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Rise of the Tomb Raider - Review Thread

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
You have a fundamental misunderstanding of the term cross gen. Uncharted 4's core features don't have to be ported to PS3. Tomb Raider's did have to be ported down to 360, which means they had a lateral alteration of their engine because they did not have a significant gain in the scope they could design the game within. The game's core features, maps, AI, and much of its geometry had to be created within a scope that made them scalable to 360 in strong quality as required by the publisher from conception. No core features were done that couldn't be done on 360 because it is true cross gen. Uncharted 4 is straight up using PS4, no need to collaborate with any PS3 requirements. It isn't cross gen and its engine and scope is significantly taken out of last gen's reach across the board.

AI and level design that are impossible to scale back to last gen unmarketable quality loss? No problem for Naughty Dog on Uncharted 4, but totally not an option when Crystal had to collaborate on Nixxes limits.

So what your saying is, you have proof that Crystal dynamics and Nixxes both agreed on the limit and scope of Crystal dynamic's game specifically so that it could be ported?

Again, do you have any proof of that?


That's like saying Titanfall was kneecapped on PC and XB1(BX1 which had to make cuts of its own specifically to adhere to a decent framerate), specifically so that the 360 version could even be run, which we know isnt the case.


I wanna say I heard it in an interview with Phil back at E3.

Why don't we get this kind of whining for SFV? It's the same situation, except SFV was guaranteed to come out no matter what.

That's wrong.

Are you going to argue that Titanfall was always exclusive to XB1 permanently too?
 

DevilFox

Member
Expected but it sounds like a bigger, shiny TR2013, which is no good to me. Even the first one received great reviews but I hated pretty much everything of it, so.. yeah, to each his own. I'll see when it comes to PC with a very good deal, as for now my money are safely placed on Fallout 4. :)
 

DocSeuss

Member
So what your saying is, you have proof that Crystal dynamics and Nixxes both agreed on the limit and scope of Crystal dynamic's game specifically so that it could be ported?

Again, do you have any proof of that?



That's wrong.

That's like saying Titanfall was kneecapped on PC and XB1(BX1 which had to make cuts of its own specifically to adhere to a decent framerate), specifically so that the 360 version could even be run, which we know isnt the case.

Unlike most people, I'm not really in this for the thread wars. I'd heard it back in June. Maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong, don't particularly feel invested in a knock-down, drag-out discussion about it, though.

Sorry Doc, I think you have that reversed (at least based on interviews etc SF5 wouldn't have been made without Sony. Whether you believe that or not is another story!)

It's possible. *shrug*

I don't much care either way. I'm just tired of seeing people constantly scream about how evil MS is whenever ROTR happens. Here, the game's getting good reviews, and we've got people whining about how this is a bad thing, like... wtf, seriously?
 

steven28

Member
Seems like a really solid game much like the first one.I'm still pretty disappointed about having a year long wait to play it but the thing is i don't know if i will care about it in a years time after uncharted 4 and so many other big games in 2016.
 
D

Deleted member 471617

Unconfirmed Member
Wow, I thought it was gonna get more 7s and 8s like the last one, ultimately being something that I enjoy a lot when I get it on the PC, but... this... is making me think about moving my plans up.

But no, I still need to finish Mad Max and MGSV.

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.

1 - Mad Max was awesome and the most fun that I have had with any game this generation.

2 - MGSV is in my opinion overrated and overhyped. Good game but nowhere near the high 9's and 10's it received.

3 - Rise of the Tomb Raider was announced and shown months before Microsoft had anything to do with the game. Game was already being developed by Crystal Dynamics. Microsoft paid for the game to be a one year timed exclusive and because they wanted it to go head to head against Uncharted 4. Saying that the game wasn't going to be made without Microsoft is wrong period.

4 - Rise of the Tomb Raider is NOT a full or console exclusive. It's simply a timed exclusive which out of the three variations of "exclusive", timed is the worse one. Regardless, im happy as hell with the reviews the game is getting as im a fan of Crystal Dynamics and just purchased an Xbox One the other day mainly for this game. Just didn't want to wait a year.

