tombraider Archives - Shane the Gamer

The Lara Croft Collection to Receive Limited Run Physical Editions

STG News — Sun, 12 May 2024 21:13:39 +0000

Limited Run Games, in partnership with Feral Interactive and Crystal Dynamics, is excited to solidify Tomb Raider’s Nintendo Switch debut with a physical release of The Lara Croft Collection.

Pre-orders for standalone copies and Collector’s Editions will run from May 10th until June 9th, 2024, exclusively at limitedrungames.com.

Lara Croft makes her Nintendo Switch debut with two Tomb Raider adventures in one treasure-packed bundle, featuring non-stop arcade combat and 2-4 player co-op. Leap into the fast-paced arcade combat and puzzle-packed platforming of two outstanding adventures for tomb raiders of all abilities; enjoyably easy to pick up, rewardingly difficult to master.

Penetrate dense jungles and navigate elaborate Aztec ruins in Lara Croft & The Guardian of Light, and investigate the cursed tombs of ancient pharaohs in Lara Croft & The Temple of Osiris. Blast through hordes of supernatural foes, overcome intricate Challenge Tombs, beat high scores, and equip yourself with a massive arsenal of unlockable weapons, equipment, and magical artifacts.

Limited Run’s premium Collector’s Edition of The Lara Croft Collection celebrates Lara’s 1990s roots and contains everything players want to commemorate their adventures in Guardian of Light and Temple of Osiris. Included are a journal-styled SteelBook, art prints, CD soundtrack and more. The entire collection comes in a trapezoid-shaped box that will fit perfectly with collectors’ late 90s Eidos PC releases.

This May, Limited Run Games will also open pre-orders for physical editions of Tomb Raider I–III Remastered — more details will be revealed in the coming weeks.

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Shadow of the Tomb Raider (PS4 / PC) Review

Darren Price — Sat, 15 Sep 2018 06:57:51 +0000

Lara Croft is back in in the third chapter of the reimagining of the classic series. For this game, things are apparently taking a dark turn for the novice tomb raider.

The story continues to follow Lara’s quest to disrupt the intentions of Trinity, the shadowy organisation responsible for her father’s death. This time out Lara starts of in Mexico, searching for a Mayan dagger. It’s her obsession for the artefact that sets in motion events that may just lead to the end of the world. It’s then off to Peru to find a silver box that may, or may not put things right again. Of course, Trinity are one step ahead wanting to use the powerful artefacts for a bit a mischief.

If you liked the gameplay of both the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot and the 2015 sequel, Rise of the Tomb Raider you are in for a treat. Whilst I found the combat in Shadow of the Tomb Raider almost identical to its predecessors, both the stealth and climbing mechanic have been overhauled, somewhat.

Whereas the original Tomb Raider games were all run, jump and gun when it came to bad guys, these new Tomb Raider games require Lara to tread a bit more carefully, picking the enemy off one-by-one. The bad guys often patrol in numbers and with vastly superior firepower. For this entry in the saga, Lara can cover herself in mud to not only hide from guards equipped with thermal cameras, but also against vegetation-covered walls. As well as just sneaking up behind them, enemies can also be dispatched by dragging them into the foliage whilst hiding against walls and in bushes. Lara can also string up enemies from trees and pull them into water.

Traversing the huge environments has never been more fun or as challenging. Armed with her pickaxe, Ms. Croft can not only scale rocky cliff-faces, she can also, when suitably equipped, now climb up and under rock outcrops, hanging like, well… a spider.

There’s little doubt that the developers, Crystal Dynamics have been looking at the work of their competitors for inspiration, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The stealth borrows a lot from Assassin’s Creed, and so do the new fear arrows (crafted from poisonous critters). One hit from a fear arrow and the enemy goes into a mad killing frenzy before dying. Sound familiar?

Even though the combat borrows a bit from other titles, when it comes to the puzzles, Shadow of the Tomb Raider has gone back to its roots. One of the criticisms that I had of the last two games were the relatively easy puzzles. I found that there was very little challenge in solving the puzzles of both the main quest line and the optional challenge tombs.

Whereas Rise of the Tomb Raider was a step in the right direction, the puzzles, this time, rival some of those brain- teasers for the original Tomb Raider series. Of course, better Level design means that you are unlikely to be spending hours trying solve a puzzle like you did in the OG Tomb Raider. For the most part, the puzzles in Shadow of the Tomb Raider are quite ingenious. Secrets are revealed and doors are unlocked using wind, fire and water using ancient and often perilously decaying mechanisms.

