First and foremost is a great sigh of relief and sadness because now I have to wait another amount of time to play the next Tomb Raider game which sucks, BUT I beat the game and absolutely frickin’ loved it. Rise of the Tomb Raider was released December 10th 2015 by Crystal Dynamics as an Xbox One exclusive, but was later announced to release on PS4 at a later date.
The second installment in the revival Tomb Raider series delivers a more intense, action packed game, with a story line that sucks you right in. A small recap, we were left at the end of Tomb Raider, Lara Croft had been trapped on an island in the Dragon’s Triangle with her friends and learn that the island has been cursed by Queen Himiko, not only this, but the island is full of her followers. If you have not played the first Tomb Raider game, it is crucial to the character development of Lara, as she becomes the realistic and mythical (contradicting like a starburst commercial) adventurer she sets out to be. She becomes determined with a renewed belief in her past father’s quests and she sets out to reclaim his name.
The game starts out in a snowy setting where Lara and her friend Jonah are looking for a lost city before an unknown enemy company arrives. If any one witnessed the E3 demo in 2015, this is where her story begins. A flash backs to two weeks previous gives you more of what is happening, including introducing a new character, Ana, who tries to convince Lara that pursuing her fathers work makes her just as unstable as he was. Lara learns that a group known as Trinity is after the same artifact, the Divine Source, her father pursued. Following the story of the Prophet and the artifact, she sets off to reach it before they do.
In her new journey, Lara faces many challenges including a harsh winter environment, geothermal canyons, and a city beneath a…well can’t give away to much but it is guarded by an army known as the Deathless Ones.
There are some differences in gameplay than in the first installment. There are new crafting skills, such as crafting ammo and holsters, and there are familiar ones such as your bow and guns. There are different types of skills to learn which expands Lara’s combat set (POISON ARROWS! WOOT! FIRE BULLETS! ROOAR!!) and healing yourself is now an option. And lets not forget crafting molotovs and grenades on the spot. There is a nice gore factor in terms of blood, lots of blood but the enemies have proved to be more challenging before and with the added option to toss a distraction their way, taking them out one by one has been more challenging. Everything is in third person, combat and story play, but it doesn’t hinder your experience as Lara.
I want to tell so much more but it would be labeled as the forbidden spoilers. I can tell you this: this game was beautiful, amazing, and delved deeper into Lara’s development. I am already ready for the next installment, because Lara being who she…shit gets real.
A Review by Meghan Rodriguez (Twitter: @collins_m81)
