Since I wasn't a big fan of the whole reboot idea, nor the change of genre (the recent co-op Xbox live game
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light was a spinoff, easy to accept just from its name),
until now, I've kept my doubts and didn't even want to blog about this upcoming game.
But with the recent E3 and news surrounding the game... Finally jumped on this new game.
First
with the launch trailer and then
with some actual footage.
What do we know so far.
Good points. Negative points. My opinion so far.
I'd like to point out I'm not actually even a fan of the
Tomb Raider series.
Didn't play any o' them until quite recently.
I never cared much for Core Design's Tomb Raider series. I recognise them as important entries for the platforming genre, they were able to expand the genre in the 3-dimensional graphic era. They kept a simple and basic core gameplay pure and perfect. It was all about exploring huge areas in a non-linear way, grabbing objects, finding secrets. Raiding tombs as the title says.
Lara Croft became a huge icon of videogames in the 90s.
But for some reason the clunky combat mechanics they tried to have (lock-on shooting, multiple agressors in the forms of wild animals or soldiers), the chaotic camera which was much more suited for PC gaming than on consoles where most played those games and the fact I really missed seeing Core back on their former
Chuck Rock series...
Let's just sayI decided to skip this series.
Then the games got darker and edgier, more combat than exploration... I knew it was doomed after a while.
It sort died with
Angel of Darkness in 2003.
When platformers where sort of back and much more better with, say, Ubisoft
Prince of Persia series.
The series seemed buried once and for all with its antique engine.
Then Eidos put the series in the hands of another of my favorite studios,
Crystal Dynamics. The former-
Gex team reimagined the franchise on a brand new game engine, feature brand new gameplay mechanics, new graphics up-to-date finally and a whole new history/timeline/canon/call it what you want.
That's when I decided to finally play a Tomb Raider game, with
Tomb Raider Legends.
Over the course of this little trilogy, with
Anniversary and
Underworld, Crystal Dynamics was able to pursue the series genre, remake the old and explore the new with new entries both faithful to the series and improving over past episodes.
All those three games are all platformers at heart, but much more acrobatic than the originals, more fast paced, etc..
The plot is kinda strange on some parts, but much more coherent.
The fighting is still here but more practical.
And they were getting better and better graphically, true to this generation. Perhaps not "Unreal"-modern, not as realistic but I call this on the game's comic book-ysh stylicized character designs. Which I like. (I'm sick of all modern "next gen" games looking alike, boring and realistic)
Now the owners of the series want to reboot the IP. (Square Enix)
Which I'm kinda fine with.
It's okay to try finding a new audience, revamp a franchise.
But do they really need to re-adapt the concept in a totally different genre?
The new game will now be more based around survival.
Probably around a little open-world-like Island as they've implied.
The gameplay will now be sort of what you'd find in Survival Horror games. The platforming will probably be inexistant or absent.
The story will be rebooted.
It's kinda soon I think, so close to the recent reboot... Couldn't they find a way to continue the series?
Or is this a prequel sort of thing?
Lara Croft's much more younger. (but she's already been seen around that age in past game's flashback sequences)
I'm okay with the redesign. Less of a "sex symbol" (which she wasn't much in the past trilogy either)
But don't call tell me they didn't try to give her some sex-appeal, there clearly is on the pictures above.
Just, not the same over-the-top kinda way of the original games.
So far, I'm honestly okay with these changes that don't affect the gameplay.
Plot rewritten? Alright..
New modern realistic look? Sure, whatever...
Reboot/origin story? Okay...
But did they need to make a completely different style of game?
This looks like either Square Enix forced the IP Tomb Raider over a new original game or they're forcing the series to completely change for the "taste of the moment".
Here's some more screenshots:
Like I said, the game's looking nice so far, but it doesn't feel or look like a Tomb Raider game at all.
Anyway, the game is in the hands of the guys at Crystal Dynamics, just for that I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.
They surely know what they're doing.
The game will be good anyway.
But it doesn't seem to be a real Tomb Raider... It doesn't seem to warrant the use of only "Tomb Raider" on its title. And if this bombs, commercially, they'll probably end up reverting to the original genre.
Either way, it looks like a misuge of ressources, they could have called this "Lara Croft and the mystery of the dark island" or something different and original.
It was Crystal Dynamics who made me like the series, which made me check out past games (such as the original Core Design Tomb Raider, on the Sega Saturn).
Here's some gameplay footage to close this topic:
It looks like a cross between
Uncharted (for the look, the feel, the style) and
Cold Fear (for the substance, the gameplay, the genre)....
