The Tomb Raider reboot launched in 2013 from Crystal Dynamics took the series in a bold new direction. Taking its cues from the wildly popular Uncharted series, it divided critics and the community alike over its much more action oriented focus. It did however on the whole score very positive reviews. Despite this, and a strong marketing campaign, the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions didn’t sell like they were expected too. With the launch of new gen consoles then, publisher Square Enix decided to re-release the game with a graphical upgrade and all the previous DLC included to see if a sequel was worth the trouble. It appears it was as we are about to see the release of it’s follow up, Rise of the Tomb Raider, in the second week on November. But can the sequel fix the shortcomings of the first game and snare in new followers?
Let’s get the elephant out of the room early. Yes, Rise of the Tomb Raider is a timed exclusive for Xbox One, meaning it won’t launch on PS4 until ‘fall 2016’. I’m no happier than you are about it and the whole console exclusive scene on the whole, but that’s a different argument for a different time.
On a more positive note Crystal Dynamics does appear to understand why the naysayers were unhappy with the reboot and are directly aiming to fix the main problem, this being more scope to y’know, actually raid tombs. Despite being the title of the game, the previous instalment has notoriously little actual tomb raiding involved. There are only about six dotted around the map and they are short and fairly basic. Worst of all they, they are optional! Meaning a casual player could hypothetically complete TOMB RAIDER, without ever entering a tomb. It was an odd design decision to say the least and was the reason behind the lion’s share of the criticism the game received.
The sequel is attempting to rectify this directly by not only giving players more tombs, but also by increasing the size and scale of said tombs. They will also have direct story implications and tie into the main narrative of the game, such as an early section where Lara discovers more clues about her father’s research which leads her to the Tomb of the Immortal. There will still be optional tombs similar to the first game, but now these are here to supplement the larger ones you encounter in the campaign, rather than being the only ones you will see.
Outside of this, the game sticks largely to the formula that endeared so many two years ago. You will explore, platform and engage in solid third person combat against the Trinity militia, who are constantly on Lara’s tail throughout the story. The areas you visit are promised to take more of a sandbox approach this time around as well. On first viewing the previous Tomb Raider appears very open, but in actually playing you quickly found that things were a lot more linear than they first appeared. Rise of the Tomb Raider aims to fix this by having numerous ‘hub’ areas with friendly NPC’s who will give out side objectives which are optional but can have a knock on effect the main narrative. On top of this, the game builds on the item crafting mechanics of its predecessor, allowing Lara to collect objects and items on her travels, which she can then use to craft numerous useful items, e.g using mushrooms to create poison arrows for her bow.
In doing all of this, Crystal Dynamics are clearly trying to appeal to both the consumers who were disillusioned with the 2013 reboot and to those who loved the more action heavy take on the franchise. Personally, I was one of the latter; however I am excited by the push towards more tombs, exploration and problem solving.
The gameplay shown show far shows the graphics are still sumptuous, the shooting is still crisp and the platforming is as exciting as it was two years ago. On top of this, the developers have decided to drop the largely forgettable multiplayer component from the previous game to allow them to focus on making the single player story the best it can be.
My only slight reservation at this stage is that in trying to appeal to everyone, the game will spread itself to thin and end up pleasing no one. Also, from what has been shown so far the game looks and plays very similar to its predecessor, meaning if you were hoping for a game that was more of a throwback to the old school Playstation releases, you will probably still be disappointed.
This being said, Rise of the Tomb Raider looks excellent. Its gameplay seems as smooth and as crisp as it was in the previous instalment and if the features added to the game such as more open worlds and a greater emphasis on exploring and pillaging tombs work out, then Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics could have one of the must play games of 2015 on their hands.
Rise of the Tomb Raider is out for Xbox One is out in North America on November 10th 2015 and the rest of the world on November 13th. PC and Playstation players unfortunately have to wait until ‘fall 2016’. Check out the most recent trailer below.
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