Uncharted 4: Tomb Raider

[Joe Molotov]

I think Lara is secretly Wolverine. All of her wounds heal in minutes and she never breaks a bone despite taking +20 foot falls like every 10 seconds.

[Great Rumbler]

You know what people called that back in the day? A Sierra adventure game.

[cool breeze]

Ended up really liking this.  Reminded me of how I felt playing Batman Arkham Asylum.  Just a surprise how well made and well paced the entire game was. 

Between this and Metal Gear Rising, I'm liking Hollywood Gaming in 2013 considerably more than last year.

Sounds like it's selling well and that usually means a sequel.  Curious to see how they'll approach a Tomb Raider 2.  Unless there's another stranded in location conceit, it'll immediately lose one of the stronger parts of the game.  I have a challenge to Crystal Dynamics: In Tomb Raider 2, create a storyline in which Lara gets breast cancer.  Imagine the drama of a vulnerable Lara Croft still persisting in her worldly adventures despite her illness.

[Beezy]

MGR? Since when are japanese action games hollywood gaming?

[Rufus]

Finished this yesterday. Thankfully I didn't follow the pre-release coverage so I didn't get turned off by the marketing. Really enjoyed the game and their take on Lara. Didn't miss the lack of proper tombs, either. The traversal and hidden treasures that entice you to explore made up for it. The combat wasn't too exciting, but considering what came before (somersaulting about the place as you unload with your pistols) it's an improvement.

MGR? Since when are japanese action games hollywood gaming?

By association with Metal Gear, I guess.

[Don Flamenco]

I think Lara is secretly Wolverine. All of her wounds heal in minutes and she never breaks a bone despite taking +20 foot falls like every 10 seconds.

nerf that bitch's divekick then

[cool breeze]

MGR? Since when are japanese action games hollywood gaming?

cost $60, detective vision mode, scenes where you're running towards the camera as shit blows up around you...close enough


 

[Rahxephon91]

MGR? Since when are japanese action games hollywood gaming?

Since they saw God of War be successful.

[Don Flamenco]

MGR? Since when are japanese action games hollywood gaming?

cost $60, detective vision mode, scenes where you're running towards the camera as shit blows up around you...close enough

but it has great gameplay that isn't excused by any other production value b.s. 

[demi]

It also sold more than Metal Gear. Why compare to such low brand trash?

[cool breeze]

Can't even try the multiplayer on PC.  Second night of failing to find any games at all. 

Leaderboard lists 5,000 total players between Casual and Ranked (~4,400 and ~600 respectively).
 

[bork]

I tried multiplayer on 360 again last night- within two minutes, everyone else on my team quit and ended up being me against two other guys.  They just camped until the timer ran out. 

FUN FUN FUN

 

[demi]

The multi is horrible. No reason to use any gun, everyone camps with the Bow.

[Stoney Mason]

I didn't even try the mp. The controls and combat are so clearly tuned towards the single player that I figured there was no way it was going to work in a mp environment.

I agree with Demi that a co-operative horde experience ala Mass Effect 3 would have been the smarter way to go here.

[bork]

The multi is horrible. No reason to use any gun, everyone camps with the Bow.

The side I was on (shipwrecked Lara Croft allies) doesn't start with bows, either.  And there's no cover system in multi.     I was able to stop some of the camping with the grenade launcher, but you only have one round when you start.

I didn't even try the mp. The controls and combat are so clearly tuned towards the single player that I figured there was no way it was going to work in a mp environment.

The controls are slightly different in MP.  Something just feels off about MP.  It works in Uncharted, but not in this game.

I agree with Demi that a co-operative horde experience ala Mass Effect 3 would have been the smarter way to go here.

Uncharted also has this.  They should have done a better job of ripping off its MP.   

[G The Resurrected]

I finally got around to beating this game. I want another one soon damnit!

But it left me asking this question. When is a game truly borrowing from another game? The obvious Uncharted resemblances in tone and scope are honestly not an issue. Considering the main writer for Uncharted came from Crystal Dynamics and Tomb Raider's previous games. And the fact that Uncharted borrowed from the Tomb Raider universe to a certain extent. But here we are now with Tomb Raider 2013, an excellent but flawed game. If not for its designs but it's rather lack luster story. The story is thin and in some parts could have used some additional padding.

It sure does give me hope for another game with this Lara.

