UPDATE: After ignoring this thread for over a year, I thought I'd make a quick update.
New trailer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkBZ6kKeoTI&feature=youtu.be
That is all.
ORIGINAL OP:
This month's GameInformer has an exclusive 10-page reveal of the next Tomb Raider, currently in development by Crystal Dynamics.
Cover image behind the spoiler
Official Tomb Raider site, currently pretty emptyGameInformer's Tomb Raider Hub, will be updated throughout DecemberChance wrote a blog post about the GI reveal, check it out here
Features, shamelessly stolen from tombraiderchronicles.com, who stole them from neogaf:
- Lara Croft will be 21 in Tomb Raider
- Tomb Raider will be rated M for Mature
- There will be no real life Lara Croft model
- Tomb Raider is a reboot of the brand, not only the series
- There are brutal deaths in the game this time. One is described as a deranged man stabbing Lara in the chest and another includes a boulder falling on her leg to trap her before another falls and crushes her head.
- Weapons to include a shotgun, bow and pistols
- The lock on targeting system has been replaced with a free aim system
- There are base camps in the game. Here you can combine items to create something new and access a skill system to upgrade Lara's abilities. You'll also be able to use base camps to fast travel to different locations to minimize backtracking.
- You'll need to gather food and water in order to survive
-There are humans in the game, including some of the crew members from the shipwreck off the coast of the island.
"There was an illusion of freedom because of streaming and loading that would pop you out in a different location, but this is absolutely real. You can literally go any direction that you see and carve your own way to the finish line instead of being guide." says experienced director Noah Hughes.
"It was important in the game to not only deliver the character arc of Lara Croft emotionally, but to deliver it in gameplay as well so the player gets to grow into a hardened survivor.
"As the game unfolds, Lara will scavenge new tools and gear that augment her abilities. Lara's athletic prowess will also evolve. Some areas begin inaccessible due to physical limitations or scarce supplies. With the right skills and gear, however, the island is Lara's for the taking."
I've got to say, this
sounds pretty sweet, but Crystal Dynamics have made
grand promises before. Still, I will remain cautiously optimistic until there's more to go on.
So, now, I guess this thread is to discuss all things Tomb Raider for the time being, I'll update the OP when more info comes in
Posts
Tomb Raiders Legend and Underworld rekindled my love of the series, and this does sound cool. I too, shall remain cautiously optimistic for this.
I feel similarly, and I do hope many elements from Underworld--particularly the rock scaling and swimming--make it in here. I'm not really excited with the notion of another reboot this fast (what is this, Prince of Persia?), so I guess we'll see.
Edit: I like the fact that they say there will be no real life Lara Croft model, but there's one right there on the cover. Unless it's just a heavily photoshopped mannequin; I can't tell anymore.
I've never been too fussed about reboots. As long as they keep making decent games, I'll keep playing them.
I didn't actually like Crystal Dynamic's Tomb Raider for the longest time, but in the run-up to Guardian Of Light, I went through the series again and really enjoyed Legend and Underworld this time round. I actually got around to getting the DLC for Underworld, and really enjoyed that too, but I could have done with it being longer.
Ah, I guess I'm just overly cautious--obviously, we're all hoping for a good game (though I'll admit, the Lara's Shadow DLC does mean I'll miss repeatedly beating on giant monsters with her fists whilst giving people creepy stares).
It seems that Crystal Dynamics figured out a few of the things they did wrong with Legend (like shoot-em-up sections where thirty identical morons charged you), so as long as they remember to take elements from the really good Core games (like they did from Tomb Raider III) this could be really good.
What's to worry about?
Lara could easily find boots with grippier soles or something.
Boots that magically allow you to walk somewhere you couldn't earlier would make me roll my eyes--I'd rather see something to the effect of a map in a place that was otherwise an unnavigable maze at the entrance, thus allowing you to enter the next "area".
Of course, I'm in the mindset that I don't play Tomb Raider for crappy gunfights (of which Legend had way too many), I play it for exploration and atmosphere--which I think Underworld did far, far better. I did not like the fixation on Norse Mythology (Christ, what is it with all the love the Vikings get? It's a little tiring at this point.) but that wasn't an impediment on the exploration. It's the same reason I didn't like Tomb Raider II as much as the first or third game--I didn't come here to engage in long, crappy gunfights.
Anniversary was all right. Some points were stronger than others. I played it at the same time as my first Underworld playthrough--which basically had far better implementation of mechanics and allowed Lara to do many, many more things, as well as being much prettier--so it's no surprise I basically gave up at Egypt out of boredom. I really should have finished it earlier.
Then Underworld came out and you get a choice of like two outfits, and the rest are paid DLC, and I couldn't help but feel like I'd been fucked somehow.
