Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Croft Edition (PS4)

The graphics are amazing and the game as playable as ever, but somehow this just didn’t capture me like the previous 2 did. I love this series for it’s drama and storylines, and this was the weakest of the 3, still an essential game to play though.

Loved everything about this game. A great end to the reboot trilogy. I must have played in excess of 50 hours on the campaign alone on “One with the Jungle” and “Deadly Obsession” mode. When doing it this way, it feels like a Tomb Raider game should. Excited to start playing the DLC tomorrow.

I’m loving playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Can’t fault anything. Square Enix have out done themselves again with these game

It’s Lara Croft doing tomb raised. Exactly as awesome as you would expect.

I though that this was a great game, and a realy good end to the new trilagy.

The first tomb raider in the reboot was good, the second was great, in some regards this game is the best yet. It truly feels like a Tomb Raider game, which has such a strong sense of exploration and the unknown, as though you’re a real early 20th century explorer. It’s at in the Americas (Amazonian jungles, in Peru) the theme being Maian and Inca Indians.

Visuals: 10/10

I have it on PS4 Pro set to resolution over frame rate, and these are some of the best visuals I’ve seen in a game. As you pass a little bright dart frog on a rock and climb into the water, wading through waist deep rivers. Pushing through groups of lilly pads as the sun brilliantly glistens off of the water. Or as volumetric god rays pass through the thick canopy as you trudge through thick mud on the jungle bed, surrounded by very dense and life like foliage (none of it is static).
Couple this with the character details and animation as they speak, you can tell the developers took time with the details.

Sound effects 10/10

The jungle really comes to life, all the animals you can see or hear running around you, the birds singing in the distance, crackle of branches and foliage moving in distant wind. And then whilst deep in the jungle or around tombs with a dark past, the music and sound effects have a real tribal vibe that give you the image you’re about to receive an arrow or pipe dart through the neck. The character voice talent is as before great and convincingly done. Even as Lara reads different types of documents, I.e one about her from Trinity, you can hear the almost mocking change in her voice. The weapons sound decent (nothing out of this world) but otherwise everything else is well done.

Gameplay: 9/10

The mechanics haven’t really changed so they’re what you’re familiar with from before. Lara can maneuver the environment like a parkour professional, and thanks to the good mechanics skill and observation are rewarded with forward progression, rather than clumsy controls or mechanics failing you like early games. Walk off an edge by accident? Lara will grab on, let go of square whilst climbing rocks with pick axe? She won’t just drop to her death. You can now in this game rappel down from any point whilst climbing with pick axe and swing. You can also do a few more combat mechanics, like snare trapping (in a way) targets from branches by shooting them with an arrow.
This game has a nice balance between combat and exploration, the first and the last especially had young Lara as effectively a psychopath, killing hundreds of people with anything she could get her hands on. Whilst the first Tomb Raider game, wild animals were the enemy along with traps, and drunk controls/mechanics, one or two humans were the boss. And later on the odd dinosaur/Egyptian creatures. This game rebalances this, there are a number of sections with tense combat or stealth, but exploration, traps and the environment also make up a chunk, with wild animals a small part.
The skill tree is back and has 3 different area’s with which you can spend points, some are story unlocked from completing challenge tombs. The game does however lose a point because it feels abit smaller than the last, which had vast open area’s where hunting and collecting animal hides or resources felt a bit more important, this game despite having some breathtaking area’s is deceptively less open, it is more compact which is understandable being a jungle but you feel as though you need to go in one direction half the time and don’t even get round to hunting animals etc. Enemy animals are reduced practically to one or two cinematic/story instances. And by the time you finish the game, many of the features (weapon customization, clothing, skill tree) will be half competed if that before you get to the end.

Story: 9/10

The storyline continues Lara’s fight against the ancient and somewhat biblical organization called Trinity, who seek ancient myths and artifacts for their own megalomaniac goals, this time being a Mayan legend of world recreation that leads to Peruvian/Amazonian jungles.
You also again see one or two glimpses back to Lara’s childhood and early story told which are wonderfully done, getting to take control of her as a kid. The story in this game is the best as it shows quite an authentic and human side of Lara which is enjoyable to watch unfold.

Overall 09/10

A well balanced and true Tomb Raider game where killing everything in site is calmed and exploration/challenge tombs have been taken up a notch to give that realistic adventurer experience. Couple this with some new or slightly refined gameplay mechanics, a decent story, and above average visuals/sound effects, and you have a strong entry into the series. But it does feel a bit of a smaller world compared to the last and the focus more on exploration where traps or 1 or 2 animals are more the enemy may not be fun for all (there is a horror esque section rife with killing and other sections with stealth/acton).
As mentioned above the game falls short due to lifespan, it feels a much shorter game than the last, you don’t really feel like the upgrades, skills, collecting resources really comes to use as you’re pushed along a slightly more linear/story striven path and in less open areas or world. The map has lots of unused space. I don’t think it’s worth what I paid, but it’s still a brilliant game and I hope the next will be more open and longer like riser of the tomb raider.

Also hope the next entry will be in Egypt and add some more RPG elements, make a proper upgrade system, give lara a back pack and let us manage inventory etc. Maybe even add proper survival mechanics, there’s a lot Enix/Eidos can do with this series.

Have to give 5 stars and My GF is enjoying it i havent play it ye