[chronovore]

Though I'll take Oscar's word that the writer is not associated, G's question is interesting from perhaps an unintended perspective: these days we get teams making related games but under a new license. How much does Rock Band borrow from Guitar Hero? How much did CoD borrow from Battlefield (or was that MoH)? How about Sleeping Dogs lifting from BULLY, Godfather, etc.? Does it count when the same creators are involved?

[Don Flamenco]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/7025-Tomb-Raider

[Rufus]

Well, he's not entirely wrong, especially about the character development stuff... It is more character affirming past the tutorial area. But I did like the incoherent game bits that don't come together to form anything coherent. Except the cairn raiding and eagle egg stealing stuff.

[Don Flamenco]

I agree with him completely...er, I went first, so he's agreeing with me.   

And the orgasmic hype and and launch campaign for another AAA title comes to a close. As it nears its 14th day on the market, you can see the cobwebs collecting on the full price copies.  As you walk past them, you glance and feel a touch of bittersweet nostalgia about the Tomb Raider launch-- how you read every preview, preordered the CE in advance, and waited until the midnight launch, where the people cheered you on as the first guy to pick up Tomb Raider in the world.  The excitement only grew as you drove home and ripped open the packaging.  You couldn't wait to finally pop the game in, but just to torment yourself a little more, you decide to take the Lara Croft figure out of the box and articulate it for a minute or so, putting it on different shelves and thinking of excuses to tell girls about it.  As usual, you turn back to irony to outwardly express standoffish feelings about things you truly love.  Only Lara is visible, but inside the closet lay 100s of others, mostly females from Japanese video games.  Stacked in boxes, staring blankly forward, their eyes reflecting the void of passion between you and them after they outlived their ephemeral novelty.  And so sits the Tomb Raider reboot on your shelf of shitty AAA game collector's editions.  You shudder a bit as you make your way to the cash register at the Harris-Teeter.  You remember arguing in favor of the game's honor online and feel embarrassment.  You mouth the words to yourself "Don Flamenco was right."

[demi]

You are beyond salty. LMFAO

[Rufus]

Mmm-hm.

[chronovore]

So much salt, I feel my blood pressure acting up.

[Don Flamenco]

you guys are boring

[chronovore]

http://hellmode.com/2013/03/21/this-isnt-the-article-i-wanted-to-write-about-tomb-raider/

A good write-up, though I am going to guess the author's experience is (hopefully) not a common one.

[demi]

It is pretty common for players to feel attached to the characters. I dunno about the whole choking bit, though.

[cool breeze]

Yeah, gradually making the main character act different (in game) is nice.  It's subtle and kinda cheap but it works for me.  Spec Ops does something similar.

[Rahxephon91]

Um did I miss something? After a rather important character's death Lara has some alone time while her cute asain friend says they'll be waiting for her. Then they mysteriously leave her for no reason(I guess they went to the beach?) and Lara never brings this up? Huh?

[demi]

They'll be waiting at the beach after she's done mourning. She does mention it, if you're referring to

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Roth

[close]

She says "Why didn't I just go with them?" when she enters the next area.

[Verdigris Murder]

Yeah. I pretty much agree with Masons thing about playing it through with the quickness.

It's really interesting the way Eidos have been on a roll. And massive Kudos to the J guys who gave Eidos room to make awesome games.

The Tsunami of all the gaming Japans' greats are slowly assembling to deliver an almighty smack down to the kinexbox.

Bolo, Feng, MGS guy, Sao Yung, the zitty sunglasses dude, JCVD.

[Verdigris Murder]

Cleverly mentioning Mason, just to reinforce your 'only ironically racist thing'.

[chronovore]

My copy arrived today! I am excited to play it for reals, finally.

[MCD]

My GOTY so far. I love everything about the game except for two things:

1- Why no food system like MGS3? That first scene where Lara kills deer was silly after you learn that this is all for lol XP.

2- Game is too easy even on hard. Same goes for the puzzles, if you wanna call them that.

[chronovore]

BUT SHE'S SO HUNGRY!
SHE SAYS SO SEVERAL TIMES!

I played just up through that area. The storytelling is pretty great so far. It feels, somehow, less intrusive than in MP3, but it's largely the same -- hallways of action which lead to cine activation. Game is pretty in single player; seems like multiplayer is less gorgeous. It felt fuzzy, and my framerate seemed lower.

