Tomb Raider

[ReZourceman]

I came into this game expecting a enjoyable, simple, cheesy, linear, cheap copy of Uncharted (yes, I know Tomb Raider was before, but it was completely different). I've never played a game that has exceeded my expectations so much.

 

YES. And yes to everything else you have said.

 

WOW.

 

I am simply blown away. I cannot believe how good this game is. I am a little surprised its had only 8-9s and not 9-high-9s.

 

It is better than Uncharted Drakes Fortune and Drakes Deception. It probably is as good as Uncharted 2.

 

Everything about it. So good. Right.

 

Lara is absolutely amazing. Some of the best character development I have enjoyed in games ever. In fact, the best. She sounds amazing, she looks amazing, her personality evolves, she's hard, she's smart.

 

The puzzles are highly physics based, to the extent that I have not experienced this kind of thing before (I haven't played the likes of Portal etc) but even so, the physics in general were amazing. Her exagerratedly powerful/distance jumping included. :P

 

All the upgrades and the way that the upgrades go. The way that you can choose how to upgrade her, the AI, the combat....was brilliant. Never in a game EVER have five separate weapons all had their own place, and own usefulness. The bow is however the shining star of the show.....simply amazing, the way that it has so many upgrades makes it exciting, and just everything to do with the bow - the way it looks, the power that you can feel from holding it back, the size and spectacle of it.

 

I absolutely LOVED the ending when she

 

gets her double pistols. Were waiting for it all game, and although the boss was killed so easily, the fact that it was done with dual pistols and the tappa tappa tappa of L1 and R1 was just hugely satisfying both physically and story wise.

 

 

Aaaaahhhhhhh.

 

Everything else has already been mentioned and I second all of it.

 

Absolutely amazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzziiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggg game.

[Shorty]

I still haven't completed this, despite thinking I was close a few times. I've been distracted by the multiplayer, which is fun if a little clunky (poor hit detection, mushy controls when reacting to environment). Getting all the achievements in this game will mean a tonne of multiplayer, as you need to unlock The General, which you need to prestige 3 times for (and then hit lvl 58, so basically 4 times).

 

Tip if you're going for it, don't unlock all the weapon upgrades except the ones you like best, until your third prestige, because they'll be reset after a prestige (but you'll hang on to any saved salvage). So save salvage, unlock characters, but don't upgrade weapons more than you need.

 

@ReZourceman, I can't believe you haven't played Portal. It's actually been free to download in the past more than once and is an amazing game.

[nekunando]

Every time I look at this game, I'm encouraged to start making use of my brother's old PS3 instead of merely using it to watch DVDs..

[Babooo]

Ahh all the reviews and positive comments on this thread make me want this game so bad!

 

Currently playing through Ni No Kuni though. I'm hoping that by the time I've finished that, Tomb Raider may have gone down in price too! Win, win

[Shorty]

Finished it. Really amazing game, although didn't get really deep in many of the survival aspects. I remember early descriptions of the game talking about how you would 'need' to forage for food and hunt to survive. Actually those do nothing but earn you XP, and you can do the whole game without eating, sleeping etc..

 

Basically the game wound up being a bit shallower than I originally thought it would be, but that's OK, it meant a smoother story, better visuals, tighter controls, a few unique mechanics and a fun multiplayer mode instead.

 

Going back for 100%... some of the collectables/destructibles are going to be a pain, I can tell -_-

[Cube]

That's why I don't bother with trailers, news or reviews once I've decided I want a game. I just knew there was some jumping, some shooting, Lara gets scarred and injured and a bow.

[Ville]

Sounds like a great game, have to get it at some point...

[Jimbob]

I like the concept of being able to fast-travel between campsites. Makes for some more interesting adventuring once you've got an item which can get items you have missed. So far, i'm at campsite c. Just escaped from the clutches of the island inhabitants once again, received a gun. But mainly using the bow to do the kills. One arrow kills to the groin/head.

[Shorty]

I like the concept of being able to fast-travel between campsites. Makes for some more interesting adventuring once you've got an item which can get items you have missed. So far, i'm at campsite c. Just escaped from the clutches of the island inhabitants once again, received a gun. But mainly using the bow to do the kills. One arrow kills to the groin/head.

There are two things I didn't do in this game during my playthrough, one is fast travel, the other is press the "Survival Instincts" (aka magic cheating powers) button. Made for a much more involving game, I think.

 

After you finish the game you can go back and explore other areas etc and fast travel is unavoidable.

[James]

This is the game that just keeps on giving. You want to keep playing and not put it down. Every turn something new happens. Just a really great adventure game and everyone loves a bow and arrow as well.

 

Everyone should play this

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[EEVILMURRAY]

There are two things I didn't do in this game during my playthrough, one is fast travel, the other is press the "Survival Instincts" (aka magic cheating powers) button. Made for a much more involving game, I think.

I've mainly used the instinct button (Q!) for enemy detection when being fired upon.

 

Other sneaky thing is when I'm in a dark area with the torch. I can briefly enjoy the whole room without having to slowly walk around coz' Lara won't run.

All the upgrades and the way that the upgrades go. The way that you can choose how to upgrade her

It's not that unique as you may think since you have to buy a certain number of lower skills before you can earn the later skills. It's rather cheeky in that respect.

[Shorty]

This is the game that just keeps on giving. You want to keep playing and not put it down. Every turn something new happens. Just a really great adventure game and everyone loves a bow and arrow as well.

 

Everyone should play this

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

The bow and arrow was awesome. Maybe my second favourite in a game to date, after the one in Resi 4 Mercenaries.

