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[Zepp Twofist]

I haven't finished it, but played it for a few hours. I put it on the highest difficulty though, and I've definitely been in combat where the enemy has overwhelmed me multiple times. Doesn't help much that she is a head shot machine when there are three or four dudes with full armor and helmets coming after you.

 

[BroBot]

I'm with OP on this one. I've played and completed Rise of Tomb Raider a few days before Uncharted 4 launched (I didn't want UC4 to make me critical of Rise). And I must say, it's very boring. I was not impressed by Lara overall. This is coming from someone who very much enjoyed the TR 2013 reboot (quad-dipped on that game). Rise is non innovative. I'll get the positives out of the way first. Lara's bow and arrow gameplay is the best I've played as far as that type of weapon in video games. It can be her only weapon as far as I'm concerned. Very satisfying to use. Loved it. Also, the graphics and environments are very nice. Game looks gorgeous. The tomb challenges were good as well.

OK on to what's wrong with this game:
The story is so weak. You'd think a story centering around Lara's dad would be vastly interesting. Nope. Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation did a better job at making me like her dad. I really don't like how the environment always falls apart with Lara. They are pushing set pieces way too hard. It just happens far too often and loses its appeal midpoint into the game. Lara isn't interesting. No snarky British witts like the original Lara. She needs a personality, even if it's not the same as the original Lara. Here she just felt so bland. Is it just me or does every female in the game have a similar face to Lara? I couldn't unsee it. It took me out of the immersion quickly. I don't like where this series is headed. It needs to be more isolating like the tomb challenges. It's funny how UC4 and TR switched roles in a way. UC4 being more about climbing and platforming while Rise was more about shooting and set pieces. I'm so critical about this game because the Tomb raider series used to excite me more than most games. Now.... Meh. That bear fight was really good though. Give us more of that and please remove the instincts vision or limit it. I can't help but activate it every 10 seconds or so to make sure I didn't miss anything.

 

[Rocketz]

I liked it a lot. I liked it a lot more than 2013. Though I started Rise when I burned out of Fallout 4 from boredom so a game like Rise was just what I needed.

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

It's a game made for people with OCD and are purely motivated by game mechanics. Seriously, this game gives you so many options to kill enemies.

 

[OfTheOverflow]

Wow, hadn't heard a bad word against the game before this thread. Goes to show reviews aren't everything .

 

[ArjanN]

I thought it was pretty solid, but even the highest difficulty is easy.

 

[patapuf]

There's not much to miss really. It isn't too different from TR2013 save for the hubs. I'm a bit surprised people that liked the reboot don't like this.

My issues with it are still not enough tombs/puzzles, the narrative is terrible and i'd have liked less but more meaningful collectables. The way they were set up was mostly just busywork. Apart from a bit of room for exploration that's pretty much what was wrong with TR2013 too.


The action parts are still fun though and i think there was more meaningful platforming this time.

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

Wow, hadn't heard a bad word against the game before this thread. Goes to show reviews aren't everything .

It's a good game but maybe not the most amazing game like people were saying at the time. I don't understand why critics were praising the story so much.

 

[Forkball]

I laughed hard at the first guy you shot. That guy didn't see it coming.

 

[Xav]

Wow, hadn't heard a bad word against the game before this thread. Goes to show reviews aren't everything .

It's NeoGAF, I wouldn't pay much attention to what gets said around here. This forum loves to hype up a game and then shit on it later like it's the worst thing.

Keep an eye on Uncharted 4. That game will go from loved to hated by the end of the year.

Personally I loved Tomb Raider 2013 and Rise of the Tomb Raider. I don't think you can complain about those two too much without throwing some of your favourite AAA titles under the bus in the process.

 

[bratpack]

Well I loved it's approach to the more open linear style design were there's stuff to see and do.

