Game Review: Tomb Raider 2013
Tomb raider is a 2013 action adventure game which reboots the famous gaming icon Lara croft first seen in the 1996 videogame Tomb raider.
A little history
lesson…
When the first tomb raider came out
it revolutionized the gaming industry. Cut scenes started playing an important
role, plat forming became awesome and all this was tied off with a globetrotting
adventurer who was easy on the eyes. Over the years there have been many
sequels though none as successful as the first trilogy. The games which
appeared after them were not very good and the series was fading. In 2007
crystal Dynamics adopted the franchise and rebooted the franchise with tomb
raider legend. The game was a groundbreaking success and it also had a
successful trilogy namely Legend, anniversary and underworld. Then Square Enix stepped in and successfully
took over the franchise. Their first outing with tomb raider was a co
production with Crystal dynamics. Lara croft and the guardian of light
introduced co operative game play and was successful in its own terms. Then
Square Enix started developing what would be, in my opinion, one of the
greatest reboots in gaming history. Here is my review of Tomb raider 2013
In this review I will explore the
original edition of the game and not the definitive edition but I will give you
my thoughts on that later. This review will be split into 6 parts namely: writing
and story, graphics, Sound, game play, multiplayer and the final score. Each of
these parts will be given a score out of 10 which will be added to get a final
score out of 10 in the final verdict. But before I get into the review here is
a little information on the producers, developers, and all the other stuff for
nerds like me :P
Important Information:
Developer: Crystal Dynamics
Publisher: Square Enix
Director: Noah Hughes
Daniel Chayer
Daniel Neuburger
Producer: Kyle Peschel
Alexander W. Offermann
Programmer:Scott Krotz
Artist: Brian Horton
Writer:
Rhianna Pratchett
Susan O'Connor
Composer: Jason Graves
Platforms: Microsoft Windows
OS X
PlayStation 3
PlayStation 4
Xbox 360
Xbox One
Release date:
5 March 2013
Genre: Action-adventure
There you go my fellow nerds, now on to the review!!!
Part 1: Writing and story:
Positives-
This game has some of the most
intense writing I have seen. When I heard Rhianna Prachett was working on this, I was immensely happy. She had done some amazing work with mirrors edge and I
was sure that the writing in this game would be top notch and it didn’t
disappoint. The story is simple yet it is strong enough to keep your focus on
the game. Lara in particular is a well written character and you sort of grow
attached to her to the throughout the game and you start rooting for her, so
that awesome. We see her transform from this fresh out of college girl who
loves a bit of adventure to a hardened survivor who has to kill for survival. We
can see and feel what Lara is going through and I would love to read a good
tomb raider novel written by Rhianna Prachett and Susan O’ Conner. The story is
one of the solid points and that is one of the most important parts in a game
for me if not the most.
Negatives-
The story does have one
narrative and that is integrated into the game play. Around about an hour into
the game there is this jarring shift between a Lara struggling for survival and
a trigger happy gun freak, earning experience for the head shots. But it is
possible to avoid some gunfights and subdue enemies, unless she is cornered and
has to fight her way out. More about this in the game play department later but
that is the only negative in the story department.
Side note and
result -
Lara’s first kill is one awesome
scene and I loved it!! Story gets a 9 on 10
Part 2: Graphics
Positives-
One word to describe the
graphics: awesome. Playing the game on pc I had the ability to go all out ultra
settings and did the game look good. At 1080p rather than the console version of
720p the game looked gorgeous and it stayed somewhere around the 55 to 65
frames per second mark which is pretty good in my opinion. On the AMD card,
which is what I have, the game has this feature called tressFX which animates Lara’s
hair realistically. It is an awesome addition but it results in an enormous
frame rate drop to almost 35 frames per second. But even without enabling the
tress FX the game looked gorgeous.
Negatives-
No negatives in this department. Maybe the
textures could have looked a bit different in some cliffs but that doesn’t
distract you at all. It is hardly noticeable so no negatives.
Side note and
score-
Facial animation could have been
a bit better nevertheless a 9.5 0n 10.
Part 3: Sound
The sound is atmospheric. The
music by Jason graves is really good and the voice acting is top notch. Camilla
Ludington as Lara croft was spectacular. The other characters are really good
and do keep up with the main character so the sound department gets a 10 on 10.
Part 4: Game play
The game play is 45% shooter 35%
plat former and 20% puzzles. The
shooting system in not revolutionary but the cover system is the best I have
seen in any game. Lara auto ducks and there is no hindrance to movement when
you want to get out of cover. Enemy AI is good and they put up a solid fight
trying to flush Lara out of cover and flank us instead of standing in one place
like cannon fodder. The island is a semi open world with lots of collectibles
and side missions. There are 6 tombs for us to raid with puzzles. Previous Tomb
Raider fans might not find the puzzles hard but they are a thinking man’s game
nonetheless. Lara has a survival mode which highlights the things she can
interact with making puzzles easier but there is, thankfully a difficulty where
you can go through the game without using the survival instinct. The camera in
this game is spectacular. It is all like watching a movie. The transition from cut
scene to game play is seamless with minimal to no loading screens. Air, water
and fire effects are top notch and particle effects are really good. The
lighting in this game is top notch.
Negatives-
In spite of the positives there
is a bit of negatives. You get Experience points for killing animals and
skinning them. But the carcass we can see is the whole animal. Square Enix, the
game has a mature rating. Put it to good use. Some realism is appreciated guys.
The next criticisms I have is what I mentioned in the story part. You get XP
for head shots and that takes away from the narrative of the whole game. Eating
is scripted and is not doe after the first hour so it takes away from the
realism. I would have loved it if they introduced a hunting system where your
health depletes the longer you stay without eating. That would have added to
the realism. I would have loved that but we didn’t get it.
Side note and
Result-
I loved the overall character
design of Lara croft and that is awesome. An 8.5 on 10.
Part 5:
Multiplayer
The final verdict:
Tomb raider is the perfect reboot. It’s awesome, adventurous,
innovative in some aspects, visually spectacular and I LOVED it. I give the
game an overall score of 9 on 10 and the approval of a game which won’t disappoint
you. I would love to see where Square Enix takes Lara next. Now a few stuff
about the definitive edition…
The Definitive
edition
This
is practically the same game with no game play or story changes but the
graphics have been upped for next-gen consoles. The already good looking game
looks prettier and tress FX 2.0 is what tress FX on PC should have been. The cloth
physics and particle effects are great and it also comes with all the extras
and DLC’s. So that’s a bonus. I recommend it to people who have a next-gen
console and haven’t played this game, or if you are a great fan of tomb raider.
If not then it is not worth the price of the full game.
Final words:
Definitely check out this game people, it’s worth your
money and I am sure you won’t be disappointed.
Peace!!
HI buddy,
ReplyDeleteIt's nice that you wrote about this game. I have loved playing it in PS1. Looking forward for more reviews of many things.