 

Sent from my PC using Firefox

[EEVILMURRAY]

I remember early descriptions of the game talking about how you would 'need' to forage for food and hunt to survive. Actually those do nothing but earn you XP, and you can do the whole game without eating, sleeping etc..

 

I remember reading that too and glad as fuck I didn't have to do it. It may have been necessary in games like Stranded Kids or Lost in Blue, but in those you weren't having frequent shoot-outs with insane islanders.

 

Sent from the Otherworld using Ouija board.

[Cube]

And the XP/Salvage was much more useful than the money in Assassin's Creed 3.

[Sheikah]

Do you have a good PC?

 

He built pretty much the same PC as us if you remember. :p

[Cube]

I forgot about that.

 

Then, yes, it will run the game beautifully. You won't be able to have AA/AF on maximum, but everything else can be on ultra (including the lovely hair) and 1080p.

[bryanee]

Outstanding from start to finish. The visuals are great, the gunplay probably my fave it was very satisfying, set pieces were excellent, creepy atmosphere and good platforming.

 

I could do with more of those optional tombs though, still got a few to do but they're a tad on the easy side much like all the puzzles in the game. The music was generally good if a tad forgettable. Oh yeah the cover system is brilliant, never had to worry about it cocking up once.

 

The game is brutal and brilliant, there wasn't much I disliked. Some technical issues present, the way the game would stutter and pause after unlocking an achievement was terrible but thankfully it didn't last long.

 

Early GOTY contender and one of my faves of the generation. I defo rate it above all the Uncharted games.

 

It is very much a mash up of Arkham Asylum, Tomb Raider and Uncharted.

[EEVILMURRAY]

Just finished myself. Very enjoyable, one annoying part was parachuting through the trees and the proximity detection. I'd barely come close to the top of a tree and I suddenly die, yet on one occasion I ploughed through about 5 trees in the middle and recieved minor damage. Weirds.

[Magnus]

My favorite local games journalist reviewed this today, in the vaguest way possible. Everything was good, but I guess she didn't really feel the need to explain why. I know newspaper writers are sometimes very short on space, but if she'd cut out her potshot at the earlier games in the series, she would have been able to mention at least one thing that doesn't also apply to a hundred other games. Seeing as how the screenshot she used was from Tomb Raider: Underworld, I'm not convinced she even played the game.

 

Meh, at least she gave it a perfect score. :p

[ReZourceman]

Hahaha, I love your stories of this journalist Magnus. Keep my updated on her shenanigans (I guess that is what happens when you get a mere woman to critique a video game).

 

I forgot to mention the glitches! I had a couple of annoying weird ones and also my PS3 froze once.

 

Had one bit where I had forced slow movement for dialogue, that continued until I had to restart checkpoint.

 

Erm what else....there was another annoying one but cannot remember it.

[Shorty]

Hm didn't get a single glitch on 360.

 

I must've spent about 2 hours looking for the last nest in the Mountain Village though, still haven't found it, no idea how you got everything so quickly @Cube!

[Cube]

I must've spent about 2 hours looking for the last nest in the Mountain Village though, still haven't found it, no idea how you got everything so quickly @Cube!

 

Because I cheated and used Survival Instinct for the challenges (I attempted each one without it first). The hardest was the mines.

[Ganepark32]

I must've spent about 2 hours looking for the last nest in the Mountain Village though, still haven't found it, no idea how you got everything so quickly @Cube!

 

I spent ages trying to find that one myself. Ended up having to look up a video on youtube as it was proving to be a bit of a bitch to find. Pretty well hidden on an area/outcrop that you'd probably never notice, even with Survival Instinct turned on.

 

But yeah, I finished the game with 90% on Tuesday evening and then blitz the remaining collectibles last night to be fully complete (bar one or two single player achievements to do with specific kill types). Absolutely loved the game though. Wasn't too taken at first, perhaps the hype lulled me then, but the more I played the more I started to enjoy it and hour or so at the end there was fantastic.

 

Definitely the best game I've played so far this year, although that list isn't exactly on the long side (Spec Ops and Sleeping Dogs are pretty much the only two other 'new' games I've played for the first time this year). Shame the multiplayer isn't up to much. Had a quick go on it last night to see what it was like but it just didn't click with me and it's not really something I'll see myself go back to.

 

Still, definitely recommend the game and it was totally worth the £35 I paid for it.

[CoolFunkMan]

Just completed this. All I can say is, it's absolutely incredible, definitely one of the greatest games I've played in a very long time.

 

The characterization, design, gameplay... almost everything was just spot on. I did find the AI a little too dumb at first, but in the later parts of the game, they're more challenging. I'm not a massive fan of the number quick time events either, but they still do kind of work (although I've never really been a massive fan of QTEs.)

 

 

I absolutely LOVED the ending when she

 

gets her double pistols. Were waiting for it all game, and although the boss was killed so easily, the fact that it was done with dual pistols and the tappa tappa tappa of L1 and R1 was just hugely satisfying both physically and story wise.

 

 

 

I absolutely loved it when she finally got both her pistols at the very end. It was very late on, but really did make a lot of sense in the context of everything. Definitely an incredibly satisfying moment, and probably one of my favorite moments in gaming!

 

[Shorty]

Because I cheated and used Survival Instinct for the challenges (I attempted each one without it first). The hardest was the mines.

 

I'm using survival instincts for this too but still struggling, found 7/10 mines, 2/5 cairns, 4/5 birds. I wonder if you have a better draw distance on the PC...