Tomb Raider: From Ground-Breaking to Water-Treading

The newest Tomb Raider has been a long time coming. For 16 years the formula of the once jaw-droppingly innovative franchises had gone unchanged, resulting in games that were nostalgically enjoyable at best and broken at worst. Prior to this, the only other times the celebrated heroine had strayed away from her one-woman pack was the cataclysmic-ly bad Angel of Darkness, and the decent but unoriginal Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, perhaps providing more logic to Core and Crystal's reluctance to stray from the blueprints that had satisfied loyalists for well over a decade. But Tomb Raider 2013 seems different. Crystal Dynamics seem proud that they've mixed things up a bit, it's a whole new story arc for a whole new generation, and, most importantly for them, established fans, reviewers and newcomers alike are loving it. So, does it really match the ambition and forward thinking that the original Tomb Raider had? Or is it just Unchar--DAMMIT IT'S JUST UNCHARTED.

Apparently Lara auditioned for The Hunger Games before making a new game.

I tried to like this. I really did. There's a good balance of open world and linear, scripted battles and spontaneous encounters, and the story's effective in its evolution from simplicity. Simply put, wee lass Lara's boat crashes, and most of the game is about her finding her friends and escaping the crazed island. Lady Croft is more of a human being here than in her previous efforts; she gets burned, cut, bitten, and you see this all via wounds on her body that eventually heal as you play. It's a nice touch. Lara controls nicely, with a magnetic platform-homing thing that means falling to your death is more your own fault than in previous Tomb Raider games, and the simple to learn controls means there isn't much of a tutorial, so you don't feel like you're being spoon-fed how to play. It's also lengthy for a Tomb Raider game, with a little over double the amount of playing time than her other next-gen attempts, all of which were under 10 hours.

Unfortunately, that's where the positives end. For the most part, Tomb Raider is one big exhale of a game. Firstly, there are about six hundred quick-time events during the course of this game, which is about six hundred more than there should be in a game. Lara's character development is incredibly inconsistent. One minute Lara is weeping at the prospect of killing a deer to stop herself from dying of hunger, ten minutes later she's setting dudes on fire and popping bullets through their heads like she's Pam Grier, in what was presumably a gameplay retcon for fans that don't care about emotions and just want the hot lady to kill bad guys already. This isn't hyperbole, the first time she (you) kills a man (via quick-time event), it triggers a cutscene where Lara is talking incoherently to herself, crying and vomiting. It's a shocking, and presumably realistic presentation of a young woman completely ripped of her innocence and optimism. What follows said cutscene is you escaping the location, killing about thirty men without a second's thought as you do so. If you don't take it seriously, it can be pretty funny. But Tomb Raider clearly does take itself seriously, resulting in visceral, brutal melodrama one minute, and thoughtless, blood-thirsty Rambo-ing the next. It's dumb.

There are other aspects of the design that are thoroughly lackluster. The level up system, that allows you to upgrade weapon's and abilities, feels tacked on so they can talk about "customization" on the back of the case. The upgrade's are unoriginal and unnecessary, and is simply a lazy attempt to insert some kind of progression in the game. The various collectibles in the game also feel like an empty addition. Tomb Raider Legend (still the best next-gen Tomb Raider game, despite being, like, 40 minutes long) had a simple and effective collectible system. Easy things to find were bronze, hard things to find were silver, and in each level there was one gold item that you had to scour the area from top to bottom to even hope of finding it. In Tomb Raider 2013, nothing feels distinguished. There are about 6 different types of things you can collect during the game, but nothing seems easier or harder to find, nothing seems more beneficial to your progress, and overall it just doesn't seem very ambitious. The parts of the game that are linear are way too linear and go on way too long for what they are. Put it this way; anyone that played through the game would play those parts the exact same way you did. If that sounds appealing to you, go ahead. It'd be cheaper for me if I just watched a walkthrough on YouTube.

Worst of all, though, Tomb Raider 2013 just isn't very original. As mentioned earlier, it's essentially a worse version of Uncharted, and you can bet your hide Crystal Dynamics did that deliberately, minus the worse. It's truly sad that what was once the genre-defining franchise is now meekly following in the footsteps of a similar, superior series. It brings nothing new to the table, and at its lowest point, feels like Mr. Burns dressing up in a skull shirt and beanie in an attempt to disguise himself as one of the kids. False. Attempting to keep up with an age it doesn't have the stamina for anymore.

Some franchises just aren't meant to span multiple generations. Just let it go.