Tomb Raider 10: dang fine game! (or is it?)

[Blín D'ñero]

Phew. I just started it, and i think Tomb Raider 10 is an awesome game!

The exploring is done right, wild animals are believable, the AI is way better than ever before in a TR game, and the combat is on level with the best shooter games!
The game plays absolutely lovely. The engine behaves more natural and feels much more flexible than the previous from Crystal Dynamics. And it looks way better too!

I play at Ultimate settings, @ 2560 x 1600.
Without posting spoilers, some pictures just to show the beauty (jpeg high, size lowered to 950 (the pictures without TressFX hair) / 1000 pixels wide):



The TressFX Hair is to be enabled in Setup, before you start the game. It is only applied on Lara, all other characters remain with the usual solid hair.
What you can't see in the screenshots, is that the FX hairs are constantly moving (as oppposed to the normal "wooden" hair staying one solid block with just the ponytail moving).
With FX hair:

With Normal wooden hair:

With FX:

Wooden:

With FX:
It is obvious that each FX hair is doubled. Gives an unnatural effect.

Wooden:
I think i still like the wooden hair better.

With FX:

Wooden:

[Blín D'ñero]

[Blín D'ñero]

Whenever she picks up something she'll often also light the torch, because it's both "E". The difference is if you hold E, she'll ignite the torch. For grab tap it swiftly.

When you want her to fire a rocket launcher, you discover that the mouse won't work (left, right, nothing) because it's not part of Lara's usual equipment but a one-time element, it turns out it's "F".

When you have to tap-switch left-right quickly followed by action "F" at some point, you need both hands on the keyboard, so let go off the mouse. A bit odd for a modern PC game, and very annoying.

[Blín D'ñero]

"Dang fine game"..., until the fight with that bearded guy.

Of course he is strong. But only Crystal Dynamics allow a person to withstand exploding grenades at his feet and dozens of rounds in his face, and he is still standing. IT IS IMBECILE!!!!!
IMBECILE!!!!!

The guy just stands there screaming "she is shooting at me" and i have to figure out the magical trick to kill him. After several headshots, once the skull icon pops up on screen, shooting any longer does not help to kill him; you have to use "F"! Which makes Lara to start hacking with the axe. But even that is not enough.
I kept hitting F. But you're not allowed. You must wait untill the order is displayed onscreen to "hit F to swing axe" again. But even then she doesn't obey, and instead gets lifted up again by the big guy. I guess it has to do with the so called "mastered" "skills". Those are shoved into your throat.

While acquired "skills" should be offered to make combat easier (if the player desires so) in a game, but not mandatory to proceed. In this game you MUST use the newly acquired element or be blocked from proceeding the game entirely. Once you bought the scope for your rifle, you cannot just shoot (left-mouse button) anymore, you MUST use the scope (right-mouse button) with it.

The same bull crap they put in Anniversary where the enemy withstands thousands of bullets because you have to figure out the magical trick (a sequence of actions). It's ultimately stupid. As is the fact that every treasury cave is lit by hundreds of red candles, not a few here and there, no hundreds, thousands; it screams "oh, this is just a cozy game". Or, are they in fact just bought at the same supplier as F.E.A.R.3, which has the same candles in abundance planted along the path...?

I'll soon kill him, but i'm seeing this game going downhill since the moment i arrived at the shipwreck beach location.

Graphics -wise it is almost as great looking as Crysis (with Lara herself even beyond that standard). But why? It doesn't make for a better game. They should have put more effort into the puzzles (for now, they're so obvious and easy), more depth in the adventure, surprise, and create actual characters.

[Blín D'ñero]

Ok i did it. Yes you MUST kill in the exact way as pointed out to you when you bought a "skill": hit with the axe at the exact moment when the inner circle lights up red with the exclamation. PC-gaming combat reduced to two or three timed hits on a button. Oh my god how stupid.
They did it in Legend and are still doing it.
Like most of the ledges that you're supposed to climb are marked white, to prevent you'd miss them.
They're still doing that. All the paths along the rocks Lara has to climb with her axe are more obvious than the wrinkles on a granny's face.

[Blín D'ñero]

Note: this is after the latest patch.
Not just that Lara's expensive hairdo still disappears now and then from certain angle...

---

... at the spot with the elevator where you are supposed to jump through the broken, veering floor:... Next to the elevator is a yet inaccessable door, leading to upper rooms. Turns out that from the veering floor you can also jump through the fence and open that door. A hilarious in-between-situation is that while jumping, Lara can open the door right through the fence, AND loose her hairdo, all at the same time!

[Blín D'ñero]

Ok, the end was all right. When i got to combat the giant i knew -from killing the bearded guy before- what was expected of me. It went smooth sailing. And felt somewhat rewarding, and not stupid.
And it looked spectacular.

I'm ending with a "game completion" of 83%.
I know i have missed a lot of GPS sticks and documents in the first 3 or 4 areas. But i won't go back for them, there's no point.

I rate the game a 6 /10 overall. It is not satisfying. Graphics-wise it deserves a 9½! But the spectacular presentation is a total waste on this simple thin excuse of a game. Story-wise a 2 / 10.
Excessive use of the horizontal rope is one of many a sin, and it's a missed opportunity that Lara isn't given a climbing rope as well! After the promising first two or three levels, the game gradually sinks to a disappointing pile of cheap crap (however expensive looking). While all the time keeping extraordinary good looks, that remains its best side. Combat is pretty good too (by far the best in a Tomb Raider from Crystal), as long as it's not reduced to simplistic "interactive" button-pushing on a boss. When you get attacked by three hordes of monastery-guards, you get some pretty hectic and good shooter game moments!

The so called "combat skill" is a disaster: the way you get confronted with the bearded guy, and you are supposed to prove that you understand that skill. The way that goes is totally not intuitive and defies the simplest law of physics. Repeated blasts with a shotgun in someone's face should make his head explode. Unless his head is harnassed, pantzered, which Beardguy's face is not. Just a naked head, that he protects with his hands.

In such combat -also with the wolf in the beginning of the game- if you keep hitting "F" (makes you feel you're doing at least some effort in the battle) you'll die. You must hit "F" only once, and only when you're told (by the onscreen sign), and then wait -AND DON'T TOUCH ANY KEY!- untill the next pumping red circle sign appears within the centre. It feels totally disconnected.

For the improved AI in many of the other encounters with "normal" enemies i give an extra ½, so: 6½ out of 10 is what this game deserves and no more, and that's my final rate.