Game – Rise of the Tomb Raider
Release date – November 10th 2015
Developer/Publisher – Square Enix, Crystal Dynamics, Microsoft
Platform – Xbox One
Rise of the Tomb Raider is the direct sequel of the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot which ended up being an incredible success selling over 9 million copies to date. We see Lara on a quest to redeem both her family and father’s name on a search to locate the Divine Source; an ancient relic said to contain a piece of God’s soul itself and the secret to eternal life. Along with her friend Jonah, Lara embarks on a quest to locate the relic after her father was said to have been a cockeyed optomist, thus reducing his reputation to ridicule resulting in him taking his own life. It’s a strong premise, especially for a series the likes of Tomb Raider, which flows incredibly well and provides an in depth, immersive story all the while maintaining the classic gameplay we all know and love.
One of the main changes in Rise of the Tomb Raider that is immediately evident is the modifications to the combat system. Lara has all new abilities which increase the stealth options in the game and provide more of an inclusive approach to all types of players. The 2013 Tomb Raider reboot was much more action oriented and resulted in many fans clamoring for the classics we fell in love with. In Rise, Crystal Dynamics did just that with the addition of dynamic, guerrilla combat. Lara can now use the world to her advantage by climbing trees, hiding in bushes, distracting enemies by throwing bottles or cans and can even modify those bottles or cans into destructive molotav cocktails or smoke grenades. If that’s not enough, you can even swim underwater to sneak up on an enemy for a stealth kill.
Another change is the ability to maintain some stealthiness to your approach even after being discovered by an enemy. At one point, a stealth kill gone wrong forced enemies on the adjacent side of a building within a compound come running after me. Fortunately, the environment allowed for two distinct options at the time. I could decide to stand my ground using the scattered bottles and cans as distractions to fight, or run around the compound out of line of sight for the enemy and reestablish stealth. As the enemy was unable to locate me, it allowed me to climb a building and initiate a death from above kill and proceed through the area. These types of options are not always evident and several times, only after dying on multiple occasions, did I realize my approach was no longer valid. This integration and the ability to alter my strategy in each, successive area allowed for a much greater experience.
Of course, you maintain the sole decision in your best approach with how you decide to upgrade Lara’s abilities. In Rise of the Tomb Raider you see the option to modify your abilities in three separate categories; Brawler, Hunter, Survivalist. Brawler is more combat oriented abilties providing more damage for certain attacks and weapons. Hunter allows for different abilities such as death from above and increased time before you are detected. Lastly, Survivalist I found to be the most necessary of the three. With options like increasing the resources you gain from looting bodies and gathering items from caches, lockboxes and nature, it allows for a much quicker upgrade system for weapons themselves. Those who find themselves playing through for all the collectibles and what not will find it’s the best way to go as standard stealth will get you through the game just fine for the most part.
As you progress, you will gain skill points and locate weapon upgrade either with the crafting resources you gain from nature and looting or from unlocking chests containing the part itself. These can then all be upgraded at any base camp. These act like standard check points which automatically save your game as well. At base camps you can choose to apply skill points, upgrade any of your weapons or modify existing inventory. At many points, you will find that you have the option to upgrade multiple weapons, say a shotgun, compound bow and rattlesnake pistol. This is based on the resources you have gathered but the upgrade you choose will be based on the gameplay type you wish to proceed. More stealthy players will upgrade the compound bow while others, well, the assault rife may be your weapon of choice. As each weapon utilizes the same types of resources, you will have to choose which one is most valuable to you and your style of play. It’s a newer take to Tomb Raider and allows the player themselves to craft their own, individual story line alongside the one created for Lara herself.
The amount of area you cover in Rise of the Tomb Raider is absolutely incredible. In fact, it’s gigantic. Luckily, Crystal Dynamics organized it perfectly to allow for both ample room of exploration but not too big where you feel lost in the moment. Each individual area has collectibles such as coin caches, relics, translatable murals, monoliths, upgrade items and of course multiple optional challenge tombs you can choose to explore or completely ignore. In addition, you also have the ability to partake in ally side quests. You can accept or decline at any time and if you do decline, you can return at any time to take the quest and gain the optional reward for doing so. The game’s second area, the Soviet Installation, is a snow covered Syberia scattered with zip lines, trees, underwater swimming tombs and enemies both on the ground and above. Although the area is huge put together, at no point did I find myself overwhelmed or wishing for more area. Each section was situated perfectly and Rise of the Tomb Raider presents this generation’s landmark for organization and game play level setup.
