WeView Verdict: Tomb Raider

It seems we’ve got a fair number of Tomb Raider fans here on TSA. While the reception for Lara’s reboot wasn’t as overwhelming as it is for some games, it was certainly more than positive, with lots of you getting behind Crystal Dynamic’s new spin on the series.

tactical20 certainly fell on this side, saying that “of the 7 or 8 Tomb Raider games I’ve played… this was easily one of the best”, and bunimomike said it “was superb”. In fact it was so good that it brought him back to a series he’d basically fallen out of love with, saying that the series had got to the point where new titles “appeared to be the same game but re-badged and pushed out for yet another outing” before this year’s reboot for the series.

JR. liked it too, although given that they did like the Tomb Raider movies I don’t know if we can trust their judgement. Anyway, while they were a fan of the game overall, saying that the “Gameplay/story/voice acting/graphics are all excellent and some of the best this gen”, they did feel that “the five or six mini rooms (I can’t call them tombs)… were really quite poor”. On the opposite side of this issue was RocketSOL, commenting that “The few tombs scattered around are very enjoyable however as they drop the combat and throw in a nice puzzle to solve”.

RocketSOL also commented on the game’s hunting mechanics, which they felt weren’t “used enough as I completed the tutorial for it and never bothered again”. XisTG took a similar stance, saying that the fact “You don’t need to hunt” bothered them, a sentiment teflon agreed with. Taking a slightly different attitude was SpikeyMikey23, who pointed out that Lara was “Sick to her stomach killing one animal, but then absolutely fine with the massacre she leaves in her wake”. That is a bit of a frustrating hypocrisy.

Going much further into the negative aspects of the game was transbaconist, who you may know better as bacon_nuts. It’s safe to say that they pretty much hated the entire experience, saying that while “the developers were trying something new, which is great, I don’t feel it worked, which isn’t”. More specifically they felt like the game had an “awful story and main character”, with an incredibly clichéd supporting cast. They also didn’t understand Lara’s motivation for going out an exploring even more, given the atrocities she’s suffered through.

So, on that rather negative note we move onto this week’s verdict. Just one person said you should Avoid Lara’s adventure, I’m sure you can guess who, while four felt it was only worth picking up from the Bargain Bin. Another five felt you should Rent It (although not via LoveFilm any more), with the remaining eighteen saying you should Buy It.

As for this week’s poll… well it’s vanished again. There was a two way tie for first place in last week’s poll, so we’ll be looking at Crysis 3 tomorrow, while Super Stardust Delta will be in the limelight next week.