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Vagabond142
04-13-2006, 11:09 AM
Okay :D

I've been pimping on this game ever since playing the demo, so I thought it only fair to offer my biased and totally subjective review of the game :thumbsup: So, after picking it up last night and playing about 5 hours in, I thought I would offer my initial review

First of all, I am massively impressed with the whole feel of the game. I bought the PC version (preordered a long time ago, actually), and the controls feel mostly natural. What I mean by that is that for the PC, the crouch key is set to "F", while I'm used to the FPS standard of Left-CTRL. Just a quick dab into the options and the control setup fixed that. ALso, the game feels smooth and easily played, but still challenging as you have to time things, and in levels such as Ghana and Khazakstan, actually have pressure situations requiring you to quickly jump between ledges, bars, etc whilst dangling hundreds of feet in the air. It FEELS like a Tomb Raider game, instead of the platformer that was TR III-VI. They aimed to return to the feel of the original two games, and they caught the ball perfectly and ran with it.

Another thing that impressed me is the ability to go almost splinter-cell in stealthiness. When crouched, Lara makes almost no sound and you can sneak up on enemies, slide kick em and kill. Or, if you want to sneak up behind an enemy on a higher level, you jump and grab the ledge, then insead of the regular up+jump to haul yourself up, you press and hold up+jump and Lara does a handstand that generates no noise.

Graphically, this game is very very very very VERY pretty. If you have an nVidia card or get the XBOX 360 version, you also get some very light HDR and very heavy Pixel Shader 3 effects, which make the game look 10x prettier (EDIT: With the ATi X1800 or X1900 series of cards, you get HDR and AA at the same time). But even with a standard X800XT PE, I'm getting lovely framerate, glorious reflections and render distances to put most games to shame. A perfect example is the Ghana level right at the start, where you stand on a cliff and you can look down over the entire first part of the level and EVERYTHING is rendered, despite being nearly 500 (in game) feet away. And then you have to swan dive off the cliff (not a spoiler, as this is what the game tells you to do), which in itself is a lovely bit of rendering as there is no pop-in whatsoever. It's just smooth. Very well done.

Voices are okay, although Alistair does get on my nerves a bit. Lara's voice actor does her voice perfectly, being sharp and sarcastic when needed and soft and sad when needed. Zip is just kickass, and is also the comedic relief of the game, with some great one lines (Zip: "Every time you look DOWN, I want to throw UP" *this said while Lara is dangling by her fingertips on a mountainside above cloudlevel)

Difficulty-wise... on easy, the games enemies do provide a slight challenge, but not too much. Regular difficulty has you actually having to dodge shots instead of sitting there tanking them as the shots do more damage. On hard, you have to really fight tactically as well as master Lara's three special combat moves (jump kick, slide kick, and grapple yank) to be able to fight effectively. No matter what difficulty level, though, the game is FUN, so it works perfectly

Puzzles (a mainstay of the TR series) can be challenging, one of them requiring you to look very closely at the surrounding environment to find the last piece needed which is hidden in plain sight. That one puzzle actually had me looking for that piece for 20 minutes straight :whipped:. Otherwise, the puzzles are not entirely brainbusting, but they do require you to think logically about how it would work if you were there yourself. And believe me, if you take 30 minutes to figure out the hair-ripping one in Japan, then you're there with me :)

Overall... I would say that Eidos did the best thing they could have in dumping Core Design and bringing in Crystal Dynamics to produce and make the game, as it really is a return to the tomb-raiding feel of the first two games. While some parts may be frustrating, everything in the game has a solution. You just need to think about it (like "my, that air conditioning unit looks like it can be climbed up" then go and try it)




Graphics: 4.5/5 (Only cuz Oblivion looks prettier. I'd put this graphically where F.E.A.R. and Quake 4 are. Very nice, lighting effects, shadows, feels great to just stop and look around sometimes)

Gameplay: 4/5

Sound: 5/5 (Alistair is annoying, another character is slightly grating, but everything else feels right. Music is awesome, sound effects work perfectly)

Replayability: No score (haven't finished the game yet, but there are unlockable items so I'm assuming a few more playthroughs are yet to come)


OVERALL IMPRESSION: 4/5, or 8/10 if you use a 10 scale :P

Bill Cosby
04-13-2006, 03:12 PM
:whocares:

Genjuro
04-13-2006, 03:34 PM
^ what you mean? this is a good review. im wanting to buy it too so this helped.

anyways you said "standard X800XT PE" ..thats a pretty non-standard card man... heh.

thx

Vagabond142
04-13-2006, 03:59 PM
Cosby just likes to shit in everyones thread, don't mind him.

