[QUOTE="Heil68"][QUOTE="AdobeArtist"]

[QUOTE="Speedzilla"]

It's gonna flop hard, adobe.

[/QUOTE]

The hype thread has it projected at AA. Do you honestly expect a 7.5 or less? Or are ya just trying to goad me? ;)

[/QUOTE] What is your HYPE and have you made a bet to back it up? Is it AAA on LOCK? :o [/QUOTE]

My own hype is AA. And it's not that I'm not optimistic about this game, I am. But I'm also aware of the tarnished image of the series in the past with the media, and thereby the obstacles it has to overcome for its critical reception. And Gamespot has been real finicky of late.

So all things considered, AA seems the most reasonable projection, which would still set a milestone that this clean slate sets for the series future. But that said, I do still have a glimmer of hope for AAA that would really be a sign of promise yet to come :)

[QUOTE="jhonMalcovich"]

[QUOTE="AdobeArtist"]

[QUOTE="jhonMalcovich"]

So...those 1-2 hours of exploration and platforming IGN showed us won´t be enough, I am affraid. It´s not enough by Tomb Raider standards, and first one set the bar of quality very high.   

[/QUOTE]

You expected them to show the exploration and platforming of the entire game?? And to spoil the puzzle solutions in the process? Really now? :? Only 2 hours is good enough for a sneak peek at the exploration gameplay. Because that's what all these videos (combat sequences included) are supposed to be. It's enough to give us an idea of what to expect, how that aspect of the series has been reinevneted, without giving everything away.

[/QUOTE]

Well, as the game is 12-hour long they already showed 17% of the game. What I don´t understand is why to call this game Tom Raider when it´s not one. They should have called it Lara The Ultimate Survivor :). This game is not about tombs and raiding. They are just using the brand name to sell us an Uncharted clone but with a female lead. The game doen´t look bad as a third person shooter adventure, but it looks awefull as Tomb Raider game.

Besides 12-hour game doesn´t fit with the open world/sandbox standards. Any good open world game I had pleasure to play lasted arround 30 hours: Batman Archam City (50h), Assasin Creed 2 (50h), Tomb Raider 1 (40h).

The explanation of this, I assume, lies in the fact that the Tomb Raider reboot is not that open world the developer is trying to make us believe. Just common sense. 

Besides those 12-hour is with secondary missions included. If we asume 6h takes the main story and another 6, secondary stuff, it leaves us with only 6 hours of exploration and tomb raiding. Pretty measly for a Tomb Raider game.

Maybe it´s a good third person shooter adventure, but I will certainly wait for reviews first.

[/QUOTE]

So much wrong in 1 post. Where to begin?

First and foremost, the 12 hr estimate is based on just taking the straight route through the main story, without diverting or detouring. If you do take the time to explore each environment, you'll uncover the hidden tombs and collectibles scattered throughout the island. Being thorough in hunting for collectibles and the much desired tombs will likely yeild a play time of 16-20 hrs (guestimating of course).

Which brings me to the second and very critical point. THERE ARE TOMBS, several in fact. It also comes to how much exploration you do, as many can be found only by diverting off the path a given objective is pointing you towards. You gotta look around to find them, and some require ability upgrades and/or item aquisitions as part of the Gear Gating mechanic.

This is a video I posted twice here already. It only shows an early tomb, plus how Lara locates one of the hidden tombs. They skip to the end of that so there are no spoilers as to puzzle solutions, just to show a sampling of treasure to be found at the end of each tomb.

[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iecT9D8vTv8]IGN the Tombs of Tomb Raider[/url]

Also this game was never billed as "open world sandbox". It's based on a hub system, each one being spacious enough to afford lots of exploration, again in which you'll uncover those hidden tombs and collectibles. And you can revisit all the hubs (once located along the story path) as often as you like. This is also where the gear gating comes into play, that acquiring abilities and equipment will open up new areas in the hubs that you can go back to and reach parts that were inaccessible the first time around. Which is also key to getting to those tombs.

