Shadow Of The Tomb Raider (Review)

So I'm a little later on this review than I wanted to be, but life caught up to me a bit for a few days, pushing what I was hoping for finishing on Sunday, now being Wednesday, but here we are.

So the first thing I'll say, is that this game isn't done strictly by Crystal Dynamics like the previous two titles. Why, I'm not entirely sure of. I'm assuming it's because of the Avengers game they are suppose to be working on, but the company that did most of this game, Eidos Montreal, is also working on the Avengers game too? Maybe it's because EM has more employees? Having nearly 500 people at their studio as of May of this year. Either way, Eidos Montreal took the reins on this third, and supposed final game in the new trilogy, and I'm not sure why.

That sounds negative, and in some ways it is, and in most ways, it's not suppose to be. SotTR is a solid game, one that I did find a good amount of enjoyment in, but disappointed me a bit too. The game adds a few new features in it, like the ability to slather yourself in mud and hunt down bad guys like you're in the movie Predator, avoiding their heat seeking visors. The stealth in this game gets better as you unlock more chain moves, chaining your stealth kills together in quick fashion to avoid being seen, or even hanging guys from trees like you're from Arnold's other movie, Rambo. You can even add lures and explosives, and attach them to bodies, to bring other enemies to their dead friends and blow them up. There are a ton of tools to unlock in your handbag, even using poisoned arrows to make enemies turn on their friends before they pass out and die themselves. These are good additions to the combat that make you feel less like a solider, and more like a guerilla fighter.

That's not to say that the game focuses on combat, it doesn't. The combat sections do happen, and some of it is just over the top when you have APC's and helicopters raining Hell on you, but really, there was real focus on the Tombs, and exploring them. Even adding more by adding in artifacts and sarcophagi, as well as more intricate stories with the relics found. These are good additions that make you feel like a real Tomb Raider. Like Lara has evolved more as a Tomb Raider.

The story is, good. It has real emotion as there is more focus on Lara's last real friend Jonah, and the back and forth between the two is really good. Jonah grounds Lara, trying to take some of the pressure she puts on herself, off. These were good. The stuff with the Mayan's, the civil war, and Trinity were, alright. The sad fact is, the stuff with the Mayan's, and their civil war, had a solid foundation, but no real room to breathe and expand. It came off as less interesting to the other group you find, the Yaaxil, who act as guardians of this hidden Mayan city, Paititi. The Yaaxil, who wind up playing a vital role in the game, even as the backburner group, are like a mix of the orcs from Lord of the Rings, and the fucking creatures from The Descent. They are tough as Hell, and managed to scare the fuck out of me more than once. I wish there was more focus on them. The big twist with Trinity, was a bit disappointing. I wasn't captivated by it, and most of the questions you have about how it's possible are crammed in journals you'll have to try and find scattered throughout the map, and than find buried in your menu. It would have been more effective had it been at least explained more in cutscenes/flashbacks.

Treasures found don't have as much significance as they did before. You can check them out in the menu, but when you first pick it up, there isn't some bit where Lara talks about what time period it seems to be from. No further looking at it to unlock even more dialogue or some secret it holds like Rise did. It's scaled back, and it's kind of sad that this, as well as the "learning the language" bit wasn't expanded on. Rise did such a great job giving us these things, and it felt like Eidos either didn't have time, or didn't think it was important. Hunting as well. It's in the game, but it's no different, if not a bit worse, than it was in Rise. With The Witcher 3, it showed us what you could do with a truly fleshed out hunting system, and not only helped give even more depth to a game that might not of needed it, but set a gold standard for games after it. With Rise, it laid the ground work for it to be expanded, instead, it was just added back in like it was checking another box. I know it sounds like I'm harping away on the game, and to a small extent, I am. I have no ill will towards Eidos, it's just baffling that you would stick a new studio, on what's suppose to be the final game in a trilogy, and than not have them really expand the game in super meaningful ways. They focused on expanding the combat, giving you brand new ways to take down bad guys, as well as giving you tons of new guns and gadgets to do so as well. However, they focused more on exploration and Tombs, than massive firefights, besides a couple of small incidences. So it's kind of confusing. They had all the right in the world to make the third game an open world game, instead it's semi open, like the first two before it. Rise got away with it, because it added so much more depth at key points, most of it being dragged in dropped in here, like the studio didn't know what it could, or should do. Like this was their first game, in a trilogy, not the final game in someone else's. This game feels more like a spinoff, and not the conclusion is all. Once again, as TW3 as the Gold standard, this doesn't quite pass the test with a true sequel is all.

I'm not trying to hate on Eidos in any way. They did do a solid job with this game, but really, it feels like they just didn't want to mess up CD's vision for the game, and tried to do what they did. But that doesn't give anyone an ending in which they feel like was fulfilled is all. I love the work they have done with Deus Ex, and I think they have some brilliant people working over there, so really, there is no hate. Just a lot of questions I'm not sure we will get answered any time soon is all. Overall, the game looks good, Lara is buff as fuck, but at this point, she has climbed so many mountains, I'd be surprised if she wasn't. The game does look like the best in the series, but there were some goofy bugs, like Jonah's legs just simply disappearing 3/4's of the way through the game. They came back, but I was laughing so hard. Framerate dips a bit on Xbox, not sure about PC, but it's not as smooth as Rise was, but it never crashed. No game breaking bugs that I encountered in my 20+ hours into the game. The sound track and the audio in general was really good. Facial animations were solid, not as amazing as Spiderman, but definitely really good. Although there was one bug, where one of the characters was suppose to be talking to me, but his lips didn't move, the other 98% of the time, lip synching was solid.

So on the final note, I think was a solid game. I know I've said that a couple of times, but it's about the most positive I can be. I would recommend waiting for a sale if you want a fun game with some funny death sequences if you fuck up, but only the people who loved the first two games, should get this game now at full price. I do recommend playing it though at some point. If anything, I highly recommend playing Rise of the Tomb Raider, as that was Tomb Raider's "Arkham City" in a way. It just nailed everything so well. So now with my final grade, I'm going to give Shadow of the Tomb Raider...

7/10

With it just missing my rating of "It belongs on your shelf" With the other two, Tomb Raider (2013) is an 8/10, but Rise is definitely a 9/10, and deserves to be on your shelf. I just felt like they missed two many golden opportunities to make this game mind-blowing, and instead, played it waaaay too safe. Hopefully it isn't the last game we get to see in a long while, as it's teased in the final credits that Lara is planning her next adventure. We will see, til than, have fun guys, and stay safe, and I'll see you guys next time. Steven out.