Well... after about 8.5 game hours, I've completed the main game o_O! It felt a LOT longer, but the game says 8 hours 32 minutes. I just spent the last 2.5 hours (after finishing the main quest) exploiring the Croft mansion, and I STILL can't find all the secret things to pick up. The guns were easy enough to find, as was the PLE, but the silver and gold rewards are hiding themselves very well, which is good, because it makes you think and look.

So, as a follow up review... I would say that the game is decent length. It's longer than I took to finish Quake 4, and that was on regular in Q4, and in this case, I actually want to play through again to find all the secrets I missed.

For the "Standard" card of a 9600 or 9800 Pro (which can be bought for less than $100), then, Genjuro, I would say turn off the FSAA or the fullscreen effects, one of the two, and it should run fine.

Honestly... I think this could be the best Tomb Raider... ever. o_O It has the best plot (just wait till you get 66% done in the game for the big smack-a-whammy to the face the game delivers :D), free-floating control, excellent graphics, widescreen mode, interactive cutscenes (those that have played Resident Evil 4 will understand what I mean), and a good smaggle of locations, outfits, weapons, etc, that really make it a deep game (if a tad short, then again, I AM playing Oblivion (which is about 200 hours just to do the main quest, apparently), so I think that adds a tiny bit of bias.

Vagabond142
04-14-2006, 06:35 AM
Another follow up.... I just discovered the acrobatics system :D Wow... just... wow. The designers really wanted to show off, so you can do everything from tumble rolls to handsprings to a full olympic tumbling sequence, customized as you want it if you can time your jump and duck buttons properly. Adds a whole new dimension to areas of the game needing speedy ground travel, as you just rip along doing these tumble/roll sequences. I'm going to have a lot of fun replaying the game now that I know these tricks :D

And I STILL haven't found all the bronze, silver and gold rewards in the game :dunno:

treg50
04-14-2006, 08:42 AM
Screenshots!

Vagabond142
04-14-2006, 12:33 PM
They'll be huge, but I already have a couple on my webspace. I'll take some more today :D

First three:

Lara doing a handstand from dangling off the side of a ledge
http://members.shaw.ca/vagabondreviews/TRL1.JPG

Beauty shot of Lara and the waterfall at the start of the Ghana level
http://members.shaw.ca/vagabondreviews/trl3.JPG

Dive! (the famous swan dive that's in all the preview trailers)
http://members.shaw.ca/vagabondreviews/trl4.JPG

Vagabond142
04-14-2006, 12:45 PM
More!

BOOBIES! (albeit polygonal ones)
http://members.shaw.ca/vagabondreviews/trl5.JPG

Rear view of "Evening Dress Lara"
http://members.shaw.ca/vagabondreviews/trl6.JPG

Title Screen
http://members.shaw.ca/vagabondreviews/trl7.JPG

From the opening cinematic... Lara climbing in Bolivia
http://members.shaw.ca/vagabondreviews/trl8.JPG

Close up from same cinematic
http://members.shaw.ca/vagabondreviews/trl9.JPG

Right near the end of the cinematic
http://members.shaw.ca/vagabondreviews/trl10.JPG

Vagabond142
04-14-2006, 12:51 PM
EVEN MORE! :eek:


Croft Manor main hall... if it looks exactly like the main hall from the Tomb Raider movies, it is. They used reference pictures to accurately recreate it for the game
http://members.shaw.ca/vagabondreviews/trl11.JPG


In geekspeak: t3h BEWM! :D
http://members.shaw.ca/vagabondreviews/trl12.JPG

An almost good shot of a kickoff from a baddies head (one of the special combat moves, goes into bullet time when you do it so that your shots do like 3x damage)
http://members.shaw.ca/vagabondreviews/trl13.JPG

Grapple swinging :D
http://members.shaw.ca/vagabondreviews/trl14.JPG

One of the motorcycle "levels" of the game... kinda like an arcade motorcycle game with guns :D
http://members.shaw.ca/vagabondreviews/trl15.JPG

Halfway through that motorcycle stage, you have to jump twice on a burned out bridge... shows some nice lighting effects on a non-HDR capable card
http://members.shaw.ca/vagabondreviews/trl16.JPG

Genjuro
04-14-2006, 01:00 PM
sweet. what are your graphic settings set to? AA? AF?

Vagabond142
04-14-2006, 01:01 PM
I'm running 1024x768 FSAA4x all effects on :)

People with high end nVidia cards also get HDR, which seriously makes the game look even prettier :D

Vagabond142
04-14-2006, 01:09 PM
Just a screenie for those that are brand-aware... yes, Lara, as in the movies, rides a Ducati :D
http://members.shaw.ca/vagabondreviews/trl17.JPG

And just for fun.... **THIS** is the puzzle that took me 20 minutes just to find the final bit. I won't say if it is or isn't in the screenshot, it's just that now, playing it again, I'm smacking my head wondering how I could have missed it :D
http://members.shaw.ca/vagabondreviews/trl18.JPG