Uncharted 4 had a more open approach and there was nothing to see or do in those parts but if you were interested to play RISE before this thread still play it because the opinions of uncharted 4 now are also getting negative the further it gets from release it doesn't have enough action or setpieces or it's boring.

See there's no win there both fantastic games if you love these types of games there the best of the best IMO.

 

[gogogow]

It's funny how UC4 and TR switched roles in a way. UC4 being more about climbing and platforming while Rise was more about shooting and set pieces.

Huh?! Not sure which RotTR you've played, but there's definitely way less shooting in this one than the 2013 one, which was almost constant action from start to finish. There's more platforming and exploration in RotTR due to the added hubs and side quests. There's more shooting when you're nearing the end of the game.

 

[Unaha-Closp]

I've tried both of the recent Tomb Raider games and I bounce off really easily. I think its that I just don't like nor care for Lara Croft. Nothing in the opening of those games grab me. Nothing. I miss the cartwheeling tiger shooting Lara I guess lol.

 

[NavyPharaoh]

Count me in the, loved TR2013 but couldn't bring myself to finish ROTR. I found that I was forcing myself to continue because it was my most anticipated game of last year. Eventually near the end I just stopped playing. I wasn't having fun.

The story is bad, the dialogue is worse, the exploration is a collect-a-thon. I've now determined, either highlight everything necessary in a level or don't. Don't make me have to click on a button every 5 seconds to find shit! Put it in the options if u have to but I'm tired of Detective mode gone mad

 

[T.O.P]

Didn't think much of TR2013 but I absolutely loved Rise

From the pacing to the absolutely gorgeous new areas, combat also got some huge improvements for me

 

[OrlanisWorks]

I liked it a lot too. Uncharted 4 was a more memorable and impactful experience, but I had more fun playing RotTR.

That's my experience as well. It might be because M+KB is more comfortable for me, so the gunplay in RotTR was very fun and comforting in comparison to Naughty Dog's TPS controls (U4 improved greatly over their previous games, but I still had to turn down the sensitivity quite a bit to a manageable level).

 

[Maffis]

I had more fun when I finally understood that the abundance of crap collectables made me dislike the game alot. It started to feel more like a job than a game. It was way more fun to just force myself to do sidequests and tombs along with the main objectives.

 

[The perfect Dark]

It's NeoGAF, I wouldn't pay much attention to what gets said around here. This forum loves to hype up a game and then shit on it later like it's the worst thing.

Keep an eye on Uncharted 4. That game will go from loved to hated by the end of the year.

Personally I loved Tomb Raider 2013 and Rise of the Tomb Raider. I don't think you can complain about those two too much without throwing some of your favourite AAA titles under the bus in the process.

That's because Uncharted 4 is not a 9/10 game. Imo the press has lost touch with the audience/ the gamers. Those scores are ridiculous.

 

[DontBeThatGuy]

It was alright, sometimes better than that but I can't blame someone for thinking it was boring.

 

[Human Trashcan]

I had high hopes for Rise, but ultimately I'd rank it lower than the reboot. I thought TR13 was okay, but there was room for improvement, something Rise could bank on. One aspect was the upgrades, and how useless they felt. Rise fell into the same trap: none of the upgrades feel like they have any real impact on the gameplay, and in the end you're just upgrading for the hell of it. That's so disappointing. If you have un upgrade system, at least make it useful and feel rewarding.

Story and characters were pretty laughable in the reboot, but Rise is definitely no improvement here either. Villain is very forgettable, and I found myself zoning out for most of the story beats. Definitely not the game's strength. That's the optional tombs. If you want to play some well designed sections, they're not optional but required content. Otherwise the game'd feel pretty shallow. Nevertheless, even the tombs were better in the original. The best ones were put up front, and the later ones were too easy.

Overall Rise was a wasted opportunity. There was so much to learn from TR13, and that doesn't show at all while playing Rise.

