Tomb Raider 2013 [PS3]

Review Time!

This is the first game I've reviewed other than Mass Effect 3 (and I've only really reviewed its endings...) so this will be new.

Anyone else see Natalie Portman?

I suppose thios should be prefaced with me stating very clearly that I have Never played ANY of the prior Tomb Raiders. I've seen one played by someone else, but didn't really care.

This one was different, I kinda knew before I bought it, what I was getting into. I watch other reviews, and videos. So I had an idea that I would be getting an action / adventure game sort of in the vein of Resident Evil 4 (the best RE).

I shot every animal I encountered for XP and more...

Now, with any game there will be good and there will be bad.


I'll start with the good.


It's Beautiful. The scenery is stunning, the graphics are high end powerful and really just blow you away. Everything is very detailed.

Japan. There is a lot of references to Japan from various periods including the Edo period and WWII. Yeah, I'm giving a bit away, but games can always score points with me by using Japanese culture and artifacts. Fun times! The game is loaded with Japanese architecture.

Here you see some Japanese architecture exploding.

Problem Solving. A lot of the game is simple problem solving... path finding, detail finding. The adventure part, only not the old style of adventure games where you tried every item in your inventory with every other item in your inventory. This was more, 'how do I use what I have to get over there?'




It's Fun. Seriously... this might be the most impotant. Games need to be fun and engaging. There needs to be a reason to play them. I was never bored nor was I too often assailed by a stupid 'hit these buttons Right-Now or die' cut scene. Those frustrate and irritate me... because if you do not get it the first time out you can end up repetetively doing the same stupid event-death pattern over and over and over and over... Thankfully, and this is a good point, there was only one of those that really stuck out. Damn you parachute!

And more wonderful architecture...

Now sadly, the bad.




Super Linear Plot. Now I knew there was going to be liner plot, however there was mention of 'extra tombs,' that could be explored. I was expecting involved tombs with multiple puzzles and challenges to overcome. No. Each side tomb presented one puzzle that was never too difficult to overcome. There needs to be a break from the main plot aside from 'fast traveling' to get all the items in earlier regions. All that was needed was involved side-tombs.

Oh look, another easy side-tomb.

Craptacular Multiplayer. Wow, is the MP side of the game a letdown. It feels totally tacked on with no real consideration for quality play. Perhaps I've been spoiled with good add on MP, like that included with ME3. That was good MP, this is bad MP. Glaringly bad.

Rivers of Blood, you swim in them.

Voice Acting. Please for the love of my ears, train VAs in the proper way of pronouncing foreign words, this is very important when a game is filled with foreign words. 'Himiko' is not pronounced like a Dodge 'Hemi.' Thankfully, as the game progressed the pronunciation improved... that or my ears just adapted to the verbal abuse. 

No Replay Value. There is no reason to play this game a second time. The plot is done, the side tombs are simple, and the MP is bad. This is a major blow. I've played ME3 four times, and there has been something new each time. There will be nothing new for Lara in a new play through.


And the worst for last.

Phoning in the Ending. The game is set up as rather realistic (provided that you ignore the fact that Lara Croft would have broken every bone in her body like five times in the course of the game), you hunt for food, you die by falling, you get injured and need medical supplies, you only kill deer, birds, rats, rabbits, wolves, boar, and humans. No ghosts, no skeletons, no zombies. No Fantasy. Scientific journals are found on the island, military divisions researched the phenomenon that the game revolves around... but at the end, it devolves into fantasy mumbo-jumbo. It did not need to. It could have be resolved in a way that fit within the realistic world of the rest of the game. There is no magic until the last 5 minutes. That's as bad the damn Star Child in ME3, before the revised ending. The ending was totally phoned in... and it did not need to be. 

Look! More fire!

Here's the thing. I do not know how much Tomb Raider needs to be a fantasy series. I never played the originals, so I do not know if this is supposed to lead into a full reboot of the whole series.

That in mind, I have to review this as only I know it.


I do not think it is as good as the many scores I've seen on the net, everything from 9.5s to 10s. So I'll rate it in the same way, between 1 and 10.

Tomb Raider 2013 is a solid 7.9 for the overall feel, fun, and beauty. It loses on some wobbly voice acting, a total lack of replay value, and a badly phoned-in ending. Also, lets stop making games where you get bonus XP and rewards for slaughtering all the deer in an area... its a bad lesson.

P.S. I have this sneaking feeling that a lot of this was inspired by Uncharted (which I've never played).