Both the main quest line and the optional challenge tombs (of which there are not nearly enough) all feature some of the best Level design, when it comes to puzzles and exploration, in the series so far.

Gameplay-wise, Shadow of the Tomb Raider is generally superior to its predecessors. That’s not to say the game isn’t without its faults.

For the most part, the plot works well. Even Camilla Luddington, the voice of Lara, seems to have better settled into the role – only occasionally overdoing the received pronunciation that masks the British-American actress’ Mid-Atlantic accent.

It’s when Lara gets to the Peruvian city of Paititi that the game, for me anyway, hit a narrative roadblock.

Whereas Rise of the Tomb Raider had a hidden tribe of people living in Siberia speaking perfect English with an American accent, this time we have the occupants of a Peruvian lost city, again, speaking English, although to its credit, with a “foreign” accent. You can change the language to Peruvian(?) with the “voice-over immersion” option, but that’s also weird as Lara still speaks to the indigenous people in English. During this segment Lara also dons an outlandish (i.e. awful) costume, which with the addition of an (equally awful) mask, she uses as a disguise – fooling the locals, even with her clipped English Home Counties accent.

The developers seem to strive to give Lara a deeper meaning than just being an archaeologist that likes raiding tombs. It really doesn’t work. Rationalising a videogame character in this manner is virtually impossible. In real world terms Lara Croft is a psychotic murderess, which of course she is not, she’s a character in a video game.

Thankfully, with Paititi behind her, the story picks up, once more.

As with the previous games, Lara is accompanied by her Kiwi-born friend, Jonah. unfortunately, he only really serves as Lara’s moral compass (when the plot suits – the rest of the time he is all about the murdering, as well) and as the muscle. Jonah is always there to lift obstacles and open up the next area when the game wants you to move on.

As is now becoming the norm, Shadow of the Tomb Raider includes a photo-mode. I’m not sure if I’m just being spoilt by the graphical advances of the last year or so, but the photo-mode seem to emphasise the nagging feeling that the visuals of the game on the PlayStation 4 Pro, whilst nice to look at, were perhaps up to the standard of many of the game’s contemporaries. Freezing the game for a photo-op, nine times out of ten, revealed a Lara Croft posed awkwardly with a shockingly vacant expression on her face.

Lara’s trip down uncanny valley aside, the game’s environments and the detail in the various tomb and underground chambers are superb. The visuals in the set pieces, which I’m not going to talk about at all, rival those of a Hollywood blockbuster.

Thankfully, the PC version of the game offers a vast visual improvement over the PS4. Better lighting, higher resolution textures and I’d even say better facial animations make the PC a more definitive version of the game. That being said, running the game on a pair of GeForce GTX1080ti GPUs the visuals are not hugely different from three-year-old Rise of the Tomb Raider. This will change for owners of the upcoming Turing-based GeForce RTX GPUs, as Shadow of the Tomb Raider supports the cards’ ground-breaking real-time raytracing capabilities

New for Shadow of the Tomb Raider are a set of customisable Difficulty settings. Players that are tired of the less than subtle points that designers commonly put into their games to help guide players will be very pleased. Visual cues such as the white paint to highlight climbable items can be adjusted in intensity or removed altogether. The beacons and glowing items using Lara’s survival instincts can also be switched off. Puzzle hints can be reduced and Lara’s health abilities adjusted. There are six variable that can be adjusted to customise the game Difficulty according to taste and ability.

As Lara progresses she earns experience points which unlock skill points. As before, the camp fires dotted about the game can be used to spend skill points to improve Lara’s abilities. At these locations players can also upgrade Lara’s weapons using scrape picked up during the game.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is a great game, but suffers a bit in execution. It’s a bit uneven.

The puzzles are better, but it lacks the polish of the last two games. The plot is bearable, at least compared to Rise of the Tomb Raider, but the developers really need to do up their narrative game to be in the same ball park as Naughty Dog and their Uncharted games.

That being said, I enjoyed the game immensely. It could, however, be a lot better. I hope that Square Enix take a step back before embarking on the inevitable fourth chapter.

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Tomb Raider (Warner Bros. – 2018) Review

Freddie Tresidder / sheepOCE — Thu, 15 Mar 2018 03:55:17 +0000

Tomb Raider delivers more punch than expected.

