Tomb Raider 2013 rebooted the long running franchise into a new format, more apt to compete with other games of its time. Rise of the Tomb Raider... Is more of that, I guess?
RotR follows Lara in the search for the Divine Source, a lost artifact that is said to grant people immortality. She tracks it down to a lost city in Siberia, but is followed by a group of mercenaries named Trinity, a secret organization that seeks to use the artifact for its own goals.
First of all, I'm really sorry to anyone who played this back to back with the first game, you probably walked out completely burnt out. RoTR is pretty much a repeat of all of the first games ideas, and while I enjoyed it, after finally completing it, I felt like I had my fill of this flavor of game for a good two years or so.
Especially with the useless extra game modes. The first game had dead-on-arrival multiplayer, whereas this one has a bunch of score attacks. It's not intrusive or particularly bad, but it all feels so unnecessary.
The game scratches more or less the same itches that the first did, with the same metroidvania style of level design and the same shooter gameplay. There's a mystery that unravels over the course of the plot, this time pertaining to a fictitious civilization that would have been entrenched in the mountains of Siberia.
Lara is still here, and she's a fantastic character who doesn't believe in karmic death and also doesn't take crap from anyone, however, there's a distinct lack of character development over the course of the story, as well as the personal stake that was ever present in the first game. In particular, the arbitrary removal of Sam from the story, especially in light of how there was supposed to be a romance between the two, feels especially painful.
This is the middle game in a trilogy, so it's expected for the story to be a bit middling. There's an obvious setup for the sequel at the end of the game, but even so, I worry about how sustainable this reboot will be if this continues.
Anyway, RotR struggles a bit to justify its existence, but is still a definite recommendation for any fans of the 2013 game.
RotR follows Lara in the search for the Divine Source, a lost artifact that is said to grant people immortality. She tracks it down to a lost city in Siberia, but is followed by a group of mercenaries named Trinity, a secret organization that seeks to use the artifact for its own goals.
First of all, I'm really sorry to anyone who played this back to back with the first game, you probably walked out completely burnt out. RoTR is pretty much a repeat of all of the first games ideas, and while I enjoyed it, after finally completing it, I felt like I had my fill of this flavor of game for a good two years or so.
Especially with the useless extra game modes. The first game had dead-on-arrival multiplayer, whereas this one has a bunch of score attacks. It's not intrusive or particularly bad, but it all feels so unnecessary.
The game scratches more or less the same itches that the first did, with the same metroidvania style of level design and the same shooter gameplay. There's a mystery that unravels over the course of the plot, this time pertaining to a fictitious civilization that would have been entrenched in the mountains of Siberia.
Lara is still here, and she's a fantastic character who doesn't believe in karmic death and also doesn't take crap from anyone, however, there's a distinct lack of character development over the course of the story, as well as the personal stake that was ever present in the first game. In particular, the arbitrary removal of Sam from the story, especially in light of how there was supposed to be a romance between the two, feels especially painful.
This is the middle game in a trilogy, so it's expected for the story to be a bit middling. There's an obvious setup for the sequel at the end of the game, but even so, I worry about how sustainable this reboot will be if this continues.
Anyway, RotR struggles a bit to justify its existence, but is still a definite recommendation for any fans of the 2013 game.