Underworld spoilers:
This post is me
Word for word
I am so excited about this reboot
I think it may have jumped ahead of Arkham City for my most anticipated in 2011.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let's not go nuts.
At the same time, I'm much more forgiving of it than I would otherwise be--normally, I hate that sort of implementation--for two reasons: first, it introduces the new Doppleganger effectively--it would be a disappointment if she didn't try and murder everyone.
Second, the character of Lara Croft is, after all, a misanthrope--until recently, pretty much every other human being she meets she ends up killing (Surrealitycheck pointed this out quite well in his LPs). It was a chance to show that, even with the death of a friend, she was still an unpleasant misanthrope.
I'd much rather not have a boring, simplistic gunfight than have to go through it, especially after the fourth or fifth one--at that point, I'd really rather just walk through a room without that annoyance. In the area of DLC, I can understand where you're coming from--I mean, I prefer a stronger actual game than unlockable costumes, but that's not true for everyone--but you do know that they released additional free DLC costumes a few months after the game came out? They were the costumes that won CD's fan contest. Something like a half-dozen, including some wetsuits.
Personally, Lara's Shadow was one of the best post-game DLC I'd ever gotten up to that point, so I was very pleased. As long as they avoid making this game too much like Legend, I'm looking forward to it.
You say this, and yet you limed it
You are conflicted
Search your feelings, you know it to be true
I am interested to see how this game turns out.
I am raving-lunatic-chuck-grampa-under-the-bus lusting for Arkham City.
Also, gunfights in Legend were rediculously easy. Slo-mo kick offa guy and kill him and another guy before hitting the ground. Rinse and repeat. Maybe a little repetitive, but I don't see what the big complaint is.
I couldn't figure out why
Legend's camera was fantastic, just stick with that
Why have long 30-man gunfights when they're totally needless (it's not as though we're chasing experience, all you get from them are health packs and ammo...for the next needless 30-man gunfight) at the cost of runining the atmosphere?
If the gunfights weren't as oversimplified and boring, it'd be a different story--Underworld made some steps in that direction, though not enough (at least they had to good sense to trim it down from 20-30 to 3-6).
Barring making the mechanic better, skip it. Sometimes, less is more--especially when it means you don't waste our time shooting a group of 20 guys coming out of a doorway.
Could we rank them from most like Uncharted to not being at all like Uncharted?
I am interested in picking up one.
3DS FC: 5343-7720-0490
Underworld and Anniversary are nothing like it
I guess Legend is the most like Uncharted in that you spend a lot of time shooting idiots with horrible AI (just without the better gunplay in Uncharted 2).
EDIT: Beaten by UV. And yes, Underworld, with its swimming and exploration sections, is very different.
which I thought was actually really fun as far as exploring and upgrading your tools and whatnot. I'm cautiously optimistic and slightly constipated.
It's possible I wasn't able to figure out how, though.
Lara is squirrely as fuck and there's no heft to her movement at all. I've only played it for like an hour, but it already feels glitchy at hell and the physics seem to be messed up. The animation also looks weird as hell and very inconsistent in general; Lara stumbles across small gaps in the floor and looks like she's falling off a ledge. The camera is also terrible.
It just seems really sloppy overall. Am I wrong here?
That's exactly what I got from it as well
And I actually believe it started in Anniversary from Legend, it just got considerably worse in Underworld
Tried it on both PS3 and, later, on 360
It's still twitchy on foot, but it was also twitchy in Legends (with the exception that you had a lot more open spaces without obstructions in Legend--for example, all the giant rooftops in Japan)--you could still walk yourself into a wall or get caught on something in the earlier game. And I also appreciate the fact that Lara moves slightly differently on different kinds of terrain--versus being a weather/terrain-proof android in earlier animations. It could use more refinement, but it's a good step. That may not be for everyone though.
I've played both on PC and on Xbox 360. Never on the PS3.
Lara's a sex symbol in gaming, that's quite obvious. But that fact alone has never ever been able to get me to care about the games. Like, I'm as much of a red-blooded heterosexual male as the next gamer, but uh... if I want porn, I can find porn. It's all over the internet. Very easy to find. Even some super kinky stuff. I don't need it in my video games. And that whole idea of trying to sell the games based on Lara's massive boobs, that always turned me off, ironically. It just seemed very shallow and insulting and kinda desperate.
Now, I've actually only played one Tomb Raider game, and it was the last one, Underworld. Is it fair to judge an entire franchise on one game? If you think about it, the latest game in a series is supposed to have all the improvements and refinements and perfected elements of each previous game, right? So if Underworld wasn't gonna do it, I doubt my opinion would have improved by playing the older ones.