Good summation. I played through Rise and did a lot of the optional stuff but mostly just because my brain is wired to it and it's satisfying, but it wasn't a lot of fun. The writing was the worst part though. Just so, so bland.

 

[SomedayTheFire]

I thought TR13 was really really bad and nothing from this interested me or made it look like they made any improvements.

 

[Markoman]

Absolutely agree OP. Bought this on Steam with JC3 a week ago.
It started good...after 30 minutes the negatives became apparent.
Had to double check if this isn't a Ubi game.
Detective vision, collectathon, bad writing and...
worst AK sound in a video game?Should be called AP (P= pea-shooter)

A very average game.

 

[LogicStep]

I liked the reboot so I'm probably going to like Rise. I might pick it up in the sale.

 

[sublimit]

Wow, hadn't heard a bad word against the game before this thread. Goes to show reviews aren't everything .

The game had plenty of criticisms both here as well as in the Tomb Raider forums.Same as the Reboot.The only difference being (thanks to the exclusivity) that far less people have played it therefore there were less people talking about it.

I've been following this series since early 1998 and unfortunatelly one of its traditions is that it keeps getting very shallow reviews (regardless of whether they are being positive or negative) ever since the first game.It shouldn't be a surprise at this point.

 

[Epcott]

I turned off the eagle vision and guide, so it was actually pretty fun and challenging. I need to get this out of my backlog and finish it.

 

[danowat]

I thought it was great.

And lol at people saying it's linear, FFS these games are supposed to be linear!!

 

[Cromwell]

Good summation. I played through Rise and did a lot of the optional stuff but mostly just because my brain is wired to it and it's satisfying, but it wasn't a lot of fun. The writing was the worst part though. Just so, so bland.

A game that harps so hard on it's dialogue and writing and yet fails spectacularly at both is very hard to enjoy, no matter what kind of gameplay it has. For me, at least.

 

[Mman235]

If those are your complaints then no, it won't get better. Playing on the hardest I actually got most of my fun out of the combat by ignoring the most efficient methods and seeing what kind of risky combos and chains of Lara's OP abilities I could pull off. It helps that later on you get weapons that are actually satisfying to use (the initial ones suck really bad).

 

[NullPointer]

I turned off the eagle vision and guide, so it was actually pretty fun and challenging.

Same here, and skipped out on the collectathons and the whole idea of playing-the-minimap. Just explored my way around, found some puzzle tombs and blew shit up. It had its negatives - mostly input lag and some of the surprise combat arenas, but on balance I preferred its mix of gameplay to UC4.

I think there are some posts in here confusing TR2013 and RoTR too.

 

[TheYanger]

It's so boring. The game consists of combat encounters that are incredibly easy (I'm playing on the difficulty below the absolute hardest), exploration that is essentially an OCD-fest item collectathon, and everything is punctuated by far too many audio logs that completely disrupt the flow of the game. Why the hell can't we listen to them on the go? The fact that they break up combat encounters is nearly inexcusable.

Lara is a headshot MACHINE. Enemies peek their idiot heads out in plain sight in every scenario. They seriously have no thoughts of self preservation in their moronic AI routines. They simply grab cover with their heads jutted all the way out, as if they're begging Lara to beam them. I was streaming the game for my brother and he said, "Is she fucking spetznaz?" Doomguy would be envious of her accuracy.

Here's a video of her prowess in action.

Yes it's the first encounter with the rifle but it's still a solid representation of the combat.

As for the collectathon aspect of the game, I feel like it preys upon the perfectionist nature that is inherent in so many gamers. Even during combat you're constantly hitting R3 to bring up "Lara vision" (or whatever) to make sure you're not missing any of the little bits of bullshit scattered around absolutely everywhere. Like with the audio logs, it majorly disrupts the flow of the game. Everything feels disjointed and stuttery.

Outside of combat the game is also dead silent. I think they forgot to turn on/up the ambient noise. You'll hear the occasional tribal drum track, but for the most part it's just a slight wind sound, Lara's footsteps, and nothing else.

