It has been seamlessly meshed with the existing routine of exploration and puzzle solving. This time around there are various hubs that Lara will come back to and accept side missions or talk to NPCs. How this has specifically changed the game is maybe difficult to nail down, but crucially it seems their expertise in making large and interesting hubs for Deus Ex has made for an exciting change to the Tomb Raider formula. This time out Crystal Dynamics has taken a step back and is in more of an advisory role and instead Eidos Montréal has taken the reins. While the important story characters are all well done, some conversations with NPCs sound like they are being read by someone who has never read words out loud before, which often made me wish I could skip some of that dialogue. Don’t expect that voice acting to carry across all the game’s characters though. Shadow of the Tomb Raider may relish in its grand vistas and sprawling Mesoamerican temples, but it manages to maintain a visual fidelity in its characters that adds to an already impressive experience. Emotional scenes are made more potent by small touches like the flaring of nostrils or the Adam’s apple protruding for a noticeable gulp. That is only bolstered by incredible facial rendering. Camilla Luddington returns as Lara Croft and her performance along with Earl Baylon as Jonah are top notch. That scene is not an outlier either the game’s acting is almost universally well-done. It was extremely well-done considering how easily it could have been a throwaway and extraneous scene. What at first seemed unnecessary ended up being one of the most memorable scenes in the game. We get to see her exploring her absurd palace of a home and it highlights the formative years of Lara as the thrill-seeking adventurer. Shadow of the Tomb Raider also includes an excellent vignette of Lara as a young girl.
It works as the finale to this story that has not necessarily been about the Tomb Raider but about how Lara Croft becomes the Tomb Raider. Where early stories had her very keen on living up to the lofty name on the gate of her family mansion, she now starts to realize her own identity. More importantly, though, this game begins to see Lara wrestle with her own past and how much she is merely following in the footsteps of her father versus becoming her own person. Her search for this object will lead her and her old friend Jonah, as you might expect, through perilous situations and beautiful locales. Lara is now on the trail of Trinity in Mexico searching for an ancient dagger that may or may not have powerful consequences if found. What we get in this third entry is a character-and game-that knows exactly what needs to be done to succeed and gets down in the dirt and does it. After two games developing Lara, in Shadow of the Tomb Raider she is no longer someone doing what has to be done to scrape by, but rather a force to be reckoned with-a predator to be feared. When she crashed on an island and had to fight and kill to survive, it took its toll on her. Lara was no longer a badass adventurer with nothing to say, but was a person that might react emotionally to some of the more traumatic events she’s thrust into.
Shadow tomb raider reload button series#
In trying to modernize the series Crystal Dynamics had to shed some of what made Tomb Raider a force in the action-adventure genre in the 90s while also having to play catch up to series like Uncharted that ironically owe much to Lara’s adventures.
Shadow tomb raider reload button ps3#
Tomb Raider was rebooted for PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2013 and has been in an unfortunate situation ever since.
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