Although they can be seen to fit the same category, video game films have never come remotely close to packing the same punch as comic book adaptations. That being said, Angelina Jolie’s Lara Croft from the early 2000’s is often widely regarded as the most exhilarating video game film in all of history. To say that Alicia Vikander had big shoes to fill would be a gross trivialization of the task faced by the Oscar winning actress.

Not only was Vikander faced with huge expectation, the unstable, often inconvenient screenplay and pacing set her up for a total and fatal collapse.

However not to take the unfortunate situation as a be all end all, Vikander put on a great show in displaying a physically capable but emotionally vulnerable Lara Croft, and had you stuck to your seat for just over two hours. With a strong support featuring the all favourite Dominic West and distinctly crazed Walton Goggins, there is definitely an exciting show to be experienced.

Unluckily for the cast and crew of Tomb Raider, exciting does not make a great film, and the hit and miss production sticks out at times like a sore thumb.

If you’re an excitement buff, take the time to see this on the big screen, but if you’re looking for fantastic cinematography and script, call in sick for this appointment. That being said, we’ll definitely be on the lookout to see a strong sequel come in to swoop the gold.

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First Look at Tomb Raider 2018

Shane Thomas — Sat, 01 Apr 2017 03:35:24 +0000

Warner Bros. has just released info to us at StG on their up coming Tomb Raider film, set to release next year (2018).

Lara Croft is the fiercely independent daughter of an eccentric adventurer who vanished when she was scarcely a teen. Now a young woman of 21 without any real focus or purpose, Lara navigates the chaotic streets of trendy East London as a bike courier, barely making the rent, and takes college courses, rarely making it to class. Determined to forge her own path, she refuses to take the reins of her father’s global empire just as staunchly as she rejects the idea that he’s truly gone. Advised to face the facts and move forward after seven years without him, even Lara can’t understand what drives her to finally solve the puzzle of his mysterious death.

Going explicitly against his final wishes, she leaves everything she knows behind in search of her dad’s last-known destination: a fabled tomb on a mythical island that might be somewhere off the coast of Japan. But her mission will not be an easy one; just reaching the island will be extremely treacherous. Suddenly, the stakes couldn’t be higher for Lara, who—against the odds and armed with only her sharp mind, blind faith and inherently stubborn spirit—must learn to push herself beyond her limits as she journeys into the unknown. If she survives this perilous adventure, it could be the making of her, earning her the name tomb raider.

From Warner Bros. Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, Tomb Raider is the story that will set a young and resolute Lara Croft on a path toward becoming a global hero. The film stars Oscar winner Alicia Vikander (“Ex Machina,” “The Danish Girl”) in the lead role, under the direction of Roar Uthaug (“The Wave”), with Oscar-winner Graham King (“The Departed”) producing under his GK Films banner. The film’s production began on the heels of the 20th anniversary of the wildly popular videogame franchise from Square Enix, Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal.

Tomb Raider also stars Dominic West (“Money Monster,” “300”), Walton Goggins (“The Hateful Eight,” “Django Unchained”) and Daniel Wu (AMC’s “Into the Badlands”).
Shooting on location in South Africa and the UK, Uthaug directs from a script by Geneva Robertson-Dworet. The director’s behind-the-scenes creative team includes director of photography George Richmond (“Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation”); production designer Gary Freeman (“Maleficent”); Oscar-nominated editor Stuart Baird (“Skyfall,” “Gorillas in the Mist”); and costume designer Tim Wonsik (key costumer, “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”).

From the film’s Director, Roar Uthaug; “Being a longtime fan of the game, it’s important to me to honor the Lara Croft legacy and capture that spirit. It’s great to know that there’s such a passionate global fan base for Lara and her world, and our commitment to that will be evident in our movie. What’s different about this “Tomb Raider” movie is that it’s an origin story for the big screen, focusing not only on Lara’s strength and physical accomplishments but her humanity. We see Lara as a young woman, smart and capable but largely unfocused, and follow her on a dangerous journey that will push her to her limits in every sense, and allow her to hone the skills she needs to ultimately become who she was meant to be. As Lara Croft, Alicia Vikander is brilliant. She brings great depth to a complex role that is both physically and emotionally demanding. We hope this film will delight fans around the world and add another intriguing chapter to the Tomb Raider story.”

