Release Date: 19/11/2015
Played On: PS4
Available On: Lin / Mac / PS4 / Win / XB360 / XBO
Time Played: 18h 52m
Progress: Completed / 89% Overall
Developer: Crystal Dynamics
Publisher: Square Enix / Microsoft Studios
Across all forms of media, a reboot can be a risky undertaking. The good ones revitalise an idea and bring it up to date with modern techniques and technologies. While the bad ones leave fans of the original betrayed and wronged for having their beloved art bastardised into something else. Unfortunately it seems like a lot of reboots fall into the bad category, but I actually enjoy rebooted video games for a number of key reasons.
You might be forgiven for thinking that perhaps the greatest improvements in gaming have been thanks to better hardware. Of course many limitations are created by the available technologies of the time, but these are primarily limitations of scope. Levels can only be as big as the hardware can handle, graphics can only reach a certain level of detail, and systems like physics and fluids require a lot of computations that may not be possible. All of these things will continue to improve as hardware becomes more powerful, but I would argue that none of this is all that important anyway.
I rarely see a new game that I think looks awful these days, and I've enjoyed some of the biggest open worlds we’ve ever seen. Procedural generation might be a bit of a dirty word, but we've even figured out how to create near-infinite worlds to play in. These things are great, and go a long way to improving the way we interact with games, but they exist on a predictable scale limited only by contemporary standards. What really impresses me are all the little iterations on systems that are rarely discussed as often as textures and how real a character's face might look.
Playing a reboot or a remake of a classic is a great way to realise how far game design has come. Developers are getting better at telling stories in an interactive fashion. They're so talented these days at sign-posting progression in nuanced ways that are just about imperceptible. While technology allows for bigger and better, it's experience that's helped modern games become far more accessible and intuitive than they ever have been.
That's all nice and everything, but my favourite development of all has to be the incredible iterations on control schemes and control design. Improvements are being made all the time, but the first thing I always notice when booting up an old game is the how archaic the controls feel.
I'm currently replaying Tomb Raider: Underworld and I've played just about every other Tomb Raider game to date. The original series spent most of its focus on 3D platforming and puzzle solving. I've never been a fan of Tomb Raider combat, which was only compounded in the past when camera controls had to be mapped to the Num pad on the keyboard.
Combat in those early games was always awkward and a roll of the dice. Depending on how lucky you got with AI behaviour and your own positioning, you could be hitting that Load button over and over again. Even newer titles like Underworld that feature gamepad and mouse support, the combat mostly comes down to locking on and shooting until whatever it is has ceased to exist.
It's a real compliment to the old Tomb Raider series to consider how annoying the controls are by today's standards. The rest of the game must have been designed really well to keep me fixated all the way through. Although, it could have easily been a case of not knowing any better.
Jump to 2013's Tomb Raider reboot and its sequel Rise Of The Tomb Raider, and it's a whole new experience. Everything has been brought up to speed and polished off with a new look and a new story in an attempt to make Tomb Raider interesting again.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Tomb Raider 2013, but it suffered from being a bit too safe in the grand scheme of things. Instead of linear mazes to explore, the world opened up and introduced resource hunting and crafting. The platforming was reduced to little more than jumping on the highlighted surface, and the puzzling tombs of the past gave way to a handful of simplistic diversions that could easily be missed
Despite this, the game looked great, and it was bigger and more detailed than anything that came before. Combat saw a drastic overhaul, and we were treated to a Lara Croft who could do more than just lock on and shoot. What's more, the story benefited from all the excellent narrative techniques we enjoy in so many games these days. The original reboot was a fine way to give the Tomb Raider series a fresh coat of paint and create another direction for the series to take.
Rise Of The Tomb Raider is very much a straight sequel, so it carries forward all the improvements of the rebooted series, but with a few improvements of its own. I still think it falls short in many ways, but it's bigger and glossier than its predecessor, so maybe that's all it needs.
Gamers complained about the simplistic and minimal tombs available for raiding in the first reboot, so this one has a few more tombs. They're still relatively simplistic, but it's nice to see that they're making an effort. There were only one or two puzzles throughout the entire game that made me think (even for a hot second), so I'm hoping that the upcoming Shadow Of The Tomb Raider will have some real brain busters.
The new systems like crafting and gathering resources are still hanging around, along with other collectibles like buried coins and language plaques. There are animals to hunt and skin, and each zone of the game has one or two side missions that usually involve collecting an amount of an item. It's a very safe and generic way to expand the amount of hours you can spend in-game, but it doesn't really add up to much and I never find unlocking a new grip for my gun to be an enticing proposition.
In fact the combat was one of the most boring bits in Rise Of The Tomb Raider, mainly because it felt generic and easy. The same could be said for the first reboot, but maybe it takes a couple of games to really get tired of its stop-and-pop flow. If you've ever played an Uncharted game, you know exactly what the combat in either Tomb Raider reboot feels like.
