Written by Alexander O. Cuaycong and Anthony L. Cuaycong
Title: Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Developer: Square Enix
Publisher: Eidos Montreal
Price: $59.99
Genre: Action, Adventure
Also Available On: Steam, XB1
It's surprising to think that Lara Croft, one of the most iconic videogame badasses ever, could have almost been relegated to the dustbins of history. While Eidos Interactive’s Tomb Raider in 1996 catapulted her to stardom, her subsequent appearances were met with mixed reception. After a decade and a half of ups and downs that included a change in developers, the series suffered from waning public interest, and she was effectively put on hiatus.
Thankfully, Square Enix's 2013 reboot of the Tomb Raider franchise — via the release of, well, Tomb Raider — was a success, and its 2015 sequel, Rise of the Tomb Raider, was met with similar praise. Critics hailed their stories, dramatic set pieces, and stunning mix of action, adventure, and exploration. And Shadow of the Tomb Raider, last month’s followup on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Personal Computer platforms, looks to provide much of the same.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider finds Croft exploring ancient ruins and vast jungles in Mesoamerica and South America, all in an effort to recover an important artifact stolen by Trinity, a shadowy paramilitary organization bent on triggering a new world order. Amidst the backdrop of apocalyptic disasters, Lara navigates through tombs, avoids deadly traps, hunts animals, and crafts outfits and upgrades for her equipment. Along the way, she relies on her guns, trusty knife, climbing axe, and bow to solve the various environmental puzzles and overcome the many obstacles that bar her path.
As you might expect from a Square Enix game, Shadow of the Tomb Raider looks absolutely gorgeous. Stunning visuals interlaced with amazing, lifelike cutscenes is Square Enix's forte, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider does not disappoint in this aspect. While some texture pop-ins may occur from time to time, the overall visual fidelity is stunning, and there's never any point where the game appears ugly.
Everything in Shadow of the Tomb Raider — from Lara herself to the enemies she faces to the environments she traverses — just looks great. The forested areas are brightly lit, vibrant with life and color, while the tombs and crypts are dark and musty with age and dust. Even the odd open-area hubs are forgivable in their appearance; filled with friendly non-playable characters, these are where she accepts side quests from and explores around in for secrets and supplies at leisure.
Yes. Open-area hubs. While a vast majority of Shadow of the Tomb Raider's gameplay should be familiar to series regulars, the appearance of merchants and introduction of side quests make exploration more appealing. Items found in tombs are no longer just collectibles, but actually add to Lara's ever-growing inventory of toys to play with. As a result, progression seems fluid and natural. Gold, found in the unlikeliest of places, can be used to purchase guns, ammunition, and extra upgrades. Things like leather and wood can be used to upgrade her bow or repair outfits that give passive boosts to her performance. Exploring optional tombs gives the player better rewards as well, be they in the form of money, items, or experience for skill points. All in all, they serve as wonderful incentives to keep moving forward and search for hidden items and pathways seemingly just out of reach.
Players will quickly move from area to area, hunting, fighting, and swimming their way through the story with little difficulty. Exploration is key in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and long segments of the campaign has Lara trudging through the forest, alone in the wilderness with nothing but the animals around her for company. Combat sections are placed now and then, though these sequences occur less frequently compared to previous titles, and most of the fighting is purely optional as stealth kills are still available.
The tomb-raiding part of Tomb Raider is still ever present, relying on players’ wits to avoid traps and fast reactions to maneuver through scripted sequences that result in instant death. These are fun, though, sadly, most are locked behind story progression, requiring tools that can be accessed only later in the game. Thankfully, fast travel between areas does exist, making back-tracking an ultimately forgivable annoyance.
All of these things blend together wonderfully in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. It delivers pretty much everything it has set out to do. It's a very polished but safe title, playing very well and very smoothly, and content to present what the series has already done so before. Efforts to make itself stand out are evident in its progression system and its pacing, but, all told, it provides exactly what it is expected to.
Fans who love the Tomb Raider series will no doubt find themselves spending hours upon hours in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. With a keener focus on exploration and survival, it hits the right notes, and well.
THE GOOD
- Stunning visuals with few bugs and no gameplay issues
- Greater focus on exploration and survival
- Skill trees and upgrades are meaningful and fun to go for
THE BAD
- Swimming segments occur too frequently for comfort
- Fair amount of back tracking involved to explore optional content
- Little innovation in its core design, making it feel very much like the first two games with just more polish
RATING: 8.5/10
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