Producer of the 2018 Tomb Raider Graham King states, “I’m excited to be a part of this new Tomb Raider story, which introduces the origins of Lara Croft and delves into the humanity of this character. Alicia Vikander is a gifted actress that brings so much to this role. Our director, Roar Uthaug is extremely passionate and has an eye for scale as well as gritty realism. It’s been a wonderful experience shooting in various locations around South Africa and we hope that using these actual locations will give a grounded sense of reality. It’s our goal to make a film that will not only delight fans but enthrall a world-wide audience.”

Tomb Raider releases in New Zealand and Australian cinemas in 2018.

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Lara Croft is GO on PlayStation 4 & PS Vita

STG News — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 02:02:43 +0000

Recently at PlayStation Experience 2016, Square Enix Montréal announced Lara Croft GO, the Lara Croft adventure, is now available for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita and is fully compatible with PlayStation 4 Pro. Developed in collaboration with Montréal indie studio, KO_OP, Lara Croft GO will feature a new story chapter, “Mirror of Spirits,” which includes new puzzles, mechanics, achievements, trophies and more—available first for PlayStation.

“We’ve partnered with the talented artists at KO_OP to deliver a new Lara Croft GO chapter all while retaining the spirit of the Lara Croft franchise,” said Antoine Routon, lead engineer and co-creative at Square Enix Montréal. “Extending Lara Croft GO beyond the mobile platforms is a testament to the game’s success and our team is incredibly proud.”

In Lara Croft GO, Lara uses her wits and weapons to delve into dangerous chasms filled with mystery, artifacts and peril. Featuring an ambient, mesmerizing soundtrack, stunning art style, and didactic turn-based puzzle solving that made the game a critical and commercial success on mobile platforms last year, the new console version features finely tuned controls, trophies (including a platinum), as well as cross-buy and cross-save functionalities so you can purchase and play it on both platforms without losing progress.

“This has been a momentous time for Lara Croft, as the industry and gamers worldwide have joined us in celebrating The Year of Tomb Raider,” said Rich Briggs, Global Brand Director at Crystal Dynamics. “Lara Croft first appeared on PlayStation in 1996, and 20 years later it’s exciting to pay homage to this legacy by bringing Lara Croft GO to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita first.”

Lara Croft GO is available with an added 20 percent discount for PS Plus Members. The game is also available on Steam as of Sunday, December 4th, 2016, featuring all of the original content with the ‘Mirror of Spirits’ story chapter following three months later. Additional platforms will be discussed at a later date.

The turn-based puzzle adventure game casts players as the iconic Lara Croft as she explores the ancient ruins of a long forgotten civilization. Over the span of seven chapters and 115 puzzles, players must help Lara fight menacing enemies, overcome dangerous obstacles and traps, and ultimately, uncover the myth of the Queen of Venom. Along the way, players can collect ancient relics hidden throughout the game world to unlock additional outfits for the most nostalgic fans.

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Rise of the Tomb Raider – 20 Year Celebration (PlayStation 4) Review

Edwin Crump — Mon, 17 Oct 2016 19:18:45 +0000

Tomb Raider has been around in one form or another, through both highs and lows for twenty years now. And what better way to celebrate the game than with a new version of the most recent game in the series, packed to the brim with new content?

Rise of the Tomb Raider – 20 Year Celebration (a mouthful to be sure) is not only the best version of last year’s game on consoles, but in a strong sense a homage to the series as a whole, lest we forget it as the inspiration for a whole range of action-adventure games. While it doesn’t spend too much time being nostalgic, the litany of modes, missions and extras is a welcome, (if slightly confusing), addition to last year’s release. The package includes the main game, all the DLC that has been released for the Xbox One and PC version, some new DLC (also being released alongside the 20 Year Celebration for existing owners on those platforms) and exclusive VR content for the PlayStation VR.

In the main story, Rise of the Tomb Raider, we see Lara Croft emerge as her own. This review won’t cover the main game in detail, as we have already covered it excellently last year with Darren’s review. Suffice it to say that having played it myself as well, Rise of the Tomb Raider is a worthy and successful entry into the rebooted series, and shows that Crystal Dynamics was no one trick pony with 2013’s fresh take on Tomb Raider. While not as emotionally resonant as it perhaps desires to be, strong shooting, crafting and exploring mechanics come together as a worthy challenger to Naughty Dog’s Uncharted series.