When I first played the Uncharted series, I thought it was like playing a modern Tomb Raider game. Now that I’m playing a modern Tomb Raider game, it just feels like playing more Uncharted, which is an odd juxtaposition to consider. Does that mean that Uncharted is better for getting in first and aping the originals, or are the Tomb Raider reboots closer to their origins and offering a deeper lineage. Unfortunately for Tomb Raider, I think Uncharted takes the top spot for a couple of key reasons.
Essentially the first Uncharted wore its influences on its sleeve, as it never felt like it was trying to avoid the Tomb Raider comparison. Of course there's nothing wrong with being inspired by great games, but thankfully Uncharted also has enough personality to have created its own identity along the way. In another way we could start arguing about how Tomb Raider took a lot from Indiana Jones, but that's a slippery slope without a satisfying conclusion.
Hence, I feel like the Uncharted series and the Tomb Raider reboots cancel each other out in a weird kind of way. They definitely feel similar to play, but that doesn't matter when they're both enjoyable in their own right. While Uncharted focuses on the action, Tomb Raider feels like it's more about exploration. The closest similarity is in the combat, which leads me on to the other reason why I think Uncharted takes the cake: the story.
I've never taken a Tomb Raider story all that seriously, and it's never been my primary motivation for playing the game. The up side is that the old Tomb Raider games never asked you to invest too much in their story either way. They always featured an interesting plot that motivated Lara to travel all over the world to exotic and interesting locations, but I never paid all that much attention. That is, until the reboots came along and put their foot deep into the mucky mess of video game story-telling.
Obviously, I love games with a purposeful and heavy narrative aspect, so in theory this focus on story should be a good thing for Tomb Raider. Sadly though, I can't even remember the story in Rise Of The Tomb Raider, thanks to it being so formulaic and boring. Basically Lara has to go find some ancient artefact that holds some magical power, but she has to do it before the bad guys beat her to it and take over the world, or end it, or something like that. We've all seen the story before, but thankfully Tomb Raider isn't about all that, right?
Actually, this is perhaps the worst part of the reboot, which pales in comparison to series like Uncharted or even Indiana Jones. By focusing on the story more, the Tomb Raider reboots also focus on Lara Croft as a character more as well. Except rather than being the super hero of the previous games, Lara has been rebooted and is presented as an adventurous girl who's learning her way to becoming the so-called 'Tomb Raider". Gone is the buxom badass Lara of games past, as she makes way for the naïve and innocent young Lara of reboot development.
It might not seem like much in a game that's about running about shooting bad guys and picking up treasure, but it creates a big hole in an otherwise enjoyable game. We're asked to empathise with Lara and really fell for her as she attempts to do all these incredible things for the first time. She gets visibly hurt and distressed thanks to the detailed graphics and animations, but she never takes that earnest look of concern off her face. Maybe I'm just used to steely-gazed polygon Lara of the past, but this new Lara doesn't seem to fit into her surroundings quite as well.
At times it can be jarring, as in one moment you're mowing down enemies with your machine gun and falling over the bodies as they pile up. Then in the next moment you're given a cut scene where Lara is distressed and struggling as she faces the horrors of her reality. I know people throw around the term "narrative dissonance" a little too much these days, but it certainly applies in these games.
Contrast that with Uncharted's characterisations, which are given more of a comedic tone than Lara's super serious focus. All of the carnage and action in Uncharted feels silly as hell, but it's nice that none of the characters take it seriously. Meanwhile Lara is a one woman slaughterhouse who is feeling a bit precious because her blood splattered face is stuck with a look of despair and hopelessness. It's like the developers are trying to take Lara seriously and avoid the sexualised blank slate of Tomb Raider history, but they went a bit too far into serious town for my liking. It's hard to really feel some emotional connection with a girl who just flat out murdered everyone.
The real kicker is that I actually really enjoy the Tomb Raider reboots and my criticisms are fuelled by how enjoyable every other aspect can be. It's fun to scramble around with Lara and fight hordes of enemies at a time. I like the improved combat and movement systems that make fighting more interesting and getting around more rewarding. The tombs and side quests are welcomed diversions, and each zone you visit is beautiful and worth exploring.
I said at the top that I generally like reboots, and it remains true for Rise Of The Tomb Raider. It's an improvement on 2013's Tomb Raider, but the best part is that it took an enjoyable theme and brought it up to date. I still have no idea what the plot is about, or who any of the other characters are, but I enjoyed my time with these games so far.
Of course, if you want a better story you can play Uncharted, but if you're like me and want to run around exotic locations looking for old crap, this is a good time. The rebooted Tomb Raider might not be one hundred percent faithful to the platforming puzzles of its past, but there are just about as many improvements as there are shortfalls.
Ultimately these games have become a bit of big dumb fun in the blockbuster space. Tomb Raider was never a narrative power house, and it doesn't look like it ever will be. There's lots of running and jumping and fighting bad guys, and at the end of the day that's all that really matters.