Tomb Raider disappointment (minor spoilers)

[Carfax83]

As a fan of the Tomb Raider series (I played the original on my Saturn console as a kid), I must admit I'm not overly impressed by this latest Tomb Raider reboot thus far after picking it up on the Steam summer sale.

I haven't beaten the game yet, or even progressed very far. I'm at the point where I have to find Roth's pack.

But so far, it seems the all I've seen WITHOUT EXCEPTION are cramped and very linear environments with very little chance for exploration; a far cry from the large open environments of previous Tomb Raider games..

So after seeing this pattern, I'm getting a bit worried. Will the environments ever increase in size and scope? Or will they remain cramped and linear?

 

[KeithTalent]

I loved it, but I have not played any of the previous games. It's a pretty linear game throughout. I'm not much of an open world sandbox guy in general, so it worked for me.

KT

 

[Carfax83]

I don't mind linearity that much, as long as the plots good and interesting.....and so far it seems to be both.

However, I hate cramped environments and that's all I've seen so far. I'm going to play it some more when I go home so hopefully things will expand a bit.

 

[KeithTalent]

I don't remember too much of that. I remember more of the cruising around the island. Some pretty impressive vistas there actually.

The story is pretty standard, but it was good enough.

Stick with it and see how you feel after you've plunked a handful of hours into it.

KT

 

[Hinda65]

it's been so long since I played the others...aren't they all quite linear? I just finished 2 nights ago and was really impressed by what they achieved. The area you are at is the most open or mabey second most open area in the game....I think you'll be impressed by what is to come...

My only minor gripe with the game was the ease of the puzzles? Didn't they seem dumbed down to previous versions?

 

[showb1z]

Yeah I don't really recall any big open areas in the old games either. You get to some large open areas in this one though, or at least they did their best to give you the feeling that they're large.

 

[runzwithsizorz]

My only minor gripe with the game was the ease of the puzzles? Didn't they seem dumbed down to previous versions?

I think most games have dumbed down the puzzle portions unless it's mainly a puzzle solving game. I remember the puzzles in Myst, Riven and they were not easy to solve. Don't know if this is a comment on the present (new) gen of gamers or not.

 

[KaOTiK]

My only complaint about the new TR was the lack of tombs/puzzles. I loved the game though and is my second fav of the year so far.

 

[KeithTalent]

My only complaint about the new TR was the lack of tombs/puzzles. I loved the game though and is my second fav of the year so far.

I agree with this. Would have liked some more puzzles.

KT

 

[Carfax83]

Yeah I don't really recall any big open areas in the old games either. You get to some large open areas in this one though, or at least they did their best to give you the feeling that they're large.

I remember the Roman Colosseum in the first game, and it was huge for a game at the time. (see here.) Also, the area where you fight the T-Rex in the early part of the game was big as well.

Anyway, I played for about an hour and I'm really liking the game, with the exception of the small levels and the DAMNED QTEs!

Those QTEs are so annoying, and they require you to be very exact in hitting the key at the right time. After I got Roth's medical pack, that wolf must have killed me three times before I got it right LOL!

 

[KaOTiK]

90% of the QTE's are at the beginning of the game so don't worry. I remember they were getting a lot of flack for the amount of QTE's they had when they first started showing TR off, which was all at the start of the game. I think they took that criticizing to heart and they pretty much got rid of them after the first couple of areas which only like 2 more showing up the rest of the game.

 

[KeithTalent]

I remember the Roman Colosseum in the first game, and it was huge for a game at the time. (see here.) Also, the area where you fight the T-Rex in the early part of the game was big as well.

Anyway, I played for about an hour and I'm really liking the game, with the exception of the small levels and the DAMNED QTEs!

Those QTEs are so annoying, and they require you to be very exact in hitting the key at the right time. After I got Roth's medical pack, that wolf must have killed me three times before I got it right LOL!

Damn that wolf! He got me too. Stupid jerk took me three or four times.

KT

 

[Via]

Tomb Raider was released on Saturn?

