PS3 Review: Tomb Raider

Tomb Raider (2013) Review

The perfect example of how to reboot a franchise

Story: 9/10

I will try my best to not spoil the story, but will offer up a general synopsis of how it begins. Lara and a group of fellow archaeologists and a few normal citizens sail off in search of the Dragons Triangle and Yamatai. It eventually leads to the group being shipwrecked on a desert island, inhabited by other people who were previously shipwrecked who cannot leave the island and are desperate to find a way to escape. 

I will admit that the majority of the story was not entirely original and definitely used various aspects from TV shows such as Lost. A friend saw parallels with Indiana Jones: The Temple of Doom and even horror movie The Descent to a small  degree. But although this was true, I was not complaining one bit. 

The story was completely engrossing throughout the entire run through of the game with Lara's emotional turmoils as she delved further down the rabbit hole of sheer craziness of surviving the other islanders aggression. 

Although the cinematics of Lara's turmoils were fantastic and really made you sympathise with her, it was a little bit jarring when she was distraught killing one person, only for her to be brutally slaughtering other inhabitants a few moments afterwards. 

Additionally Lara's character was so heavily and well developed that the other characters paled in comparison and were borderline stereotypical with the stock Scotsman, Irishman, American etc. But at the end of the day this was Lara's origin story so it makes sense to maintain absolute focus on her.     

Gameplay: 9.5/10

Moving on to the gameplay, I was pleasantly surprised by its depth. A lot of professional game reviewers have stated that the gameplay is across between the Uncharted, Metroid series and Resident Evil 4. This is most definitely the case. Much like the story, although it lacks originality, all of the pieces combined make for an incredibly fun game. 

The action is very reminiscent of the Uncharted franchise with its massive, explosive set pieces by which Lara can traverse across ledges and use walls to take cover whilst in gunplay. 

The gunplay itself is more or less a carbon copy of the Uncharted series, although I felt it to be a lot more sturdy and balanced in Tomb Raider. 

The gun play was the typical third person shooting affair, with aiming over Lara's right shoulder. But what impressed me most was the cover system.  For the first time I have witnessed in a game I didn't need to press a button in order to take cover, but instead Lara instinctively chooses to do it when you are nearby objects. I was cautious that the AI and detection would be a bit hit and miss, leading to some  infuriating moments and unnecessary deaths, but it worked tremendously well with absolutely no problems. It felt incredibly natural and I hope for this mechanic to be implemented into more games in the future.

Unlike Nathan Drakes ability to pick up and choose from a plethora of different guns, Lara Croft is confined to four weapons: A bow, handgun, shotgun and rifle. 

Although Lara is confined to these weapons, the game implements both a skill point based leveling up and salvaging system in order to upgrade these weapons. 

This salvage material, which can be obtained through opening crates, looting off gunned down enemies and killing animals, can be made into numerous attachments and other improvements such as increase in fire rate and recoil reduction.

The skill point leveling up system is not only linked to weapons upgrades, but also hunting, melee and survival skills. This also boasts a three tier criteria whereby each tier opens up once you obtain all the attributes from the previous one. This was great as you could definitely feel that that Lara was getting progressively stronger as the game progressed whilst not being completely overpowered, allowing for challenge in the game to still exist. 

The XP earned in order to level up made sense for the most part, such as killing enemies, with bonus points for special moves such as head shots. but there were some occasions whereby it seemed the game was dishing out points haphazardly just for the sake of progression.  

Like the Metroid Prime series, Tomb Raider offered new gadgets as the game progressed. As the game also allows you to return to previous areas of the island, through campsite checkpoints, it allows Lara to explore places which were previously inaccessible and gain even more treasures, salvage material and experience points. This was fantastic as it opened up the game even more, allowing for more hours of gameplay to search every nook and cranny in order to become the ultimate survivor.           

A strangely surprising issue of mine was the regenerative health. Most modern video games use this tool now, and even though I am thankful for it most of the time, I think Tomb Raider should not have used it, but rather have gone for a more old school style, like the armour system in Goldeneye (N64). It would make more sense seeing as there were cutscenes of Lara in searing pain,  trying to pulling sharp objects out our her torso and such, yet had no problems with being shot at multiple times whilst in game. An option to choose between regenerative health or armour would have perfected the already fantastic gameplay.

