Review A Great Game Day: Tomb Raider

So today is Review a Great Game Day, which I decided to take part in. You may remember I also participated in Review A Bad Game Day last year too.

Anyway, I'm actually rather pleased about this one. For the most part, I enjoy the games I end up playing. It's very rare that I come across a game that I have absolutely hated. 

My Review a Great Game Day entry is about (not a surprise to those of you who follow me on Twitter...), Tomb Raider. The reboot was a pleasant surprise for many, and I have absolutely loved playing it. So, presenting...

Tomb Raider (2013)

Lara Croft has been dominating our screens ever since the original game was released back in 1996. Ever since then, Lara has become something of a gaming icon, spawning not only a successful game series, but two films (starring Angelina Jolie as Lara), advertising deals (who can forget those Lucosade adverts?), merchandise, comics and more.


As much as I love the Tomb Raider games, there was no denying that the series was close to becoming a little tired. Thankfully, the news of a reboot came along and fixed this.

Released in March 2013, Crystal Dynamic's Tomb Raider takes us back to the beginning, showing us how Lara becomes the archaeologist adventurer we know and love, whilst also changing her history that we have grown to learn from the previous games.

In Tomb Raider, we are introduced to a 21 year old Lara Croft, a University graduate who is on board a great ship called Endurance, for an archaeological expedition led by Captain Conrad Roth. When a sudden storm destroys the research vessel, a young and inexperienced Lara finds herself stranded on a mysterious and remote island hidden off the shores of Japan.

On first glance the island appears to be deserted, but soon enough Lara not only comes up against dangerous animals, but human enemies too. Shipwrecked, stranded and alone, Lara begins to re-discover her fellow crew mates, but the only way off of this island is by resolving the secrets within alone. Tomb Raider sees Lara not only battle the elements, animals and enemies, but uncover secret tombs, whilst all the while fighting to look for a way off of the island and back to safety.

Many people have compared the gameplay of Tomb Raider with the Uncharted series, which is a fair point-it does indeed have a lot in common in relation to the action sequences at least. However, do not let this put you off. This origin story is great blend of exploration and high-octane action, enough to keep you playing until the end. Both forms of gameplay-the exploration and action sequences, are definitely fun to play, especially when using Lara's bow and arrow. As you level up, all the weapons you have collected can be improved to create brand new attacks-the napalm arrows are by far one of the most enjoyable. 

How you play the game is entirely up to you. If you enjoy stealth play, there's plenty of opportunities for this.I never was a fan of stealth gameplay before Tomb Raider, but I ended up adopting it at every opportunity. The fact is, it really works in this game, particularly if you can pick off enemies at a great distance with the bow and arrow-it's rather satisfying. The other way of playing this is to make your presence known to the enemies whenever possible. This often warrants a much larger fight, with enemies throwing molitovs, and closing in on you to create a more personal, tougher fight. 

Through the course of the game, we see Lara turn from a scared, inexperienced but intelligent history buff into a much stronger, agile and battle-worn woman. This transition is an interesting one to experience. You will find yourself wincing every time Lara is beaten, attacked, sent hurtling down large cliffs,slamming into structures, to cheering as she learns the motions of becoming a full blown survivor. 

Emerging as a strong, confident, agile survivor, it has been a real pleasure getting to know this new Lara, and you will be yearning to see what lies in store in the future for her.

Also worth mentioning is how fitting the soundtrack is-a blend of feudal Japanese style tracks, with a jungle flourish. Lara's new theme is constantly referred back to in most of the tracks, creating a true heroic score. Whilst the gameplay is satisfying, the game also boasts impressive visuals, which you can see via the textures on the scenery, and on Lara's increasingly battle-worn body and clothing. 

Whilst this is supposed to be a great game review, not every game is perfect. Tomb Raider unfortunately suffers from some slight repetitive moments of gameplay (still rather enjoyable though), but the biggest disappointment is the multiplayer mode. Really, the multiplayer feels rather unnecessary  as this game has a strong enough single player mode on it's own. The multiplayer modes are in fact a little forgettable, offering us game types we have seen time and time again, such as a variant on Capture the Flag. Whilst this may be enjoyable for plenty, I personally just got a little bored of it, turning my attentions to Lara's main story instead. Another slightly disappointing aspect is that it feels like the game bows out lightly. I was expecting a full-on boss battle, but it never fully comes. 

Still, despite those criticisms, Tomb Raider is a brilliant game. Crystal Dynamics have successfully rebooted the series with an enthralling origin story that firmly places Lara back in the limelight after what feels like forever. Bring on the sequel.

In closing, take a look at this comparison screenshot of the old and new Lara to see how much she has evolved. No more pointy boobs for one!

