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Rise of the Tomb Raider [PC]
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Impressions:
- Love the exploration/hubs. Much bigger than before with lots to distract you. First few hours are very linear but once it opens up it's great.
- The challenge tombs & puzzles are great but I would have liked them to be longer, much more difficult & integrated more into the main game & story. Lack of tombs was my main complaint with the reboot so I won't complain too much as there's an improvement here, but it's Tomb Raider! Imo, Tombs should not be small, additional/optional side content in a Tomb Raider game. Ideally I'd like there to be some full level based tombs that are built around puzzles.
- Visually stunning in places with some fantastic set pieces. Performance isn't always perfect & SLI scaling isn't working as well as it should be either but it's a good port.
- Combat & platforming are decent, though can be a tad clunky at times and a bit too easy. I do like the new tools.
- Progression & crafting is good, but I think the game would have benefitted from a new game plus mode. Maybe not to carry everything across, but at least some things. Gives the player more reason to unlock stuff.
- Side missions are boring and basically just filler fetch quests for further rewards.
- Story & dialogue is not its strong point.
All things said, a good start to 2016 and I've still really enjoyed my time with it. Given this years amazing lineup (again) though, I can see this eventually dropping out of my top 10 as other promising titles come out. I can't see Rise of the Tomb Raider winning any GOTY awards (except maybe from the diehard fanboys who would have loved it whatever), but still a decent game when it comes down to it. No regrets buying & playing it but I hope they come back in the 3rd game with a much improved story and do some more with the tombs as I suggest.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/smile.gif)
Anyway, XCOM 2 on Fri and then Firewatch next Tue. The latter is one of my most anticipated games for this year so absolutely cannot wait to play that. Possibly Arkham Knight after those.