A splurdge of DLC for Rise of the Tomb Raider [official site] has just come out, which means you can now pop back to a decrepit Croft Manor, team up for co-op wilderness endurance, or battle the tough ‘Extreme Survivor’ difficulty mode. But most importantly, you can now control famous archaeologist and murderer Lara Croft the way she was meant to be played – as a conglomeration of poorly-rendered triangles. Yes, Pointy Lara is back. She is as terrifying as always.
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RPS Feature A day in the life of Lara Croft
I wanted to play Rise of the Tomb Raider [official site] more than I realised I did. It’s nice to not have yet another BrawnMan in the middle of my screen, sure, but for me it’s the idea of vaguely puzzley, vaguely sandboxy adventures in a not-too-fantastical wilderness which appeals.
Enthused by Adam’s review, I picked up the PC version, but it wasn’t long before I was hissing through my teeth at the bad balance of impossible escapes from death, relentlessly dour and earnest tone, mechanically-delivered dialogue and preposterous animal-massacre-based-crafting (because, once again, Lara had gone on an incredibly dangerous adventure without packing anything more than a glowstick and the first option you get if you type ‘bow and arrow’ into Amazon then sort by Price: Low To High). Fortunately, the Endurance Mode DLC turned out to be game I wanted.
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Valve’s Team Fortress 2 team are running a competition whereby the entire Tomb Raider franchise is fair game for TF2 Workshop content creation. Their official blog post on the matter goes straight for “the heavy in short shorts” at their first example of the contest’s potential*. But why on earth would you want to help Valve and Square promote a game for free? Let’s take a look at the rules.
The first few scraps of information about the new Tomb Raider, officially revealed yesterday, are beginning to appear. NeoGAF have been plundering the unreleased Game Informer article by their own nefarious methods, and we learn a few interesting morsels. Like, for instance, Lara is to be 21 in the new game. Keys to the tomb. And deaths are to be brutal. Erk. It’s sounding like this is going to be part Tomb Raider, part Survivor, and I’m very intrigued. More bits and pieces below.
One of my favourite things of recent years has been the standard of Crystal Dynamics’ Tomb Raider games. While there’s no doubt there’s Lara fatigue, it’s inappropriate when they’re some of the finest action platform/shooters around. So it’s with a happy face that I greet the news that the next game from the team is a complete reboot of the series, simply called Tomb Raider. The announcement comes via the cover of the next Game Informer, along with a press release. Details below.
More Tomb Raider Underworld trailers. I can’t resist them. The first is in the jungle, showing off Lara’s climby-climby powers (with a bonus cartwheel thrown in), and looks most tempting. The second is bloody underwater bits, which always suck out loud in every Tomb Raider game, and here is 99% cutscene which is even more reason to wish they just wouldn’t. Lara is not aquatic. This has been proven too many times. Anyway, concentrate on the first one.
The last time Tomb Raider Underworld news came up, I found myself going off on my rant about how stupid people are for not being excited about a consistently excellent game series (apart from that one), that’s only getting better with each new release.
My frustrations haven’t waned. I’m seeing a couple of current mags writing previews of Underworld, saying it looks good, but they’re getting tired of the games now. Tired of an ever-improving, top-notch platforming series with a stupendous cast, excellent writing, and the best acrobatic fun available? Then you’re not a gamer! Bah! Anyway, in the trailer below, Underworld looks bloody excellent, and more than that, it’s picking up where Legend left off.