  

Graphics: 9.9/10

Playing this game on the Playstation 3, which is now very old technology, aging at 7 years old by this point, I was incredibly impressed how well the game held up. 

The island location is absolutely huge with stunning vistas to places that are actually accessible as the game progresses, making the game feel really connected.

The locations themselves were brilliant as there was a mixture of the early modern East Asian architecture blended in with modern day shanty towns covered in iron and WWII concrete buildings as well. This ultimately made the island more engrossing as it actually felt lived in.
The character models were brilliant too. Their proportions were perfectly correct, not only for the main characters, but the numerous enemies you encounter as well. There were some instances whereby the characters looked a little bit plastic during cut-scenes but it was still easy to visualise these  protagonists as real people.

What was even better was that Crystal Dynamics managed to capture the emotion in the eyes really well (sometimes games have a dead eye look which detracts from the immersion of the story). This was certainly not the case for Tomb Raider. The only minuscule gripe was that the animation of hair was very rigid, particularly Lara's. I am aware that the higher spec PC version of the game allows for fluid hair movement, which I am sure will be used in the sequel on the next generation consoles.   

Furthermore there were no  noticeable  framerate drops, although I encountered a few stutters here and there. But this was a very rare occurrence and only happened during the major set pieces with multiple enemies, numerous explosions and lots of particle and lighting  effects on screen, so its very understandable.    

Overall the graphics were phenomenal, the lighting was near enough perfect, also using the typical bells and whistles of motion blur and depth of field. The saturation of colour was very neutral, but did not follow the same trend of a constant stream of brown and grey locales like most modern games which was nice. The textures were also fantastic, showing off a great amount of detail even on the smallest of objects. What impressed me most was that, apart from when I died, I encountered no loading times whatsoever.

Sound: 9.2/10

Much like the graphics, the sound is absolutely incredible too. The orchestrated music by BAFTA winner Jason Graves is a spectacular composition of music that would not be out of place in a summer blockbuster movie. The music truly captured the underlying emotion of the entire game with tracks which altered from being fast paced, adrenaline fueled sets to the hauntingly eerie which send shivers down your spine. 

As for the voice acting, for the most part it was great. But much like the story itself, the focus was predominantly on Lara, therefore she (Camilla Luddington) delivered the best performance whilst everyone else was left on the back burner.  

In my personal opinion Keeley Hawes (the previous voice of Lara Croft) is superior to Luddington. Whereas Hawes was very expressive in her role, Luddington seemed to sound flat a little too often, especially considering the drama surrounding her. But Camilla's voice still managed to fit in nicely with the new, younger Lara Croft and there were moments of brilliance and raw emotion.        

Longevity: 9.7/10

The story mode itself took approximately 14 hours to complete, which I found to be very generous considering how action packed it was. There was never a lull in the game and surprisingly none of the aspects felt repetitive. With the additional options of raiding tombs and revisiting previously explored areas, a few extra hours can be put on top which is perfect for the completionists who strive for a platinum trophy. 

There is also the multiplayer option, which although clearly an addition for the name sake and is a little bare bones with its match types and class system, may be a fun little detour for those who enjoy a 3rd person shooter multiplayer experience.

Conclusion: 

Tomb Raider was without a doubt one of the best games I have played for the Playstation 3. The story was gripping from start to finish, the gameplay was downright fun, with its exploration, action packed set pieces and the satisfaction of getting head shots using the bow and arrow. Even those who watched me play (who are total non-gamers) were incredibly immersed in the action, saying that it was equal and possibly even better than any recent blockbuster movie and I agree. 

Tomb Raider is the Casino Royale of video games. Crystal Dynamics delivered a perfect re-branding of a strongly backed franchise. It is certainly different to the original Tomb Raider games but it has not at all done a disservice to their fans. They have instead exceeded everyone's expectations.    

9.6/10