I played the reboot of the Tomb Raider series and though it was really awful. So when the sequel Rise of the Tomb Raider came out I had to play it, because it couldn’t get any worse. WRONG! It was even more terrible. Let’s say that I didn’t have high hopes for this third game in the trilogy.
The game takes place in the jungle. Lara and her friend Jonah is out raiding tombs and they get intercepted by Trinity that is trying to lay their hands on anything Lara finds and kill her in the process. It’s not a difficult story, we have played it before. This time we get to know the local people of Paititi to eventually save them from the evil Trinity.
The story is not too bad. It introduces some rememberable characters and situations. I really liked the two ending areas that I think are the best in the game.
There are however some things in the story that has gotten really tired. Like the flashbacks to when Lara was young. The endless Maya and Inca lore of gods and catastrophes, all is very tired.
What’s also tired is the gameplay. Fighting mercenaries in the jungle. Climbing mountains and temples. Solving crazy puzzles of turning levers and swimming labyrinths under water. These concepts are all so tired. (even if I assume this is why people buy the game) In contrary to the previous games, these are done well this time. There is very little frustration with the game mechanics. It all works as expected even if it does get repetitious after a while doing the same thing over and over.
The fighting is alright. It’s mostly based on sneaking and stealth killing enemies, which makes sense. Lara is no super human. She needs to be smart in her killings and the game gives you enough tools to accomplish that.
This game’s strengths is the graphics and the atmosphere. The areas look really good, the vistas over the jungle, the temples and with the music it all feels pretty great. How oddly it may seem, that I actually had fun playing this game.
How can the previous two games be so bad, and this .. dare I say it, GOOD? I find the answer in the credits. The previous two games were done by Crystal Dynamics and this was done by Eidos-Montreal, the same studio that made Deus Ex and Marvels Guardians of the Galaxy. That explains everything.
I rate this game as GOOD.
Replay 