[demi]

My GOTY so far. I love everything about the game except for two things:

1- Why no food system like MGS3? That first scene where Lara kills deer was silly after you learn that this is all for lol XP.

2- Game is too easy even on hard. Same goes for the puzzles, if you wanna call them that.

It's clear something happened in development and now everything is "for XP"

[Powerslave]

bitches go wild fo' dat xp

[Himu]

Rented it and love it. Balance between action and exploration is perfect so far. I'm liking it more than Uncharted so far. Only problem is that it tries too hard.

[demi]

What does "trying too hard" entail?

[Himu]

She falls on  a metal thing and is stabbed by it, caught in a bear trap and almost raped, falls off a thirty foot cliff and survives all in thirty minutes. It reeks of desperation. I'm pretty sure this games writer has a small dick because they can't write for shit. Another crappy video game power fantasy especially in how they try to make Lara a vulnerable cutesy waifu when she's doing.g stealth kills and head shots five minutes later.

[demi]

The games writer has no dick at all. It was by a woman.

[Stoney Mason]

It's a videogame.

By that I mean there will always be dissonance between the character and all the killing unless they are a psychopath. The nature of videogames with storytelling.

[Rufus]

Rhianna Pratchett has said in interviews that she (and the other writers on the team) would have liked the path from crying waif to killing machine to be a lot longer, but that decision was out of their hands.

[Great Rumbler]

Rhianna Pratchett has said in interviews that she (and the other writers on the team) would have liked the path from crying waif to killing machine to be a lot longer, but that decision was out of their hands.

That's the nature of the industry, unfortunately. Rather than letting it build up naturally [say, over the course of 3-4 hours], they've gotta get straight to the killing quick or gamers start to lose interest.

[Himu]

Damn. The secret tombs

[demi]

Looks like you can buy General without the extremely needlesss grinding. Might go back and try for 1000.

[Himu]

The combat in this game is fantastic. Great game!

[Himu]

getting new abilities like rope arrows to visit new places and solve new puzzles

Tomb Raider > Uncharted

[The Sceneman]

just finished the single player to 100% in 2 sittings over Easter.

A very good game but I dont really like the new direction Tomb Raider has taken.

Pros:
- gorgeous graphics and art
- enjoyable exploration and character upgrade progression
- good upgrade economy
- slick combat, better than Uncharted
- interesting story and a fitting origin tale for Lara
- great rental!

Cons:
- lack of enemy variety for the majority of the game
- first hour is nothing but bollocks QTEs and rollercoaster segments
- too many on rails set pieces taken from Uncharted (oh no the bridge is collapsing as you run across it). These are boring as you just hold forward and press A, no sense of excitement or accomplishment from these scenes. Oh yay I survived another insane death defying sequence that the game itself carried me through.
- didnt have the same feeling of danger as previous Tomb Raider games, essentially babbys first Tomb Raider.
- where were the Tombs? My favourite thing about the series was always the giant ancient tombs full of elaborate contraptions, the Tombs here were just shitty litte rooms. Really disappointed about this.
- didnt try the multiplayer as I playing on an offline box but so many cheevos were multi cheevs, which is a no-no for any game that isn't CoD/Halo/R*
But yeah main beef with the game was too much on rails Uncharted crap and lame Tombs. But the environments were all gorgeous. I was Upset you didn't get the explore the giant WWII battleship that was on Shipwreck Beach. Hopefully they add some DLC content.

Overall though a great game and looking forward to the sequel. Pumped on the TR buzz atm so gonna check out Tomb Raider: Anniversary soon.

8/10

[chronovore]

Check out TR: Legend before you get into Anniversary. I thought Anniversary was OK, but didn't finish it yet. I couldn't put Legend down.

I'm at the first appearance of the Oni, after the rescue plane's appearance. Had to turn it off, as there were small children present for their breakfast. Wasn't expecting things to go down this way.

I agree about the TR multiplayer; I'm not loving so many multi cheevos in a game which is so clearly about the singleplayer experience. OTOH, the multiplayer in Max Payne 3 is more compelling than the singleplayer. I'm serious, you need to get that game, if you've been jonesing for Red Dead Redemption multiplayer. It's got a similar feeling, but there is more depth and complexity, plus there's character ability progression, weapon modifications... I'm really enjoying it.

