Release Date: 27/08/2015
Played On: Droid / Win
Available On: Droid / iOS / Lin / Mac / PS4 / PSV / Win / WP
Time Played: 3h 15m on Win / more on Droid
Progress: 100% Complete
Developer: Square Enix Montreal
Publisher: Square Enix

Seems I've been playing a few mobile ports lately, which could reveal an improvement of mobile games, or perhaps a better understanding of how to port mobile games to PC. A while ago it seemed like every mobile port was guaranteed to be garbage, but it's hard to deny that developers have learned from past mistakes and there are some cool titles available if you look hard enough.

As with Hitman GO, I played Lara Croft GO on my phone before playing it again on PC. Both games follow the same basic formula, so it's no surprise that they both translate to a mousey keyboard control scheme fine. However, while Hitman was given a traditional board game treatment, Lara Croft manages to expand things a little with some more unrealistic elements that would be hard to replicate in a physical game.

The main difference is that Lara Croft GO has more animations than Hitman, as it isn't trying to look like a board game, even though it plays the same.

You're still tasked with navigating your way through each level, avoiding hazards and solving puzzles. Instead of pieces moving around a board, this time there are creatures and traps that have animated movements and appropriate sound effects. Later in the game there's even some alternate dimension stuff that makes good use of being a computer game instead of a physical board game.

However, much like Hitman, the premise is still one that could relate to a board game format if you wanted to do your head in with the complexities of each puzzle. Every enemy and space on the level follows strict rules that could be replicated easily enough, but keeping track of all the moving parts would sap all the fun out of playing the game.

Instead, Lara Croft GO ups the ante from Hitman GO, and adds some more complexity to the format. Different enemies have more complex movement patterns, while there are additional weapons and movement based puzzles that can often be real head scratchers. Aside from the theme, this is essentially an upgraded version of Hitman GO, which is a nice way to iterate on a successfully executed idea.

It would have been simple for the developers to just apply a Tomb Raider theme to the Hitman game and be done with it. Instead, there's a real feeling of every level and system in Lara Croft GO being applicable to the Tomb Raider theme. 

At the same time, there's a lot of the fundamentals from Hitman GO present here. It's clear where this game came from and the foundations it was built on, which is common in any series, but it's always nice to see it done well. Sure it's pretty obvious that Lara Croft GO is part of the "GO" series of puzzle games, but enough care has been given to applying the theme in ways that are new and appropriate.

There's not a lot else to say about Lara Croft GO, other than it's a decent port of another good game in the series. I know there's a Deus Ex version of the "GO" games out there as well, so I'm looking forward to giving it a go in the future and see how the formula can be adapted to the dystopian future.

If you like Tomb Raider as a theme and interesting puzzle games, this will definitely be worth checking out. There's enough content to make it worthwhile and enough variety to keep everything interesting to the end. It's not too hard, but offers a decent enough challenge with some fiendish puzzles here and there.

The mobile version works just as well as the PC version, so there's little to distinguish between the two. It all depends if you want to get touchy with your screen or not. 
 

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