Tomb Raider Review Thread!

Genuinely shocked at how many guns appear to be in this Tomb Raider game. But I'm even more upset to hear that the traditonal platforming sections are no more than sideshows to the main path, which have little bearing on your ability to progress.

[Rhet?] Are we really at a point where even the biggest IPs in gaming have to gundown armies of enemies in order to sell enough to justify the production costs? It's so, so disheartening.

For those reviewers claiming, 'this is what evolution looks like, you should deal with it', you miss the point entirely. You can still innovate and evolve, while staying true to what makes the IP so great to begin with - following the path most successfully trodden by preceding games is not the same thing.
 
Mr_Zombie said:
I wonder if all those Gaffers who keep saying "crows served", "haters were wrong" etc. actually read those reviews or just glanced at scores and rushed to post how wrong we were. Because many reviews actually confirm a lot of our fears: too many shoot-outs, too many useless items to collect, optional tombs with simple puzzles, uninspired skills tree, annoying QTE, automatic and sticky platforming, disconnection between narrative and gameplay, too gory, unnecessary multiplayer etc. Whether someone likes the game despise those problems is a matter of opinion and taste, but those problems are there.
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It got high scores. You can't say that! :P
 
Derrick01 said:
But dude, it got 8s and stuff. Eat your crow *posts gifs and GOTY*
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Just depends on what you go in wanting/expecting. You want a Tomb Raider like old, your not going to be happy. You want a new take on the series, you might just like it. You just enjoy gaming overall and playing new games, then you probably don't give a fuck. :D
 
None of these reviews are easing my concerns - except to say that the idea of failable platforming is a positive. Classic Tomb Raider gameplay seems to be constrained mostly to the optional tombs, with combat and collectibles making up the bulk of the experience.

And yeah, the handful of reviews I've looked at so far all sound negative for Tomb Raider fans, but positive if you want more Uncharted.
 
antitrop said:
Fuck, I hope not. If this game fails I would rather they just kill the TR franchise rather go back to the way it was.
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Why would you wish the death of a franchise? Just because you don't like it so you think it shouldn't exist?

I mean I am not much of a Tomb Raider fan but that's not a great thing to say. If there is demand for that style of game play then someone needs to capitalize on it and provide that type of experience.
 
Mr_Zombie said:
I wonder if all those Gaffers who keep saying "crows served", "haters were wrong" etc. actually read those reviews or just glanced at scores and rushed to post how wrong we were. Because many reviews actually confirm a lot of our fears: too many shoot-outs, too many useless items to collect, optional tombs with simple puzzles, uninspired skills tree, annoying QTE, automatic and sticky platforming, disconnection between narrative and gameplay, too gory, unnecessary multiplayer etc. Whether someone likes the game despise those problems is a matter of opinion and taste, but those problems are there.
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Derrick01 said:
But dude, it got 8s and stuff. Eat your crow *posts gifs and GOTY*

edit: In seriousness most here haven't even mentioned the MP, detractors included. I remember when some were actually saying "I remember when people said Uncharted didn't need MP" and all that, and this ended up being as shoehorned as possible.
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I'm sorry but the point here is not that its as good as Tomb Raider, the reason why I, and others have made such comments is because the idea of this new formula actually working in Tomb Raider was completely rejected by a lot of people. Evidently, that is not the case. Yes there are issues, I doubt many would argue that. But the point stands, the game is not the "train wreck" some would love to believe.
 
Mr_Zombie said:
I wonder if all those Gaffers who keep saying "crows served", "haters were wrong" etc. actually read those reviews or just glanced at scores and rushed to post how wrong we were. Because many reviews actually confirm a lot of our fears: too many shoot-outs, too many useless items to collect, optional tombs with simple puzzles, uninspired skills tree, annoying QTE, automatic and sticky platforming, disconnection between narrative and gameplay, too gory, unnecessary multiplayer etc. Whether someone likes the game despise those problems is a matter of opinion and taste, but those problems are there.
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Indeed.Actually for the very same reasons these "positive" reviews provide,if they were to be seen from a pure gamer perspective or from the view point of someone who loved the games for reasons other than Lara and the story,this game shouldn't score more than 4/10.

