Photo gallery: Thrills and spills for Lara Croft
All told, Crystal Dynamics has succeeded in their goal with the Tomb Raider reboot.
There’s an awful lot of fire in this Tomb Raider – from the flaming arrows Lara eventually constructs, to the burning mountain-side temples, it all looks fantastic and realistic. It’s an excellent illustration of just how far something so seemingly simple as animated flames have come over the past few years.
The player-assisting AI is also noticeably clever when taking cover. Most games have you press a button to do so, but here, the game is usually smart enough to just know when you want to be in cover. There’s a bad guy walking towards you down a hallway and you’re trying to hide around the corner? Bam, you’re automatically in cover. Why thank you, Tomb Raider!
Whether it’s bouncing around a rocky rapid river or being threshed while parachuting through pine trees, Lara is continually getting beaten up and injured. But, as unsympathetic coaches everywhere seem to always suggest, suffering builds character.
Tomb Raider’s villains are disciples of an ancient goddess bent on restoring her glory
In the first half of the game, she often demurely pleads with the bad guys – “You don’t have to do this!” As her reality gets more cruel, she gets progressively tougher and by the end, she is more likely to rage “You can’t stop me!” as she charges into a firefight. You can’t help but cheer her on. The game ends with the proclamation, “A survivor is born”
If there’s a complaint to be made, it could be about the actual tombs that Lara raids, most of which are optional. Most games in the series have been notable for their complex, head-scratching puzzles, yet they’re a little too easy in this one.
All told, Crystal Dynamics has succeeded in their goal with the Tomb Raider reboot.