5
Grandia Xtreme 4.0
Prince of Persia(2008) 8.0
Nightmare Creatures II 3.0
Uncharted 4 - A Thief's End 9.0
Samurai Shodown Anthology 8.0
Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 - Road to Boruto 6.0
Ape Escape 2 9.0
The King of Fighters Collection - The Orochi Saga  8.0
The King of Fighters '99 8.5
The King of Fighters 00/01 9.0
The King of Fighters 02/03 8.5
Tomb Raider 6.5


 That's a ton of games, yo! Busy month was busy, but I managed to knock quite a few games out of my backlog. Many great games too, with the occasional stinker. Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm was a personal disappointment, since it was one of the few games out of 'current-gen' that I really wanted to play, but it felt like a game developed by people that were tired of making Naruto games and just wanted to get it done and over with. I also cleared about 80% of the King of Fighters Saga, now I'm only missing XV. King of Fighters is great, yo!

 Runner-up:

 It was tough picking from both games, but at the end of the day, the game of March 2018 had better game design, even if I enjoyed both games immensely. Ape Escape 2 is quite a little gem, one of the quirkiest platformers out there, with tight controls and a great premise coupled with great level design and gameplay.

 Game of March 2018:

 Uncharted 4 may not be my favorite Uncharted game, but it's a close second. It's a technical masterpiece on a graphical level, and the gameplay is top-notch. Naughty Dog once again proved that they are on top of their game.

Review #546: Tomb Raider

 She's definitely too old for this crap.

Her breasts are not what's big in her... it's her head.

 Ah! Tomb Raider, a classic among action-adventure games that brought forwards videogame's first sex symbol and first recognizable female heroine. It was subject to rave reviews, but time has passed, and maybe this tomb is not worth raiding...

 Lara, raider extraordinaire gets tasked with retrieving an old artifact and thus Lara's international adventure begins. An adventure light on story elements, although they're there, in which Lara proceeds to uncover the secrets of a legendary city. It's a simple set-up that worked wonders at the time, although I think a bit more story would've helped. Still, for a game of its era, it's too be expected.

Stages are fairly complex and feature a lot of platforms and locked doors.

 Lara is a contradictory mixture of nimble and stiff. She's got all kinds of moves, even some that you don't even need to use or are taught how to do, like jumping, running jump, turn-around-roll, diving jump, grabbing jumps(To cling to a wall or crack), jumping backwards, dropping backwards while holding out her hands to cling onto something.... there're a lot of moves and there's a lot of platforming involved. When the platforming gets going, it's pretty good, but the game loves to place ambiguous lengths, that kill you if you fail the jump, and it gets a while before you get the hang of running jumps and simple jumps, since misjudging a distance my get you killed if you over-shoot it. Running jumps are particularly nasty, you need to walk until Lara hits the edge of the platform, then take a backstep and then, and only then, are you guaranteed that Lara will make the running jump correctly.

 It's a bit more cumbersome, although the game was made with this precision in mind, since you've got tank controls, which don't get in the way of the platforming too much, but will annoy you during shootouts. Trying to pick up items can be a bit finicky too, since you need to be at just the right distance. Some of the jumps in the game are just evil, and the controls responsiveness can be debatable at times. Some of the traps are just nasty and you won't know they are there until you trigger them. It gets particularly bad when you learn that save crystals are placed at designated areas and are a one time use only. Their distribution is questionable as well, levels are very lengthy and you might come across a surplus of unnecessary savespots... or be forced to finish multiple tough sections back-to-back before being allowed to save again. The game starts off easy enough, but the last few levels are brutal.

The first stages are easy, just wait until you hit stage 6...

 Combat was a huge point of contention for me, firstly, most enemies are just plain, ol' boring animals. It feels more like a animal hunter than a tomb raider, and it doesn't help that enemies are bullet sponges that just charge at you. Lara automatically aims at the nearest animal, but dodging is pretty tough. I just relied on side jumps and back-jumps... which won't help you on some of the less spacious areas. Some of the combat scenarios are just unfair, so much so that you should exploit the AI by hiding somewhere they can't see you or reach you and shoot away. The few human enemies, who actually sport guns, are a bit tougher since they can shoot from afar, and since the dodging is so bland... it feels as if its luck if you'll get hit or not. Luckily you can find limited ammo for Uzis, Magnums and a Shotgun to even the odds, as well as collect medikits to heal yourself. Regardless, the combat won't be your main source of death, besides a few instances of not expecting to get ambushed in enclosed arenas without your guns out.

 The toughest enemy you'll face is, probably, the camera. Many a times it won't pick the best angles for your jumps, which kinda sucks. L1 can be used to look in first person, albeit Lara can't move in this mode, but it won't be of much help. It's not a terrible camera, but it's far from optimal.

For whatever reason, Lara's in-game model has no ponytail.

 Yeesh... Tomb Raider 1 hasn't aged very well. Regardless, as unfair, as clunky and as stiff as it could get... it can also be quite fun. Having so many moves at your disposal is quite amusing, and lent itself to some very exciting platforming segments for its era. I can appreciate what the game meant, but you have to make a few of concessions to enjoy it in this day and age.
 6.5 out of 10