Preview: Tomb Raider

By the time Tomb Raider is released in 2013, it will have been almost five years since the last major instalment in the franchise. During that time, we’ve seen two Uncharted games and four Assassin’s Creed titles released onto the market. Recently, I had the pleasure of checking out a preview of the upcoming Tomb Raider to see how the game was coming along. Has the franchise that arguably paved the way for both those series above still got it, or has the master been surpassed by its students?

To begin, let me address the question everyone has been wondering – how similar is the new Tomb Raider to Uncharted? In short, the two franchises obviously share many similarities. To begin, just as you have in previous Tomb Raider games (and as you have in Uncharted), you’ll find yourself collecting treasures and small artefacts throughout your travels. To add to this familiar experience, Tomb Raider allows you not only to view and inspect these collectibles, but Lara will also provide a short voice-over describing some of the features of the items and their possible origins. Essentially, it makes finding them a little more rewarding and not as seemingly insignificant as it has been in the Uncharted franchise. The gameplay is also similar between the two titles, but that’s not to say that Tomb Raider feels like a clone or even a copy. This game indicates that the franchise shows no signs of slowing down, nor that it’s failed to keep up with the string of similar titles that have been released over the past few years. Fans of Uncharted will be able to jump right into this game, and fans of the Tomb Raider franchise can expect more of what they’ve come to love for more than a decade now.

As you’d imagine with a Tomb Raider title, the gameplay is fantastic. The core platforming elements feel natural and fluid – whether you’re scaling an icy cliff-face, walking through and climbing up the shell of a plane hanging off a ledge or even just running and jumping from one ledge to another. Dare I say, it even plays better than Uncharted! The game also includes a grab feature, where if you jump from too far a distance, you’ll need to press a button upon reaching the ledge to secure your grip – wait too long and you lose grip and fall. Moving on, the one problem I did have with the gameplay however came with the combat, which just didn’t feel quite as polished as the platforming. Towards the end of the preview, I had to deal with a heavily armoured enemy that required me getting close enough for him to strike, then me dodging the attack and then shooting him while exposed. While it sounds simple enough, the dodging just felt clunky; as a result, I’d often take too long to fix myself up to take a shot. Eventually I did end up besting him, but it wasn’t without me essentially wasting all of my ammunition. At times the game also allows you to use stealth to clear an area, but without the ability to snap to or even switch between cover (instead Lara will automatically crouch as the height of the wall/obstacle she is near decreases) it just didn’t feel ‘right’. I eventually just ended up going all-guns-blazing in these situations and avoiding the hassle.

In addition to the stock-standard features we can expect from a Tomb Raider title, the developers have also introduced a host of new features as well. Taking a leaf out of Hitman: Absolution’s book, Lara is able to use “Survival Instincts” (think of “Instinct” in Hitman) to survey the environment around her and highlight items of interest. My only gripe here was that, unlike in most games where you press the button to activate the feature and release to stop, pressing it in Tomb Raider turns the feature on and then makes you wait a few seconds for the screen to return to normal. This is annoying when you really only need it for a split-second most of the time. Another new feature to this franchise is the ‘camp site’, which acts not only as a checkpoint, but also as a location to upgrade both Lara’s abilities and her weaponry/gadgets (which is made possible as you earn experience in the form of ‘Salvage’ from hunting animals, collecting artefacts and raiding crates and boxes for items). Each time you visit a camp site Lara will start thinking aloud as if she’s writing a journal, and its hearing her discuss her thoughts and current predicament which gives a sense of realness to the game.

While it might sound a tad cliché, the greatest feature of the new Tomb Raider is undoubtedly Lara Croft herself. Rather than continue down the path of previous titles, Crystal Dynamics have opted to bring the franchise right back to when Lara was just a teenager — as an 18 year old only beginning to discover her passion for exploration. It is with this “new” version of Croft that Tomb Raider really differentiates itself and achieves something unique. As we’ve seen from the trailers thus far, Tomb Raider is centred around this idea of ‘survival’, as Lara and her crew become shipwrecked on an island after their boat capsizes during a rough storm. Throughout the game you’ll have this constantly re-enforced to you as you avoid being captured, attacked and killed by wild animals and other inhabitants of the island, as you push through the harsh terrain and obstacles that the game throws at you. The environments and island itself also present Lara with its fair share of dangerous situations and challenges.

The reason I mentioned that Tomb Raider differentiates itself above is not because the gameplay or platforming is necessarily different to anything we’ve seen, but because the connection to the main character is unique. As an 18 year old, Lara is naive to the world (as all young adults really are) and hasn’t developed into the strong heroine we’ve come to know from the franchise all this time. It’s through these challenges that Lara faces and the struggles she has to endure,  that this change begins to occur – and this is what really sets Tomb Raider apart from games like Uncharted for example. I can remember how shocked I was to see Lara being mauled to death by a wolf because I wasn’t quick enough to kill it. It was intense to see Lara fight for her life during the ‘attempted rape’ scene as the island’s inhabitants started killing people and setting parts of the island on fire. Seeing her becoming injured and bloody as she makes her way through the environment was strong too. You see her develop as a person during these times of desperation and as a result, you really form this bond to her as a character that I just don’t think would have been as powerful had it been a male (like Nathan Drake). I know some controversy was caused when a developer mentioned that she needed to be “protected”, but I didn’t get that impression during my play through. Rather than looking after Lara, you felt like you were following her as she becomes stronger and more competent.

I was never sceptical about Tomb Raider, but after playing through the preview I’ve realised that the game is shaping up to be a lot more promising than I had imagined. Despite being an early build, the game looks fantastic and the attention to detail and scenery is nothing short of beautiful. The platforming controls are fluid, the puzzles are well thought-out and fun, and despite the combat feeling a little odd, it’s not to say it isn’t enjoyable nor does it bring the game down at all either. The connection between the player and Lara is what will really set this game apart and I really cannot wait for the full title to see where Crystal Dynamics will be taking the franchise from this point on.