‘Rise of the Tomb Raider’ Video Game Review

While traversing the foot-and-a-half deep snow in Siberia, Lara Croft comes face to face with a brown bear. It is massive, maybe 500 pounds or so. Lara needs to dispose of the bear to reach her objective. Here is Lara; the short but strong adventurer up against a huge brown bear. But Lara is different from the 2013 Tomb Raider game. She isn’t scared. She knows what needs to be done, and she takes care of it without hesitation.

This is a new Lara. The Lara in Tomb Raider was new to this survival stuff. She had grown in a posh household with her father who was famous for his archaeology work. But the events on Yamatai have changed Lara forever.

In Rise of the Tomb Raider, Lara sets out to find the lost city of Kitezh. The reason isn’t to further her own study of archaeology; she is trying to set the Croft name right. With her father’s obsession on the lost city, it destroyed his credibility within the academic community. Lara is determined to find the city; knowing it exists after the events on Yamatai.

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It wouldn’t be a video game without an enemy, and this time it is Trinity; an ancient religious order set on finding the Divine Source. The Divine Source is an old relic that is said to grant the power of immunity. Events are in place for a cat-and-mouse chase between Lara and Trinity that takes the young adventurer to Syria for a brief moment, and then to Siberia, where Lara will spend a majority of the game.

The story in Rise of the Tomb Raider is written well. Lara is the strongest character in the game, and she has matured quite a bit. She is now more confident in her actions, and a few moments in the game have her taking control of situations that didn’t seem to happen in Tomb Raider. Her knowledge is incredible, which makes you wonder how a person can know so much about obscure topics. But then you remember that Lara spends all her time looking over ancient documents, and the questions settle. The supporting characters are interesting, with the main villain being incredibly creepy and a fantastic foe.

As it should be with any video game, the gameplay of Rise of the Tomb Raider is by far the best part of the entire package. It is one of the best action-adventure games ever released. There are two activities that you’ll spend a majority of the time participating in: traversing ancient areas and fighting Trinity soldiers. Each aspect of the game is done so well that it is hard to choose one over the other. Jumping around ledges is equally as fun as hunting down Trinity soldiers with your bow-and-arrows and makeshift weapons.

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Let’s start with the adventuring part of the game. Lara’s adventure takes her to many unique locales throughout Siberia. Each of these locales serve as a semi-open world hub that feature massive areas for Lara to run around and explore. These hubs are filled with hidden relics, ancient coin caches, crypts, and most importantly, tombs. One complaint from the 2013 game was the lack of tombs, and Crystal Dynamics has responded to this complaint by giving the player numerous tombs. Each tomb requires the player to solve a puzzle that gives Lara a unique ability. These abilities make her faster, stronger, and smarter. The tombs are presented as ancient knowledge that she gains, which is a small touch I enjoyed. It makes these tombs almost vital to Lara’s survival. But the game is very clear that the tombs are optional. They are not required to complete the game.

In addition to new abilities, Lara will also gain access to new gear by either constructing them with the new crafting system, or by acquiring new gear from locked boxes spread throughout the world. Rise of the Tomb Raider uses the “Metroidvania” style of locking off areas before you acquire the correct gear to tackle the tombs. An example would be using guns to destroy barriers, or a breathing apparatus that allows Lara to stay underwater longer. It does add a little backtracking to the game, but with the fast travel system, it isn’t a problem.

Where the game really shines is the animation while Lara is traversing the world. The movement feels tight and fluid, and I can only think of one occasion where I felt like I was fighting against the game, which is a low number for an adventure game of this size. It is the subtle animations of Lara that brings her to life. She squeezes the water out of her ponytail after swimming, holds her hand out to fires to warm up, and steadies herself by sticking out her hand when walking on edges. These dynamic animations may sound minimal, but they add so much to the character of Lara Croft. Crystal Dynamics has taken the adventuring aspect of the genre to new heights, literally.

When she isn’t traversing massive caverns looking for the treasures from ancient civilizations, she is sneaking around Trinity soldiers and getting into firefights. Lara is better equipped to defend herself this time around. You are given the choice to either go in guns blazing or silently, but most of my experiences started out quiet and ended loud. Both methods of combat were fun, fluid, and brutal. Lara has plenty of gruesome finishing moves at her disposal, and nailing headshots with the bow-and-arrows never cease to satisfy.

In addition to firefights with Trinity soldiers, there are also a handful of action set pieces that are a lot of fun to play through. What makes big set pieces feel great in video games is putting the player in a situation that makes them feel in danger, yet also feel like a badass at the same time. Rise of the Tomb Raider handles these set pieces perfectly. There were a few that I had to regain my composure after completing, yet I never felt like I was out of control.

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All of the fantastic gameplay is wrapped inside some of the best graphics I’ve ever seen in a video game. I am not exaggerating when I say there are some scenes in Rise of the Tomb Raider that look like they are computer-animated movie quality. It is truly a sight to behold. It is hard to convey in words how great this game looks. The graphics in Rise of the Tomb Raider reminds of those “target videos” that publishers put out around E3. It is the kind of game when you see in a trailer you think to yourself, “the final product won’t look that good.” Crystal Dynamics has established themselves as having some of the best artists in the industry with Rise of the Tomb Raider.

With the fantastic graphics comes the great voice acting. British actress Camilla Luddington reprises her role as Lara Croft, and does a fantastic job of capturing the character. It should also be noted that the facial work in the game is incredible. All of the other performers do a great job, with Charles Halford standing out as Konstantin. His portrayal of the villain is fantastic, and I ended up hating the character by the end, something that is rare for me when playing a video game.

I wrote this review with so many thoughts spewing from my brain that it can be kind of hard to put together cohesively. But, I can’t remember the last time an action-adventure game had this profound an effect on me. It is all I have been able to think about in the few days it took me to finish the game. If I do have any complaint, it is I want more of the game! I was able to get through the single-player campaign in around 14 hours. There is a season pass which may help satisfy my need for more, but as it stands, Rise of the Tomb Raider is one of the best action-adventure games to ever be released, and should be played by anyone who is a fan of the genre.


 

Rise of the Tomb Raider was reviewed on PC. The game is also available for Xbox One, and is coming to PlayStation 4 holiday 2016. A copy of the game was purchased by the reviewer.

 

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