Tomb Raider - The Bear and Badger

Smang

aye, now it's gotten into its stride its a solid actionÂ platformer.Â

it does look purty too, exploring some of the tombs presents some nice lighting with the torch in tunnels. makes me hope for sequels set in Egypt...Â

one thing i am hating though is 'detective mode instincts' or whatever it is. i've now upgraded it so it can see treasures and they get added to the map. spending far too much time wandering around collecting shite in black and white

Smang

fullspectrum wrote:

How much animal skinning is there? Has become an annoying trait of recent triple As.

you're forced to do it once near the start to learn the bow, but after that you can completely ignore it. i more or less have bar arrowing the odd seagull. also theres no lengthy skinning animation for all the looting you do.

fullspectrum

Good good. Traded red dead because of that, far cry made me feel queasy.

Smang

totally, was tiresome after the first time in those games. the whole process is pretty simple in kill animal > press button to loot corpse. no silly 30 seconds cinematic etc.

though some boars made me angry last night and i went genocidal. i did get a cheevo for killing 10 big animals, so i assume there are related to the birds etc.

Kow

You stuff massive quantities of dead bloody cow down yer gob every week, and skinning in a game makes you queasy? Big pansy.

fullspectrum

Yeah the real life skinning I do doesn't affect me, strangely.

Smang

finished the game last night, feel bad for calling it an uncharted clone. 8 out of 10 maybe?

hylian_elf

That's positive. Does make me want to play it, but then I have read reviews that say it's a decent game, just not Tomb Raider. God dammit, I want a classic Tomb Raider style adventure!!

Smang

this did cross my mind too, so what defines a classic TR adventure? i played TR1 and 2 back in the day, and i tried the one that came out on 360 years ago (legend? i forget) and its essentially the same as it ever has been. explore environment and find shit, shoot occasional bad guy/angry animal.Â

though there are more bad guys in this one i guess. i went through previous areas to collect some loot i missed, and there were whole areas i hadn't seen and would have missed entirely had i just kept going. i didn't realise how big some of the areas are.

Chief

90% of this game is pure Uncharted clone (which isn't a bad thing) but that other 10% is the one that matters. That 10% is full of tombs, mythological freaky shit & Lara's thirst for knowledge that genuinely seems intoxicating.

This may be a new take on Tomb Raider but it certainly doesn't skimp on the greatness of old. Hell, the finale alone is worth the ride - not to mention a few choice moments throughout that hark back to the atmosphere of old games.

I can't wait to see where this reboot leads next.

g.man

I'm curious as to how a Tomb Raider game came to be rated PEGI 18.

anyone?

g.man

Jem

Innumerable stabbings in the neck, blades up through Lara's skull, waves pushing her body into needle sharp rocks which fiercely penetrate her tender teen flesh etc etc

Lots of it is pretty fucking gross, to be honest.

Kernowgaz

Yeah some great deaths !

adored

Yes, but is it a tenner yet?

Kernowgaz

No , but it's worth way more than a tenner

hylian_elf

Chief wrote:

90% of this game is pure Uncharted clone (which isn't a bad thing)

It is for me.

Tempy

Surely if you want be reductive in your definitions of what a game is like then you need to at least understand that Uncharted is a derivation of the later Tomb Raider games anyway and that this kind 'clone' speak I'd ultimately very unhelpful.

mistercrayon

tomb raider is a tomb raider clone.

Chief

Tempy wrote:

Surely if you want be reductive in your definitions of what a game is like then you need to at least understand that Uncharted is a derivation of the later Tomb Raider games anyway and that this kind 'clone' speak I'd ultimately very unhelpful.

But Uncharted isn't a Tomb Raider clone. The gameplay was very different, more of a cover shooter with climbing mechanics, whereas TR was blind shooting that broke up long stretches of puzzle solving and exploration.
Sure, Uncharted's premise was similar, but that's like saying Tomb Raider was an Indiana Jones clone because its premise is similar.

This new Tomb Raider's gameplay is almost identical to Uncharted, even down to the nature of the set-pieces. What sets it apart is the more open, explorative areas and the more traditional TR elements that creep in from time to time.

Whether you like the comparison or not doesn't matter, it doesn't make it any less true.

Tempy

I've not played it, I just think "clone" is a poor way of comparing two products, as a third person game that has shooting stuff is going to be similar to those before it and surely focusing on the differences that make the game what it is will be more informative than just saying it's a clone.

It doesn't help me in my decision making process of whether to buy the game at all, much like saying Dead Space is a clone of Resident Evil 4 or Vanquish is a clone of Gears of War has in the past. It misses out all sorts of stuff, that's tone Â related and all sorts. Uncharted is always a merry romp for me, nothingÂ I'veÂ read about TR suggests it is a romp, merry or otherwise.

hylian_elf

Yes, but surely anyone using the word clone would use it in the right sense, i.e. the games play the same or extremely similar? Agree it shouldn't be bandied around unless that is the case.

Jem

Chief wrote:

Sure, Uncharted's premise was similar, but that's like saying Tomb Raider was an Indiana Jones clone because its premise is similar.

But it was exactly that. They had to change the lead from a male to a female quite late on to avoid any copyright issues.

Chief

Gender doesn't factor into it, my point still stands. A similar premise doesn't make it a clone.

Escape

Smang wrote:

so what defines a classic TR adventure?

A tranquil, presentimental pace.

Serpentine scaling of structures within faraway worlds of wonder.

Incidental music of the highest calibre.

Smang

giant tits.

i split uncharted into 2 distinct parts, the 'platforming' and the shooting. TR does both of them better, by a long way.

the 18 might have something to do with the language as well as the gore, lots of f bombs get dropped.

g.man

Escape wrote:

Smang wrote:

so what defines a classic TR adventure?

A tranquil, presentimental pace.
Serpentine scaling of structures within faraway worlds of wonder. Incidental music of the highest calibre.

Thanks for posting that Escape. Underworld must be one of the only TR's I've not played, but that looked so magnificent I actually ended up watching that guy's playthrough all the way to the end of the game. Looks rather like a lost masterpiece. I thought they'd given up making them that good years ago.

must track down a copy

g.man

Chief

If you've got a half decent PC then Underworld's on Steam.

Jem

Underworld is really good, gman. Like all TR games pre-this one, it definitely needed another three months' work - there are some really odd omissions and rough edges - but some of the tombs are the very best in the series. The sense of isolation and edging ever deeper into layer upon layer of mystery and exploration is unparalleled.

g.man

Yeah, looks lovely Jem. I'll keep an eye out for a copy.

old school Lara

g.man

Tempy

Â£7! I'll have that, it'll keep B quiet until the new one drops in price.

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