Rise Of The Tomb Raider hit stores on the same week as Fallout 4. This means it was pretty much roundly ignored by everyone, including us.
But I have played a small amount of Rise of the Tomb Raider, and I really enjoyed what I played. How did you guys and girls go?
For me personally, it was fun to play a game like Rise Of The Tomb Raider: a game that’s contained, linear, and doesn’t overwhelm you with a multitude of tasks like Fallout 4, The Witcher 3, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and practically every bloody game released at the tail end of 2015.
It was fun to play something smaller in scope for a while. Something a little more polished and focused.
How did you find Rise Of The Tomb Raider?
Comments
32 responses to “Community Review: Rise Of The Tomb Raider”
What I’ve played so far is awesome, but there’s just so many games to play that I haven’t had time to play much.
I liked it, the main story was a bit short (finished it in 8 hours and aside from avoiding side quests I didn’t feel I rushed, of course I’ve put more time in since with the other areas and going back to do things I’d missed) but there’s plenty more extra content to do. The main story never really felt like it got going either, just kind of meandered a long and was a bit boring and uninteresting. Felt like it never fully reached a climax story wise.
The hidden tombs are a cool feature and everything plays well, the enemy AI seemed well done too and they often flanked in realistic ways.
I think it’ll get more attention when it launches on PS4 during a window that doesn’t include Fallout 4 and Battlefront.
Currently playing it and loving it.
PC/PS4 gamer. 0/10 on grounds of discrimination.
There’s quite a few people on the other side of the fence who feel the same way about Bloodborne.
Simple solution is to buy an xbone. Sure, this means that their strategy has paid off, but you could do what I’ve done: buy the xbone, then wait to borrow a copy from a friend. Genius!
Or just wait for it to come out on other platforms next year.
Damn them. It was my Xmas holiday plan.
Might get an XBone though, Forza is tempting and although I love the breadth of the GT games, be nice if the flagship wasn’t a console version behind. It’s astonishing how Polyphony get sidetracked by every side-feature and can’t get a game out on the current Sony console in good time since the PS2.
Oh polyphony….. *sigh*
They’re like that one girl…. you know the one… the one who is totally wrong for you long logically, treats you like garbage and has no consideration for your feelings. Yet you can’t help but continue to be anything but infatuated with her, and you’d give your left arm for, because when you actually *are* together, the sex is just mind blowingly awesome….
Yeah, screw you, you sexy polyphony digital. Why’d you have to be so damn good in bed?!?!
…I’m not entirely sure about your analogy but I think we agree… 🙂
Forza does look rad.
There is that too. Honestly, I bought the xbone because it was about time and it was on sale, and not because of a particular game. Wouldn’t surprise me if Tomb Raider is available on PS4 anyway by the time I get around to playing it.
Could get a 360 instead, they’re pretty cheap these days 😛
^^^ This (re Bloodborne). say what you will about Microsoft but Tomb Raider will be available on other platforms next year, whereas Sony has been playing for keeps with Bloodborne (really want this), SFV (couldn’t care less) and now No Man’s Sky (could be incredible)
Now granted Quantum Break (Alan Wake is a 360 favourite), Sunset Overdrive (pretty much Insomniac’s best work) and Crackdown 3 are the reason I bought an Xbone so you make your choices but people’s reactions to the Tomb Raider exclusivity have been childish to put it mildly.
It’s funny, MS have basically forgotten all about Sunset Overdrive, it would seem. It was their big game at PAX last year, and there’s no mention of it anywhere now. Wasn’t in any of their recent sales or anything. I see that it’s $40 on the store, and out of stock at $35 at ozgameshop. I’m guessing it didn’t sell too well for them in the end?
Yeah admittedly I picked it up when the price dropped at Target to $38. The reason I didn’t pick it up on release? Simple – you couldn’t find it anywhere for less than $79.
$69 for new releases is justified but $79 is taking the piss.
Permanent exclusive > multiplat >>>>> timed exclusive. It sucks that you don’t get to play Bloodborne but at least that’s because the devs are only focussing on one platform. We’re pissed about TR because there’s no technical reason it can’t be on PS4 right now. You can think it’s annoying that Sony pushed for Bloodborne exclusivity but at least that game was a new IP built for the PS4 from day one. TR is an XBone exclusive only because of some BS eleventh hour bribe from MS.
