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| Everything you need to know about the game is in this cover art. |
Tomb Raider does an excellent job leveraging the technical capabilities of the hardware it is running on. On every platform I have seen, it is a generally gorgeous experience. The environments appear to be exceptionally coherent and there are multiple distinct areas that keep things visually refreshing.
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| Even your hair can look constantly windblown with TressFX! |
From the beginning, I found the game extremely enjoyable, and, in ways, suspenseful. Most of the game has had me throwing playful expletives at it, when I was not reeling from the latest blow dealt to Lara and her party. Even with the set-back over set-back, I found myself wanting to see how the narrative was going to continue to develop. I kept wondering what was happening, and how our heroine was going to develop from the unskilled newbie to the intrepid adventurer we knew she would become. I was sucked in by the narrative experience, and kept in by the gameplay.
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| What this doesn't show you is how merciful boulders can be. |
The controls are smooth, and responsive. I never feel like the game is doing something other than what I told it to do. Every mistake I make is a learning experience. And every learning experience I accept makes me just that much better at getting an arrow in some dude's skull.
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| He doesn't even know what is about to happen to him. |
And Arrow-skulling (trademark pending) dudes is what that game is all about. That and bullet-skulling, buckshot-skulling, and pry axe-skulling any stranger you come across. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to get as many foreign objects into any stranger's skull you can find. This mission is fun, and rewarding. Every weapon is fun to use, and the progression system for them is addicting. As you "level-up" Lara you even get new and interesting ways to object-skull people making it so that every new murder feels fresh, and enjoyable, for the sociopathic, female, Bear Grylls you are shaping Lara to become.
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| At this point Lara isn't in the blood pool. Lara is the blood pool. |
This game, is a well executed, nearly cinematographic experience, and I give it two thumbs up.
100%
<3 Andrew Starkey, Engineer, Zombie Studios
