Lara's Evolution Continues in Rise of the Tomb Raider - Preview
by Nick Pantazis , posted on 19 June 2015 / 5,832 Views
There are few games from last gen that are as memorable to me as the Tomb Raider reboot. Once a franchise with little respect which was seen as pandering to young boys, Tomb Raider was rebooted gloriously in 2013 into a serious adventure game with a badass heroine. Lara Croft went from sex symbol to symbol of female empowerment, and I just needed more of it.
Prayers answered…. sort of. Rise of the Tomb Raider is absolutely a deserving sequel, but its limited holiday exclusivity to Xbox One will rankle many who preferred to play the franchise on PC or PS4. But enough of that, what’s important is what this game is, not where it is, and it is a powerful and emotional survival-adventure game that does its newly respected name justice.
I watched a live play-through of Rise of the Tomb Raider, so these impressions are hands-off not hands-on, but it was an impressive look nonetheless. Lara spent the first part of the demo gathering wood and materials to create a fire after a near-fatal avalanche. As you'd expect if you played the previous title, Lara is regularly in desperate danger, and requires your timely button inputs to save her. Once Lara was in a position of safety, her priority was to move forward, but her path was blocked by a massive bear – a bear who also happened to be guarding a treasure-filled tomb.
Lara’s next step will be familiar for anyone who played the last game: time to upgrade those tools. In Metroid tradition (a game the 2013 reboot and this continue to borrow heavily from) Lara is reset to a baseline without her upgraded tools, and must make and claim new upgrades/tools. Luckily the new upgrade system makes this faster and easier, and new items are significantly more interesting than Lara’s previous gear, like the new poison darts.
Athleticism is amped up here as well, with Lara climbing tree branches and making strong use of her environment to take her enemies by surprise. Enemies can be taken down from above, Assassin’s Creed-style, and Lara has more non-lethal options for stealth – addressing a complaint with the previous game that it made her overly violent and thus hard to relate to.
Once upgraded the developer entered a desperate fight with the large bear, who was much more formidable than the wildlife in 2013’s Tomb Raider. The demo closed at the start of one of the challenge tombs, which we’re promised more of this time around, but ended before we could see any of the new tomb-based puzzles.
If you would like to play Lara’s latest, you can check out Rise of the Tomb Raider on Xbox One this holiday.
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This game was never supposed to be an exclusive in the first place. That move wasn't cool.
Sony is helping with Street Fighter and Shenmue Development.
Microsoft only paid to force the developers to delay the game in other platforms. That is not how exclusives work Microsoft. Start developing.
Hopefully there won't be an auto save bug that corrupts ALL your save slots like in the definitive edition. Thanks CD :(
I still can't understand sequels that don't carry over previous abilities and upgrades. Yes people would start in unnequality, but they can still either give all at full or make easier to learn them.
Is it Just lack of imagination for improvements or what? After so much husle how many times must a character goes unprepared to a fight?
nah my backlog it to big i pass on tomb raider and wait later for a complete edition on PS4 at discount!
Can't WAIT to wait for this on PC!
Seriously though, I hope they don't fall back on classic Lara, who was a bit of a sociopath. What made new Lara a way better character was that for once, her situation full of murder and destruction was one of necessity, rather than her going through and causing all kinds of hell just to satisfy her own taste for adventure.
If this game's content is anything like the last one's but this time her situation is one of her own choosing, then I fear she'll fall back on being a psychotic and unlikable character.
I'm looking forward to finding out. Dunno how long I'll have to wait though.
You're mean Microsoft. You're just mean:( Look down at her dirty hands and realise what a pointlessly mean-hearted thing that was to do!
"Lara Croft went from sex symbol to symbol of female empowerment"
Oh dear - Lara was symbol of badassery, regardless of gender. With Reboot she's been devolved to emotional goo and put in game that's embarrassment to legacy of Tomb Raider.
Well I find it hilarious that is exclusive to the xbone, but from the gameplay video it looked like the cbone could barely run it at 20fps, let alone a stable 30.