But then again no one actually reads the reviews other than the people who really care and criticize the direction this game is going. ;)
 
Dahbomb said:
Why would you wish the death of a franchise? Just because you don't like it so you think it shouldn't exist?

I mean I am not much of a Tomb Raider fan but that's not a great thing to say. If there is demand for that style of game play then someone needs to capitalize on it and provide that type of experience.
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Because previous to this reboot, the Tomb Raider franchise was one of many that pumped out shitty, worthless sequel after shitty sequel.


I would rather Crystal Dynamics work on a new IP instead if this fails, that's why. But I want this reboot to succeed.
 
antitrop said:
Because previous to this reboot, the Tomb Raider franchise was one of many that pumped out shitty, worthless sequel after shitty sequel.

I would rather Crystal Dynamics work on a new IP instead if this fails, that's why.
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That Guardian of Light was a pretty nifty game I felt.
 
ASIS said:
I'm sorry but the point here is not that its as good as Tomb Raider, the reason why I, and others have made such comments is because the idea of this new formula actually working in Tomb Raider was completely rejected by a lot of people. Evidently, that is not the case. Yes there are issues, I doubt many would argue that. But the point stands, the game is not the "train wreck" some would love to believe.
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Except if you actually read the reviews and not just look at the scores, the reviews prove it is as much of a train wreck from a gameplay standpoint as we feared it would be. It's about as dumb and modern as you get in this industry anymore.

It has nothing to do with not being a TR game and everything to do with it being a *bad* game.
 
ASIS said:
NIICE!!!!

Haters can eat their crow now :D
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Uhh, nah, I'll be eating crow, but it'll be a different flavor. See, I was hyped for this game and was hopeful that exploration/platforming/puzzle-solving would still be a large part of the game. Reading the reviews, that's obviously not the case. At the very least, I expected the side tombs to be a good chunk of head-scratching tomb raiding, but even that's apparently short.

So now that I've seen the scores and read the reviews, I'm disappointed.

Mr_Zombie said:
I wonder if all those Gaffers who keep saying "crows served", "haters were wrong" etc. actually read those reviews or just glanced at scores and rushed to post how wrong we were. Because many reviews actually confirm a lot of our fears: too many shoot-outs, too many useless items to collect, optional tombs with simple puzzles, uninspired skills tree, annoying QTE, automatic and sticky platforming, disconnection between narrative and gameplay, too gory, unnecessary multiplayer etc. Whether someone likes the game despise those problems is a matter of opinion and taste, but those problems are there.
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Exactly.

ASIS said:
I'm sorry but the point here is not that its as good as Tomb Raider, the reason why I, and others have made such comments is because the idea of this new formula actually working in Tomb Raider was completely rejected by a lot of people. Evidently, that is not the case. Yes there are issues, I doubt many would argue that. But the point stands, the game is not the "train wreck" some would love to believe.
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You just used a whole lot of words to repeat what you already said earlier: that the review scores somehow prove that the game is not the train wreck some would love to believe.

Which, by the way, we were never using the phrase train wreck. I would thank you not to put words in people's mouths.

People were worried that it would deviate so far from what made TR special and morph into your bog-standard AAA gaming experience. And they were right.
 
antitrop said:
It's sad that the best Tomb Raider game in 15 years, other than this reboot, is barely even a Tomb Raider game.

It pretty much proves my point.
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Nah there were a couple of decent TR before this (TR Anniversary and Legend were good). Sounds like you just never liked the series to begin with so congrats, you are in the target demographic for this game.
 
sublimit said:
Indeed.Actually for the very same reasons these "positive" reviews provide,if they were to be seen from a pure gamer perspective or from the view point of someone who loved the games for reasons other than Lara and the story,this game shouldn't score more than 4/10.

