@TheEroica said:
@jg4xchamp:
I can't seem to rebuy tomb raider 2013 on psn even though they try every few weeks to give it away for a few sheckles. I played through it and thought it was fun. What didn't you like?
The story is stupid start to finish, with Lara Croft herself actually being a bit of a downgrade. At least back then the cliche was she was female James Bond. Not as good, and certainly outclassed by Joanna Dark n Kate Archer, but sassy, fun, had a personality. This one was unsure of herself, because that's the only strong female character people know how to write when writing "strong female characters", only she's gonna be the most competent human being ever and kick ass start to finish. It's just jarring as shit a lot of time. And I find her character development contrived as ****, she never chooses to do anything, anything she does is a product of the situation. It's not the same as say homeboy from Spec Ops's descent into madness. Everything he does is entirely of his own doing, and he progresses as a result on his own terms. What's Lara Croft's options fight or die? It's less interesting.
But I can get over that shit if the gameplay was good. And when it comes to the basic act of cover shooting it's solid, but nothing to write home about. When it's at its best is the predator style segments. Where you are actually using stealth to take people out, and picking them apart. The highlight being this one segment in the forest I want to say before the monastary or after, where all the goons are looking for you. And you get some huts on the side, and tall grass to work with. That sequence is some top notch shit. The rest of the game?
The tombs are tertiary, so fine, you want to make them optional. Because she's not really a Tomb Raider yet, so this game is more action, it fits story. Now lets say I buy that bullshit reasoning (I don't), that doesn't excuse that everyone of those puzzles is a very simple, one puzzle room. It's a basic physics puzzle that has maybe a brief moment of thought process required, and wam bam you solve it for some gun upgrade. Now admittedly I play a shit load of puzzle games, so for all I know mother fuckers find them challenging enough, but I think they are too short, too simple, and as a result feel unsatisfying to ever make you feel clever. In contrast a game like The Swapper has what I would argue are fairly easily puzzles, and for that matter Zelda: Link Between Worlds does as well, but they do a better job of making the player feel clever at least.
I think when it does the scripted set pieces, the game is actually way worse than Uncharted. Uncharted's best set pieces allow for some genuine fun player agency. That convoy chase in Uncharted 2, you have to actually hop off every car, there isn't really a thing telling you when to jump, unlike say what happens in Call of Duty. In Tomb Raider 2013's case, they don't do those type of set pieces, or the stuff with the collapsing hotel. They do more of the stuff that are like chases, run away from exploding building, climb this tower during a massive thunderstorm. Where it looks like you're in danger, but as a player all you do is move the stick forward. There is a disconnect there. In a movie you would buy the player is in danger, in a game? You as a player know you're safe.
The metroid aspect is also half baked. The game routinely a very basic thing about a Metroidvania. Going backtracking should never feel cumbersome or irritating. It's the thing that immediately separates the good ones (Ori and the Blind Forest last year) from somewhat disappointing ones (Strider in 2014). A lot of time they just make the process of going backwards more irritating than it needs to be because some plane collapsed, or some tree fell as you were climbing. And exactly what are you going back for? Pottery? Late in the game there are some tombs you need to back track for, but early on? The reason you explore in Metroid is because every item: Energy tanks, missiles, bomb upgrades, tools: improve you the player. In Tomb Raider, the pottery is just get this bullshit. It's like picking up ancient shit in Uncharted, you could do it, to satisfy your inner aspie, but it's not a good gameplay addition.
No survival systems. Why am I crafting shit n picking up plants, but this bitch is never hungry or anything. The opening stretch teaches you to hunt, but why the **** ever would I do it? You shoot animals in Snake Eater, because Snake has a stamina bar. He gets hungry. You get taught to fix bones, because you need to be able to stitch up bullet wounds later. You can have leaches on you etc. That game wasn't overly fleshed out, but it made sense in Snake Eater.
TR2013, has a bunch of elements that don't actually come together. It controls better than OGTR, but that came at the expense of the platforming being a genuine mechanics with some stakes to them. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad game. I think it's okay, fine, solid, decent, if you will. I just don't think it's good. I"m not the biggest fan of OG Tomb Raider, those games were clunky, pretty unimpressive as puzzle games, and I'd rather play other Adventure games of that era: Zelda, Soul Reaver, Metroid. for instance.
But I also don't think TR2013 was this grand improvement either, it was more like we took a series that was never actually that good beyond its pop culture status, and continued to make a game that isn't all that good. Hooray? I'll take the 50% of the Uncharted franchise that is good, over that. Shallow it may be, but Uncharted is more committed to its simpler ideas. Tomb Raider 2013 just threw in a bunch of half baked shit to pretend it was more of a game, but it was just as shallow, and if anything more irritating for how underdeveloped it all was.
@soulitane said:
I can understand that to an extent. For the pacing in 2, the only part I felt really drag was the village segment and I can see why you'd think the train climbing slows the pace down but I never had a problem with that. The main issue I have with that segment is the disconnect between gameplay and story. Much like in 3 after Drake gets lost in the desert, he's meant to be weak and fragile yet the gameplay doesn't reflect that. Sure when you're not in combat he holds his side and shit but as soon as an enemy appears you're running and jumping like no one's business. That's not necessarily a bad thing since the game would probably drag if you're actually forced to play as if he's actually injured.
Personally I like to imagine that all the monster segments in UC games don't exist, they're fucking terrible.
For UC3 now that I think of it yeah, I was actually fairly frustrated by the pacing. For UC1 I don't remember having issues with the pacing. The problems I had were more just terrible game design.
Yeah, the story is paced fairly well, but like you said, it's not well paced for a video game. When I have to sit down and play for over an hour and have next to no interaction other than lousy puzzles and platforming I start to lose interest.
Yeah, I can't say I'm a fan of how UC4 is paced overall. But at the last I think UC4 when it does let you into combat sequences, it's genuinely fucking great during those stretches. The core mechanics are tight, the feedback loop is great, and the spaces they created are vertical and multilayered enough to be pretty engaging. It's the stuff in between that just needed to be fleshed out better or made more engaging. The puzzles were sort of a half-step there. Still too simple, but at least it wasn't overly just open your journal and answer the puzzle. The climbing, when you get the spike n your whip, late in that game there is a sequence where you do basic timed jumps, n the whip, n the spike in succession and it kind of feels like some of the more elaborate tombs from Assassins Creed 2 or what Prince of Persia 08 does, and it's like....why the **** wasn't there more of this? All of a sudden the climbing shit would be easier to digest, if there was more effort put into the game, part of the video game.
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