Review: Tomb Raider (2013)

 

   

Initially, I felt Lara Croft was a scantily clad woman who killed monkeys. This was when I played the demo version Tomb Raider III. She wore tight shorts and already knew how to use a gun! Which was strange, I did not know historians even had a knack for this sort of thing. I did not like it all that much back then. I only liked the environments. Even when the movie came out, I felt people only concentrated on how sexy Angelina Jolie looked. No one really cared about the story or the history. They just wanted to see some action.  Of course, this was more than ten years back and Tomb Raider III came out in ’98.

However, the 2013 game recreates the character. This is not the Lara Croft we knew or we thought we knew. This is just a girl, daughter of a historian, on a trip to find more about a tribe and their Sun Goddess. She has an endless thirst for solving mysteries and respects the values or morals held by the earlier civilizations. 

Her emotions are wonderful; the first time she shot a guy, she saw her friends die, Grimm (who died to save Lara), Roth (her mentor, friend, guide), and even Alex (the guy who had a crush on her). Her voice adds to this, and we feel the trauma she actually goes through. Movements are even more wonderful! They are much more fluid than before. We don’t have to crouch while moving through tunnels, she slips through cracks in the wall, and she even readies herself for combat! She feels cold and shudders when she is in dark caves. Her breathing is different at night, especially in foggy areas. Impressive work, Crystal Dynamics!!!

The sound effects are simply awesome! The wolves and shouts of the people, sounds of the arrows and guns; simply superb.

I’ve finished only 67 % of the game and I already find this game exhilarating, thrilling, and even scary at times! There are puzzles to solve, various items to collect, and yes! She has proved herself to be the actual Tomb Raider! Collectible items, I must say, are too many. But the salvages and achievements are helpful.

There is never a moment where we feel like skipping through levels. Cut scenes are short and concise. Action scenes are not too long or too difficult. Two scenarios where I found them difficult were: the Summit Forest and the boss fight on endurance. One of my friends suggested that I play the Summit Forest at night, and that is exactly what I did! And it was scary! The wolves, their howling, the fog. Like I said, the sound effects are too good and shooting through the fog was quite a challenge. The boss fight, was a bit scary, he keeps shouting and even though I was scared of him, Lara wasn’t! She shouts out: “"I'll show you what this little rat can do!" Man, this girl is fearless!

The props, weapons, environments, characters, everything is well designed. I have always loved the environments in the Tomb Raider games, and the details given to each tomb and the statues, the beach, mountains are just marvelous. Each level was well thought of and the hints are appropriately given. The game is not made too easy for the player either. For game design and art, I did give a 10 out of 10.

This game is superbly interactive, there is never a dull moment, and you just crave for more and more.I give it a 9.5/10.