But then again no one actually reads the reviews other than the people who really care and criticize the direction this game is going. ;)
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You cannot just give a game a lower rating because it's not like the previous entries in the series. If it's a fun, polished game, then it's a good game. And TR seems to be just that. Just because it might not be what some people wanted it to be doesn't make it a terrible game. It would be a terrible game if it would be boring or tedious to play through it or if it had lots of bugs and glitches. Neither of those seem to be the case.
 
ASIS said:
I'm sorry but the point here is not that its as good as Tomb Raider, the reason why I, and others have made such comments is because the idea of this new formula actually working in Tomb Raider was completely rejected by a lot of people. Evidently, that is not the case. Yes there are issues, I doubt many would argue that. But the point stands, the game is not the "train wreck" some would love to believe.
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Tomb raider with optional tombs is like something just shy of trainwreck. Like a multiple car pile up.
 
Dahbomb said:
Nah there were a couple of decent TR before this (TR Anniversary and Legend were good). Sounds like you just never liked the series to begin with so congrats, you are in the target demographic for this game.
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Legend was okay but not a TR game. Anniversary was just plain boring. Both to look at and to play through.
 
tiny raptor said:
Uhh, nah, I'll be eating crow, but it'll be a different flavor. See, I was hyped for this game and was hopeful that exploration/platforming/puzzle-solving would still be a large part of the game. Reading the reviews, that's obviously not the case. At the very least, I expected the side tombs to be a good chunk of head-scratching tomb raiding, but even that's apparently short.

So now that I've seen the scores and read the reviews, I'm disappointed.



Exactly.



You just used a whole lot of words to repeat what you already said earlier: that the review scores somehow prove that the game is not the train wreck some would love to believe.

Which, by the way, we were never using the phrase train wreck. I would thank you not to put words in people's mouths.

People were worried that it would deviate so far from what made TR special and morph into your bog-standard AAA gaming experience. And they were right.
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Great post. Agreed with everything you said. People are mistaking "good game" for a "good Tomb Raider game".

The phrase "optional tombs" perfectly describes everything that is wrong with this game.
 
I think the reason the endless amounts of violence in a game like Uncharted works is because the entire game has a playful Indiana Jones vibe to it where after the scene is over, everyone just get's up and laughs about it kind of thing. It's rather jaunty and endearing.

With Tomb Raider the gratuitous violence is clearly taken to another level, cocking a shotgun up to someones chin and pulling the trigger. It all comes off as crass and trying to appeal to a certain demographic rather than serving the story of the game.
 
raziel said:
Tomb raider with optional tombs is like something just shy of trainwreck. Like a multiple car pile up.
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*sigh* Here we go again. There ARE mandatory story tombs. The GamesMaster review mentioned 6 big temple/tomb locations as part of the story. What does seem to be only present in the challenge tombs, though, seem to be actually challenging puzzles.
 
Will get it like I got Hitman and Sleeping Dogs, for $10-15 on some sale.

Though I do feel Sleeping Dogs would have been worth full price.

Nice to hear its good though.
 
Derrick01 said:
Except if you actually read the reviews and not just look at the scores, the reviews prove it is as much of a train wreck from a gameplay standpoint as we feared it would be. It's about as dumb and modern as you get in this industry anymore.

It has nothing to do with not being a TR game and everything to do with it being a *bad* game.
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Except for the part where you haven't played it and are basing ur opinion on what someones else wrote, the same person that also gave the game an 8-10 which is what the guy you quoted based his post on.

And to be clear I don't either hate or love this game.
I've pre-ordered Resident evil 6 so that instantly makes this whole post and my opinion invalid
. I just think people are silly to not eat the crow.
 
Vire said:
I think the reason the endless amounts of violence in a game like Uncharted works is because the entire game has a playful Indiana Jones vibe to it where after the scene is over, everyone just get's up and laughs about it kind of thing. It's rather jaunty and endearing.

With Tomb Raider the gratuitous violence is clearly taken to another level, cocking a shotgun up to someones chin and pulling the trigger. It all comes off as crass and trying to appeal to a certain demographic rather than serving the story of the game.
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Not only that, the characters in Uncharted are "FUN"!!! and they have personality.
 
