Shadow of the Tomb Raider Nep !!UPDATE!!

So, I just got back from a long splurge of playing the early access of Croft Edition and I just wanted to say what I think of it thus far...

Well, it's actually really good! Of course, it plays pretty much like an enhanced version of Rise of the Tomb Raider with some new tweaks but that's something I'd come to expect from the series. Though, I would say that the graphics (on the XBone standard at least) are pretty disappointing. I dunno if it's a visual scale thing of it being on a weaker console but it sort of looks like there's some strange filter on the screen that muddies out the edges to make things look like a watercolor painting. It's not AWFUL like playing Rise of the Tomb Raider on Xbox 360 but it leaves much to be desired when it comes to textures. Which sucks considering we finally got a photo mode this time around! In alot of ways, Rise of the Tomb Raider looks much better. Lara's hair looks more like the textures Square Enix used for Final Fantasy XV which makes it more like fur than actual hair. Unlike in Rise of the Tomb Raider.

-Gameplay-

Then we go to gameplay. Not much to say in terms of combat, unfortunately. Shadow still retains that clunky, no blind fire charm in previous games but it did add some cool assassination kills. Also there's a new focus on letting Lara get stealthy which is pretty badly implemented but it's a good option to have. You can make use of bushes and heavy vines growing on walls like a fat guy's arm hair but sadly, Lara always manages to fail covering her entire body. Same goes for the mud you can smear on her. It's almost like the enemies deliberately try not to look at Lara directly. Despite her light skinned face constantly poking out of the thicket. And despite Lara refusing to cover her face when she's using the mud for camouflage.

Stealth fails in almost EVERY aspect imaginable. BUT, it's very optional. I cannot stress that enough. You can still kick ass like you normally would before as long as you're skilled enough to do so. That's how I basically decided to approach every enemy encounter after I saw what stealth had to offer.

-storytelling-

On this, I laughed a little towards the beginning when I was met by a heavy handed 'push forward' sequence after sequence. Something I remember fan boys dogging Uncharted for doing, it looks like Tomb Raider has decided to follow suit.

Lara tries to be more emotional here too, offering her input on basically everything she does. That makes the narrative more engaging in my opinion and it's almost like she's trying to narrate the story. We also enter a playable part of her childhood too which is also something I just couldn't help but compare to how Uncharted 4 did. I really like how the writers put a heavy emphasis on Lara being a naturally talented adventurer.

Kid Lara is pretty nimble but she's not as agile as her older self. That's something I wish Uncharted 4 did with kid Nate. Instead of making him feel exactly the same as his older self.

When you're out of the heavy handed intro, you get to explore some really interesting towns with some cool back stories. Talking to the villagers feels awkward though since the dialogue almost mutes the ambiance and music entirely. And very few of them actually have interesting things to say.

-glitches-

I'm hoping this will be fixed at some point but I have found some horrifying and putrid sound cuts in my playthrough. The sound skips pretty frequently and it really craps on the immersion. Sometimes it'll just be the music. Sometimes it'll be the music and sound effects. And other times, it'll be hearing anything at all! In terms of sound, it really feels like Shadow of the Tomb Raider was a bit rushed. But the game itself runs just fine. Maybe, you'd want to leave subtitles on. :P

- UPDATE -

I finally finished it! All in all, Shadow of the Tomb Raider feels very much like my run in with Tomb Raider Last Revelation. It's not only for the fact that it's the last of this origin but because in alot of ways, Lara has finally reached the peak of her growth and we are shown just about everything they could possibly do with this style of gameplay.

The main story line wraps up all loose ends and even towards the finish line, it FEELS like things are coming to an end. Like in Last Revelation. Lara is forced to undo a long line of damage and stop the end of the world and well, it was pretty damn satisfying! She's so much stronger now. More alert. More focused. More driven. More confident in her abilities. And she's become quite formidable in field crafting. ALMOST where she was before but her acrobatics are still...you know... Anyways, I feel like Lara is back in full course back to who she was before and we have the Tomb Raider we've always wanted. This was a great send off and only leads to more hope for the future of the franchise!

I give this a solid 9/10. Putting this right next to Tomb Raider Last Revelation in terms of my favorite TR games and above Rise of the Tomb Raider and TR13. All faith I lost in the reboot has been totally restored. It's been a hell of a ride but one that was worth pulling through!

Gamespot review of 6/10 is the outlier according the metacritic. Seems most other sites gave it a lot higher.

I'm loving it! More Tomb Raider, but bigger.

Sounds decent enough... I loved the first 2 games so I'm sure I'll like this.

Gamespot gave it a 6. Not wasting money on games that score below 9.

I'll get it when it's cheaper. :)

@hrt_rulz01: Same here. I loved the previous two games and from what I’ve seen and read I’m sure I’ll really enjoy this one as well.

Nice. Yeah, screw the reviews (or, at least, the GS review; most of the others are pretty good). I love Lara, and I love TR. I know I'll love this game.

I'm picking it up on sale... I want to finish the trilogy, but coming off of Spider-Man and DQXI, paying full-price for this will just disappoint me.

@lundy86_4:

Shadow of the Tomb Raider will only disappoint you if you were expecting a completely new experience but it's far from terrible. It's still not at it's full potential but it's definitely not a 6/10.

@nepu7supastar7: From what I grasp it's largely just more of the same, which isn't outright bad, but it's not a great send-off. I'll definitely enjoy it, but I need to wait for my SM/DQ11 high to die down.

