Obi-Wanma

Stuff splattering on the camera takes me out of a movie too. I want to be absorbed, not reminded that it's a movie/game.

MoviePage

There is no New Game+ mode. You can free roam after the story is complete for collectibles and challenges, but that's it. Some areas have respawned enemies, but most don't.

Dragon Tattoo

Damn, that sucks.

Oh well.

Wolf359

After dying at least 25 times I have to say that parachute part SUCKS BALLS. Fuck! Had to just stop playing.

foxdvd

maybe you are doing something wrong? It seemed easy to me...

edstein

I finished with 80% complete at around 11-12 hours. Awesome game.

dugan

Did her big trailer line, "if I don't survive, no-one will" actually make it into the game? I just finished and I don't think she ever said it.

nickdawgy

That's just like all the other similar parts before it. You die once or twice, and figure out the pattern and then pass it.

Although the river was harder than the parachute part IMO.

edstein

About the ending...



I guess we'll get more of that in Tomb Raider 2.

The game felt pretty easy to me. I rarely used the guns late in the game. I used the bow almost exclusively.

PopcornTreeCt

I just finished the game. In regards to your spoiler, I thought that was pretty sweet and iconic. I also used the bow predominantly, except when I got in close to enemies I used the shotgun.

Random thoughts...

...was sorta worried about the hunting for food aspect early in the game, luckily that went away quick

...really liked the different styles of gameplay, from semi-frustrating parachuting to finishing moves

...I've never seen a video game character get so badly damaged in a game. Half the game she spent limping around holding her side. Pretty impressive.

...easily the best graphics of this generation

...definitely recommended! One of the most enjoyable single player campaigns I've played in a long time.

dugan

I was expecting that. I was also expecting her pant legs to get ripped off so that she would end up looking like old-school Lara. Unfortunately that did not happen.

Liver&Onions

Love to hear that's it's only that long. Give me 10-15 hours of awesome rather than 40+ of good.

edstein

I'm going back in now to pick up some of the achievements I missed. Basically find docs, relics, challenges, etc. The ones requiring enemy kills may be a problem as most areas don't seem to respawn them.

RichC2

I thought the parachute part was fairly easy, do you at least get a death animation with it?

The game is a bit easy but the important part is it's fun as hell. Hope part 2 is just as good.

slop101

Impaled in the gut by a tree branch.

This game took a LOOONG time in development, and it shows. If the next one is going to be anywhere near as good, it'll take just as long.

fumanstan

I died once parachuting. Makes me want to die at least once in each sequence to see how Lara dies.

As for the development, I thought a lot of the time was deciding what type of game they wanted to make. There was an article on Kotaku about various things they were trying to do, including a Shadow of the Colossus style game.

RichC2

Tomb Raider style Shadow of the Colossus with the camera and controls from this game would be neat.

I figured a lot of their development time was spent planning, though the graphics are so detailed I can't imagine any of that was done quickly.

Maxflier

I can tell this game is going to be pretty short, which is something I usually like about games because they are generally way too long these days, but I am playing this one in small chunks because it is so fantastic I don't want it to ever end.
I can definitely see myself playing through this game multiple times.

cungar

So I take it based on the speed of play there aren't any real challenging puzzles (or any puzzles at all)?

RichC2

There are plenty of puzzles, they're just easy.

Case in point:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/f_XNLoS3FgI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

edstein

The puzzles were all pretty easy. Some of the collectibles on the other hand were pretty tough to find without a guide. I'm now 100% complete.

cungar

Yeah I stopped it after it started showing how to solve it but I see what you mean. Definitely looks cool even if it's not massive.

Michael Corvin

The puzzle tombs are a joke. They are easily the worst the series has to offer. I used to joke that Uncharted's best puzzles would end up on the Tomb Raider cutting room floor. After these, that is no longer the case.

Guide? I'm in ShantyTown and am only missing 1 Ghost Toem (from the first area) and one "Poached" Egg. Once you find the in game map, you're golden. That plus upgrading the "Cartographer" skill makes finding everything relatively easy.

That leads me to my first "real" complaint about the game. Lara is an adventurer, she needs a pair of binoculars. With this game more immersive than the last few, they would be fantastic. Case in point, I spotted that poached egg but couldn't get to it. I've been back through that area a couple times now and can't find it.

RichC2

"Difficult puzzles? ain't nobody got time for that!" seems to sum up the public consensus on puzzles in action/adventure games these days. I imagine future Tomb Raiders will be similar to this, but with bigger more difficult "Tombs" to explore on the side.

It works amazingly well in this one because it is a reboot and is very very well made, but unless the story is just tremendously strong in #2 I really hope they amp up the difficulty, and not by adding more baddies to kill.

That aside, this is how you do pacing in a videogame.

dugan

God of War says the public consensus is wrong.

Are you going to argue with the God of War?