I’m not a violent person in real life. Really, I’m not. I’m quite the pussy cat, actually.
When it comes to action video games, though, it’s a different story: Just looking at gameplay stats of an action game like Rise of the Tomb Raider makes me wince a little when I see how many enemies I’ve killed. By the seven hour mark in Rise, I’d killed something like 307 enemies. That’s quite a few bodies.
Rise is an Xbox exclusive – whether that’s a good thing or not only sales figures will tell – but it’s a good game. Actually, it’s very good. How good? Better than the last Tomb Raider game good.
It is, really.
Visually, Rise of the Tomb Raider looks wonderful – so much for Xbox One naysayers saying the console didn’t have the graphical chops like its Sony rival) – with the environments looked lived in and gritty. Check out the snow in the opening moments, it looked so good that I wished I could have pressed a button to make Lara do a snow angel in it. It glistens and sparkles…
This Tomb Raider feels more complete, too, more cohesive.
I remember playing the original Tomb Raider on my Dad’s PC way back in the mid-1990s (yes, readers, I really am that old) and sure heroine Lara Croft was anatomically bizarre back in those days (you know what I’m talking about) but what I remember most about the game was raiding tombs and the puzzles. In the 2013 reboot there were tombs but frankly, they weren’t that great. They weren’t that much of a challenge, either – and there weren’t enough of them.
This is the first challenge tomb Lara Croft will face in Rise of the Tomb Raider.
Rise changes that and guess what? They’re much, much better and a lot more challenging. and once you’ve conquered one, you actually get rewarded with something useful. The first challenge tomb, which you can’t miss, rewards you with the ability to fast shoot arrows. Who doesn’t need that ability?
Rise has plenty of the stock-standard Tomb Raiding action we know and love: leaping across impossibly large gaps, ledge shimmying, perilous jumps, platforming and wall climbing but it’s an action game at heart. During the game’s opening hour, Lara’s most used piece of equipment is her trusty battered red and silver climbing axes. They get a lot of use in Rise, helping her grab out-of-reach ice cliffs, open chests and dig up treasures, as well as, eventually, cracking skulls of the bad guys employed by an outfit called Trinity, a shadowy group out to find the secret of immortality before Lara stumbles across it.
Like the reboot, camp fires are back, where Lara can rest and recuperate, as well as upgrade weapons and equipment or fast travel to already unlocked base camps, and the game world, which revolves around a central hub, is bursting at the seams with things to collect (Scrap to upgrade weapons and equipment, survival caches, documents, relics , trees to craft arrows, ore) and animals to hunt and gather resources from.
Take your time to explore the world and while Lara won’t have all the tools needed at first to get to all the tombs, once you’ve completed the main story you can come back – once you’ve unlocked all the cool equipment (a grappling hook with a rope on it is a godsend) – and mop up all the stuff you missed first time round.
Back, too, is the Survival Instinct which highlights points of interest near Lara, including enemies, which are now colour highlighted. A red enemy means he can see others around him while a yellow highlighted enemy means no-one else can see them so you can stab them quietly. Take that into account when you’re in a situation with several enemies.
The narrative, written by Rhianna Pratchett, is strong enough to keep you engaged, and while this game is set a year after the reboot, where Lara was unsure about her place in the world, stuck on an island ruled by the supernatural, in Rise, Lara seems a lot more self-assured, a lot more certain about what she’s capable of. You wouldn’t want to be at the wrong end of her climbing axe, I can tell you that.
Rise of the Tomb Raider is a roller coaster ride that paces itself nicely and is, frankly, a great game that’s full of surprises, like when I was searching an abandoned Russian base for hostages and I bumped into what was a dead body – only to discover it was a very much alive soldier who decided he’d like to kill me!
Upgrade your bow, it could be the most versatile weapon in your arsenal.
The combat is what you’d expect from an action game but I’m starting to get a little tired of game character’s having to face off against heavy-armoured/shield carrying enemies that takes a lot to take down or situations where suddenly several enemies descend on you at once. A lot of enemies, especially the tougher ones, seem to be bullet sponges, too, taking several bullets to take down.
Developer Crystal Dynamic reckons you can play the game non-lethally if you want, but I tried to play it stealthily, not wanting to shoot too many enemies, but frankly, stealth just proved too difficult at times, although it often the best option when several goons are in the area. It seemed much easier just to pull out the shotgun and shoot those two guards standing there.
The bow is one of the most useful weapons you can have so take the time to upgrade it as fast as you can. That was my go-to weapon, especially once Lara had learned to craft grenade arrows, and it’s unrivalled at pulling off a silent head shot – and don’t judge me on this, but I also found it strangely satisfying knifing unsuspecting enemies in the back of the head with a combat knife. Macabre, I know.
Rise of the Tomb Raider is a game that shows what can be achieved when a developer focuses on what works and focuses less on what doesn’t, but whether it was the right decision to make it platform-exclusive or release it the same week as Fallout 4, only time will tell but Rise of the Tomb Raider is a bloody good game that should be played.
It’s been one of the most enjoyable gaming experiences I’ve had this year.