Review A Bad Game Day: Wreckless-Yakuza Missions

Well today is Review A Bad Game Day. Today sees a variety of different gaming writers come together to bring you their take on a particularly duff game. 

Some may be deemed a little controversial (perhaps YOU liked that game, but they didn't?), whilst many will have us all shake our collective heads and sigh with disappointment. I decided to take part too. Here's mine.

Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions (Gamecube)

Ah Wreckless. Whilst the Xbox version of the game was on the whole, critically well received, and successfully showed off the graphical capabilities of Microsoft's first Xbox, the same cannot be said for the Gamecube version. However, even with the Xbox version, I felt it was more about style rather than substance. Who wants to marvel at a well rendered Hong Kong but not entirely feel the same way about the gameplay?

Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions is a game split into two stories revolving around the Japanese Yakuza in Hong Kong. The first story sees you playing as two female police officers, whilst the second follows two shoddy spies. Each story is spread across ten missions, including tasks such as stealing contents of an armoured truck, chasing down enemies, and so on. All the missions are pretty similiar, leading the whole experience to feel a little too repetitive for my liking. It's easy to get bored when you're "chasing down" the Yakuza (in quotation marks because really...it's not much of an epic chase) time and time again.

For me, the missions were too boring, meaning that I did not engage in the game too much. Seeing as this happened rather early on, it was a bad sign of things to come. Now whilst I admit in games such as this, I'm often an awful driver (I love L.A. Noire, but my driving is rather appalling), but the handling on Wreckless seems to be particularly bad. On looking at other people's opinions of the game online, it seems that I am not alone on this assumption. 

Not only is the games handling frustrating, but unfortunately, Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions for the Gamecube is poorly rendered. Whilst graphics have never been a huge concern of mine (I'd much prefer enjoyable gameplay, if I had to choose), they can at times benefit the level of enjoyment you will find from the game. One aspect that largely faulters due to this is the increasing difficulty level. Often missions will be scored based on how much traffic you have crashed into, and/or the level of damage you have created in the environment. Well, with poor handling...it's near impossible not to make a bit of a mess! However, in the moments where destruction does count for something, well, like Burnout after it, this is where the fun lies. See? Even in a bad game I have to find a redeeming feature!

As well as the main story mode, Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions also includes a two-player mode. Not included in the original Xbox version, this two player mode introduces seven gameplay variants which are played in four different areas of the city. Sadly, here is where the game falls victim to it's boredom and repetition once again. Every mode involves one player chasing after the other, with the only difference being each time that the scoring conditions change ever so slightly. What is so awful about the two player in this game though is the choice of camera. Multiplayer is not player via split screen, but instead, rather bizarrely, sees both players sharing the one screen. This means that the camera is often all over the place, as it cannot follow both players perfectly at the same time. Supposing the chased player decides to quickly turn a sharp corner and the chaser continues to go in the same direction? Well the camera doesn't really know what to do in this situation...so it all gets a little awkward. Not fun.

As I previously mentioned, the handling of this game is rather appalling, especially when driving a car. The cars seem to drive so slowly that it actually feels rather sluggish. In an effort to "speed up" the driving, the cars have been given very, very (and may I emphasise again, very) loose handling. This means that they will constantly shift and turn even in the slightest movement, meaning that players are always fighting to simply get the car driving in a straight line. Like much of Wreckless, it's a frustrating experience. In fact, it's not only the driving that feels sluggish, it's pretty much the whole game. Whilst it felt quite fluid on the Xbox version, perhaps the reason for it's slowness is that the game engine of the Gamecube is not as powerful as the Xbox (and don't take that as a criticism...I love the Gamecube), but whatever it is, the horrid frame-rate issues, poor rendering and shoddy cutscenes make this all feel a little, well, cheap.

So overall, Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions is a disappointment. The Xbox version showed promise, with it's good graphics and often enjoyable gameplay, but this port over to the Gamecube seems to have left those redeeming features behind. Handling is frustrating, hard and sloppy, the multiplayer mode is often god-awful (no split screen camera?), and the single player missions are often dull and repetitive. There are plenty of excellent driving games out there that you can get your hands on, whether it is on the Gamecube or not. This is not one of them. Avoid!

Review a Bad Game Day

August has a new holiday-Review A Bad Game Day. Created by Eric Bailey, the brains behind the Nes review website Nintendo Legend, Review A Bad Game Day brings together (at the time of writing) over forty five people, mostly collected via Twitter, who write for their own websites. 

When the 8th of August rolls around, participants must simply post a review of a bad game on their site. I am one of the participants!

Check out Eric's post about it all here. 

If you wish to become involved in this event, you can email Eric Bailey at thenintendolegend@gmail.com for more information.