5 - Uncharted is a great franchise and I have no doubt that Uncharted 4 will be another great game and will hopefully be what Batman: Arkham Knight and MGSV weren't - a great finale. With that said, I enjoyed Tomb Raider 2013 over Uncharted 3 but at the same time, they're not exactly the same type of game. Uncharted is more action sequence oriented where as Tomb Raider is more on exploring, hunting, crafting, upgrading and surviving. Both are great period.
 

Spinifex

Member
It's possible. *shrug*

I don't much care either way. I'm just tired of seeing people constantly scream about how evil MS is whenever ROTR happens. Here, the game's getting good reviews, and we've got people whining about how this is a bad thing, like... wtf, seriously?

I just hope Square / CD were compensated handsomely, because this game will likely struggle to outsell its predecessor.
 

DOWN

Banned
It's possible. *shrug*

I don't much care either way. I'm just tired of seeing people constantly scream about how evil MS is whenever ROTR happens. Here, the game's getting good reviews, and we've got people whining about how this is a bad thing, like... wtf, seriously?
People are saying it is a bad thing that Microsoft paid to stop a game on track to be on the platforms where most of its fans are from releasing on those platforms. They didn't save this aready announced, already in development game one bit.

No one has any issue with good reviews. It's with the circumstances Microsoft and Square created for this release.
 
I haven't played the last one but I do have it downloaded to my Xbox one.

I've also got this preloaded - does anyone that has played both think they need to be played in order?
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
Apparently Microsoft is bad for having a 3rd party exclusive
People keep getting confused by this. The primary reason I believe there was a backlash stems from the fact that the game was first announced for all platforms at E3. If it were always a third party exclusive I think the response would be different. People would still be annoyed, but not in the same way.
 

jfoul

Member
The reviews are about what I expected when Brad Shoemaker was holding back his excitement on the Bombcast because of the embargo.

I was going to wait for the PC/PS4 version if this scored in the 7.5 range, but the devs squashed most of my concerns and hit it out of the park. XB1 it is, I'm not waiting a year to play what seems to be a great game.

I think this game ends up being around $35 at Best Buy with GCU + $10 Pre-Order Certificate and Discover Best Buy Cash Back.
 

T.O.P

Banned
CTWvq-9WUAAlnf2.jpg:orig

User Score is gonna go red in 10 minutes after it opens, watch it
 

big_z

Member
You tell me? It's launching on the same day as the most hyped game of the last 3 years with almost no marketing...

has there been any marketing on tv or youtube etc? I still see halo ads constantly so maybe theyre still focused on that and will push tomb raider in a week or two but it seems unusually quiet from the marketing side.
 

StoveOven

Banned
I haven't played the last one but I do have it downloaded to my Xbox one.

I've also got this preloaded - does anyone that has played both think they need to be played in order?

The first one is a lot of fun, but I doubt there will be much story context you need for this game. If you're excited to jump into the new game, just do so.
 

statham

Member
People keep getting confused by this. The primary reason I believe there was a backlash stems from the fact that the game was first announced for all platforms at E3. If it were always a third party exclusive I think the response would be different. People would still be annoyed, but not in the same way.
They never announced platforms.
 

Floody

Member
I haven't played the last one but I do have it downloaded to my Xbox one.

I've also got this preloaded - do you think they need to be played in order?

Probably not, the writing was by far the weakest thing about the first, but I'd recommend playing it first, just because it's pretty great.
 

hawk2025

Member
has there been any marketing on tv or youtube etc? I still see halo ads constantly so maybe theyre still focused on that and will push tomb raider in a week or two but it seems unusually quiet from the marketing side.


It's part of the Xbox fall montage commercial, but I haven't seen a single dedicated commercial yet.
 
Great scores but I'm happy to wait a few months for the PC release. Got enough things to play at the moment, plus the last game was a good port so I have faith this will be too.
 