I realize I'm pretty early in (Steam says 5 hours), but I believe that's enough time to get a feel for the game's character.

I'll say something positive instead of making this a total bitch fest: Lara's facial animation is stunning. Actually, I really like Lara Croft. She goes a long way in making me WANT to like the game, but sadly I don't have it in me.

PS: WHY IS SHE A MOUTH BREATHER?!

Lara isn't a headshot machine, you are, there's a difference. The rest what can I say, I disagree? Anyone that tries to shit on this game and acts like UC4 is somehow some marvel of gameplay variety is a joke. You certainly don't have to collect every little thing all the time, this game isn't linear that way (the plot is linear, obviously, but the world is not), you can go through the first time without bothering and just go later to collect if you want to, in fact you will have to for many things due to gear upgrades opening new side paths etc.

If you don't want to collect that stuff...don't? I'm not sure anything counts as a collectathon if the items you're collecting have actual gameplay purposes into themselves or lore functionality (audio logs and weapon upgrades etc). The closest thing to just a random collectible would be the caches and the coins, the coins ARE useful but you get a lot more than you need if you find them all, and the caches are just random mats (I forget if you need them for completion though, I don't think you do). So to me that's kind of the opposite of a collectathon, games like Banjo and the like where there are a gorillion things to get just because they're there to get. While obviously every item is arbitrary and could also just not exist, so in that sense they're there to get, they're not just "Doodad +1" that you don't care about. The audio logs add a lot to the game, and the weapon upgrades are legit upgrades instead of just 'scrap' that you buy upgrades with like the first game.

I guess what I really don't understand is your complaint about the shooting stuff. If you shoot someone in the head, they're going to die. If your accuracy is good enough to hit everyone in the head the first time with every bullet, yes, you will do well. That's the same as every other shooter in existence except for bullet sponge nonsense. Some enemies take multiple headshots due to helmets/etc just like the first game later on, and some enemies do other shit to you for you to avoid, but if you're good at it you're good at it, so what? Turn the difficulty up more fam.

 

[Revolutionary]

The combat in the new TR games is garbage but I really enjoy the Metroid-esque exploration. It actually feels like I'm discovering things rather than simply being funneled from location to location.

 

[Scrawnton]

In the winter I breathe through my mouth because it hurts to breathe through my nose. Why the hate?

 

[TheChewyWaffles]

Yup, that game is just straight up terrible.

The new Tomb Raider games are just a mish mash of modern video game tropes, but done poorly.

Oh, but it looks pretty. I guess that's why people like it?

TR2013 > any Uncharted though

 

[NeoRaider]

It's better than reboot. And reboot was great.

So no.

 

[RPGam3r]

That's because Uncharted 4 is not a 9/10 game. Imo the press has lost touch with the audience/ the gamers. Those scores are ridiculous.

Its also possible that Gaf has lost touch with the audience.

 

[sackninja]

Its also possible that Gaf has lost touch with the audience.

This is far more true imo.

 

[Vlaphor]

The main reason it's boring is that the main character is boring. ROTR plays just fine, but NuLara is the worst protagonist in any game ever. You can tell that she utterly doesn't want to be doing what she's doing and will complain and whine at every opportunity. Have you ever been somewhere with a group of people and one of them obviously doesn't want to be there, so they not only constantly complain but they also try to bring down the experience for everyone else out of spite? That's the main character in this game and it drags down the rest of the game to the point that I was skipping late end cutscenes because I just couldn't stand to hear her drone on anymore about how terrible everything is.

 

[Ushojax]

Hopefully they scrap this take on TR and start over with a focus on challenging environmental puzzles and platforming, you don't really have to engage your brain to play these new games.

It's impossible to get that "I'm Indiana Jones" feeling when everything is so straightforward and obvious, I don't feel like an adventurer when I'm playing. It doesn't help that the new Lara is utterly unlikeable , she seems to endure raiding tombs rather than enjoying it like the old Lara.

