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vanfanel · 05-12-2007, 08:36 AM

Tomb Raider was never deep in story or action.

I remember ever since Tomb Raider 1 I would just lock on my enemy and hop from left to right unloading my unlimited ammo. It did not matter who is enemy or how much it/he/she had. This time they tried to avoid this “invincibility paradox” by disabling “fire while you jump option”. While the result required greater exchange of bullets between parties, the AI is just as dumb as ever.

The only time where I saw improved combat system was when Lara performed Head shots on enemies in Chronicles. I found it kinda neat because it could open more tactical style game play. It never went through. Tomb raider wants to have “in your face action” so the gun play needs to be visual, action oriented. The problem is that when you use this approach you will never have a deep combat system. Don’t believe me? Ask yourself. What would you change to make combat system of tomb raider deeper? It is a very big problem indeed and we are not the only ones who realize that.

As far as story is concerned my favorite was Last Revelation. There was character interaction, suspense and I actually cared for what happened to Lara at the end. Angel of Darkness too, had an attempt to have a story. Even if the game failed on all levels, my motivation was to find out what happens. Legend goes back to the old formula of collecting artifacts, putting them together to prevent end of universe. As original poster argued this is what made the game fun, but to me, I got bored after tomb raider 3. TLR made an attempt to deviate from this formula (by having one artifact yahoo!) but still the core concept remains unchanged. The movie followed this formula and suffered miserably. While this formula is a great excuse to make Lara travel from one exotic location to another, it needs to have more to it.

As far as commentary of Legend is concerned, I think it is matter of taste. I found commentary kinda fun. Indeed it made Lara more dependable (which isn’t in her character) but it made game more fun, and less boring. Previous tomb raiders were such a lonely affair. Some may find it good, but to me when there is a lack of coherent and engaging story, these things can be a good relief.

Something to note here: Legend was not meant to revolutionize anything. AOD tried that and failed miserably. Legend was to decide the fate of future series, so there was no room for trial and error in search of innovation. Creators had to go to the “roots” (no matter how boring and outdated they are) and re-invent them in modern style using modern hardware and address problems that plagued games from start. So those who expected revolution were left with bitter taste. Legend was short and sweet, and it is anything but legendary.

What is disappointing is that CD never addressed problems of legend. I looked at demo of TA and it has identical system to Legend (without next gen graphics, so go figure). We can already guess the review score the game would get keeping this in mind.

If I were to advise on future of Tomb raider I would offer the following:
• Brand New battle system that allows for more strategical gameplay. This needs to be well balalnced with lara’s signature gun play. Most likely impossible
• Deeper story that does not involve fetching artifacts from far corners of the world
• When using Urban locations , make them Urban. Unless Tokyo’s 35 Million population experienced mass migration, an urban location should have… well people, I guess.
• Puzzles that don’t involve pushing and pulling of crates. It has been 10 years already. If you want puzzles don’t be lazy. Legend allowed blocks to be pushed 360 degrees. Wow. That is quite an innovation.

That is my 2 Cents.

05-12-2007, 08:36 AM	#17
vanfanel Junior Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: Toronto Posts: 10	In response to original poster. Tomb Raider was never deep in story or action. I remember ever since Tomb Raider 1 I would just lock on my enemy and hop from left to right unloading my unlimited ammo. It did not matter who is enemy or how much it/he/she had. This time they tried to avoid this “invincibility paradox” by disabling “fire while you jump option”. While the result required greater exchange of bullets between parties, the AI is just as dumb as ever. The only time where I saw improved combat system was when Lara performed Head shots on enemies in Chronicles. I found it kinda neat because it could open more tactical style game play. It never went through. Tomb raider wants to have “in your face action” so the gun play needs to be visual, action oriented. The problem is that when you use this approach you will never have a deep combat system. Don’t believe me? Ask yourself. What would you change to make combat system of tomb raider deeper? It is a very big problem indeed and we are not the only ones who realize that. As far as story is concerned my favorite was Last Revelation. There was character interaction, suspense and I actually cared for what happened to Lara at the end. Angel of Darkness too, had an attempt to have a story. Even if the game failed on all levels, my motivation was to find out what happens. Legend goes back to the old formula of collecting artifacts, putting them together to prevent end of universe. As original poster argued this is what made the game fun, but to me, I got bored after tomb raider 3. TLR made an attempt to deviate from this formula (by having one artifact yahoo!) but still the core concept remains unchanged. The movie followed this formula and suffered miserably. While this formula is a great excuse to make Lara travel from one exotic location to another, it needs to have more to it. As far as commentary of Legend is concerned, I think it is matter of taste. I found commentary kinda fun. Indeed it made Lara more dependable (which isn’t in her character) but it made game more fun, and less boring. Previous tomb raiders were such a lonely affair. Some may find it good, but to me when there is a lack of coherent and engaging story, these things can be a good relief. Something to note here: Legend was not meant to revolutionize anything. AOD tried that and failed miserably. Legend was to decide the fate of future series, so there was no room for trial and error in search of innovation. Creators had to go to the “roots” (no matter how boring and outdated they are) and re-invent them in modern style using modern hardware and address problems that plagued games from start. So those who expected revolution were left with bitter taste. Legend was short and sweet, and it is anything but legendary. What is disappointing is that CD never addressed problems of legend. I looked at demo of TA and it has identical system to Legend (without next gen graphics, so go figure). We can already guess the review score the game would get keeping this in mind. If I were to advise on future of Tomb raider I would offer the following: • Brand New battle system that allows for more strategical gameplay. This needs to be well balalnced with lara’s signature gun play. Most likely impossible • Deeper story that does not involve fetching artifacts from far corners of the world • When using Urban locations , make them Urban. Unless Tokyo’s 35 Million population experienced mass migration, an urban location should have… well people, I guess. • Puzzles that don’t involve pushing and pulling of crates. It has been 10 years already. If you want puzzles don’t be lazy. Legend allowed blocks to be pushed 360 degrees. Wow. That is quite an innovation. That is my 2 Cents.