Derrick01 said:
I've read most of the big outlet reviews....many of them don't make any sense. They read like they wanted to give the game a 6 or worse but for whatever reason you want to come up with, didn't.
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Just admit that you're extensive "research" you did when deciding this game was terrible was most likely wrong. We get it, you hate everything. It's cute, really, it is. A game many are excited for is about to be released.....oh "heeeeeeerrreeee's Derrick01 to shit on the parade everyone, put your hands together!!!!" Yeah man, the reviews don't make sense. That's it. Can't you just say that you might be wrong about this one? Is your ego that tied into being a heel on a gaming site that you can't admit you may have fudged this one up? Also, do me a favor, do some "research" on the next gen MLB the Show. Hopefully you think the games sucks...what am I saying...of course you will, it then will probably go on to be one of the best sports games ever made. So could you put some of that voodoo on it?
 
Vire said:
So far Machinima has had the most fair and balanced review I've seen. He goes over the positives and negatives:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWQMMlCCEuU&list=PLZLTS4u9M_2rPFsdbdY7xL8oAApgU0Zar&index=1
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Yea, GamePro Germany also mentioned that (in a preview version) it is somewhat ridiculous that she cries and complains every minute about killing people and how terrible it is but then she keeps on killing dozens of them.

The Far Cry 3 writting has the same issues. (the Gametrailers.com Review pointed that out, haven't played it yet)

Also, more mature and not sexualized my arse. I have played every Core Design Tomb Raider and while her proportions were indeed sexualized and overdrawn, but the rest sure wasn't. I loved the dry, sarcastic British humour, stiff upper lip attitude and she was actually written like a normal human being (in context of course) rather than some submissive sexmonster like some people (from Crystal Dynamics) pretend she was.
 
Vire said:
With Tomb Raider the gratuitous violence is clearly taken to another level, cocking a shotgun up to someones chin and pulling the trigger. It all comes off as crass and trying to appeal to a certain demographic rather than serving the story of the game.
Click to expand...

To me it shows someone showing inexperience with a gun and showing a last resort move
 
Dahbomb said:
Nah there were a couple of decent TR before this (TR Anniversary and Legend were good). Sounds like you just never liked the series to begin with so congrats, you are in the target demographic for this game.
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I haven't cared about the franchise since Tomb Raider 1 and 2.
I did hear that Legend and Anniversary were good, though. Not great, certainly.

As far as I'm concerned, this reboot is saving the franchise, not destroying it.
 
OriginofHysteria said:
To me it shows someone showing inexperience with a gun and showing a last resort move
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Sure if it happened once, but there's at least 10 unique animations like this that make me roll my eyes:

rambolararvuht.gif

It's just disappointing that the game had to resort to that.
 
BillyBats said:
Just admit that you're extensive "research" you did when deciding this game was terrible was most likely wrong. We get it, you hate everything. It's cute, really, it is. A game many are excited for is about to be released.....oh "heeeeeeerrreeee's Derrick01 to shit on the parade everyone, put your hands together!!!!" Yeah man, the reviews don't make sense. That's it. Can't you just say that you might be wrong about this one? Is your ego that tied into being a heel on a gaming site that you can't admit you may have fudged this one up? Also, do me a favor, do some "research" on the next gen MLB the Show. Hopefully you think the games sucks...what am I saying...of course you will, it then will probably go on to be one of the best sports games ever made. So could you put some of that voodoo on it?
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...what the hell are you saying?

Cynical as he may be, the dude's right about the issues that plague AAA games. TR is no exception.
 
BillyBats said:
Just admit that you're extensive "research" you did when deciding this game was terrible was most likely wrong.
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I've spent the better part of this morning reading reviews that ALL agree with most of my gameplay complaints. The only difference is they still gave it a 8 whereas if I was reviewing it and came across those problems I'd be giving it a 4. In fact the reviews spent too much time talking about non-gameplay stuff like Lara as a character or the plot and weighed it too much into the overall score. I haven't seen anything yet that says I was wrong, unless you do nothing but look at the score and not what was actually said.
 
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