Posted in: Games, Video Games | Tagged: crystal dynamics, entertainment, games, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Square Enix, Tomb raider, video games, xbox, xbox one

Rise Of The Tomb Raider Review: A Master Of Croft

The Tomb Raider reboot we got two and half years ago was a neat take on the iconic franchise. It took the DNA of the old games and modernised them to tell a story of how Lara Croft went from archeologist to 'the Tomb Raider' by trapping her on a mysterious island, having to kill to survive. With a focus on combat and environmental platforming, it felt like the old games, just made for a 2013 audience. It felt like a game that, while not entirely a masterpiece itself, had massive potential going forward.

Rise of the Tomb Raider is the first swing at realising that potential, and it's certainly an interesting case. In many ways, it is a very, very confident step forward in terms of gameplay and design for the franchise. In other ways, it's a complicated narrative misstep for Lara Croft's journey, continuing problems that the original game had.

First, let's deal with that story. Where as before the butler was the one we locked in a refrigerator, this time it's Lara who is thrown into the freezer by landing herself in Siberia (after a brief stint in Syria.) Obsessed with clearing her father's disgraced name, she takes on his mission of following a lead that hints to an artefact that could possibly grant immortality. The real problem here, in terms of narrative construction, is that it has Hero with a 1000 Faces seeping through ever pore. There is nothing particularly awful, it's just so by the numbers in terms of the 'hero story', it is hard to get too caught up the central mystery of the game. It feels like a construction as opposed to a story, thus making the telling feel very rigid. On that note, the dialogue doesn't help proceedings either, betraying a lot of the character work done by Crystal Dynamics. The bad guys feel evil in unnuanced ways, and they speak like bad 80s action movie villains, only it's 2015 and this is far too poe-faced for any fun to be had from it. There is no doubting their moral standing or seeing their point of view, as they are merely bad people, with selfish intentions.

That is probably for the best too, because if I didn't believe that these were all universally bad people through and through, I'd probably feel like a psychopath while playing the game. This came up a lot in the discussion around the 2013 reboot, it being a prime example of ludonarrative dissonance. This essentially means that there is a gap of logic between story and gameplay. Lara was an inexperienced archeologist in cutscenes, while murdering hundreds of people in gameplay. This certainly rears its head up again in Rise of the Tomb Raider, except that Lara seems to have embraced killing people gleefully. While she seems to be a heroic paragon in cutscenes, she seems to have no problem shooting arrows into people's heads and shoving knifes into their jugular at the slightest encouragement. To humanise these enemies at all would be to have the player really ask if Lara's actions are at all justified.

To illustrate this, allow me to paint a picture. There was a moment towards the conclusion of Rise of the Tomb Raider where I had a reflection about having 'become the monster'. I was swimming in a pool of water, while guards were getting picked off by 'entities', that for spoiler reasons, I won't get into. I heard one of the guards shout "Stay away from the water" as I silently took out another of his friends, submerging them beneath the water and pushing them to the bed below. I was their biggest fear compared to the other things picking them off. Croft had gone from archeologist to Dianoga in no time. For someone who is not a mercenary or soldier, but a rather good archeologist, it seems Lara might need a couple more of those therapy sessions she had in announcement trailer for the game. For a character that was rising to become the 'Tomb Raider' in her last outing, and is still apparently rising to the mantle in this one, I am getting a little concerned if that title isn't just full on murderer of bad guys, rather than master archeologist.

However, putting all that to one side, hoo doctor, Rise of the Tomb Raider is a real treat. The experience of existing and traversing this world is wonderful. The game handles like a dream, which is never an easy thing to achieve in 3D platforming. Climbing around ruins, caves, cliff faces and glaciers is a real joy to behold and it takes the great ground work that was placed by it predecessor in these areas and improves them in every way. If you enjoyed that game, there is tons to admire here. The environments are very well designed with tons of little secrets to find, and they look truly incredible. The level and environmental design achieve a wondrous synergy here that makes them feel like one and I never got bored of exploring the Siberian wilderness. The 'camera work' here is all apart of this too, making the experience of jumping from ledge to ledge feel weighty and important. The puzzle solving, which is really the true survivor of the old Tomb Raider games, is consistently inventive, wich is quickly becoming one of the most identifiable positive marks of the franchise.

Also returning and improved to the game is the myriad of worthwhile side activities to get involved in. The main addition, or rather expansion, is that of the Tombs. While Tomb Raider certainly had them scattered around, there is a much bigger focus here. These manifest themselves mostly as mini-environmental puzzles, which as I've stated, is one of the strongest parts of the game. You could be manipulating water to your advantage or figuring out the best way to ascend to the peak of a tomb. Most of them are shorter than I'd actually like, but they are a fun side portion of the game that give you worthwhile abilities. You could also go hunting for exotic creatures to gather rare pelts which can then be used to add to your dizzying arsenal. The level of customization and upgrading applicable to your gear is something to behold. It nearly gets to the point of being too broad in options, but just about keeps your choice manageable. If you just want to fire the game up and spend time finding secrets and, well… raiding tombs, Rise of the Tomb Raider is a hell of a good time.

Ultimately though, I have to go back in the series to really underline the success and less successful portions of the title. Tomb Raider 2013 had an issue where story and gameplay seemed to be in lieu of one another, and Rise of the Tomb Raider seems to have pronounced that gap even more. The game's weaknesses are more exaggerated here, which is to say the story is a huge stumble. It's strength's though, which comprise of just about everything else, are much stronger. While the narrative's problems are not insignificant to the whole experience and I feel they are worthy of consideration from a logical standpoint, it will only make up a sliver of your experience. The meat of this game is solid, and even more than that, gorgeous. To see its mechanics interlock with such finesse and confidence gives the whole experience an air of elegance. If you loved the last game for the traversal and overall 'Tomb Raid-yness', this is just what the doctor ordered. Crystal Dynamics understand the power of their gameplay and have found exciting and engaging ways to evolve. This series continues to show excellent promise with solid ground work continuing to be placed with a true grasp of its craft. Now, if we could just find something worthwhile to do with Lara Croft as a character in the next one, we'd have a true knockout on our hands.

Score: 8.5/10

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