For all the comparisons to Uncharted, this game is far less linear than it and even all the past TR games that were designed around a linear level progression, from A to B to C to D and so on. If anything this new TR is designed around the "Metroidvania" level design, and revisit exploration will yeild rewards.

But to summarize, from the platforming, to exploration and puzzle solving, in every way that matters this is very much a Tomb Raider game. Having improved combat that rectifies the short comings of past entries, without sacrificing the exploration core of the series, makes it win/win.

[QUOTE="StrongBlackVine"]

[QUOTE="AdobeArtist"]

[QUOTE="jhonMalcovich"]

Well, as the game is 12-hour long they already showed 17% of the game. What I don´t understand is why to call this game Tom Raider when it´s not one. They should have called it Lara The Ultimate Survivor :). This game is not about tombs and raiding. They are just using the brand name to sell us an Uncharted clone but with a female lead. The game doen´t look bad as a third person shooter adventure, but it looks awefull as Tomb Raider game.

Besides 12-hour game doesn´t fit with the open world/sandbox standards. Any good open world game I had pleasure to play lasted arround 30 hours: Batman Archam City (50h), Assasin Creed 2 (50h), Tomb Raider 1 (40h).

The explanation of this, I assume, lies in the fact that the Tomb Raider reboot is not that open world the developer is trying to make us believe. Just common sense. 

Besides those 12-hour is with secondary missions included. If we asume 6h takes the main story and another 6, secondary stuff, it leaves us with only 6 hours of exploration and tomb raiding. Pretty measly for a Tomb Raider game.

Maybe it´s a good third person shooter adventure, but I will certainly wait for reviews first.

[/QUOTE]

So much wrong in 1 post. Where to begin?

First and foremost, the 12 hr estimate is based on just taking the straight route through the main story, without diverting or detouring. If you do take the time to explore each environment, you'll uncover the hidden tombs and collectibles scattered throughout the island. Being thorough in hunting for collectibles and the much desired tombs will likely yeild a play time of 16-20 hrs (guestimating of course).

Which brings me to the second and very critical point. THERE ARE TOMBS, several in fact. It also comes to how much exploration you do, as many can be found only by diverting off the path a given objective is pointing you towards. You gotta look around to find them, and some require ability upgrades and/or item aquisitions as part of the Gear Gating mechanic.

This is a video I posted twice here already. It only shows an early tomb, plus how Lara locates one of the hidden tombs. They skip to the end of that so there are no spoilers as to puzzle solutions, just to show a sampling of treasure to be found at the end of each tomb.

[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iecT9D8vTv8]IGN the Tombs of Tomb Raider[/url]

Also this game was never billed as "open world sandbox". It's based on a hub system, each one being spacious enough to afford lots of exploration, again in which you'll uncover those hidden tombs and collectibles. And you can revisit all the hubs (once located along the story path) as often as you like. This is also where the gear gating comes into play, that acquiring abilities and equipment will open up new areas in the hubs that you can go back to and reach parts that were inaccessible the first time around. Which is also key to getting to those tombs.

For all the comparisons to Uncharted, this game is far less linear than it and even all the past TR games that were designed around a linear level progression, from A to B to C to D and so on. If anything this new TR is designed around the "Metroidvania" level design, and revisit exploration will yeild rewards.

But to summarize, from the platforming, to exploration and puzzle solving, in every way that matters this is very much a Tomb Raider game. Having improved combat that rectifies the short comings of past entries, without sacrificing the exploration core of the series, makes it win/win.

[/QUOTE]

You never answered my question...do you really expect only a 7.5 from this game?

[/QUOTE]

I don't. I was asking that of someone else who said, "this game is gonna flop hard" and referencing my hype thread that has the majority votes to AA (8.0-8.5)

My own expectation is AA. While I'm optimistic I still have to consider the checkered past of the series and as such, the hurdles it faces to get back into the good grces of reviewers. Ah well, here's hoping for a AAA all the same :)