It's a human performance that's not diminished too much by her gunning down of hundreds of feral goons. Whether figuratively, during quiet moments when she's absorbing all that's happened to her and her crewmates, or literally when struggling to make it up the side of a dilapidated ruin before it falls apart, you get the sense at all times that she's barely hanging on. It's often hard to commingle a video game character's gameplay-directed, mass-murdering psychopathic side with that of the character's narrative-directed wounded, sympathetic side, but the game does its best with a very serious Lara that seems to be on the cusp of losing her nerves at any given moment. Some may decry the lack of levity, but for the story Tomb Raider wants to tell it feels right. Scrapping the two latter traits for a more focused and serious game might seem like an exercise in diminishing the series' core appeal, something that was a chief concern of fans of a certain other frenetic established franchise, but apropos given the seriousness of Lara's plight in her newest adventure. The newest Tomb Raider game, from studio Crystal Dynamics who have been developing for the series since its last reboot, has chosen to retell her origin story with this in mind: How the archeologist heroine acquired her ruthless survival streak that's been at the core of her character from the offset, along with her sardonic sense of humor and back-flipping pistol acrobatics. Angel of Darkness, sure, but I also mean figuratively. The animations aren't that special, but one thing it does well is allow for smart positioning in combat on both PC and console.Lara Croft's been through some shit in her storied career as a beloved video game character. Another strength is that each combat scenario feels carefully crafted rather than a random load of trash mobs thrown into a room, and there's a decent variety of combat skills depending on class – such as "Warp Dash," which lets Jacks teleport to enemies and slash everyone in sight – and one-use ciphers, which unleash devastating attacks (and sometimes explode in your face if you're carrying too many at once). For instance, the influence of the tides carries over into combat, and sometimes on your turn you can use your influence to possibly persuade or intimidate a foe into ending a fight that's already started. More often than not, though, combat comes off as a distraction – so it’s a good thing you never really have to fight.Īt the same time, Tides’ battles include some interesting ideas. Even when I was prepared, my little band of four would themselves surrounded with, say, seven cultists. When I later finally had to jump into a real fight after a poorly chosen response, I realized I barely knew what to do with all the combat skills I'd amassed from leveling. So every time I'd move, I'd have to wait for all of them to move as well, thus forcing the incident to go on far longer than it needed to. I only had one companion at the time, and there were maybe seven of the other guys. The problems revealed themselves in an early "crisis" (Tides' fancy name for a battle), in which I had to sneak past a gaggle of humanoid insects while distracting them with musical objects. Most of the time, though, it's just kind of tedious. Tides of Numenera delights in piling several enemies on the Last Castoff and his or her buds at once, and they hit hard, making it uncommonly tough to survive even with the use of ciphers or taking advantage of an option to kill the leader and cause their followers to go running. The problem lies in the number of enemies it tosses at you. Not because I'm opposed to hacking up a few digital bad dudes with digital swords – far from it – but because I usually found the combat comparatively dull. “I can't say I found the thought of the latter particularly appealing.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |