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Tomb Raider Review Thread!

R

RoKKeR

Member
antitrop said:
Which is ironic because Jimmy Fallon plays games as a hobby and Conan does not.
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willis1.jpg


His playing of KZSF was less than convincing. Conan can at least manage a few thumbs up.

0193_wlqq6.gif
 
D

Dahbomb

Member
Man Conan's review is hilarious.

It's so obvious Conan wanted to protect his new waifu so he couldn't stomach her dying in painful ways.
 
M

MafiaMusic

Banned
I know that Conan Clueless gamer bit is sponsored by Microsoft but dear Lord, please let Conan review all games, everywhere, on anything. He's my official source from now on.

that Tomb Raider one is hilarious, LOL. Conan is God.
 
R

RagnarokX

Member
daemissary said:
I didn't particularly care for Uncharted 3 after really enjoying Uncharted 2 but I'm still a little shocked at the backlash of the comparison of Tomb Raider to that series.

I'm a tad concerned about the amount of combat, like everyone else, because combat is by far the weakest part of Uncharted but I really think that the more open environments should help mitigate that by maintaining the goal of exploration.

I dunno, I guess I just don't see any reason to overreact before getting in there and giving it a shot myself. But I guess I'm a glass half full guy.
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From the footage on youtube I'd say it compares heavily to Arkham City in terms of linearity and openness, except with a bunch of ridiculous QTEs transitioning between each hub. There have been some big hubs... but the traversal of them so far has been pretty basic. It doesn't help that glowing white paint is everwhere. The severe lack of puzzles is most disconcerting; I was really hoping I'd have seen something really interesting by now. There was one section where it looked like it might turn into some Tomb Raiding but then it turned into a QTE.
 
R

razgriz417

Member
Only thing that was missing was if he got to some of the more open worldy stuff or actual combat. But I guess they were showcasing the cinematic qualities, god I had no diea conan reviewed games. Now I gotta go back and watch the older ones
 
D

Derrick01

Banned
Baconsammy said:
The Conan review was great. Very funny, and the footage made me really want to get the game. Damn it looks good.
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The footage where he barely plays anything that's not a QTE or on rails sequence? lol

I know that's not the whole game but damn if anyone could tell differently if they only saw it from that 1 video.
 
daemissary

daemissary

Member
RagnarokX said:
From the footage on youtube I'd say it compares heavily to Arkham City in terms of linearity and openness, except with a bunch of ridiculous QTEs transitioning between each hub. There have been some big hubs... but the traversal of them so far has been pretty basic. It doesn't help that glowing white paint is everwhere. The severe lack of puzzles is most disconcerting; I was really hoping I'd have seen something really interesting by now. There was one section where it looked like it might turn into some Tomb Raiding but then it turned into a QTE.
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Ah, fair enough...I haven't watched any of the YouTube footage, I've just been going off of the reviews.

I'm not a big fan of QTEs in general so I suppose their prevalence could be another concern. I was actually a big fan of the way DmC handled their faux QTEs...I wish more games would use their actual mechanics in place like that.
 
R

RagnarokX

Member
daemissary said:
Ah, fair enough...I haven't watched any of the YouTube footage, I've just been going off of the reviews.

I'm not a big fan of QTEs in general so I suppose their prevalence could be another concern. I was actually a big fan of the way DmC handled their faux QTEs...I wish more games would use their actual mechanics in place like that.
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I'm including cinematic stuff too; like running and jumping in a completely straight path as everything around you collapses, and tumbling down a mountain while dodging spears. High action very scripted cinematic scenes with little gameplay value and skill involved.
 
B

Baconsammy

Banned
First Danica sits on the pole last Sunday, now Lara takes a pole in the throat. Not a good week for the ladies. Or a very good week for the ladies.

Derrick01 said:
The footage where he barely plays anything that's not a QTE or on rails sequence? lol

I know that's not the whole game but damn if anyone could tell differently if they only saw it from that 1 video.
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images
 
J

jrDev

Member
Omg that Conan video was hilarious! That ending D: *cringe*
How the hell was she still moving after that got her in the neck?
 
R

RagnarokX

Member
kuroshiki said:
If you hit premotor cortex or basal ganglia, not... really.
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There would probably be a few seconds where your nervous system shorted out and caused you to flail about with muscle spasms. I didn't mean you'd run around. I wouldn't say that hit her prefrontal cortex, though. Looks like it went through the center and took out the thalamus and hypothalamus. Phineas Gage got hit at a much steeper angle.
 
M

Margalis

Banned
grosvenor_92 said:
Machinima came down a lot harder on this than most to the other reviews but all of them seem to have the same complaints like the disconnect between the story and what's actually happening and the qte's
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I was going to make a dedicated thread about this sort of thing but decided against it.

The short version is that I find that way too often reviews will praise games and specifically praise their stories while in same review admitting that the story flat out doesn't work. Most reviewers either don't care that a story is bad (even when the story is shoved down your throat) or they possess some weird cognitive dissonance around the story where it can totally fail on a logical and narrative level and still somehow be good. I find this is especially true of AAA games, where reviewers seem unwilling to admit that a story is plain bad.
 
A

ArkkAngel007

Member
Margalis said:
I was going to make a dedicated thread about this sort of thing but decided against it.

The short version is that I find that way too often reviews will praise games and specifically praise their stories while in same review admitting that the story flat out doesn't work. Most reviewers either don't care that a story is bad (even when the story is shoved down your throat) or they possess some weird cognitive dissonance around the story where it can totally fail on a logical and narrative level and still somehow be good. I find this is especially true of AAA games, where reviewers seem unwilling to admit that a story is plain bad.
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I don't think anyone was saying the story is bad though. Hell, the majority of games out there are pretty bad narrative-wise when you start picking them apart, and that's for the top of the refuse pile. It's probably a decent adventure story (game-wise) as some such as Rev3Games have pointed out that suffers for, well, having to deal with game elements and vice-versa.

So far the only concrete bad element that's been vocalized has been boring-to-annoying supporting characters, and we've been putting up with those in even some of the best of what's out there. The more subjective called out is the dissonance between the gameplay and narrative.
 
kunonabi

kunonabi

Member
ArkkAngel007 said:
I don't think anyone was saying the story is bad though. Hell, the majority of games out there are pretty bad narrative-wise when you start picking them apart, and that's for the top of the refuse pile. It's probably a decent adventure story (game-wise) as some such as Rev3Games have pointed out that suffers for, well, having to deal with game elements and vice-versa.

So far the only concrete bad element that's been vocalized has been boring-to-annoying supporting characters, and we've been putting up with those in even some of the best of what's out there. The more subjective called out is the dissonance between the gameplay and narrative.
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I wouldn't really care about the story or the dissonance if the gameplay had actually been good instead of being turned into complete drivel to drive the story forward.
 
D

Dead

well not really...yet
kunonabi said:
I wouldn't really care about the story or the dissonance if the gameplay had actually been good instead of being turned into complete drivel to drive the story forward.
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well, pretty much all the reviews seem to be praising the actual gameplay itself, sooo...
 
B

Baconsammy

Banned
C.Monkey said:
The gameplay is great according to the reviews
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I have very few reviewers whom I "trust", but Kezza at IGN is one. She questioned some of the story elements, but said the combat, the platforming etc were all great and the bits with a lot of QTE's were heavily weighted to the beginning hour where they were essentially telling the origin story. Sounds like a great single player experience.
 
T

The Lamp

Member
I'm gonna be honest, I had very little interest in this since I've had my fill of Uncharted for a while.

But the good reviews have caught my attention. I'll be lurking the OT!

The Conan review was hilarious lol
 
A

ArkkAngel007

Member
Dead said:
well, pretty much all the reviews seem to be praising the actual gameplay itself, sooo...
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Well, you have to know the person's definition of good gameplay. I enjoy a good marriage of all the gameplay elements put together, such as in Dishonored or Resident Evil 4. I don't care if there are QTEs or if there's a lack of puzzles as long as what is there is done well and it makes sense why certain elements aren't present from a gameplay perspective.

There are others though where it's like they have this checklist that all games must meet:

( ) Non-linear
( ) Puzzles in every third room
( ) No QTEs or context prompts
( ) Zero multiplayer

...and so on and so forth.

Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily, but it does somewhat trivialize the whole discussion, as it moves from what a game is and the quality of its elements to someone's wish list if that's all that they focus on in discussion/review.
 
D

Dead

well not really...yet
sublimit said:
Well...not really.At least not the reviews i've read/watched so far(EDGE,Eurogamer,GT,Machinima)People need to start reading the actual reviews and not just look at the scores.
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uhhhhhhhhh

Combat has never been the strength of Crystal Dynamics' Tomb Raider games, but the developer has finally nailed it here. Whether with a bow, a shotgun or a pistol, fighting is fun, and crucially there's not too much of it
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But Tomb Raider isn't all about fighting. It's totally common to spend five minutes exchanging fire with a group of enemies, then go 45 without seeing a soul. These breaks in battle are filled with great platforming segments, clever puzzles, and adrenaline-pumping set piece moments, and the pacing throughout is unrivaled by any other game in the genre. Even the rate at which Lara obtains new weapons and equipment--like rope arrows that open up new sections of some zones on the island--is admirable, as you'll snag gear right up until the final chapters.
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A scramble ability lets you dodge incoming shots or swings as you dart around the hectic, ever-changing island, dispatching foes. We mean hectic too. Scenery catches fire and falls apart, tables get overturned, buildings burn and crumble, and enemies constantly look to flank you and find alternative paths, forcing you to constantly keep on the move. You always feel like you're on the edge of failure, which only adds to the tension, making firefights dangerous and frightening.
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Battle is as big a part of Tomb Raider as navigation, and that's a surprisingly good thing, because Crystal Dynamics has been able to create a most elegant combat system. When enemies are near, Lara transitions into a crouching stance, and will automatically take cover near convenient walls and boxes. While most game characters take cover with obtrusive -- and often unwanted -- snaps, Croft manages to flow naturally and simply from cover to combat to regular movement, in a way that never seems obnoxious or unnecessary. The game's contextual animation is superb, and seems know exactly the correct thing to do in any given situation.
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Unless you are ignoring every single review aside from the ones you are quoting...and out of those, only one of them is hugely negative...
 
A

ArkkAngel007

Member
sublimit said:
Well...not really.At least not the reviews i've read/watched so far(EDGE,Eurogamer,GT,Machinima)People need to start reading the actual reviews and not just look at the scores.
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Did you read/watch the reviews?

Machinima was the harshest, saying the passive skills (not the weapons) weren't worth putting into and that the overly aggro AI made experimentation difficult.

Eurogamer liked the gameplay, though they wish that there were more puzzles and less shooting.

Edge felt that the combat was too easy.

GT thought the gameplay was fun. Just like the above though, they felt the gameplay clashed with the narrative. Again, that doesn't mean the gameplay is bad, just that all of Lara's actions in the gameplay until later came off feeling either antagonistic or premature of what was going in the narrative.

All the other reviews are in-line with the above, but didn't take as strong of an issue with it (yes, yes, integrity argument and all).
 
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