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This is our first game review for our new site and team that you can find here www.in-clan.com and plenty more to come!
Tomb Raider has been one of my favorite franchises when I was growing up. Mainly because I was a horny virgin nerd who saw advertisements and promos of her thinking to myself damn she’s hot not knowing that in my nerd virgin brain that she isn’t real and if she was id be the last person she would want to see next to her saying “hey gurl, I wanna raid that tomb”.
If not many you know of Tomb Raider or has had a sheltered life since 1996 it is a game focusing on the character Lara Croft and her many adventures that first seem she’s on an normal exploring expedition trying to find whatever the fuck she is trying to find to where she’s saving the world from extinction in that very instance and no one but her can save the world from devastation, but her and possibly Chuck Norris. I mean hell if Chuck Norris was tomb raider the game would be over by the time the opening credits appeared(that’s why chuck Norris is not in video games).
During the years prior to the newest installment to her franchise she was a big hit when it came to every horny boy in the world because we all wanted to play a game whose character was a big titted British woman in short-shorts killing things even dinosaurs before Jesus thought it was cool to ride one.
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Her games became greater and greater until Tomb Raider: Angel of darkness was brought out to light where you wanted to kill and hide it like Jimmy Hoffa. She did however come back from that with Tomb Raider: Underworld and started to remind us what she was all about and getting back to her roots. After Underworld the thought of Tomb Raider and Lara Croft began wash away like Adam Sandler’s career to where people began to wonder if she hung up her hiking boots and guns and let other games like her try to make their selves known in the video game world.
The last installment prior to Underworld was Cradle of Light, but I do not consider that a game of hers since it’s an over the head linear plat former that was given the Tomb Raider name. During her time off many games that were influenced by her began to take shape such games like Drakes Uncharted and Batman (Arkham Asylum, Arkham City) which down the road would influence the return of Lara Croft to claim her name and return back to the gaming scene.
The new installment called Tomb Raider is a story that is set as a prequel to her series and shows how she became who she was today. The opening scenes began to get me motivated for the new adventure until I saw Lara rocking out to what it looks like Beat Headphones by Dr. Dre. I at first was like if this is a prequel why would she be sporting beat headphones? then it began to dawn on me that she must of had the telephone booth from Bill and Ted and decided to go into the future to purchase those headphones because I mean hell who would want some fucking dollar store ear buds that sounds like someone is shitting In your ear, but that’s beside the point. What music do you think she listens to? Is she the Justin Bieber and One Direction fan or is she more into like rock like Evanescence or is she the mellow girl that listens to Christina Perry and Adele before a murder… sorry off topic…
The game starts you on a boat sailing to a destination with a crew of historians and researchers until the boat is seized and destroyed by unknown inhabitants. (I am briefly going in to short detail due to not giving the story away to people who may want to know what it is on their own). Before the boat officially starts to smash into two like Titanic Style Lara tries to jump and get to the safer broken part of the boat, but you all know that isn’t going to happen. She falls and ends up being washed to shore while the others somehow make it to the island safer than what she deal with… what a bunch of dicks.
Once she washes to shore and notices her crew members are still alive she tries to signal them for help, but gets punched in the face by Chris Brown… I mean an unknown attacker. You get dragged away to a cave and hung upside down to where you’re forced to escape. You escape and fall to the ground and began to take full control of Lara. I began to look at the environment and atmosphere before me and noticed how beautiful the textures were in the cave alone even though it looked like Buffalo Bill’s wet dream sex dungeon.
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After thinking about Silence of the Lambs and dancing in front of my mirror naked with my dick tucked in singing “Goodbye Horses” I began to go deep into the cave. Before getting out of the first room I began to have problems on trying to leave. There was no one time hints explaining my buttons or next move so I began to touch all the buttons till I hit the button for Survival Instinct Mode. Lara croft’s survival instinct mode was based off of Batman’s instinct mode in his series. Lara uses this ability for you know what… you guessed it to survive. After I grabbed the stick and got the torch going I saw glowing boxes that was blocking to my next section the buttons however did pop up to show that I needed to press to set the boxes on fire.
I set the boxes on fire and started to go on. The next scene did however give me the tutorial of Survival instinct which I found kind of off and seemed like it maybe was mistakenly put at the wrong segment. I began to press on and from then on the adventure began right there. The old Tomb Raider nostalgia came back to me while playing even at the opening of the game because the puzzles I encountered making me think logically what to do rather than barreling through the game and as well the timing of jumps to each ledge I jumped to. The game did give it easy to first time players by shading the objects you need to jump on lighter than the others so it would pinpoint you to where you needed to go.
What they added differently into this game made it more interesting to her adventure was the mini games from escaping enemies or trying to escape peril which made it very enjoyable experience. There was at points the mini games seemed a little off when at a certain point you had to rush down a river and escape. The textures and rushing rapids became too much at times to where you couldn’t better angle to avoid the obstacles while rushing down a fast river rapids which ended up you becoming impaled and turning into a Croft Sish Kabob.