I think the worst thing is that this move is probably gonna kill the franchise. Quick look at VGChartz shows that TR has only sold ~250k copies. Compare that to ~670k copies that Need for Speed has sold on the PS4 alone. Considering they barely made enough back on the last one to greenlight the sequel even with a wide release I would be very surprised if the franchise continues any time soon. Of course releasing the same day as Fallout 4 was moronic (I seriously hope the guy who made that call got fired!) but if they’d gone multiplat from day one that ~250k would have easily turned into 1m+. And that’s nothing to sneeze at.
I doubt they’re going to sell half as many units upon the eventual PS4 release as they think they will. In a year’s time everyone will have forgotten about it. It’ll be treated like “Oh cool. TR’s out. I might pick that up when it’s free on PS+”…
As much as I love what they’ve done with the game, this is on the studio and the publisher not Microsoft. They sold out, Microsoft were just willing to bid more than Sony. It’s a little thing but it’s important to remember that Microsoft and Sony don’t actually have a huge amount of control over exclusives. They can only hand money out, maybe fund a project from scratch, but they can’t just lay claim to games.
If I had to guess I’d say Square-Enix chose to take the quick money because the first didn’t perform well enough and they were nervous about how many big titles were releasing nearby, and Microsoft chose to pay because the reboot did pretty well on the XBOX One back when there weren’t many games.
There’s also no technical reason Bloodborne couldn’t be on the XBOX One. Sure some studios spread themselves too thin and the quality suffers but we’re not talking about some little mom and pop operation. It would have been incredibly easy for them to justify the extra resources to make an XBOX One version and it’s safe to say they would have made enough money to justify the operation.
All that said personally I’m furious with everyone who agreed to make this an XBOX One exclusive. I love that I can play it but it’s short sighted and puts the entire franchise at risk. The brand started winning people over with the reboot and this exclusivity deal sent it straight back to square one. The next Tomb Raider game is going to struggle to gain recognition just as much as the first and after two AAA GOTY worthy games that’s just absurd.
Totally agree about the stupidity of the release date. If anything, microsoft did sony a favour – not having to compete with fallout 4 could potentially see better sales than a simultaneous release.
Though I guess if square considered the xb1 to be the weakest platform in terms of sales, then the timed exclusive could have also been a good way to try and squeeze a few more sales out of the playerbase.
Finished the main story and all of the challenge tombs. Loved it.
I’d probably rate it 9/10. The challenge tombs probably brought that up from a 7/10. The main ‘path’ through the game is a little straightforward, and a little combat heavy towards the end, though still very fun. The challenge tombs were really well spaced out (9 in total) and a good break from the main campaign. The hunting/crafting system was good, and I didn’t experience any of the input lag with aiming that I’ve heard people mention.
Also its easily the best looking game I’ve played on the Boner, and the music and sound is great. There’s a fantastic dynamic drumming soundtrack that kicked in when I was being stalked by a wolf in a cave, probably the best example of dynamic music I’ve ever seen, was genuinely shitting myself.
Tops game, highly reccomended.
i really feel for the game, first its an Xbox 1 timed exclusive, second it releaased on the same day as fallout 4, and thirdly, the reboot made 6million dollars in the first month and was a multi platform and Squenix declared it a failure.
wasn’t it 6mil sales? They have noone to blame but themselves if it does poorly. Releasing against fallout4 (dumb) and making it platform exclusive to a console which has poor sales in its own right . Not to mention pissing off potential customers on other platforms that enjoyed the original
I’m guessing that they received a bucketload of money from Microsoft to offset the exclusivity problem, so it’s probably going to do ok anyway.
I haven’t played it but definitely will. I think this one will enjoy better sales after the timed exclusive period ends (obviously), but also will have more sales on Xbone once people are done with the Fallout, etc. Looking forward to it when I get some time.
I really don’t understand how people are finishing the game 100% in 20-30 hours. I have put in 43 hours, and still haven’t completed it. Not even the main story. It could be because I take too long running around admiring the locations. Or just that I am a bad gamer.
The game however is fantastic. I rate it 9.5/10. I’ve withheld 0.5 only because of the challenges in each location. There’s only so many banners I want to burn or signals I want to light. However, I want my first play through to be 100%, so I am doing them.
So far I love the main story. The spacing between action and exploration is just right. The optional tombs and crypts are not only challenging but give great rewards. I would recommend everyone to play the game when it does come to their platform.
Yeah the little box ticky side quests were a bit “Ubisoft game” but they can be ignored. so I didnt mind too much
I love that you can say that something feels a bit “Ubisoft Game” and people get what you mean.
