Just got a copy of the latest Tomb Raider game today. I'm a confirmed Tomb raider nut.
So far the game starts VERY slowly with the obligatory training level....
"If you use the jump button you will jump" Amazing !
Graphics are good but as the game has been in developement for so long they've aged a bit and are now just 'good' rather than the excellent they would have got had the game come out when it was supposed to (about a year ago)
Sound is excellent. The music score is first rate (and was done by the London Phillamonic -sp) The voice acting is fine and Lara still has her upper class english plumby but strangely sexy accent !!!
There are some interesting features like Lara gaining experience as she performs activities. Smash down a lot of doors and she gets stronger. Shimmy along a lot of ledges and she can go further each time she tries before her grip fails. There is also a more role play like story with a fair bit of character interaction.
So far the game play is a bit slow, but there are a few nice touches. The controls are as fiddly as hell, but to a seasoned Tomb Raider vet like me they are no problem.
If you were a big fan of the earlier games then this is more of the same with lots of bells on and some nice twists. If you weren't a devote of all things Lara then you'll probably want to give it a miss.
DLing now
Discovered a couple of biggy graphic bugs (common problem acording to the forums). One of the characters hasn't skinned properly so you end up looking at a horrific looking barman with his face skin peeled off 8O
There's also a really odd bug where if you make Lara touch the surrounding scenery very occassionally she sticks to it. When you move her away you get long streams of colour stretching out between her and the scenery. Very very odd.
I've also had a couple of crashes during dialog sessions. So all in all a bit rubbish really.
Wonderful :!:
I managed to get my money back. The bloke in the shop asked if it was because I hated the game as they have had loads of returns for this title. I admitted it was and he said he didn't blame me.
I can understand why, this game is really crap. Having played it for about five hours now it's clearly a bug ridden mess that should never have been released. Tthe list of crap things is a long one, but for a taster try
Useless controls
Poor level design
Rubbish camera angles that don't let you see where you're going
No puzzles just tasks
Terrible French accents
Utterly empty street, no cars no people... nothing
No actual AI at all. Baddies just wait for you to kill them with the auto targeting
Graphic glitches
Lock Ups
Crashes
Pointless stealth feature that is never needed
And all kind of daft game play faults
i.e you get a note with a key code on it. When you reach the door the code opens you hit action and are taken to a screen with the code pad on it. If you haven't made a written or mental note of the code then you are stuck. Because you cannot back out from the key pad screen to check your inventory for the note and therefore the code. Even if you key a wrong code you just get a bleep and the code pad stays waiting for your next attempt. No matter what you do (hit escape etc) you cannot exit the code pad screen until you input the correct code. The only way out is to SHIFT-ALT-TAB to the desktop and kill the game from there.
So please please don't make a mistake and waste any money on this utter pile of crap.