However, hearing a few good things from a few trusted friends, I decided to give the game a try, and goddamn am I glad I did. Tomb Raider has it's numerous real time events, and Lara is still rather, well, robust (though looking less like a pistol-wielding Barbie this time around and more like an actual human); however, Tomb Raider offers one of the better examples of smart gameplay and character development available in the market right now.
The tagline for the series is "a survivor is born," but it might as well be, "a series is resurrected." Look out Lazarus - Lara Croft is providing some serious competition in the miraculous return department.
MASH THE 'E' KEY
Let's start with the real time events (RTEs). For anyone reading who isn't familiar with the current state of games, RTEs are a gameplay mechanic used to offer a more cinematic experience for certain game moments. Because games traditionally offer a suite of controls and skills that the player can utilize as they see fit, the game space hasn't always allowed directors to employ wildly varying camera angles, actions, or events - any of these things thrown into the mix without warning could compromise the experience for the player, especially if they're expected to complete a complex set of actions with the camera zoomed in a foot away from the protagonist's face, for example. RTEs solve that by prompting the player to complete just one or two things at a time, allowing developers to showcase stunning special effects without compromising the player experience.
At it's best, this mechanic can break up game pacing and offer a fresh and exciting moment in the narrative/combat/exploration for a given scene; at it's worst, this mechanic can make a game feel overly contrived, simplistic, and stale. Tomb Raider manages to land in the former camp by doing a couple of things well.
For one, there are a very limited number of controls that can be used in RTEs in the game (I played on PC, so in most cases, RTEs were completed using the 'E' key). This allows Tomb Raider to spare the majority of the text prompts telling you to what keys to mash, instead using more subtle visual cues to indicate that you should probably react quickly (such as a brief slow-down in game speed, or Lara grappling for a handhold on a rock face). It's a slight change from the norm, but the payoff is considerable - instead of feeling spoon fed each action, you get to feel that you're instead capitalizing on each opportunity as it arises... or hanging on for dear life, as the case may be.
For one, there are a very limited number of controls that can be used in RTEs in the game (I played on PC, so in most cases, RTEs were completed using the 'E' key). This allows Tomb Raider to spare the majority of the text prompts telling you to what keys to mash, instead using more subtle visual cues to indicate that you should probably react quickly (such as a brief slow-down in game speed, or Lara grappling for a handhold on a rock face). It's a slight change from the norm, but the payoff is considerable - instead of feeling spoon fed each action, you get to feel that you're instead capitalizing on each opportunity as it arises... or hanging on for dear life, as the case may be.
Secondly, RTEs never stand out as being a core part of the game experience. There are rarely RTE 'sequences' (you know, press key 1, then key 2, then move left, right, up, up, and then hit key 3 to complete the sequence, etc. etc.); instead, RTEs are a single fiber woven in the fabric of the game experience, and they manage to never jar you out of the experience (instead, they're used largely to segue into a new scene or change of pace).
Which brings us to pacing.
One step at a time makes for one hell of a fine walk
Another concept I'll summarize for ye olde non-gamers is the idea of flow in game design. This is the general concept that the brain has a certain processing capacity, and that when that capacity is utilized completely (you're not over- or under-stimulated), you enter a state of flow. Think of a project you've worked on where you've lost sense of time, being hungry, etc.: this is flow. In short, it's an experience of optimal engagement, and it requires a constant increase in difficulty as well as a constant increase in mastery. It's a chugging of not only forward, but of upward as well. When done right, it's a 45-degree angle headed up and out.
Tomb Raider is a shining example of nailing flow in a game. Lara is constantly learning new abilities, upgrading her gear, and selecting new skills, and all of this is left up to the player in terms of what to learn when (allowing the player to 'master' skills as he feels he needs them, giving him control over creating an optimal experience). In conjunction with this constant outward and upward mobility of Lara's skills, the environment is steadily increasing in terms of size and scope, meaning that as Lara learns her new abilities, opportunities to use those abilities blossom throughout the landscape.
