Tomb Raider Review Thread!

Jackpot said:
Eurogamer seems to focus on the negatives:



fake edit: actually, from re-reading it it feels like the sort of review for DmC a fan of DMC1 would write.
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In fairness, the violence thing is a problem for most action games which attempt to do any degree of "moralising" and grey area stuff. Spec Ops: The Line is probably the only game which has done this successfully, even if it did it in a way that breaks the fourth wall.
 
Glad it's doing well! I couldn't tell if the game was either going to do very well or be a complete failure. I'll pick this up once I wrap up revengence
 
Another path might lead to a Hidden Tomb in need of raiding, although that’s a misnomer: you’re alerted to their proximity by a popup, and their entrances are clearly marked with hieroglyphic scrawls. Inside each, you’ll find a single-room physics puzzle
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...


Just read Edges review too, still have no idea what the game plays like. They mention a lot of combat and a semi-open world, but what is it that the player does, other than running forward and collecting XP?
 
However, for every pretty view or pleasing puzzle, another prolonged bout of hiding behind walls and shooting things is waiting around the corner. It's as if the game is terrified the high-level intellectual thinking involved in working out how to open a door will tire the poor dim player out, so a bit more mindless violence gets chucked in for relaxation purposes.
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Gotta bow down to the shootbang gods eventually.

At least the puzzles sound good.
 
Elginer said:
so Lara is now an action star? Cool with me. Let the bitter tears flow LOL.

Looks like a polished and damn fine looking game. Will enjoy on PS3. I hope they don't fuck it up on that platform with all the Xbox pushing I've been seeing my CD.
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She always was, you killed a fuckton of things in every tomb raider game.
 
i just watched the GT review.. listening to the negatives and watching the video .. how the fuck did they award it 8.5..? this just doesn´t make any sense at all.

and the MP portion of the video.. lol it looks like a totally different game. oh my..
 
This is for you, Derrick01!

There also seems to be a constant worry that the player is not being given enough Things To Do. So meaningless tasks are offered up endlessly - Find All the Vases! Collect All the Mushrooms! Burn All the Flags! There are so many diary pages and collectable objects lying about that the island feels like a rubbish dump for a deeply dull museum.

The multitude of menus via which the objects are curated don't help, and nor do the endless onscreen messages. It's hard to get about excited about "2 OF 3 CEREMONIAL FANS FOUND!", no matter how that sentence is capitalised or punctuated. I am not ashamed to reveal that my final tally reads "0% VASES". (Although I am proud to have managed "67% KANPO HERBS".)

It's plausible there are players out there who can indeed be bothered to crack open every crate. And it is possible to complete the game while skipping the collecting business. But the sheer volume of stuff makes it hard to ignore, and so it becomes an annoying distraction.
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MrCookiepants said:
Gaf, don't you ever get tired of being wrong?

Game is gonna sell loads too. Double whammy. :(
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How was "GAF" wrong about this? I'm pretty sure almost everyone expected it to get good reviews and probably sell a lot of copies -- doesn't mean people will suddenly like the game or change their mind about some of the stupid shit that's in it.
 
$30 preorder at GMG redeemed lol... was getting worried about it after the fiasco with the aliens game. I like how eurogamer pointed out that the game gets better as a play along.

GOW and Lara in march, awesome month.
 
And here comes a perfectly homogeneous press concesus on how good the game is, because the likelyhood of dozens of different people feeling virtually identical about a subjectively perceived multimedia product is incredibly high.
 
The boxes can be ticked, several times over - collectables, upgrade systems, big fat guns, blood and gore, pretty graphics, set pieces, boss battles, cut-scenes where the characters' lip movements almost match what they are saying, multiplayer modes, art galleries, quick-time events, more collectables. All of these tricks are pulled off with competence and polish.

But they're just tricks, and they leave little room for the elements that set Tomb Raider apart to shine.
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EG review was really well done. I still feel like they listed way too many important negatives to still give the game a 8, but I'm a substance guy so score really doesn't affect me.

Messofanego said:
This is for you, Derrick01
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Yeah all of my criticisms of this game have been proven correct so far, just like in Hitman.
 
Endless said:
Game Informer: 9.25

http://www.gameinformer.com/games/tomb_raider/b/ps3/archive/2013/02/25/tomb-raider-review.aspx
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UxDgV8l.gif
 
toasty_T said:
All hail Lara. Haters can suck the muzzle. Aw yeah!

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No bullet holes or blood splatter on the wall behind him, 0/10


Jk, good to hear that the game seems to open up after the first hour or so. I remember a lot of previews made the game seem overly scripted and linear.

Humorous to hear about how quickly Lara becomes comfortable with killing though. After all that talk about her vulnerability and "wanting to protect" her.
 
Do any of the reviews mention how long it takes to finish?

Won't be buying day 1, so will either wait for a price drop or possibly rent it if it's not particularly long.
 
Polygon review looks great.

BiggNife said:
Yeah, that monochrome film grain shit is gross. Comes off as super pretentious to me.
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TheLegendOfMart said:
Good lord the Polygon review is terrible to read with all the hipster design, monochrome gifs, etc..
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Hipster? Pretentious? Be less descriptive, please.

From Sterling:
Lara can more than hold her own against the crazed island inhabitants, and killing them is so much fun, it more or less undermines the whole narrative about the impact of taking human life.
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Bummer. I was hoping they'd be up to the task of addressing that head-on.
 
Eurogamer sounds like a 7, really. Putting me off a lot.

The problem with Tomb Raider is not that it's trying to do something new. The problem is it's trying to do what everyone else is doing.

It succeeds in that aim. The boxes can be ticked, several times over - collectables, upgrade systems, big fat guns, blood and gore, pretty graphics, set pieces, boss battles, cut-scenes where the characters' lip movements almost match what they are saying, multiplayer modes, art galleries, quick-time events, more collectables. All of these tricks are pulled off with competence and polish.
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Derrick01 said:
EG review was really well done. I still feel like they listed way too many important negatives to still give the game a 8, but I'm a substance guy so score really doesn't affect me.



Yeah all of my criticisms of this game have been proven correct so far, just like in Hitman.
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I'm taking one for the team. We'll see how much of the game I can stomach before giving up.
 
Jackpot said:
Eurogamer seems to focus on the negatives:

fake edit: actually, from re-reading it it feels like the sort of review for DmC a fan of DMC1 would write.

People who hated on FarCry3 for padding are going to love this.
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I liked EG's approach and attitude in this review. Whether I agree with them or not, they and RPS are about all I bother reading anymore.

Loved this bit:

It's a shame the other characters don't get much screen time, and are therefore unable to move beyond archetypes like Feisty Black Chick, Nerdy White Dude, Hot Asian Babe and Dirty Foreign Rapist of Unspecified Baltic Origin.
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Derrick01 said:
This is going to be the first game that I'll have to issue a warning to the people in my house before I play.

"Just to clarify, what you're going to be hearing is NOT porn. Just...kind of ignore it if possible"
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It'll be fine dude. Just play it after your parents go to bed =P
 
Odrion said:
8/10
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Scores are about as useful as an arrow to the knee.

Anyway, the review makes it look like my fears have come true, partially. It is a murder simulator with colectathons - but there is hope, since the EG review mentions that the choice few "Tombraidey" parts are still exquisite.

Edit: Other reviews point out how the Tombraidey bits are actually handholdy Uncharty bits. Nooooo.
 
Seems like the reviews pretty much confirm that it's a decent action game but a pretty poor Tomb Raider game. It'll probably sell well so it's likely the end of an era. Triple A blockbuster game design killed another franchise.
 
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