And uh, I hated Underworld. It really stunk to high heaven. I am really really glad I didn't play any TR games in the days of yore, judging by what I got in Underworld. First of all, the platforming is not that great. It felt pretty damn stiff and clunky. On its face, it's probably the strongest element of Underworld, but compared to contemporaries like Prince of Persia or Assassin's Creed, and it really fails. It's just not good enough anymore. Of course, there are people out there who actually dislike the sort of platforming in PoP/AC, so it's all personal preference. But I myself couldn't get onboard with it.
Now, the combat. That's a really strong factor for me in games. The combat in Underworld is complete shit, and far far worse qualitatively then the platforming. First off, manual aim seems almost nonexistent. The level of fidelity isn't there, you absolutely aren't capable of aiming at longer distances at anyone. Either it's too inaccurate or your bullets just seem to phase out of existence past 15 feet. 15 feet! How the hell can a developer only provide gunplay within 15 feet?
So manual aiming is terrible. I guess they want you to use their lock-on aiming. But again, this only seems to lock-on within 15 feet. You can't fire at enemies at medium ranges. I have no idea why. And the whole idea of lock-on aiming is repugnant to me. I don't need to have the game aim for me. I didn't need it in Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake, Unreal, Rainbow Six, Battlefield, Medal of Honor, Call of Duty, Crysis, Gears of War, Mass Effect, Uncharted, etc... I basically haven't needed or wanted it in about 17 years. Yet that seems to be how they want you to aim in Underworld. I hated that, it felt lazy and out of touch with reality.
And the dual pistols contain infinite ammo. Why would pistols have infinite ammo? How does that make any sense? Where would Lara fit infinite ammo into her clothes? I hated it when Ubisoft gave infinite pistol ammo in Rainbow Six Vegas and SC Conviction and apparently they learned it from the Tomb Raider games. Also, the levels had a lot of peculiarities that really felt unpolished. Near the beginning of the game, Lara is onboard her fancy expensive yacht and is about to go diving for some treasure. Well, you can't actually explore this yacht, because there are invisible walls everywhere. There's some stairs leading up to the controls of the yacht, but you run into an invisible wall right at the stairs. Why would you do that? What the hell is the point of having all these boundaries on this boat? I dunno, but it was lame.
So yea, all in all, Underworld seemed like a terrible game. I did not finish it. The combat felt awful and the platforming was merely clumsy. Not a good experience, or even a mediocre experience. When you think about it, it's almost laughable to consider TRU and Uncharted to be competitors, the gulf between them is so fucking huge these days. To their credit, this TR reboot that's been announced does not seem to resemble Uncharted in many ways. It's an open world survival game, that's something new. I'll be happy to play it if it ends up being actually good. Maybe Crystal Dynamics learned that what they did during the last couple entries was fucking garbage and wasn't selling. I hope so, I always hope that a game is going to be good. There's never any reason to wish that something is going to turn out bad.
Now, the only real issue I have with this new reboot is Lara herself. For all of Underworld's faults, I actually really liked Lara's visual appearance. They managed to inject some realism into her design while retaining the classical Lara Croft look. This new redesign is somewhat of a departure from that approach and I'm not a fan of it. I do know she's supposed to be 21 in this new game and maybe that's why they changed it up. And yea, all that blood and gore matted to her face isn't very appealing. But of the two designs, I'm in the Underworld camp.
Woo M rating! It seemed like the series up till now has been a little limited by trying to keep it T, so it'll be nice to see what Crystal Dynamics can do with less content restriction. Also woo free aiming! Not that I expect we'll ever see a Tomb Raider game with decent combat. Or a decent camera. But if somehow we did, that'd be rad.
All right, people. It is not a gerbil. It is not a hamster. It is not a guinea pig. It is a death rabbit. Death. Rabbit. Say it with me, now.
But, of course, that requires they keep the environments interesting (Underworld did a good job of that...even Mexico, the most boring section, was still more interesting than the the large majority of Uncharted 2's environments of trees with small buildings interspersed, and then lots of small buildings packed together). And that, in turn, relies heavily on the setting. I especially don't want Uncharted 2's half-hearted platforming--run up the stairs, run down the stairs, jump, and do this again--since that's forgivable amidst shooting literally dozens of guys, but kind of sucks in exploration (and coincidentally, Uncharted 2 basically happens between shooting large groups of people.)
The survival horror idea seems to confirm that. This isn't going to be a case of "Lara ducks into cover, shoots eight Russians, include one with armor that you have to shoot seven times in the chest, runs up stairs, ducks into cover and does that again," I suspect. That isn't a bad game by any means at all--a good third person shooter--but I don't think that's what they're going for--a horror exploration game. Not that there aren't some things I wouldn't mind seeing borrowed from third person shooters, including Uncharted 2...some of the melee options from there would be pretty great, if implemented properly.
Plus, if the point is to be scary, shooting from cover (among other things) tend to makes things a lot less scary and involve a lot less exploration.
EDIT: Also, Russian attack helicopters? Not scary in video games.
[/opinions]