OK I started this game last week and have played a wee bit. Thought I’d start a thread stating my opinions in a semi-review state. It will be a post as I play form so my opinion may change over the course of the playthrough. Additionally I’ll try to keep SPOILERS to a minimum, but they may drip in there from time to time.
I’m playing the game on my work PC, so it’s set to medium quality @ 1920 x 1080:
3hours in:
The screenshots sure are pretty, but my gut feeling is that this game isn’t as well optimised for older machines, or maybe older AMD GPUs, as it could be. I ran the original TR on the same machine at about 45FPS (screen resolution also set to 1080 & TressFX off, but at medium to high) but this game just feels as if it’s chopping along very nastily. I believe that I meet “Minimum Requirement” on this PC but it feels as if the goalposts for “minimum” have shifted in the interim time period. At the moment I’m down to medium quality, 1920x1080 resolution with enhancements like Pure Hair Off and considering dropping to Low Quality to improve the stutter.
As for the storyline & plot so far… it just seems so generic & mundane. A checklist combination of the 1st game & generic pulp action adventure (ala Alain Quartermain or Indy J). Why does this game not grab the player immediately & slap you about the face with some awesome set piece? I want to be reminded immediately of how bad-ass Lara is & instead she’s stood there pouting on a mountain while the generic Pacific Island dude is carrying the only pack. Surely she could start off with the pack & still loose it in the first 5 minutes? Instead they seem to be content with a slow intro allowing you plenty of time to marvel at how well rendered the Siberian mountains are.
There’s some cliff jumping with requisite avalanches & collapsing ice sheets, before you get thrown back in time… to explain why you’re in the mountains. Needless to say there’s the introduction to the shady millenia-old secret organisation, Daddy issues & the separation from her friends so she get along & kick arse on her lonesome again, unfortunately nothing groundbreaking.
At least this time she’s happy to launch straight into being a cold blooded murderer, no crying over spilt deer blood here. If it’s a guy with a gun you either stick him with an arrow or break his neck, job done. Unfortunately the first major bottleneck (aka Mr Cuddly) was an desk thumpingly, annoying affair, probably due to my hardware issues & my admittedly poor coordination. I just spent 10 minutes running around in circles trying to pick up the cues that it was time to turn & shoot Mr Cuddly before he turned me into a shredded burritto.
For me I enjoyed the 1st games Tomb Raiding & so I’m glad there’s the return of the Challenge Tombs. While I get that it’s a experience/skill-progression focused game, surely that could be handled better. Has she forgotten all the skills that she learned on Yamati? Because its seems we have to re-learn them again.
So there’s my first thoughts on this game… it’s not bad, but it’s also not yet a worthy sequel to the first game. Only time will tell if it can win me over.