Tomb Raider | Sony PlayStation 3 | PS3
The young archaeologist Lara Croft is traveling on the ship Endurance together with a crew to locate the prehistoric Japanese kingdom of Yamatai and the secrets of the Sun Queen Himiko and her mystical powers. Against the group's advice, Lara presses on to go to the Dragon's Triangle, a location plagued by mysterious storms. When the ship is struck by one of the storms, everyone is stranded on a seemingly desolate island. Lara's task is to bring the crew back together and find out more about the island. She has to fight off the Solarii, a cult led by a mysterious person who has taken an interest in Lara's friend Samantha Nishimura.
Tomb Raider is the ninth game in the long-running series, serving as a complete reboot of the franchise and a prequel to it. Like the predecessors, it is an action-adventure game starring Lara Croft. Compared to previous entries, the gameplay has a number of differences. There is much more focus on stringing together stylized action sequences that involve shootouts and escaping through a crumbling environment, similar to the Uncharted series, and combat against human enemies. Animals are still present, but as a minor threat and largely to be hunted. The puzzle-solving object of moving objects to create paths to progress is toned down severely. Puzzles are still present, but mostly confined to using various tools on pre-determined objects. Optional areas can be discovered and accessed, but exploration is only possible within a series of interconnected hubs that eventually provide linear progression rather than an open world of contemporary titles such as Far Cry 3.
Lara gets to explore the island in a linear fashion through different areas. There is always a direct goal to reach, but in the meantime some parts can be explored freely. There is a forest, different abandoned towns, bunkers, and large temples. Lara can climb, duck, hang from ledges, use an axe to move up rocks, construct and use zip lines, and more. Goals can be highlighted by activating instinct. It renders the entire environment in monochrome, but lights up important objects, enemies and the goal for the current location. Each hub area consists of one or more camp sites that act as checkpoints. These can be used to fast travel and to spend skill points or upgrade gear. The entire environment can also be viewed through a mini-map. Next to the main gameplay there are many scripted sequences involving quick time events where Lara swims down a stream, parachutes through trees, runs over crumbling bridges and escapes burning buildings. These often have different camera perspectives and require quick reflexes. There is no health bar, but the screen fades in shades of grey when Lara is hurt. When taking cover, health is restored automatically over time.
- Vendor: PlayStation
- Type: PlayStation Games
