• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Rise of the Tomb Raider - Review Thread

YIKES, this is gonna end up in the 80s on Metacritic, lower than the last game smh.

Had a feeling this wouldn't live up to Tomb Raider Definitive Edition anyways, that game was amazing and possibly better than Uncharted imo.

Based off Leading Platforms on metacritic Rise of The Tomb Raider is rated better

Tomb Raider 2013 - 86
Tomb Raider Definitive Edition - 85
Rise of the Tomb Raider - 88

So not sure what youre on about
 

a.wd

Member
That stuff was definitely great – but they didn't commit to it. In fact, it is never brought up again. The game's story is in shreds throughout - they start with the 'I don't want to kill' and then drop it for 'Killing is easy' within 2 hours of gameplay, and neither are ever mentioned again throughout the rest of the game, in place of generic 'we have to save the world' schtick. They don't use those early ideas to explore the character. In fact, practically nothing in the game is used to explore the character. Everything in TR2013 is superficial, throwaway – story beats just for the sake of story beats without any actual thought or meaningful character writing. The 'killing was surprisingly easy' thing is mentioned in that one line, then never again.

This is an absolute failure of writing. She never needs to come to terms with anything or think about anything.

Also Roth is an insultingly bad one-dimensional character with an awful, awful Scottish accent. (I'm from Scotland and nobody sounds like that.)

The Uncharted origins comparison is also totally irrelevant, because Uncharted has never tried to tell the origin story (except minor plot-related scenes in 3). But more importantly, Uncharted never felt like it had to tell an origin story, because Naughty Dog have a great grasp of what makes a great story - not origins. So they never showed us Nathan Drake's initial forays into murder, theft or crime, because we don't need to know it. The connection built up between the player and Drake is borne from how well written Drake's dialogue is - he's incredulous when something suspicious is going on, he's upbeat and jokey when things are relaxed or a trial is over, he's serious and melancholic when things go badly wrong (eg the whole middle/late Uncharted 2), they've developed a really specific lexicon and speechstyle for him so he sounds and acts like a real person. He is just a 100x better written character.

TL;DR: Naughty Dog know what they're doing, Crystal Dynamics don't.

(I still think Rise of the Tomb Raider will be a good game, just like TR2013. I just have 0 faith in their narrative capabilities. The videos we have seen before release reinforce that, with bad, off-tone dialogue and generic screams in place of solid story beats.)

Roth not having a believable accent aside (shee you chimmy), how often do you need story beats to be repeated? And Drake being well written again, I think that's just down to how quickly you can suspend your own disbelief.

For the sake of having an enjoyable video game she goes from "I dont wanna kill, oh shit no, Bambi pls" to "that's right Run/I have a machinegun ho ho ho" but that process is done in front of you because it is an origin story, the whole premise of the game is to look at what it took to change a normal person into someone who will eventually take on a Tiger with two handcannons.

In that I think they have succeeded, Lara is a violent person, and she does it very well, but she doesn't fetishise it. She doesn't throw jokes in after killing people, she reacts to the situation more often than not with trepidation and is constantly looking for a way forwards that doesn't involve combat, and a lot of the story beats in the game come from her sneaking around and not confronting people directly, the comedy comes from her being sarcastic and standing up for herself as a woman.

Whereas imo Drake has always been a one note character, and that's why some have very little problem with identifying /relating to his character, when they started exploring his backstory and started to try and give some justification to his character in 2/3 then ND seems like they agree with me that the charcter is too shallow to continue doing the things he is without coming off as unrelateable. When I play uncharted I have to do it in the same way I watch many blockbuster movies, I have to not think about what he does and his motivations outside of "get the shiny" I feel that CD (so far) has done a better job of providing believable motivations and a character that reacts accordingly.
 

watership

Member
Didn't expect people to be saying this may be the best Tomb Raider ever. Really happy to hear that Lara is now a complex character and the story is great.
 

jg4xchamp

Member
Good reviews, read through the few websites I'm cool with giving a click to. Not fond of the use of the word "modernized" for the direction the series has taken. I can agree in the sentiment that they made the core combat and the controls modern (and good), but the direction itself is they went from an puzzle heavy adventure game to an action game where the puzzles are an optional tertiary element of the game.

Either way could bite the bullet early, but honestly would rather play the 60 frames PC version so I'll wait.
 
Wow, these reviews are stellar! I truly loved the Tomb Raider reboot, and I'm glad the sequel has lived up to the hype! Now to just wait for it to release on PS4 :p
 
Great reviews. This just jumped ahead of Fallout for me (and I love Fallout).

Still won't day one either of them, enjoying Borderlands 2 too much.
 

shinnn

Member
YIKES, this is gonna end up in the 80s on Metacritic, lower than the last game smh.

Had a feeling this wouldn't live up to Tomb Raider Definitive Edition anyways, that game was amazing and possibly better than Uncharted imo.

It will be higher than the reboot.. but

Destructoid: Tomb Raider review:
This is one reboot that manages to be unequivocally superior to its predecessors - 8.5

Destructoid: Rise of Tomb Raider review:
Rise of the Tomb Raider is better than its predecessor - 7.5

Its really hard to put certain things on numbers. Yeah I know, different reviewers bla bla bla.
 

kodecraft

Member
Square was NOT GOING TO MAKE THIS GAME until Microsoft said "WE'LL FUND IT" and that is how it got made.

This is not paid exclusivity.

This is Microsoft paying Square to make another Tomb Raider.

Can we cool it with the Uncharted mentions and whining about Microsoft? An exclusive's an exclusive. It's reviewing well. No need to start whining about that.

