To be fair, the reboot into Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light was *awesome*. Not too sure it needed another.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
First Tomb Raider Review out in the wild - Embargo up on Monday 02/25
- Thread starter NotTheGuyYouKill
- Start date
To be fair, the reboot into Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light was *awesome*. Not too sure it needed another.
"Back" from where? Unerworld was a good Tomb Raider and Guardian of Light was a good game, if not exactly a Tomb Raider in the classic sense.
Before that, Anniversary was, to a lot of people (me included) one of the best examples of Tomb Raider and Legend was still pretty enjoyed across the board.
--
As for "How are they going to top this?", i refrain to comment on that line, as i haven't played the game, but it does make me chuckle.
FYI, this magazine doesn't technically hit stands until Tuesday (one day after the embargo is lifted). Someone over at TRF got a copy early and shared scans and the exact excerpt that is mentioned in the OP. If I were to pay an outlet to write a positive review I'd probably make sure that their review (intentionally) came out before everyone elses' does.
Will it take some reminding of the shit Eidos pulled with TRU's reviews to restore some sanity around here?
Will it take some reminding of the shit Eidos pulled with TRU's reviews to restore some sanity around here?
Dead Space 3 got pretty accurate scores from some reviewers and is sitting at a 78 on metacritic. Maybe videogame reviewers and publications are wising up.
Alcoholikaust
Member
nice will get but for. what system....? (I do love those cheevos)
You make it seem like I'm trying to be a magician or something. My ability to see bad games ahead of time is anything but magic, it's just good old fashioned research.
NullPointer
Member
Fair enough, but when you use the name of a longstanding series, people are going to come to new titles with certain expectations.
I've been approaching this game from two perspectives. One as a Tomb Raider game, and the other as something new and standalone. As a Tomb Raider game it looks far too focused on combat, and sadistic combat at that. As a standalone game it seems like an Uncharted clone with Arkham Asylum elements that just might work out pretty well.
I'm torn, so will keep a close eye on the reviews come next week.
shira
Member
IGN is all over this one. Casey Lynch can't shut up about how amazing it is and all the extra previews they've been getting
I'm thinking 9.7ish.
Shacknews is going to be low if their Weekend Confirmed anecdotes are anything to go by.
7-8ish.
PairOfFilthySocks
Member
Let's face it, folks. This game will get good reviews from most if not all big sites. What with all the events they are flown to, free swag they get and general coddling they receive from publishers, game critics are well suited to being told how great they are at every opportunity. Tomb Raider's XP-driven-scripted-set-piece mania will be right up their alley.
Pop-O-Matic
Banned
I'm expecting Tomb Raider to be this year's Mass Effect 3, with the difference in opinion between the reviewers and people who actually played the game being massive and the reviews being highly inaccurate and making us question if the reviewers even played the game.
sublimit
Banned
Yeah man how dare i want my Tomb Raider game play like a Tomb Raider!!!What insolence!!!
You do realize they designed this game based on their shitty story right?QTE's,scripted events are all there to force the player down a narrative quick thrill ride.The developers have actually confirmed that in many cases Lara will not be able to run,not even fall from ledges just for the sake of their stupid story.
Ok now that you showed your true colors it's obvious you don't give a fuck about this series,so please go play your dudebro shooter and spare us your trolling about a game you obviously don't have the slightest idea of what is about.
Weemanply109
Member
Some people here are like broken records, really...
I'm excited for this!
I'm excited for this!
They moan about most things on there so not really a barometer.
ArkkAngel007
Member
Depends on what you consider accurate. 9.75 from GI was of course laughable, but being scored in the 7/10 and lower range didn't seem right with what I was playing either.
Pretty excited for this game and I am happy with the direction of the reboot. I haven't played the last few Tomb Raiders but to me tomb raider is that game where you fight a large hell fetus and a kid riding a skateboard with uzis which was awesome when I was 7 but not really interesting to me now.
Why should they get the benefit of the doubt considering their past Tomb Raider games? This game looks like everything fans didn't like about CD's Tomb Raider games distilled into its purist form.
