Rise of the Tomb Raider

Platform	OVERALL
PC	8.80

Overall

8.80

There are two kinds of sequels, the true sequels that bring all new gameplay ideas and the same sequels that mostly copy what the last one did with minimal enhancements. Rise of the Tomb Raider is the latter. Is this a better game than the last Tomb Raider, yeah but not by much, not enough to offset the strong feeling of deja vu.

Just like the remake Lara Croft explores mid sized open areas collecting a bunch of resources and fighting a few random guys. As you advance you hit the linear setpiece sections where you fight tons of enemies. This is identical to the first game there is just more of everything. More ways to traverse with the axe pick allowing rock climbing, more arrow diversity for more combat options, more things to collect. Way too much to collect actually as a lot of the time I spent wandering around these areas hunting for icons on the map, it's like a mini assassins creed.

Exploring and traversing is fun, the levels have loads of verticality to them and plenty of areas that you can't just reach until you find a new item. They did listen to players and increase the optional puzzle tombs which were some of the best parts of the first game. There are still only 9 of them but they are really good and it makes me crazy to think the whole game should have been tombs with puzzles like this. The puzzles are where this game sets itself apart from most the average TPS as it is a genius be action adventure game, a really great one too. It just needed more.

The combat is pretty damn good when the game lets you maneuver an open area and stealth an area. There are plenty of stealth options and trying to stay stealth is a challenge, one you will probably fail at. That's when the shooting comes in, it still feels bland, a worse uncharted. The enemy variety is better in this game compared to the last and the combat scenarios are better thought out. There isn't nearly as much shooting segments like the first which is great as that was some of the weakest parts. Combat feels close to great but it doesn't quite reach greatness.

The setpieces try their best to match Uncharted but come up short. Uncharted let's you play the setpieces and always surprise the player with crazy environmental changes. This games idea of a setpiece is mostly Lara running while things blow up around her, so all you do is hold up and jump at times. It's still impressive because of the graphics and the sheer spectacle of it all but gameplay wise there is not much there.

Thankfully there is no terrible multiplayer mode instead this game has a mode called expeditions which creates time trails and score attacks in every section of the game. Levels add blue orbs and shoot able score markers around a level which you can use to start a long combo by touching or shooting these within a few seconds of each other while you run along the level. This is where Lara's move set really comes in as running around as fast as possible is a blast. It also lets you mess with all kinds of custom stealth and combat scenarios. It's a great mode and adds some replayability, it also helps abilities and combat shine more than it does in the campaign. The whole system is governed by this weird card system that is semi pay to win, though you don't have to spend a cent as you earn these cards easily. Oh and I hate that the levels are literally sections from the main game, cutscenes and all, the timer stops when the cutscene happens. They should have removed all story elements and just used the locations. Still a great mode that adds to an already huge game that can take 20 or more hours to complete.

Graphically the game is beyond stunning, my mouth was open most of the time just shocked at the vistas they created. I played on my new PC so it ran at a beautiful constant 60FPS. It may be the best looking game I have ever played. I don't remember one piece of music from the game, very generic. The story and voice acting is above average, it's enough to make you keep playing, nothing special.

Rise of the Tomb Raider feels so much like the last one which is fine because TR reboot was great. But they missed their chance to have that sequel that defines a franchise, instead it's very safe with good but obvious improvements. It's absolutely a great action adventure game with all the elements I want in my games but it's just missing excellence. I feel like they need to just adjust the ratio of gameplay elements like more puzzles, less combat, more focused areas and with the right balance this could be one of the best games around. As it stands it's a great game, save sequel, well worth your time if you enjoyed the last one.

Posted by Dvader Mon, 18 Apr 2016 00:47:16

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Dvader

Mon, 13 Jun 2016 04:31:31

how is 8.8 not liking it. lol. Nah U4 does something exceptional, this game doesn't.

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