Nah, this ain't SFV baby!

Anyways, glad the game is getting so much love. Can't wait to play this!
 
Metacritic: Rise of the Tomb Raider - 88

Opencritic.: "We want to come up with a totally different way of scoring games, with no weighting, to give a fuller picture of how games are being rated".

Rise of the Tomb Raider - 88.
 

Osahi

Member
What are the optional tombs like?

Easily the best parts of the game. They combine some traversal puzzels and platforming, with well designed logic puzzels that feel grounded in reality (as oposed to: turn that statue to face the sun and push that button-stuf). Really clever stuff at times, never to hard, but always fun to crack.

Such a shame that apart from the Syria section and some stuff at the end, they banish the great puzzles to optional quests.

It's puzzling actually
badampam tss!
 
Pretty nice reviews. Though I was hoping it'd hit like 90,eh well... I guess cause the franchise is sacred as hell for me so a 90 would be amazing.
Even more especially nice considering that 40 minutes ago I got an email from Microsoft that theyre preparing to ship my copy. \m/

Game of the year for me right there. Loved the last TR game a hell of allot.
 

dr_rus

Member
Looks like this will end up with a higher average score than Fallout 4.

I did not see that coming.

Exclusive launches tend to have that. It'll even out once the rest of the versions will be launched. I'm not expecting the game to get many 9s on PC and PS4 in a year.
 
Gonna pick up a forty and dive in, as is my tradition with new game launches that come out on nights where I dont have priorities the next day.
 

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
I was going to wait for ps4 but I think I might buy it on Black Friday if I find a good deal...
 

10k

Banned
I was going to wait for ps4 but I think I might buy it on Black Friday if I find a good deal...
What about PC?

I'm so tempted to buy this even though it's against my policy of "if it's on PC or coming to PC don't buy a console port"
 

BeforeU

Oft hope is born when all is forlorn.
Man based on the reviews, this game will certainly sell those Xbox Onw bundles. I mean Unity sold so many even though the game sucked lol
 
Wow great scores, 87 meta means this is the highest rated xbox exclusive! Great Job CD!

Ori and the Blind Forest is higher unless you're not including "console exclusives" and calling Tomb Raider "Xbox exclusive" because it's on 360 instead of PC.

And there is your clickbait review. Every game gets one, who's it gonna be for Fallout 4? LOL, they give Fallout 4 a 6 as well. Fucking morons.

Are they counted on Metacritic? Also Destructoid is giving out 7.5 scores to the big titles lately (Halo 5, RotTR, Fallout 4 etc...). They seem to think they are EDGE Magazine now.
 

zsynqx

Member
The graphics look so good in the video reviews. Probably the best looking current gen game, with the exception of the Order and probably Uncharted when that gets released.

Ori and the Blind Forest is higher unless you're not including "console exclusives" and calling Tomb Raider "Xbox exclusive" because it's on 360 instead of PC.

This is true.
 

Nemesis_

Member
Xbox World Australia - 10/10

http://www.xboxworld.com.au/home/2015/11/09/rise-of-the-tomb-raider-review/

Rise of the Tomb Raider is easily one of the strongest single player experiences available on the Xbox One thus far. The gameplay is enjoyable and engaging regardless of what your play style is, and the combat mechanics are tailored to allow either violent or silent approaches. The long missed tombs and puzzles have been reincorporated in a manner that will see long-time fans responding with fervour. The worlds are larger, more open and more inviting than ever to be explored and turned inside out. And to add icing to this already rich cake, it is presented beautifully too.

Sure, there are some issues like some rather temperamental stealth mechanics and a storyline that any Tomb Raider (or even fantasy television) would have already seen hundreds of times before. But as a game, Rise of the Tomb Raider is triumphant. It’s taken everything that the 2013 reboot did, built upon it with all the components missing from that “classic” Tomb Raider experience and literally broken open the world for all kinds of exploration and pilfering.

This is, without a doubt, a perfect example of a marriage between old and new. During this busy holiday season, do not underestimate Rise of the Tomb Raider. It’s a fantastic single player experience that is definitely worth your time and one that I cannot recommend enough. Fantastic.

Stevivor - 10/10

http://stevivor.com/2015/11/review-rise-of-the-tomb-raider/

Is Rise of the Tomb Raider the best looking current-gen title available right now? No. But does that matter? Also no, because this is the defining action-adventure game of this generation. It is frequently incredible and occasionally flawless, but always a damn good time. Where Tomb Raider succeeded, Rise perfects. It treads a well-worn path where countless others have gone before and takes detours that lead to places you never thought of. It’s at once a reinvention and refinement of the genre and stands proudly as a enormous achievement in game design. While Tomb Raider made us care about Lara Croft again, Rise is a bold statement that she is the undisputed ruler of action-adventure.
 
Reboot was highly rated too but found it lacking massively after the first hour or so. Would of rated 6/10 personally

Hoping the experience in this one is more adventure and far less action. Tomb Raider is always at its best when she is exploring and commenting and doing acrobatics then when you are pointing and shooting stuff. At work so unable to read reviews but hopefully they talk about that
 

zsynqx

Member
Based on reviews, the story is probably going to be one of the game's lowpoints, with a ridiculous premise that takes itself too seriously (like Spectre) and a very dour protagonist. Basically, it sounds like if you weren't a fan of the reboot's narrative, you won't like this either. Which is too bad as they took all other criticism of the first game to heart. At least I know what to expect when my copy comes tomorrow.

Oh ffs! This doesn't mean I won't love it but this is what I was most worried about.
 
Top Bottom