#RISE OF TOMB RAIDER PS4 REVIEW UPGRADE#
Previously a series of off-trail distractions to top up your experience points, in Shadow of the Tomb Raider these tombs actually feel like properly worthwhile things to pursue – not least because, experience point and ability upgrade rewards aside, they are highly enjoyable and challenging affairs that pack in some of the most intriguing puzzles the series has seen in quite some while.ĭeveloper Eidos Montreal have also leveraged their experience from creating the Deus Ex games to fashion some of the largest areas ever see in a Tomb Raider game – with the numerous locations that you’ll visit in Shadow of the Tomb Raider being easily more expansive than any seen in the series so far. Where Shadow of the Tomb Raider really feels like it makes a true difference however, is in its challenge tombs. Lara actually gets to do a whole load of tomb raiding this time around – and it’s all pretty great. Croft more options to take out and sneak past hostiles, Lara can now hide herself in deep undergrowth and even shuffle along walls that have overgrown fauna – enabling her to both evade and kill with silence. Instead of the mostly shallow swims and excitable wading seen in Rise of the Tomb Raider, this game sees Lara properly diving into depths, scouring secret caves and uncovering treasure from forgotten fissures in the earth – it’s a great return to the cave-diving glories that we first saw in the PSOne Tomb Raider games.īeyond fully enabling Lara’s underwater escapades, Shadow of the Tomb Raider also makes some nips and tucks to how its stealth gameplay handles too. The first and most noticeable of these tweaks is evidenced by how Shadow of the Tomb Raider fully re-embraces the underwater adventures that helped to define the earlier games in the franchise. Eidos Montreal Have Made Some Well Considered Changes To The Formula Though such conservative design might put those off who are looking for more substantial strides away from the series established template, Shadow of the Tomb Raider makes a number of seemingly subtle, but ultimately considerable alterations that serve to freshen up this third game beyond what its arguably safe looking veneer might suggest. In this latest entry in the series, Lara shoots her bow, hunts animals, crafts new gear, fast travels from camps and generally does 95% of what she did in Tomb Raider and Rise of the Tomb Raider.
On the face of it, Shadow of the Tomb Raider would seem to have evolved little from the previous two games that lay in its wake. Shadow of the Tomb Raider is the darkest and most narratively grim entry the series has ever seen. Certainly, more than just a regular action adventure, Shadow of the Tomb Raider’s tone can often strike closer to that of a survival horror affair than the series typically less harsh narrative beats.
Though the first few minutes lack the immediate impressiveness of Rise of the Tomb Raider’s opening snowbound tundra, Shadow of the Tomb Raider nonetheless replaces such spectacle and sweep with its thematic anthesis – a claustrophobic, choking and tightly shot escape through a rocky crevice that sets the expectation for the incessant peril to come.
Driven to a position of distressed despair by her inability to definitively destroy Trinity and slake her thirst for vengeance, Shadow of the Tomb Raider continually ups both the stakes and the toll on Lara’s state of mind as the story presses on to its forebodingly grim conclusion. The continuation of Lara Croft’s ongoing battle against shadowy organisation Trinity, Shadow of the Tomb Raider sees its heroine locked in an impetuous state of mind.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider Is A Grand Conclusion To The Current Trilogy