In addition to the incredible combat features, the most impressive thing we found about Rise of the Tomb Raider was the exquisite cut scenes. The facial animation features revealed an amazing display of muscle structure that was able to encapsulate a level of emotional depth and feeling hardly seen in games today. Simple things with not only Lara’s but all the characters’ animations showed not only the physical emotion they were going through at the time, but how it was impacting them emotionally as well with the integration of their body’s motion capture. This holds true not only for cut scenes but in the game play as well. In combat you can see Lara’s face straining as she melees an enemy or takes a hit. But that’s not all. One of the more impressive things we noticed was Lara’s reactions post fight. Once you clear an area, you can see Lara exhale and her entire body relax as if she’s saying “Ok, I’m ready again”. It’s an incredible undertaking to attempt this and even more so that Crystal Dynamics was able to pull it off so flawlessly in Rise of The Tomb Raider.
In fact, it’s not difficult to see why this was done either. Rise of The Tomb Raider isn’t just your normal Lara Croft game. It serves as both a sequel to the reboot but also as a completion of Lara herself as a person. Rise of the Tomb Raider is a stealth game first and foremost and it’s immediately evident while playing. The additions to Lara’s abilities in game play, cut scene and game play facial animations along with the story line of redemption and personal salvation adds a glimpse of Lara’s evolution as a person while she deals with the personal and emotional struggle of redeeming her father’s name coupled with the impact it has on the people she is trying to save while doing so.
Of course, it wouldn’t be Tomb Raider without the, uh, you know, actual tombs right? There are plenty in Rise of the Tomb Raider situated throughout every area. You’ll see an on screen notification pop up inviting you ever so teasingly to explore for the hidden entrance. Whether or not you take the challenge and when you do so is up to you. Each one contains varying levels of puzzles and difficulty that you’ll need to solve in order advance your weapon upgrades or translation abilities for different languages. You don’t NEED to do any of these to complete the main game but it’s definitely worth the undertaking as it adds an entirely new play style. No stealth. No action. Just strategy. In collaboration with the mention Lara’s facial animations, these tombs show the frustration Lara goes through both in her body language and physical voice as you hear her mull over her various options in completing the puzzles along with her relief when she finally does so.
Rise of The Tomb Raider is also a graphical beauty as well. It wouldn’t be fair if we only mentioned cut scenes when it comes to graphics and so the standard game play comes in swinging haymakers. The very opening level is Syria as you attempt to locate the Prophet’s Tomb in search for the relic. Post car wreck, you find yourself on a mountain side with the sun beaming down upon you and your only thought is just “Wow”. The sun’s rays can be seen beaming through the sky and the rock formations possess visible striations, cut outs and markups that should not be there. When I state they shouldn’t be there, I mean I don’t understand how they are able to be there. Levels of detail to this magnitude are not normally present but Rise of The Tomb Raider pulls them in such a per se manner that you almost miss it. Let that sink in. It’s that good looking that you almost don’t realize it.
The reason for this is it doesn’t just stop there. Trees blow back and forth in the wind with individual branches each in their own direction. Blades of grass rustle as you walk through them and all of this provides an environment which is so subtlely interactive that it shows the attention to detail Crystal Dynamics gave to its development and sets the mark for what a true, stellar game world should strive for.
Rise of The Tomb Raider’s soundtrack is just enough to have you enjoy it but not be overwhelmed by loud music or effects. The in game music is in fact nearly non existent with the focus yet on environmental sound effects. Things like Lara’s breathing as she runs, rustling of grass, trees blowing back and forth, the howl of the wind along with all of the breaking and cracking of ledges collapsing and more, Rise of The Tomb Raider aimed for a “real life” approach. By that I mean you don’t hear soundtracks while your run around outside so why do so in the game. It’s a development plan that some have begun using in certain aspects of games, but Crystal Dynamics sets it as Rise’s cornerstone……and it delivers.
As briliant a game as Rise of The Tomb Raider is, it’ s not without flaws. Of course this is a game, because if it was real life Lara would have been dead in about a second and a half. As intense and gripping the action is, some of the things that Lara pulls off have you scratching your head with that “Come on, man” feeling. Even as a game, there isn’t a chance in hell that Lara pulls off even a single stunt without resulting in imminent death. It’s not happening. And yes, we know it’s a game and a Tomb Raider game at that. That being said, I can appreciate the level of over the top ledge jumps and death defying feats in order to advance the game’s action oriented narrative. On the other hand, I could have done without EVERY move being as such.
In the end, we see Lara’s final approach toward the Divine Source. We won’t spoil the end for you as the journey is majority of the experience, but here’s what we can tell you. Rise of The Tomb Raider presents one of the most complete and stimulative narratives that I’ve played to date. Lara’s journey on redemption along with overcoming her personal griefs and struggles make Rise of The Tomb Raider not just a stealth game, but an emotionally driven, action oriented experience that Crystal dynamics delivers in a stellar fashion.
Scores:
Overall – Day One Purchase
Audio – True to life sound effects absent an overwhelming OST that allows for a more well rounded experience.
Graphics – Visual Beauty. Amazing facial animations, cut scenes and interactive environment that enhance both game play and emotional immersion
Gameplay – Stealth first. All else second. Even with the over the top action sequences, Rise of The Tomb Raider encompasses all that should be maintained in a game of its magnittude