The old games didn't let story get in the way of gameplay. There was no disconnect between story and gameplay, no scripted cinematic playable cutscenes. No hours of linear hallway navigation.
I'm not against story; in fact I love a good story in games. But if you are going to make story as important to the game and as in your face as they've done here it damn well better be a good one. We've see roughly the first 2-3 hours of the game, Lara keeps acting like she's a scared, struggling inexperienced girl, but she's going around slaughtering armies of dudes and effortlessly scaling mountains.
The old games were not bland and mediocre. Their animations are frustratingly slow because they were made in the PS1 era, but the gameplay principles behind them are top notch. An actual update of that core gameplay with modern technology would be great.
sublimit
Banned
Then you missed a whole great game there but it's not really surprising since you were only 7 and probably not even able to finish the game by yourself at that age.
ArkkAngel007
Member
Not to mention you do have your moments of positivity. Look at the PS4 conference as a recent reference. Killzone is one of the last games I'd figure you'd give praise for, but you put aside the linearity and narrative quality aside when it came to what GG accomplished at least visually in that demo.
Still don't agree with some of your views or how you go about expressing them, but understanding where you're coming from brings out a level of respect.
In MANY cases? LOL! You're twisting words around to fit your blind hate. They certainly did not say that it's gonna happen in many cases and from what I've seen it only happens in small sections where you wouldn't have any reason to run or fall off a ledge. Sure, it might be stupid. But it won't actually affect the gameplay.
The TR series has pretty much been dead for years. And I'm saying this as a huge TR fan. None of the games released by Crystal Dynamics have been true TR games (Legend: fun but extremely generic and easy, no challenging platforming or exploration whatsoever | Anniversary: an insult to the original. Boring, grey visuals, zero atmosphere, boring gameplay with endless, super-easy magnetic ledge-hopping instead of proper platforming. | Underworld: worst "TR" game ever. boring, linear gameplay with the same magnetic ledges from Legend and Underworld, uninspired visuals, atrocious story). Guardian of Light was fun but it wasn't and was never supposed to be a proper Tomb Raider game. After the likes of Anniversary and Underworld I'm just glad we seem to finally be getting a Tomb Raider game that is fun again. Sure, maybe it has too much combat. But the platforming actually looks more like platforming again instead of ledge-hopping and the hubs and side tombs actually give you opportunities to explore.
No, this won't be a Tomb Raider game like the classics. But wake up! We haven't had one like those since Eidos took the franchise away from Core Design in 2003. We'll never get one like that again (apart from fanmade level editor games). But this is a much-needed reboot of a series whose last few entries have been extremely mediocre (not to say outright bad) and it actually looks like a fun, quality game and I'm sure it won't be as far derived from the Tomb Raider experience as some people here are suggesting.
I don't mind the people criticizing killzone for looking like it plays the same way as all FPS, that's fair and understandable. I was just going against the people saying it didn't look any better, or looked like a top shelf PS3 game which I felt was total BS. I do wish we'd get to explore and fly around that beautiful city just as much as anyone would though.
You are incredibly short-sighted if you think my criticism of game reviews' lack of critical analysis and over-abundance of hype-induced vocabulary has anything to do with confirmation bias.
This is interesting- good to see a nice early review (although didn't expect much different). The idea that there aren't many QTEs is slightly reassuring, while the issue of not having enough tombs still is noted.
I'm worried about the focus on so much combat, but maybe the exploration is good. I also like that they are confident enough in ending the embargo early to allow us to read some critical pieces on the game before it launches.
I'm worried about the focus on so much combat, but maybe the exploration is good. I also like that they are confident enough in ending the embargo early to allow us to read some critical pieces on the game before it launches.
Irony, ho!
ArkkAngel007
Member
Agreed, and I agree with your issues with Tomb Raider. To the same extent? Probably not, but again you make it clear what you want to see in games as things move forward, so it isn't like you're just being critical for the sake of it.