The reason I finally got an xbone, and I love it (both the game and xbone!
It’s a really solid game. Some of the best climbing I’ve seen in a game. The way you move through the world is very smooth. Running, jumping, ziplines, climbing, swimming, it all just flows together and makes getting from A to B enjoyable. The climbing can be slow, and they lay it on pretty thick in the opening sequences, but once you reach the main game they tend to reserve the long, slow climbing sequences for big moments and nice views (and then offer a shortcut so you don’t have to do the climb again unless you want to).
The bow is very satisfying to use, thank in part to the XBOX One’s trigger vibrations. The guns are a little clumsy in long fire fights but they work fine. They dialed down the amount of quick time events from the first game. They’re still in there but they feel a lot more natural. Fortunately they managed to keep in that sense of action driven gameplay they were going for with the original quick time events. There’s lots of shooting but there are plenty of other ways the game pushes you forward.
Stealth is a legitimate option in this game. You can get into fire fights just fine (I wouldn’t mind a better cover system, but it’s not a huge flaw), but you’re also provided with a full tool set of stealth options. Generally I found I would open with some stealth, but approach it pretty casually until I was caught and then I’d finish with a straight up fire fight. It’s by no means a stealth game but they gave the stealth options enough thought to make it a practical way to play the game.
As with the previous game the violence is pretty brutal. Fighting against Lara generally ends with someone having something shoved through their head. It’s over the top at times but it doesn’t actually feel over the top. It’s oddly appropriate given the amount of struggling and improvisation that goes into Lara fighting people who are significantly bigger than her.
Overall if you enjoyed the previous game (the reboot) you’ll enjoy this one. They’ve really hit on something great with the new Tomb Raider series. They’re struggling to get out of the shadow of the previous games, but if you’ve ever been put off by the way Lara was sold as a sex symbol I recommend picking this up. It’ll change the way you think about the character and more importantly it’s a fantastic game.
There are aspects of the game that seriously improve on the previous title, so if you haven’t played that yet I would recommend finishing it first since it’s hard to go backwards. If you don’t super love the first still continue on with Rise of the Tomb Raider because they refine it a lot.
That said it does work as a standalone game with only casual references to the first.
Thanks for that!
That was actually a really top notch informative review.
One other thing which people might appreciate that isn’t being talked about much is what they’ve done with Twitch. Their streaming mode isn’t just turning off copyrighted music and moving/hiding UI components. They’ve actually implemented a system where streamers can choose to let their viewers interact with the game. The game is loaded with unlockable cards that work similar to cheat codes in GoldenEye. Some of them are goofy big-head style modes, others are skill adjustments like fully upgraded weapons or enemies talk half damage.
During stream the audience can vote on cards to temporarily apply to the game. In doing so the streamer gets extra credit and the audience can claim extra credit on their account too. The audience gets to throw the player a curve ball and the player gets to let their audience participate a little.
It doesn’t really add much, the score attack is better than the previous games multiplayer but still just a side dish to the main course. You might get some replay value out of it but I don’t think many people are fighting for leaderboard positions.
However it’s a really interesting feature in that it shows potential for other games to bring the audience into the action. Rather than flat out pandering to streamers with game content they can give the game stream enhancing options which I really like. I’d love to see Destiny steal this idea and apply it to their PvE streams.
I think this is my GOTY. I am a sucker for ‘Uncharted’ style games, and I think this might be the best execution of that formula. Amazing navigation around the world, with all the tools your get expanding your options and allowing new paths through previously explored areas. But the best thing about this game is the combat, instead of uncharted locking you in a combat arena and having you fighting wave after wave of enemies, the encounters in ROTR feel sculpted and meaningful, allowing lots of experimentation and forcing you to adapt if things don’t go your way.
The story is the only negative, as it is familiar, but it is well told, so I can forgive it. I absolutely loved this game, and can’t wait to start my second play through.
still no hot pants and jiggle physics
2/10
Great game and its definitely not short. Every side quest is worthwhile, its overwhelming when the maps open up. I’ve never played a tomb raider until this one and I’m definitely buying a ps4 copy for the platinum
Loving it. I’m near the end, and have done a few of the optional tombs, and I have to say I’m very impressed, not so much with the narrative as with the gameplay. An improvement over the 2013 reboot (which was still a fine game) in every way. Highly recommended. It actually took me away from Fallout 4, and has kept me from Battlefront.