I'm about 6 hours in and thoroughly enjoying it....if you liked Rise you should enjoy this, it is more of the same with a darker tone overall, but the locales are simply breathtaking, one of the best looking games I've ever played. Minor spoilers : Just encountered the 2 tigers! omg what a scene!

Picking up the PC version this Friday when I get paid :)

@davillain-:

Standard, Deluxe or Croft Edition?

Standard Edition. I own all the previous Tomb Raider reboot standard editions anyways.

@nepu7supastar7: Nice to read, thanks.

So just read a different review...then buy it.

Problem solved.

@danjammer69:

There's plenty of those 9/10 reviews popping up too so I'm sure it would be easy to find some! I'm hoping it'll be the case for me too!

Bubbump....bubump*

@nepu7supastar7: Nice. I LOVED The Last Revelation. Sounds like this game is definitely for the fans, just like TR:TLR was.

I'm loving it so far... if you enjoyed the first 2 games, you'll like this.

And Gamespot's score of 6/10, is ridiculous.

Having played a good bit so far, I like story better than RotTR but not as much as the 2013 reboot. Combat mechanics are great but problem is there's so few opportunities in the game to make good use of them, at least RotTR had better enemy engagements and a challenge mode to boot, I can't imagine this having anything as good post-game, there's so few instances to fight enemies and the ones that are there feel like intro training level short and easy. I hope this picks up because I am at the halfway point to completion (since that includes collectibles and stuff) probably means I don't have much longer to go. Hunting and crafting and upgrading feels weakest of three latest games. Side quests are weak, mostly walking around and talking. Tombs aren't anything noteworthy. Graphics are good though, look great on the X.

If feel that GS review probably could have justified their score better by instead of going route with it being too familiar and not doing anything new, instead say it takes what worked from previous games and falls short on most accounts.

I beat it last night. 10/10 for me. I got a lot left to go back and do.

Hi everyone,

So I picked up tomb raider on it's early release and took me 2 days to pass it. I have never played a game and passed in 2 days. With that said overall I liked it but there was some good things and some not so good things in my opinion.

Good things that I liked was her ability to do more stealthy stuff like cover in mud and hide within bushes and bushy walls, repelling from overhangs.

Not so good thing is the semi long drawn out one on one talking that happens periodically throughout the game that u can't skip through, annoying.

I wish it had a bit more fighting/battles, seems like less of that to me and seems like game was much shorter then rise of tomb raider.

I don't know nothing about archeology or locations for any particular archeological site so I'm not gonna judge a game by that or anything that is misrepresented from those stand points. All in all I liked it and I probably play it another 100 times.

I'll get it when it's cheaper too, but not because of the reviews. I liked Tomb Raider and just finished Rise of the Tomb Raider about an hour ago. I liked them both well enough (I mean, I did finish them), but I don't really have ANY desire to go through either of these games again. They're the equivalent of those superhero movies that are all the rage right now. Yeah, I like them, but there's zero point in buying them new at full retail price since regardless of how much I think they're okay they're not something that I'm ever likely to watch again.

Not a knock on the game, it's just the TYPE of game. These are the kinds of games that I can casually finish in a week, think that they're enjoyable enough, and then never have any desire to play them again. I just plain can't justify spending $60 on what I know is going to be THAT kind of game. I'd still like to play it eventually, but no way in hell am I paying $60 for for something like that.

I've been playing it on hard mode and I think that helps not feeling just like the previous 2 games. It's a decent game, that could be better if they patched some of it's minor issues. There's some criticism about the world being boring but I absolutely love the jungle, it looks gorgeous and alive.

@phbz:

Yeah. I find that what people complained about this game are the reasons why I loved it. It's seasoned, toned down, stripped more of its Uncharted-isk bits and fits more of the traditional Tomb Raider mold. More tombs, exploring, climbing, collecting and less human encounters.

Seems like the more the games get closer to the heart of the franchise, the further it drives the new fans away.

Great game, not sure why GS gave it a 6/10 but honestly didn't care. To me, a score like that is more a reason to do more research, and less of a reason to disregard. Suspicious score, you might say.

As far as crafting (something they knocked it for), I don't find it to be tedious; there are resources EVERYWHERE you don't need to look that hard or run around that much. yeah there's like 10 main resources and about 10 more "rare" ones but honestly not that bad, and the rare ones are just like in Far Cry 3+ you need to hunt them down, which is it's own fun challenge.

Everything is the same...but better, imo.

That was my reason for purchasing it. The Gamespot review criticized it for being "more of the same" but imo that's a reason to enjoy it, since the previous two games are not outdated.

Plot, characters, setting....all incredible. My god the first time I stepped out into the jungle...

I'm only a few hours in, but Lara's ambition is unsettling, like something out of a Greek tragedy. They haven't foreshadowed much but I just feel like something bad is coming and it will be her fault.

I liked the first 2, so this gives me confidence to buy it! Thanks

@FireEmblem_Man: I'm really enjoying the game. Focusing on puzzles and exploration was the right direction IMO. Until now the combat sections are rare and when they happen they're short and feel just right. Graphics, world building, atmosphere and sound are superb.

But... I have to say this. The game feels unfinished and that's frustrating, really frustrating. Because it's not big issues but really small stuff that feels like just a few more weeks would be enough to really elevate the whole game to another level. But probably the publisher wasn't willing to delay it.

I still recommend it. I liked the previous two and, at least until now, this one is superior.

@phbz: Yeah agreed... could've used abit more time for polish. But still really enjoying my time with it.