[chronovore]

Lara just found a lighter, some tape, and looked at one of her existing arrows and had a flash of inspiration. Apparently the tape she found is the primary ingredient in Greek Fire. Everyone is on fire now.

Level design continues to impress me; I keep wandering into new areas, only to realize they're areas I've been to before, from a different angle.

[Himu]

Lara just found a lighter, some tape, and looked at one of her existing arrows and had a flash of inspiration. Apparently the tape she found is the primary ingredient in Greek Fire. Everyone is on fire now.

Level design continues to impress me; I keep wandering into new areas, only to realize they're areas I've been to before, from a different angle.

We are at the same part.

And I know! When you head to save the pilot I was like "where the fuck am I?" but after five minutes it dawned on me it was the same area I was at night. Using another plane was genius to mask that you were in the same area because your brain isn't going to register that hey, that's part of ANOTHER plane.

It gets better when you head to the palace.

Level design is AAA+.

[chronovore]

Yes, good point. And I'm finally using the map to find the collectibles, which are nicely greyed out when undiscovered.

I am enjoying seeing "Brutal Headshot" happening a bunch. Hopefully I am not too tempted to go back and use fire arrows, which are not silent. Headshotting a guy, and then nailing his partner like a martini olive before he figures out where you are is just too much fun.

There are a couple of boo-scare parts where I jumped out of my skin.

Also, those shield-bearer asswipes can eat a dick now that Lara has a shotty. They swing, I scrabble then aim while shouting, "THIS IS MY BOOMSTICK."

Is Uncharted worth playing after this?

[The Sceneman]

Uncharted 2 is better than TR imo. Havent played the others

[Himu]

No way is Uncharted 2 better than TR. However it is quite fantastic. Uncharted 1 is meh but worth playing once, but I'd you're going for only one Uncha game go for 2.

[chronovore]

Has anyone here tried the TR multiplayer? I played a single game, before ever trying the single player, and was destroyed.

Looks like you can buy General without the extremely needlesss grinding. Might go back and try for 1000.

I tried this, but on a default character, not a purchasable character. Didn't work, but I'll try again with a purchasable character and report back.

[chronovore]

I'm still running through the single player campaign, and enjoying it, though some of the cinematic sequences of "escape" continue to remind me of the quote from this thread, "push 'up' to win."

On the opposite side of this scale, I am in what appears to be a stealth-centric sequence in a wide clearing, where both Cultists and wolves are in play. I enjoyed playing through this three times before succeeding, and was still surprised on the third attempt, when I thought I'd cleared the area except for two enemies, took my shot, and it alerted more enemies than I'd expected.

Less vaguely:

spoiler (click to show/hide)

After the 2nd rescue attempt, where the helicopter epic fails, the clearing where Cultists mention wolves, and then appear to have their own dogs (which look like wolves), I pulled some fabulous head shots. Maybe I was supposed to sneak up on them and 'silent kill' them, but my luck with timing and people turning around is not so great.

On my third try, I had cleared everyone except a small hutch or cave on the north side, and two guys were chatting. I took out one, and it seemed like two wolves and three more Cultists were spawned -- but they were probably just in areas I'd not seen. I had to run and B-Button scuttle like hell to get away, and ended up barely making it.

[close]

So much more satisfying than the larger ticket moments where it's pretty much obvious I'm on rails.

[Rufus]

Nah, I think those come out of the entrance to the next area. I stealthed the entire area as well, but there's no way to silently kill the chatting guards, I don't think.

[Don Flamenco]

in my defense, i wrote all those rants while crazy high and was half-joking/half-serious/100% bored with whatever i was doing that day.

[chronovore]

Well, I feel slightly more thorough, if that was scripted to spawn; funny that I'd botched the stealth twice, and tried to run, but the enemies felt ALL BUT OMNISCIENT after that. I think once Lara's spotted, she doesn't become unspotted; though the Cultists' dialog implies they have lost her, they were busy implying they'd lost me, while still firing on Lara's location, though she was in cover behind an outcropping of rock.

It was a great area, but it exposed some AI shortcomings, or at least what the AI could express vs. what it was actually doing.

[Powerslave]

in my defense, i wrote all those rants while crazy high and was half-joking/half-serious/100% bored with whatever i was doing that day.

backpedalling? lame