Young Lara Croft's journey of discovery begins like a disaster movie, unfolds like a disaster movie, and ends like a disaster movie. Explosions, debris and screams, all led by what could be a little cousin of Michael Bay. Listening to a Rihanna track on her iPod, Miss Croft focuses on the sea charts of the eastern equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle, named with a certain inspiration Dragon's Triangle. Barely at the start of Lost in Paradise, the latter actually finds herself in the throes of a loss of bearings, but in a freighter, the Endurance. Stranded on the shores of a mysterious island, he lies gutted. Well shocked and in small shape, Lara does not take long to meet the local fauna, through a direct in the jaw. A sequence of rapid events in a logic of "cut" frank, which will be the overall rhythm adopted by this episode, especially during the scripted phases. Forming a veritable laboratory of everything and anything, the latter leave far behind the improbable stunts of the three main Uncharted together, festival of luck/bad luck to stratospheric degrees. Lara falls off a mountain, lands in collapsing cliffside dwellings, tumbles into a river, goes through rapids, is ejected from the waterfall, clings to a branch/carcass/wing in extremis plane, which will inevitably break and ends its race with its back shattered against rocks. For the shortest route. Increasingly pyrotechnic as the player progresses, these events get to such a point in the home stretch of the game that it's almost logical to expect to land on an erupting volcano that would eject Lara into the bowels of a nuclear submarine attacked by a giant squid. Spectacular and intense, these scenes are a little guilty pleasure to perform, but transit so excessively that they quickly lose their force. At the risk of becoming a kind of caricature that can give rise to a smirk. Their advantage is to be very skilfully staged, with a nervous camera close to the action, and above all to be spaced out enough to leave room for the exploration/combat phases, the expected engine of the game.I hate tombs !
Rolled in like an Uncharted in great shape, Tomb Raider was still careful not to clone Drake's DNA and offers much larger play areas than with the handsome guy in the keffiyeh. Located between two more restricted passages, precisely conducive to deluges of cataclysmic scenes, these spaces form a kind of hub which are so many moments of calm, clever contrasts. These places are an opportunity to put into practice the climbing talents of Lara who has equipped herself in this new Tomb Raider with an ice ax to climb the granite walls. An addition that boosts climbing, forcing the player to draw this tool as soon as there is a change in surface, integrating a little risk in rather marked vertical paths. A new gear which has the other particularity of being entirely modular and composed of a bow, a shotgun, a classic pistol and a homemade submachine gun. In order to add a few trinkets that throw grenades or napalm, or even a silencer for the most timid, it is imperative to collect raw materials, a relic resulting from Crystal Dynamics' desire to highlight survival. Rather than digging into flint quarries or chopping wood in what would be an art-directed Minecraft HD, the game is full of more or less imposing crates containing scraps of wood/metal in relative quantity. Collecting is therefore indeed appropriate, but far from a real interaction with nature. It is however possible to benefit from some elements by slaughtering boars, wolves or seagulls, but it will be essentially experience. Chunks of XP which are the source of skill points, giving the possibility to buy specialties for Lara, divided between three areas. Collecting is therefore indeed appropriate, but far from a real interaction with nature"
Each offers various bonuses, such as greater resistance to attacks, more deadly bullets or even obtaining more material by searching the boxes and bodies of enemies. If these abilities are obtained all or almost on a part, they are above all a very good reason to search every corner of the maps in search of myriads of documents and hidden objects to unearth, but also of secret tombs. The latter are a bit like the tombs of assassins in Assassin's Creed, places specially dedicated to puzzles more complex than those of the basic framework. Quite reduced, they are, obviously, a call to the fans, but also a mine of interesting gameplay ideas which would have deserved to take a turn in the main path. Progress without great difficulty in levels with intelligently highlighted verticality, giving the impression of constantly falling - into the valleys - and then getting up - in the hollow of the mountains. Dizzying gorges on the island where Tomb Raider takes place beg to pull ropes over the misty void, makeshift bridges that Lara will descend ponytail in the wind, leaping from link to link with a heady sensation of aerobatics. An obvious and well-thought-out level-design that leaves false tracks and hiding places, without ever losing the player. An excellent compromise between interventionist will and freedom of action. An optic also applicable to combat.Be Agile, Be Silent, Be New
Of different types despite very excessive cloning, the human enemies of Tomb Raider approach each other in a precise way according to their weapon and their armor, but are positioned in only two precise ways. Either in full circle, leaving the choice of approach, or well placed next to explosive canisters or pockets of flammable gas, which allows much less fantasy. In any case, it is possible to eliminate isolated targets in silence using the bow or a pistol with silencer, or even with bare hands for the most savage. A savagery that is also at the heart of the fights of the Crystal Dynamics game, corresponding in a sense to the evolution of Lara. Slicing carotids and planting ice axes by mistake in heads, the young adventurer loses in a few minutes her image of Nicolas Hulot of dangerous zones for a kind of predatory carnivorous outfit. A transition that takes on grim importance during a scene inspired by The Descent, where a river of blood and skulls form a cathedral dedicated to death. A disturbing imagery, which surprises in a good way, despite major inconsistencies in the phases of psychological progression of the heroine. Traumatized by the murder of a member of Solarii, a friendly local cult, and deeply saddened by the fact of having eliminated a deer, Lara seemed to tap into her humanity to resist her survival obligations. A brilliant idea, which gave it a touching dimension, but which disappears for no reason a few scenes later with the succession of phases of gunfights where the young girl doesn't care about bumping into the henchman on the chain. A transition that takes on grim importance during a scene inspired by The Descent"
Same pattern in the last "run", in front of a goddess of war who explodes everything with a rocket launcher with great reinforcements of "bastards!!!" » before being moved aloud by a pretty view of the sea. Schizophrenia awaits. Even if, it is true, the artistic direction of this Tomb Raider is a marvel of coherence with typically Japanese landscapes, prints full of light and mystical planes, supported by high quality production, human models aside. Rhythmic, balanced and captivating, despite obvious weaknesses, Tomb Raider is also struggling to find a second wind with its multi modes, a mix between classicism and small originalities. In addition to two types of DeathMatch which make an act of presence, the game gives you access to Rescue, a kind of barely hidden CTF and to Cry for Help which asks a team to take control of checkpoints, opposed to opponents, them also human, which aim to eliminate the objects necessary for said capture. Nothing too crazy and nothing that will keep players spellbound for long weeks either, even if an evolution system can push you to improvise killer in the middle of nature. Leaving the Eidos/Square Enix series, but returning to it hidden in the back of Uncharted, Tomb Raider is a hard-hitting revival, sometimes incisive and above all bathed in a catchy atmosphere.. Basic strengths that are enough to give the player a great show experience, limit nanar, but in which the pleasure presents itself in a very happy and regular way. And that's where the game surprises.
