Tomb Raider: My completed Game of the month.

So I am here again talking about the game I have completed in the month just passed (September) once again  I have  only completed 1 game and yet again it is a game I had already finished before it is Tomb Raider on the Xbox One. I guess what got me playing it was the fact that it was one of the free Games with Gold games, but it was more than that it was the fact that I had enjoyed playing it so much on the PS4 that I wanted to give it another go. OK so  I will be to some degree doing a sort of review of the content but I will also be talking about issues such as  how long I have been playing it for, how hard or easy it was  to complete and if I think I will ever go back to it again. Just so everyone knows this is not the only thing I have been playing, A lot of other things I have been playing though are either really long or pretty much endless, for example I am still playing Forza 5 but that has so many races to it, and I have been playing Mario Maker which as its basically a make your own levels tool kit is endless, well as long as your imagination is.

Tomb Raider Review

I originally got a second hand copy of Tomb Raider for the Xbox 360 on the super cheap, yet I didn't touch it, I guess it was basically because of what I could describe as franchise fatigue. I had enjoyed the first tomb raider but found that largely my enjoyment of the games got a little bit smaller with each game, this was pretty much the case with each game apart from Tomb Raider Legend which I just seemed to really click with. Now dont get me wrong Legend is not technically an amazing game but it just seemed to be fun and at times a little over the top in a good way. Then I remember playing one that started with you on the ocean floor and it just seemed as dull as dishwater. Yet everyone kept going on and on about the new Tomb Raider, not just magazines and websites but other people I knew. In the end it was this word of mouth praise and the fact that I found myself in a pawn store looking at a copy of Tomb Raider in larlgy perfect condition for the PS4 for £15 that finally tipped the scales. Now I could have been sensible and just played my Xbox 360 version but this was the definitive version so things would be better and there would be extra stuff I reasoned but manly I just wanted an excuse to spend some time on the PS4 I had sat in the room begging for a good game. I finished it, I enjoyed it a lot and then months latter it was announced as a Games with Gold game and my first thought was oh well its been awhile since I finished the PS4 one I could go another round with it on Xbox one. I suppose in a way I could almost end on that because after all if you are happy to play a whole game again 6 months down the line that says a lot for it, it says that it is worth going back to, that it is worth playing more than once and when it comes to games you cant say much better than that.

Now a quick one on the differences between versions. I have looked at videos that compare the graphics and the truth is they look slightly different from version to version but in the case of the PS4, Xbox One and PC on max settings the differences are not really a case of better or worse they are all pretty much equal they just show things in slightly different ways, slight difference in shadows textures and lighting but unless you have them side by side your not going to know. As for the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions its little things like Lara's hair being a punch of set pieces which clunkily move compared to on the newer gen machines were every single hair and thread of fibre seems to have its own life, its nice to see the improvements on the newer generation machines but they are not deal breakers or a reason to upgrade if you sitting with a PS3 or Xbox 360 then just buy that version the depth of the story and the action contained within it should be more than enough to stop you worrying about those kinds of things anyway.

I remember when the game was first being shown there was a huge fuss about one enemy insinuating he wanted to rape Lara, now why this was an issue who knows. This game is very adult its about trying to survive despite not only a cult who wants you dead but also wild animals and a hostile environment. The game has a wonderful setting and a story you really care about. It takes Lara back to her beginnings and you get to see a somewhat scared young woman slowly become the tomb raider we all know. The game controls well, both in terms of combat and in terms of making jumps. Some of the old Tomb raiders used to be kind of hit and miss with you wondering what jumps you could and couldn't make, you could cling to one surface but not another identical looking surface. All of this seems to have been thought about and solved now Lara looks and reaches towards the next logical place, all surfaces you can cling to have a certain look to them so leaps of faith and mindless deaths are almost none existent.  There are also a lot more enemies and they rush you it makes for a much more action paced game.

I finished the game after a few days but playing for quiet a few hours at a time, some of this was due to having already finished it on the PS4 and having remembered the solutions to a few problems and having skipped cut scenes I could remember. The game is about average on the difficulty front, the only issues are some parts can take a few retries with your character being rushed by large numbers, also some of the quick time events can at times be annoying but they are not to bad.

Conclusion

I would strongly recommend this game to pretty much anyone especially now that its cheap and easy enough to get a hold of, if you got it as part of  Games for Gold and havent played it yet then jump on it get started.