As for this review, I'm not going to take much stock in it. The game will find itself in one of my systems down the line, but it's not doing enough to make it a priority over games like Bioshock Infinite or The Last of Us, as well as my current backlog (Witcher and Witcher 2 finally).
I didn't know Shacknews gave scores.
Ok, IGN upgraded to 9.7
GT for real at 9.1
GB - 4/5
Are there any other sites worth mentioning?
FantasticMrFoxdie
Mumber
Maybe you should actually read the full review before doing pretty much the same thing you're criticising it for and judging it groundlessly.
Pop-O-Matic
Banned
I think he did.
Based on sales of prior tomb raider game this gen, and the reworked ones as well, Sounds like that is what people don't want an actual Tomb raider game.
Acquiescence
Member
I haven't enjoyed a Tomb Raider game since 2, and even then that game plays like ass by today's standards, so if this reboot succeeds as a whole then more power to the devs I say. Really, it's kind of nice to be semi-hyped for a Tomb Raider game again after discovering that the PS1-era games have aged like shit and any other installment past that gen has either been a train wreck or a personality-void bland fest. Really curious to see what others have to say about the game come Monday.
sublimit
Banned
I'm not twisting anything.No the only one who is continually spinning information to match the hard on he has with this game is you.No wonder people think you are from Eidos PR.
Both the director of the game in an interview have said this as well as a fan who has actually played the game and posted in TRforums a Q&A has confirmed this.
He has also said that in the first hour he played the game there were around 10 (!) QTEs.
Underworld (which was admittedly a shitty game like all of Crystal's TR games) managed to sell more than two million copies.That doesn't sound "dead" for me.
And even though it didn't hold a candle when compared to the classics it showed some signs that Crystal was finally learning something at least in terms of level design.
But now it's like they said "fuck that it's too hard to make an actual TR game so let's tick every box that is hot today and hope for the best".
For people who like shooters,cinematic storytelling,QTEs and white ledges and ropes showing to the stupid how to move forward in a game that was suppossed to be about getting lost and finding your own path, sure this could be the game of their dreams but there is no way this is a TR game.
Except if you are one of those people who think that Lara = Tomb Raider.Then all this discussion is pointless.
Maybe?? lol
Actually the "platforming" looks exactly the same as in the previous Crystal games with the only difference being that we're now suppossed to be able to steer her while she's in the air.Which is pointless since from what i've seen there's no way to miss a jump (unless you do it deliberately) as it was also the case in the LAU trilogy.
Sorry but exploration for dummies is not the exploration i want in a TR game.There are so many white ledges,white ropes and even white rocks in almost every trailer they showed so far that it's not even funny anymore.There is even white paint on rocks showing the whereabouts of your optional tombs just in case the player is stupid enough to not be able to find them on his own.And not to mention the scripted jumps and your usual magnetic hoping around.No this is not true exploration for me.This is sightseeing,more like a Tourist Raider or something.
I absolutely agree with that.
Why is that?I've heard other people saying that too but i don't think that just because the series had the bad luck to be given to a developer who is obssesed with a certain style of gameplay the series should also be forever doomed.
DICE showed with Mirror's Edge that it is possible for a modern developer to recapture the core essence of a game like Tomb Raider.
Sure it might not sell as much as Assasin's Creed but if the developers stick to their vision and have a sincere love for the legacy of this series then the game can once again become (reasonably) successful.Look at games like Demon's Souls or Dark Souls for more examples of developers that gained critical recognition and also became successful without sacrificing their vision for whatever is hot on the market today.
His post doesn't sound like it but if he has, then fair enough.
sublimit
Banned
And i'd expect a lot of bans.
Mister_Bubbles
Member
It's good to hear someone touting a good final third for once, rather than 'it all goes to shit' which seems to be what usually happens with games these days.
Rei no Otaku
Member
Sounds good! ME3 ws a great game.
Femmeworth
Banned
The "Unbiased reviews!" on the cover seals the deal.
I wish I agreed. I want to believe.
Phire Phox
Banned
Not surprised by the high score game looks amazing. Can't wait get it!
Similar threads
- Locked