Who knew.

 

[Bateluer]

My only complaint about the new TR was the lack of tombs/puzzles. I loved the game though and is my second fav of the year so far.

I found the shorter puzzles to be more to my liking, especially since most weren't required to progress in the game. You never got stalled in the game by an annoying puzzle. Wish there were more tombs though, think there's only 6<?> in the game. They could have added more, or larger more complicated tombs through DLC, but they chose to be stupid and only do multi player DLC. Multiplayer in this game just feels completely out of place and doesn't fit in the game in any way, complete waste of money and dev time.

 

[Bateluer]

Tomb Raider was released on Saturn?

Who knew.

It was released on all the major platforms at the time within a few months of each other.

 

[Via]

It was released on all the major platforms at the time within a few months of each other.

And here I've been thinking it was a PS exclusive (for console) this whole time. Learn something new every day.

Was it released for anything else besides Saturn?

 

[Zodiark1593]

And here I've been thinking it was a PS exclusive (for console) this whole time. Learn something new every day.

Was it released for anything else besides Saturn?

PC

In fact, there is a level editor included with Tomb Raider Chronicles that has seemed to have gathered a sizable community for awhile. It seems that the community is still active, interestingly enough.

 

[Via]

I meant any other console.

 

[Geosurface]

The new Tomb Raider game is a very, very good game easily deserving of a 9/10 and probably higher than that.

It does get much better as you get further into it, and you do get large areas you can explore somewhat.

 

[Bateluer]

The new Tomb Raider game is a very, very good game easily deserving of a 9/10 and probably higher than that.

It does get much better as you get further into it, and you do get large areas you can explore somewhat.

It was 12.50 on the Steam sale. At that price, it was definitely a must buy game.

Shame that Square thought they were going to sell 6 million copies of it, or some other ludicrously high number.

 

[CTA4LC4PON3]

The game was fantastic IMO. The game tends to do a mix of both Linear and open. I got mine for free with my Vapor-X 7950. Ive played through it 7 times and I love it.

 

[lavaheadache]

Tomb Raider was released on Saturn?

Who knew.

proud owner here!

 

[PrincessFrosty]

I 100% this game yesterday, I thought the game was really bloody good.

The start of the game tends to have more cut scenes, more QTE and on rails sections as they establish the story and the character, but later on that becomes less frequent and you open up some really quite large areas you can free roam in.

I think the reason for this is that the developers clearly wanted us to experience a really gritty origins story about how Lara was thrown in at the deep end and had to battle the odds to survive. The problem is you can't throw the actual player in at the deep end in terms of game play mechanics because it would make the game frustrating and crap. So you're introduced to the mechanics of the game slowly in more linear areas in such a way that's not like an obvious tutorial which would have horribly broken the immersion.

On reflection it was a really quite clever way of keeping the player immersed in the narrative and world around you, it's an origins story and so partly about how Lara slowly learned the skills to survive, and it helps draw you in because you're learning how to do it literally as Lara is learning it, it really helps put you in her shoes and experience the story as her.

Later in the game the levels open right up, a few are hub-like areas which you travel through back and forth a few times as you explore the various areas that branch off from the hub, areas like the beach are huge and make it feel more like an open world.

But the game balances everything really well, it has a lot of variety and by being linear it delivers at an excellent pace as it flips between exploration, combat and puzzles to keep you on your toes and stops you from getting bored of any one mechanic. They made full use of the strengths that a linear game has over a non-linear game, if you stick with it I'm fairly sure you'll enjoy it.

 

[aigomorla]

u no like the:

MASH LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT
MASH ENTER ENTER ENTER ENTER..

 

[JamesV]

I've got an hour into the new Tomb Raider, and now I'm playing the other games I got during the sale.

Not impressed with it at all, except maybe graphically. Walk into room, instantly see how to proceed from the only obvious way/item/burn-able, do that and repeat. And yea, QTE is fucking retarded; anyone that puts that crap into a game deserves to be shot.

Will give it another try eventually, but I'll probably play the originals first.