Alternate Title: Tomb Raider Wars: A Dead Hope
Thus begins my 31/31, continuing my quest to try to find something redeeming in Tomb Raider. The battle is a hard one, gents, but perhaps we'll get ourselves a victory soon enough. We've seen explosions, exposition, attempts at intrigue, obvious plot twists, and gameplay mechanics that don't involve mashing buttons -- a glimmer of hope in a dark void that was my initial opinion of Tomb Raider. As there's no real way to casually talk about the story without spoilers, bear in mind that there will be SPOILERS from here on out! By my measure, I should be half-way through the game, and my do I have a point to start on...
Scooby goes with Shaggy for food, I take Daphne and Velma for a threesome, Lara takes Red Shirt No. 243 to die.
Wow, to say that response was negative to my initial post is an understatement. So many downvotes that even after my regular readers tried to upvote the rating, it remained at two stars. No really strong counter arguments besides Theora's wall of well put together text. Well, you'll be happy to hear, people who won't explain why I am so wrong, I have some positive things to say this time. After I talk about the new stupid things the game managed to come up with between this post and the last one, that is.
So no one, not even Lara, is smart enough to put it together after the trial and everything being forced in our faces, until damn near too late, does anyone realize that the Solarii cult guys are planning to try to sacrifice Sam. I mean, the dead bodies of women, the obvious connections, the journals left by Mathias so conveniently... does no one on this island think? Still, probably the worst part of the writing remains Roth and Lara, as it's so nostalgic and trying to be touching that you can practically see the target written on Roth's back (and literally, that's how he dies. An ax to the back).
But no, that's not enough. The famous pistols Laura always uses in the earlier games (later I guess if somehow this is all chronological)? They were Roth's. And her confidence boosting? All pretty much reiterating what Roth told her. She seems so bound to him that you wonder if she ever learned anything on her own that wasn't specifically archaeology. I say this not just as a consumer of fiction who's seen this trick a thousand times -- I say this as someone who actually does have a strong connection to actually two parental figures, and... you know, I didn't learn everything from just them. If that was the case, the only games I would have played would still run on a Windows 95 Machine while I programmed with one hand and painted with the other.
People define us but if only one person defines you then it leaves you feeling very one dimensional, which unfortunately more or less continues to be Lara's case. I mean, I like her a bit more but there's just some really stupid moments. When Booker took an entire to figure out what happened to Elizabeth in the Asylum level, I assumed it was because Booker's not the brightest chap. Lara isn't supposed to take this long to figure everything out. If she can identify ancient relics with startling detail she should be able to figure out why things are the way they are.
As I covered with Theora, the ritual is just for women, so there still is no reason for Reyes and Lara to be left out of it, except Mathias' preference. I guess we're supposed to just guess it's tied to the awfully hamfisted theme now of "logic is meaningless here". Okay, then why are logic puzzles so commonly present? The entire semi-open world area sets are filled with puzzles built around basic logic and creativity. Gameplay should sync the themes of the story. Are things supernatural and disturbed? Then do what Spec Ops: The Line did and start screwing with our heads!
This comes back to what I said last time -- the game feels lazy, unfocused, and unfinished. There were clearly too many cooks in the kitchen, as most of the dishes have gone cold when they would have been masterpieces if only they'd focused on a short few. You can't win them all, but Crystal Dynamics seems to not understand this. However, this does bring us to the most positive front of the game. There's actual gameplay this time! Oh and towards the end of fighting through Mathias' palace Lara actually gets kind of interesting by playing herself up as tough to try to psyche the enemies out. That happened too, somehow.
Rope Bow -- Making noclipping across gaps a mechanic. The best semi-original idea in the entire game so far.
I want to be clear, I don't come into games expecting to hate them, unless Naughty Dog is the developer. But my gosh did it take forever for Tomb Raider to ever make me want to keep playing it for any other reason than to say "THERE! IT'S DONE!" That specifically happens in an earlier section of the game where you learn to use the rope bow, and the world magically opens up! Suddenly you can climb to all sorts of places. You can approach situations however you want! You can freely move about so long as it makes sense in the level design. Obviously they drop this for the FALSE climax in Mathias' palace (yes, they pull a Bastion. Yes it sucks just as much this time), but until then the levels finally feel... I dunno... less like pure tunnels! Anything linear actually has some reason to be and there are even things like optional tombs and bases and side objectives... it's like... no, it can't be...
