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E3 2015 Preview: Rise of the Tomb Raider

It pains me to say this, much as the totality of the events of the first Tomb Raider pained Lara… but I was not impressed by Rise of the Tomb Raider at E3.

There I said it. Lynch me. String me up. Call me whatever names you want, but it just didn’t have that “WOW” factor. You’ve all no doubt seen the footage from the E3 demo, the very same demo I saw on the show floor and there are probably a lot of you wondering what I was smoking to not be impressed. Well…nothing…but that’s not the point. For an (timed) exclusive, Rise of the Tomb Raider needed to tear my balls off with sheer brilliance and force them down my throat with exceptionality.

It didn’t.

What it did do was be a perfectly serviceable sequel to a standout game. It looked to bring Lara back, stronger and more confident, put her in a new setting (more snow than before) and try and break her. There were more enemies, they were smarter. Lara had new ways to take them out. There was a focus on stealth. I don’t mean to be such a downer on RotTR, but it just felt like sequel by numbers. I can admit that a part of me is maybe salty that this is an Xbox exclusive where I’m a PlayStation player first, but it runs deeper than that. The first Tomb Raider was a revelation and I had high hopes for a similar experience with the sequel. Instead it looks like more (emphasis on more) of the same.

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It’s really not a bad thing, just underwhelming. It’s hard not to be underwhelmed though when only a day earlier I sat watching Uncharted 4 absolutely tear up the Sony press conference. Tomb Raider’s closest direct competition is Uncharted and so far Nathan Drake is light-year’s ahead and Naughty Dog is up to game four. Hell, the second Uncharted was the best in the series and while it’s impossible to fully judge RotTR without playing the entire game, at this point it could just as easily have been DLC for the original.

Everything from 2013’s Tomb Raider returns. Crafting, camps, the bow, upgrades; you name it. It’s all there. A new crafting on the fly system has been implemented which will help greatly to ensure Lara never runs out of precious ammo in the midst of battle. You’ll obviously want to get to a safe location when crafting as it takes some time and doing so under fire will likely end poorly for you.

There have also been some improvements to stealth to give Lara more of an edge, but like I’ve maintained, nothing jumped out and wowed me. Not even the massive bear that literally jumped out of its cave throwing confetti and carrying sparklers.* Serious wow factor there.

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Look, I’m being harsh on RotTR and I know it, but at risk of repeating myself, it’s now a console exclusive for at least 12 months. If it’s not absolutely incredible then keeping it out of the hands of PC and PS4 players has been a massive waste of time on Microsoft’s behalf and upset a huge number of fans unfairly. Especially if those fans went out and bought Xbox One’s for the privilege of playing a just ok game. I’m not ready to count it out just yet, but for now Rise of the Tomb Raider looks good, not great.

Rise of the Tomb Raider will be available for Xbox 360 and Xbox One 10 November 2015. It will be available for PC early 2016 and for PS4 Holiday 2016.

*the bear may not have been throwing confetti or carrying sparklers.


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DeltaPhoenix08