The other interesting features they added to her were the ability to upgrade her skills and weapons. These gave her the feel that she was your own character and you can mold her into something different and not the typical Lara Croft which made it great to try. The only way to upgrade her was either to get xp from killing baddies in expert or normal ways, finding treasures and you guessed it raiding tombs.
The new weapons in her arsenal this time around were the Bow and Arrow and a makeshift climber’s pick. The climbers pick was used to open doors, open objects, solve puzzles and even help you get around from place to place which made it feel better that is being used more often than a onetime thing. I started however using my Bow and Arrow the most during this game. I liked the fact about silent kills and becoming my own type Rambo going around in the woods killing people which made it awesome to use. There was an upgraded ability in the game which let you take arrows from your enemies and use them again which to where almost seemed like the guns were useless, but when the game progressed to be more intense you needed those guns as backup.
They also added upgrade option as well to grab more bullets from enemies like the bow and arrow which sometimes made the occasional drop box of rounds and arrows seem useless. What I didn’t like about the game was the fact of the hunting concept because I found there was really no point to killing the animals only just to have fun. In the game you auto respawn health by the duck and hide your ass system so in that essence if you’re not killing the animals for food then what the fuck are you killing them for? The duck and hide your ass system is also a great change to the series other than looking for medipacks because back then trying to find them and not trying to die was just as fun as walking in on your parents fucking.
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The tomb raiding in this game to me was the pinpoint of this game because finally after all these damn fucking years she finally raids a god damn tomb. Many of the games in the past were basically a story that you progressed through a linear path with the occasional of dropping into a tomb which still was fucking linear. You had no option whatsoever to explore and be an adventurer. In the old games, you basically had to go where the game told you to go, kill the baddies and go fuck yourself.
The puzzles within the tombs however were fairly easy it seemed like it was too easy for me to figure out to get to the treasure, but it was fun exploring through each feeling like I was finding something valuable. The treasure you would find would add to your experience and salvage. Salvage in the game was basically parts you would pick up to upgrade your weapons from the standard ones you start out with to what Lara was most known for such as her pump handle shot gun, machine gun rifle and grenade launcher. Most of the time finding these tombs and successfully getting the treasure would automatically let you upgrade to an ability and have also the ability to upgrade parts of weapons for Lara.
The surroundings in the game was a breath of fresh air looking at all the textures from the waterfalls enclosed in the mountains to broken buildings and run down areas with debris scattered all over the place. The great thing they did with this game while climbing up high places and within the camera angles just looking at the whole big picture of where you were which made it a breath taking experience.
The multiplayer for the game is good it does have the similarities to Drakes Uncharted feel with the third person structure and gameplay. They do have a leveling system within the game and you earn it through matches and also earn salvage to buy other weapons and characters to use.
Overall the game is very well made and has met and also exceeded my expectations in many ways. It made me feel that nostalgic feeling of going back to where these types of games all started, but it also made me feel kind of frustrated as well. I felt like the gameplay even on normal was too easy. I felt like the most of my deaths was because I failed to jump right or did not press the right combo key right and not because the game was tough. I also feel like the game was very quick to beat and wished that they would have taken the story and dragged out a little longer and better.
The reason for saying this is because that most of the characters you had a great background for, but I felt a loss for the villains for the game because they really gave no background of who they are and why they are doing what they were doing. You just kind of assumed that these guys were the main villains and you had to get rid of them some way or another. There was only one main boss in the game and he was a total pussy. I looked like a meth-head who went crazy maybe because he wasn’t casted on Survivor. The last battle of this guy was at the end and basically the game told me what to do to kill him which made it too easy for anyone to finish…
Overall Tomb Raider was a great game and a great addition to the franchise of Lara Croft. I do hope that they do decide to keep how they created her and upgrade abilities permanent into her franchise. I also hope as well they not only do DLC for multiplayer maps, but for an extra story to keep the starving adventurers seekers well fed. This game is a definite buy for the person who loved the Tomb Raider series and for new people to the series who love the similar games like Batman and Drakes Uncharted.
Pros
• Visually Stunning with the Surroundings from the Broken down buildings to the island itself
• Voice acting was great between each character interaction. No feeling of bad chemistry between characters
• Soundtrack is great. Has great sounds that make game more tense during gameplay.
• Gameplay itself has a great feel. Controlling Lara had its ups and downs, but really does shine. Combo mini games can be hard at times, but when timing them perfectly you can become a badass ass hunter.
Cons
• Story line had to be a little longer. Seemed to progress too fast for my own pace.
• Too easy compared to other Tomb Raider games. The normal mode should have been a little of harder to complete than what was slated.
Overall Score: 93 out of 100!
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