I mean it's not like they -- wait, you have a four weapon system? With the first one being the fill-all roll and the others being highly customizable. And the primary one allows you to do fire damage once upgraded? Nah, that's just got to be a coincidence.
Wait, there's salvaging of resources, abandoned written logs and audio lags... no, it can't be...
There's also an evil religion... now stop it, Crystal Dynamics. This isn't funny...
A maleviolent supernatural-seeming force is holding you back and killing off every ally it can get its jaws around...
It makes you hear voices...
You're isolated and are a lone hero trying to save everyone else whether they accept it or not...
There's an obvious turncoat...
GAH! STOP IT! *laughs* It has to be pure coincidence. They'd be insane to! It's not like they named one of the main characters after one from -- oh you are kidding me!
I'm afraid not even a bad plot twist by Amy Henning can save this game now.
YOU CHANGED ONE LETTER! ONE! HE'S EVEN ONE OF THE UNITOLOGISTS! IS THERE ANYTHING IN THIS GAME THAT WAS CREATED WITH ORIGINAL THOUGHT? DEAD SPACE 1 RELEASED AS FAR BACK AS 2008! YOU CAN'T TELL ME THIS IS BY ACCIDENT! Now I know what Nostalgia Critic feels like...
...well, if you're gonna rip something off, at least you picked something with quality! Except you basically got the footnotes. The four weapon system is nice but you just seem to have it there. And, why bother with scavenging when it all just results in XP and loot? You could have actual survival mechanics! This would actually encourage revisiting older areas so you can resupply yourself with more than just than a single abbreviated variable for upgrading and a similar one for unlocking skills.
I mean, sure, the combat is a load of fun. Enemies are as varied as Necromorphs on the Ishimura and the level design even seems to take a few notes from better scenarios in Dead Space. The only problem is... I am seriously left to wonder what was created in this game for itself and only itself, not taken from some other, better game (oh lets face it, you people think Uncharted is good, so lets just treated like it as if it is for a brief moment). I don't make this accusation lightly. As someone who hopes to be a developer some day, I use these words with a true feeling of sadness. I expected more from the developer who basically brought Tomb Raider back from the dead once already.
At the very least, the exploration aspects are fresh, to some degree. The only problem is they start to feel redundant. At first, climbing rocks is purely jump and grab, but now I can use bows to snag the top and move on with my life. I used to have to find a firepit to light my torch, now it lights automatically plus two other weapons have a fire-based alternative attack. I'm worried that by the end, all I need to do is point my arrow into the sky, and the entire map will unlock. I already can magically mark everything with my "survival instincts", so it's even easier than Arkham City in terms of side objectives... which took all the fun out of them which is why, as of the time of this writing, I'm not even really bothering, anymore. What's the point? All they give you is more salvage and more XP. At some point, those will run out, I'll be maxed out, and then any new upgrades will be story specific. And what reason do I have after that? To get 100% completion? Is that really the best reward you can offer me? If you're gonna rip off Dead Space, at least also take a note from the foam fingers in Dead Space 2-3. You've already dug up the corpse for a Frankenstein project -- might as well take the bottle of whiskey inside the casket.
So, presently, things aren't going much better for Tomb Raider, but they are somewhat. The gameplay is fun if contradicting itself and further hinting at sloppy design. The story continues to elude me in how supposedly amazing it is according to many a reviewer. Really, at best, this gets a 6.5/10 right now. Maybe she can pull it out in the end, but I'm afraid Lara -can't- "do this" after all I've seen.Every moment of pleasure is matched with a moment of dullness, frustration, or pure aggravation. Every interesting challenge and moment is subdued by awful dialogue and characterization. It's a civil war between game and story in a burning ring of fire. Johnny Cash, stop the music at any time!
Cheers,
Paradigm the Fallen
I Went "I could do This", "Do This", "Do This", And The Flames Went Higher. And It Burns, Burns, Burns, The Ring Of Satire.
Trivia: Yes, this isn't the first time I bring up this song. There's a reason I bring it up with games like this...
P.S. I mean it, there are some good moments but my gosh are there also some really bad ones.