Unlike other games that bar progression based on equipment and skills (Metroid, for example), Tomb Raider never makes you feel as if you're missing out on an opportunity, nor does it force backtracking. In fact, any time you cross through an area you've previously visited, the game takes you through it on a path previously so unavailable, you didn't even know it was there (which beautifully, if you go back and look, it was). Another great touch is that Crystal Dynamics even changes environmental pieces (such as structure integrity, weather, and time of day), further giving you the feeling that old places are in fact new places.
I mentioned above that RTEs are a single fiber of the game experience, and that's true for all elements that make this game, whether it's combat, exploring/resource collecting, or platforming (the game's three main staples of gameplay). At no point are you limited to any one of these experiences - there's a ton of blend between all three, and major game sections ease so effortlessly into one another that you're hard pressed to think of any one sequence a single gameplay element alone. The result is a game that's hard to put down - it's difficult to find a stopping point, which is incredible considering that the game saves almost every action you take and offers a myriad of camps, which are basically resting points (the beauty with camps is that they serve as upgrade stations, meaning that even though you're at an ideal stopping point, an eagerness to try your new abilities or gear motivates you back out into the wild).
In short, Tomb Raider instills in the player a sense of relentless determination, a drive to march steadily forward to see the adventure through to the end. Fittingly, that determination is matched by Crystal Dynamic's re-imagined Lara Croft.
More than a pretty face
I mentioned earlier that Lara has returned looking considerably more human, and the same is true for her character as well. It's obvious that Crystal Dynamics felt the need to reshape the steely exterior that Lara exhibited in previous depth-diving adventures. As a result, the character in this game is naive, afraid, and mortal. Rather than creating what might sound like a sniveling wimp of a kid, Lara seems instead tremendously brave. The fear exhibited in this game is genuine (thanks to both some great voice acting as superb motion capture), and as a result, the feats you accomplish feel greater because of it. There's one scene in particular where Lara is climbing a radio tower. Though I knew rationally that Lara would not fall, that the game wasn't going to end with her dashed on the rocks below, I found myself holding my breath because Lara's fear became my fear. And when I reached the top of that tower, I felt I had overcome something truly dangerous and a little terrifying as a result. The presentation of her character is that good.
Crystal Dynamics has not only re-established Lara's character, but her raison d'etre through a series of, you guessed it, tomb raids. What seems at a glance to be a potentially heavy-handed and clunky device, the various tomb sections of the game are fantastic. Each is relatively brief but challenging in it's own right, blending into the overall flow of the game to make them yet another humble fiber in this extraordinary journey. Lara's character is markedly different in these sections - as opposed to the struggling, fearful girl we see by daylight, the Lara we navigate through the tombs is thoughtful, curious, and full of wonder. The sections again make Lara feel more human, but more importantly, they help bridge the gap between the girl we see in this game and the woman we know she'll eventually become.
Humble beginnings
It's difficult to imagine how successful the game would have been if not presented as an origin story. Lara conquers her fears through the game, which unfortunately eradicates the most human, relateable thing about her (I for one can't pull off a series of a dozen bow and arrow kills while side-stepping lobbed sticks of dynamite). While I'm invested in her character and accomplishment now, I wonder if I'll manage to be when the obligatory follow-up comes around. Similarly, Lara finding a survival toolset that fit her needs on the island made for an engaging reason to push forward hour after hour, and it related directly to the story being told. In short, the game was a successful marriage of content and context, but I hope that Crystal Dynamics is thinking hard about how to reinvent the formula for their next go-around, as finding yourself makes for a great story, but a poor series.
And while this pessimistic Polak is already grumbling about what may lay in store for Lara's future, the fact remains that Tomb Raider is likely the best game you'll play this year. I haven't even mentioned the stunning quality that's gone into every element of this game, from the breathtaking environments to the range of gameplay elements to the amount of polish obvious in numerous weapon upgrades and their meaty reliability in combat.
A survivor has been born with Lara's latest, and she's held a torch to light the way for the series moving forward. There's no telling yet how this reboot will end, but the beginning of this journey is one hell of a ride, and one I guarantee you won't want to miss out on.
