Tomb Raider, I think I wuv you





I'll say it right up front -- I have never, ever liked a Tomb Raider game. Never. My first few minutes with TR1 and 2 were a complete mess. I instantly hated the sucky controls and the chunky, clunkified graphics and environments that made it difficult to distinguish between background and your next jump. Those two factors, control and graphics, were the dealbreakers for me. I'm a platform gaming fan and I just couldn't get around it. Instead, I stayed contented watching other people play and get audibly frustrated at what I think ultimately were crappy games. (Though I suppose the first game was OK for its time because it was before Mario 64 really standardized 3D control, but to continue using that archaic scheme in subsequent installments just made no sense.)

Well it's been a few years and Tomb Raider has changed hands to the eminently capable Crystal Dynamics. So when the demo popped up on the Xbox Live Marketplace tonight I downloaded it and gave it a whirl. I gotta admit it... I loved dang near every minute of it. The graphics? Awesome. That water was just too amazing-looking on my 42" HD set. The sound? Kickin'. The control? A little sketchy but thoroughly tolerable. Definitely a HUGE improvement over the non-control of the previous Raiders. My only real issue is that at one point I had a hard time determining if I'd gone the right direction after taking a dip in a ruinous tomb's mid-level pool. Turns out I had, though (a checkpoint as soon as I grabbed the ledge to jump out clinched it).

Should I buy it? Eh, I'll wait for the reviews. Again the stumbling block with every game on the 360 has been tha $60 pricetag. It's a huge hurdle. (Though I do have Perfect Dark which I desperately want to get rid of and I could probably drop Ridge Racer 6 at the same time for trade at EBstop.)

Either way -- Crystal Dynamics, you have already turned Lara Croft and her series of cave-looting adventures right around in my eyes. Kudos.

Posted: Thu - April 6, 2006 at 02:27 AM         | |

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