Recent reviews by Aku

Underworld is the last chapter of Crystal Dynamics' trilogy that began with Legend and continued through Anniversary. As a whole, I thought they did an excellent job of capturing the spirit of the original Tomb Raider while significantly improving the graphics, gameplay mechanics, interface, and player control of Lara. Underworld improves on Anniversary visually with more natural textures, reflections, and light/shadow effects. The Thailand segment of the game in particular is gorgeous. It also adds some terrific new gameplay mechanics like chimney climbing, walking on and vaulting from the top of poles, and rock climbing. It also made good use of the motorcycle in a couple of the later missions.

Where Underworld falls short of Anniversary a little bit is that the puzzles on the whole aren't as intricate or elaborate. Anniversary really set the bar high with some of the most ambitiously designed puzzles I have ever seen in a game. But Underworld is still a fun challenge nevertheless. I also, as amazed as I am to say this, miss a real boss battle in Underworld. Boss fights in Tomb Raider have never been that impressive and success is always based on your figuring out the pattern to beat it. Still, having those occasional showdowns do provide a sense of closure to the bigger chapters of the game.

The ending itself felt rushed, and I was surprised after completing the final puzzle (which was a fun and visually impressive scene), it went straight into cut scenes and then the game was over. Underworld would have benefited greatly from one final showdown between Lara and Natla to bring the trilogy to an epic conclusion. (she is there during the last puzzle, but merely as a distraction while you focus on completing it) The ending does wrap up the story about what happened to Lara's mother, but it doesn't feel satisfying the way it could have.

Underworld is still a must-play for any Tomb Raider fan, it is entertaining throughout.

Anniversary is the middle chapter of Crystal Dynamics' trilogy that began with Legend and concluded with Underworld. It's a faithful re-imagining of the original Tomb Raider from 1996, while deftly tying it into the story of the other two games that take place in the present (it's still 1996 in this remake). Anniversary is visually beautifiul and the puzzles are incredibly elaborate and complex. Lara travels the globe to places like Peru, Greece, and Egypt, while you solve the mysteries of some of the most enormous and intricately designed tombs ever in a Tomb Raider game.

The story is a rehash of the original, with Lara hired by the mysterious Natla Corporation to find an artifact. What's good about it is the way they tied this into the back story about Lara's mother.

The only knock I can give is that on the pc there is a well-known bug in one of the Egypt levels that prevents you from making a simple jump to a ledge so you can exit the level. I had to download a cheat to let me move Lara past that point. Then there is the infamous "pyramid tower of terror" segment near the end which had me smashing my mouse and keyboard in frustration. Even watching You Tube videos and knowing exactly what to do, it still took dumb luck on one of the jump sequences to make it after about a hundred tries. The problem is that they made grapple wall running/jumping to the next handhold very unforgiving, and you are constantly fighting the camera angles and the controls to get Lara to do what you want her to do. It's hard enough to get enough momentum, jump from the right height and the exact right moment so you can barely reach the ledge, but then to have Lara jump back instead of to the side, or to the side instead of back, because according to the camera angle that's what the game thinks you want her to do...that can be maddening.

Despite late game bugs/control issues, Anniversary is still a great game and very satisfying to finish.

I find it interesting that people either love or hate this game. I loved this game, and I have have been playing Tomb Raider since the first one in 1996. I still remember when you would walk into EB Games or CompUSA and see Tomb Raider boxes lining the walls. Anyway, I know the argument that this is not like a traditional Tomb Raider game where you start a mission right at the tomb entrance and spend the next few hours trying to solve a bunch of puzzles and perform death-defying acrobatics to get through it. I think Crystal Dynamics proved they could make that kind of Tomb Raider game and did it exceptionally well with Legend/Anniversary/Underworld. They also showed they could make an excellent platformer with Lara Croft and the Guardian of the Light. So next they took on the challenge of rebooting the series for the next generation and I think they succeeded. They could have easily just made another Tomb Raider in the mold of the previous titles, but then I imagine they would have been accused of being unoriginal and just producing more of the same. So they took a chance to make a different kind of game, and when you do that you are going to get beat up a little too, but I think the reward is worth it.

The Tomb Raider reboot screams quality, everything from the graphics to the cinematics, the action, game mechanics, story, map design, combat, interface, and the number of things you can do in the game. It kept me engaged the whole time, and I really was invested in Lara and her growth as a character. Yes, it does feel like you are in a movie at times, but in a good way, and I did not mind the QTEs for the most part, I thought they generally flowed very well. At its best, Tomb Raider is spectacular and exhilarating.

Gameplay was mostly very enjoyable. I liked the addition of the axe climbing and attaching rope lines with your arrows. I didn't miss the wall running (there were times I hated it in Anniversary), but I was disappointed that they removed pole swinging, a staple of past Tomb Raiders (there are times when she swings on a pole to the next ledge, but its automatic). For the first time in a Tomb Raider, there is fun combat where you actually have to aim and shoot. My only issue is that they overdid it at times, and made it feel like you were playing Call of Duty more than Tomb Raider. The scene that immediately comes is in Shanty Town, where Lara is on a platform with waves of spawning enemies coming at her. It felt completely out of place for a Tomb Raider game. It would have been much better if they had placed enemies throughout the map to give you the option of engaging them or stealthing past them, which fits more with the kind of character that Lara is.

As for the tombs, yes, they are simple one room affairs. Most are pretty clever, though, and no one is making you press the survival instinct key to get a hint. Now that Lara's back story has been told, I am hoping that in her next adventure the emphasis will again be on the actual tomb raiding, and we will see longer and more elaborate tombs for her to explore and solve. The maps in the game are full of clever touches, and while I have finished 90% of the game, there are still a few places that I am trying to figure out how to get to.

I thoroughly enjoyed Tomb Raider, and look forward to the next one.

I have seen the movie many times (I even fired it up again the other day after playing this) and can say that Alien: Isolation almost perfectly captures the mood of that classic. So many of the details from the Nostromo are present on Sevastopol station, like the dipping birds, the cassette-playing boom boxes, the style of the rooms and bulkheads, the 70s era low tech look and feel to everything. You even get to visit the iconic alien derelict ship in the game via a flashback. Cool! But the most important thing it captures is the feeling of dread, the anticipation of death around every corner. The alien is terrifying, but you are most afraid when you don't even see it, just hear it stalking the halls or scuttling around in the air ducts.

Alien: Isolation features a simple but suspenseful story, fleshed out by logs, radio communications, and a few direct interactions with other survivors on the station. The length and pacing of the game is excellent, there is never a dull moment. The manual save system that I was worried about is actually implemented very well, and I like how they incorporated the save stations into the game world so organically.

Visually, the environments are wonderfully detailed, believably authentic, and sometimes spectacular. I was disappointed in the character animations, however, which looked more like something from five years ago, and the dialogue was not always synced up well with the mouth movements. I hope CA focuses on this more if they do a sequel.

My only real criticism of the gameplay is with the last thirty minutes or so. Without giving anything away, after a certain significant event happens to your character, the gameplay suddenly changes from a stealth/survival game to a consoley/XBox linear action game with cut scenes and a final scene that is a god-awful quick time event. For a game built on the dynamic of completing your objectives while using your wits and limited resources to avoid detection by the alien and other human and android enemies, to end with you mashing keys when prompted was a real letdown. This game would have earned a 10/10 if it had a worthy finish that had you utilize the skills that got you through the first 97 percent of it.