 

[jond76]

Love both games. Thought Rise expounded greatly where it needed to: exploration. Had lots of fun with it. Lots of memorable moments.

 

[Silent Chief]

It's easier to rise if you start low.

 

[Captain Europe]

It's NeoGAF, I wouldn't pay much attention to what gets said around here. This forum loves to hype up a game and then shit on it later like it's the worst thing.

Keep an eye on Uncharted 4. That game will go from loved to hated by the end of the year.

Personally I loved Tomb Raider 2013 and Rise of the Tomb Raider. I don't think you can complain about those two too much without throwing some of your favourite AAA titles under the bus in the process.

The hype for the graphics is dying and people are seeing the gameplay for what it is. Both TR and Uncharted are ok series, nothing more. They need some serious Zelda level puzzles in these games.

 

[RK128]

I thought that with the gameplay and core mechanics of TR 2013 being overwhelmingly strong to the point that a sequel just needs to have a decent story & solid level design to make a good game great, they would have accomplished that with Rise .

I cannot judge it fairly, as I don't have the means to play the game. But unless the story is horrible like in the original, I cannot see how Rise is worse then TR 2013. The original reboot did everything right BUT the story and with that in your face all the time, it was just to distracting. It avoided the Other M issue, with the gameplay being very strong to make up for the horrible plot thankfully, so it only ended but being a great game being dragged in the mud by a horrible story (instead of an average game turned into a bad one thanks to the story)

So with Rise, I would imagine that outside of the new Open World hubs, the main draw of the sequel is a decent story that helps the game reach great game status, considering the core elements are their from the start to make a fun action/adventure game.

 

[RK128]

It's NeoGAF, I wouldn't pay much attention to what gets said around here. This forum loves to hype up a game and then shit on it later like it's the worst thing.

Keep an eye on Uncharted 4. That game will go from loved to hated by the end of the year.

Personally I loved Tomb Raider 2013 and Rise of the Tomb Raider. I don't think you can complain about those two too much without throwing some of your favourite AAA titles under the bus in the process.

The bolded is something I am seeing a lot more of regarding platforming IP, so yes, it can be toxic to a point sometimes.

But the TR reboot games suffer from the inverse Uncharted; TR games have stronger core gameplay and combat mechanics but very weak stories that are shoved in the your face (at least, the original 2013 game). Uncharted has a good/great story but only having 'good' gameplay mechanics that carry the narrative a long.

Despite my sour view of the story of the original TR Reboot, I did enjoy it a lot and I'm happy you really loved the game .

 

[orthodoxy1095]

What's a mouth breather?

Someone too stupid to remember they have a damn nose.

 

[FATALITY]

TR2013 > any Uncharted though

Lol
This joker.

 

[Collateral22]

TR2013 > any Uncharted though

TR2013 is the better of the two TR games by a good bit but lmao saying its better than Uncharted. Even UC3 shits all over it and that's the weakest in the series. TR will never come close to Uncharted.

 

[IvorB]

Sounds just like the first game then.

 

[Primethius]

The accuracy issue is a problem I had with the bow of TR 2013, which felt far too accurate to be a bow. I can't speak much to the rest of your complaints. I played ROTR just a bit and that was enough to tell me that I wasn't going to enjoy my time with it.

 

[Fredrik]

It's a game made for people with OCD and are purely motivated by game mechanics. Seriously, this game gives you so many options to kill enemies.

Yup the openess is what makes the game, I thought it was quite bland until I got to the more open maps, the story is not really interesting even though the bad guy is kind of interesting in an evil way, for me it went from a 7/10 to 9/10 when I got to the Sovjet installation and later on Geothermal valley. Ended up doing a 100% playthrough, something I rarely do.

 

[sora87]

Yeah it was painfully average, glad I just rented it