Harmen

Member
Great scores! Had a blast with the reboot, so I am happy this one looks to be of similar quality.

I was kind of worried this title would be low 8 material. That would be fine with me, but with the current competition that would probably mean a huge loss in sales. This period is packed with massive AAA games. These 9's however will surely convince some gamers. And if the game is really good, it should do well too in the eventual ports.

But still, I am a bit worried this won't do well in terms of sales though, with Halo 5 and Fallout 4, and recently Batman, Witcher, and MGS. I don't mind the exclusivity, I really don't. Was there really not a better timeframe to release this one? (a few weeks later perhaps?). Even the marketing seems somewhat absent, opposed to other recent titles. Why?
 

tuxfool

Banned
Probably not, the writing was by far the weakest thing about the first, but I'd recommend playing it first, just because it's pretty great.

I'll second this. If the writing is improved in this game, the terrible writing in the first game won't be that appealing.

However, some reviews don't actually seem to hold the writing here in much esteem either.
 

SRTtoZ

Member
Yea where the hell is the marketing? I don't watch a ton of TV anymore, mainly just sports but ive seen a ton of the Sony commercials (montage ones and the BF one) and of course Fallout 4 because that song gets stuck in my head every time it comes on! Are they sending this game to die? :(

I mean its great that we know its coming out and will be a good game but we are the very small hardcore minority.
 

Rosur

Member
Glad its getting 9's. Sound like good improvements over the first, will be picking up day 1 when the PC version is out.

I hope Square still get good sales out of the Xbox One version though.
 

Floody

Member
has there been any marketing on tv or youtube etc? I still see halo ads constantly so maybe theyre still focused on that and will push tomb raider in a week or two but it seems unusually quiet from the marketing side.

I always get an ad for it on Twitch, but haven't seen anything for it elsewhere.
 

El-Suave

Member
If they followed the template of the first one , they should have a great game on their hands and it's too early for franchise fatigue - so I expected these scores.
 

Oh-my-goooooooooood. Beautiful.

Review related: I'm glad to hear the gameplay and exploration is as good as the last one - and yay, more tombs! The game looks stunning. That being said, I'm really disappointed to hear that CD has doubled-down on trying to make Lara realistic in what is an inherently unrealistic genre. (I'm pleased that Eurogamer's review and FemFreq's review went over this.) There always felt like such a dissonance between The One Woman Army that is Lara Croft in gameplay, which then weirdly contrasted with whatever suffering and trauma Crystal Dynamics would heap on Lara during the cutscenes. At the very least, I'm happy the poor gal seems to be in a bit less pain than the last one.
 
The first one is a lot of fun, but I doubt there will be much story context you need for this game. If you're excited to jump into the new game, just do so.

Don't worry about not having played the reboot. You don't need to have done so to get what's going on here. They're different.

Both are great games, but I have a soft spot for the original reboot.
 

bigjig

Member
Wow, I thought it was gonna get more 7s and 8s like the last one, ultimately being something that I enjoy a lot when I get it on the PC, but... this... is making me think about moving my plans up.

But no, I still need to finish Mad Max and MGSV.



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.

You don't honestly believe that MS would foot the development bill for a game that'll come to PS4, do you? :/
 

StoveOven

Banned
Don't worry about not having played the reboot. You don't need to have done so to get what's going on here. They're different.

Both are great games, but I have a soft spot for the original reboot.

I think you quoted the wrong person. You just repeated what I was telling the other guy
 

AHA-Lambda

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.

Eh? This isn't SFV or bayonetta 2, there's been no proof of this.
 

Markitron

Is currently staging a hunger strike outside Gearbox HQ while trying to hate them to death
Uh, if Bluepoint were in charge of downgrading UC4 for PS3, it would be the exact same thing.

Its not an up port, nor does it have any effect on the XB1 lead platform version, its a downport done by a talented studio

I'm not disputing your point, just pointing out why they are perceived differently. A cross-gen game will never be viewed on the same level as a next-gen exclusive.
 
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