Rise of the Tomb Raider
This is the most fun I have had in many, many moons, the nostalgia is really strong in this game, I felt like a little kid again.
This was most definitely due to growing up with Lara Croft, from her pixelated block boob origins, to Angelina, as the real-life Lara in the movies, during the early nineties. Rise of the Tomb Raider is not the newest of games, and was launched in the beginning of November of 2016 exclusively to Xbox and then only two months later it was released on PlayStation.
I was looking through my game collection last week, as I was pretty stumped on which game to review. l posed the question in Adsactly voice hangout and 
Rise of the Tomb Raider is set about one year after the previous 2013 game Tomb Raider, which for those of you not all that familiar with what had happened, it was pretty much a game reboot of the the franchise.
The previous game is very much an origins story of how Lara becomes the grave robbing hero we have all come to love. She basically gets marooned on a mysterious island off the coast of Japan, on what is one of her first ever expeditions in search of the lost kingdom of Yamatai. Everything that can go wrong, does, and she has to fend off the wild and dangerous animals and creatures that inhabit this island with nothing more than her McGyver-like savvy.
I fondly remember having to construct your weapons and gear from anything that you found and which was salvageable. I don't want to spoil too much for you if you haven't played the first game and this review intrigues you into playing it, so logically you can deduce that she makes it out of this predicament. I am an annoying stickler for detail and context, now that everyone is caught up with what happened before, we can commence with the real review.
"A famous explorer once said, that the extraordinary is in what we do, not who we are. I’d finally set out to make my mark; to find adventure. But instead adventure found me. In our darkest moments, when life flashes before us, we find something; something that keeps us going. Something that pushes us." - Lara Croft
The game kicks off one year after her island ordeal, and Lara is searching for answers to what she discovered on Yamatai. This leads her to her late father's research into the lost city of Kitezh and the promise of immortality.
She sets off on her expedition and heads to Syria, hoping to uncover the tomb of the Prophet of Constantinople, which seems to be the key to this legend. Upon arrival and with some epic puzzle solving she discovers an empty tomb, a clue leading her to her next destination.
Before Lara can leave she is interrupted by Trinity, an ancient order of knights that now exists investigating the supernatural, the bad guys. She just manages to get away with the location of where to pick up the trail. These very exciting pressured moments that happen throughout the game are, at times, very suspenseful and unexpected.
The clue, leads Lara to a historical Russian book in her father's collection, which unfortunately, gets stolen by a Trinity assassin just before you can lay hands on it.
Luckily she finds some clues in her fathers work and it's off to Serbia you go with your buddy Jonah. This is pretty much where the game begins, the first few hours of play are mostly you familiarising yourself with the controls and feeling of the game. You begin your adventure in Serbia, by crashing into the mountain and getting separated from your friend, where you find yourself alone in this harsh, ice cold environment fraught with danger.
Lara needs to gather any resource available to survive the the cold, and this is where she has to craft her first bow, which is one of her most valuable tools, and reliable weapon. You'll use this to hunt animals in order to get better clothing from animal furs, the bigger the animal the better your gear can become. You pick up parts for better weapons as you progress, everything can be upgraded and I found myself spending hours hunting for specific animals and salvage to better Lara's equipment.
If you have been following any of these game series I have been writing you will know how much value I place in a good story, in my opinion it's what makes the game experience.
Rise of the Tomb Raider is a masterful piece of work with regards to the story. I found myself on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. The game blends between gameplay and cutscenes flawlessly, and at times so unexpectedly, I almost fell off the couch trying to grab the controller in order not to die.
I really felt like I had been transported back to the first time I watched Indiana Jones, it's the ultimate adventure story, and being a game it does not end within two hours. The character is very well written, and you can easily connect with her on an emotional level, and feel apart the character as she grows with everything she has to go through.
Rise of the Tomb Raider was developed by Crystal Dynamics, who have made a few of the next generation Tomb Raider titles, as well as the Legacy of Kain series, which all of you old school gamers should remember.
It's published by Square Enix, and that's why the cutscene animations are so visually spellbinding. It's the same guys that made Final Fantasy. The game is available on PlayStation, Xbox and on PC, and because it is more than a year old you could pick this up for probably next to nothing.
I give Rise of The Tomb Raider a solid 9/10.
In case you missed it, here is the previous game review
Thanks for popping in, I hope you liked the post. Please leave me your thoughts and/or opinions in the comments below, have a beautiful day!
Game review for ADSactly by MorkRock
necessarily reflect the official policy or position of ADSactly
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