And the presentation on the PS4 is very similar to that on its Xbox One counterpart with some extra additions in some area. My only real complaint is that the game still does not run at 60FPS, but the upcoming PS4 Pro (or the further out Project Scorpio) may be my solution for true 1080p/60FPS performance on a console here.

Yet this version of Rise of the Tomb Raider is less important for its main story as everything else included in the package.

The 20 Year Celebration introduces a walking-simulator like experience called “Blood Ties.” Set between the first and second chapters of the game, Lara is tasked with exploring her father Lord Richard Croft’s manor to find documents that cement her claim to the building. It’s a short but touching experience that mainly involves discovering voice recording, relics from Lara’s childhood and her father’s research notes. Its quiet tone stands in stark contrast to the highly kinetic main story. The short time in the house gives you much more backstory into her parent’s history, and it is for the most part well written.

Blood Ties doesn’t outstay its welcome nor take itself too seriously. My sole issue is with Camilla Luddington’s voice acting, though I feel it may be more of the direction she was given rather than her skills themselves. Every item you discover is described in the exact same breathless tone of voice, which can grate after the fiftieth time you hear it.

I explored Croft Manor in Playstation VR, which was interesting, but clearly a bit of a gimmick, yet I can see that it would be a great introduction to virtual reality experiences to players new to the medium.

Also set on the same map in Croft Manor is “Lara’s Nightmare” zombie survival mode – sort of a horror wave-based mode. If Blood Ties is what happens during the day, Lara’s Nightmare is what happens at night when you’re home alone in a decrepit mansion. The zombies (sorry, infected) are genuinely terrifying and there is a real sense of dread throughout, although some of the horror is counteracted by the option to use character skins from the PlayStation 1 and 2 era, which looks hilarious and of which I took advantage of immediately.

Together, these two modes feel like little experiments by the developers that they created in extra time, as something completely different to the main story entries. They’re nice distractions and welcome additions to the game’s package, though ultimately both are forgettable as you can get better narrative walking simulator and wave-based zombie gameplay elsewhere.

Together with the addition of co-op to the DLC Endurance mode and a new Extreme Survivor difficulty the game is now brimming with content to justify its full-price for a year-old game. In addition, Square Enix has attempted to turn Tomb Raider into an endlessly-replayable experience, where the main story mission is meant to be just the beginning of your time with the game with mission modifiers, the new difficulty mode and time trial. Actually getting to those modes can be a little difficult, with a relatively complex and muddled UI that seems to have been designed for the main story only. They seem to be options to keep you coming back to the game – that shibboleth of modern game design: retention.

But I can’t really see that happening. Like Uncharted, Tomb Raider is a game that is at its best in the main story. And that’s okay. Rise of the Tomb Raider – 20 Year Celebration is the very best (console) version of a very good game. If you haven’t already played it on either PC or Xbox, then this version is the one to pick up. For PS4 users who haven’t had the chance to try out the game, the 20 Year Celebration represents a great deal that will keep you entertained for many hours.

I’m looking forward to examining the improvements the PS4 Pro bring to the game as demonstrated at the updated console’s launch event, but that will have to wait for now.

If you already have the game on other platforms all of the content released as part of the 20 Year Celebration, with the exception of VR support for Blood Ties, will be made available to existing Xbox One and PC users as part of the game’s season pass. So really, you can’t go wrong with this exciting, highly enjoyable game.

Rise of the Tomb Raider - 20 Year Celebration (PlayStation 4) Review

Released: September 2016
Rating: M
Platforms: PlayStation 4
Genre: Action, Adventure
Developer: Crystal Dynamics
Publisher: Square Enix

4.0Overall Score

Gameplay

Graphics

Audio

Replayability

Reader Rating 1 Vote

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Celebrate Rise of the Tomb Raider!

STG News — Fri, 22 Jul 2016 00:23:36 +0000

Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix continue to celebrate 20 years of Lara Croft, the gaming world’s iconic heroine, with fans around the world by announcing that Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration will launch on PlayStation 4 on October the 11th, 2016.

Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration will include the award-winning Rise of the Tomb Raider game, a completely new story chapter entitled “Blood Ties”, new co-op Endurance gameplay, PlayStation VR support for “Blood Ties”, all of the previously released DLC, more outfits, weapons, and Expedition Cards. The Limited Edition of the game will also feature a limited edition art book*.

With the exception of VR support, all of the new content in Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration will also be available for Xbox One and PC players. Current Season Pass owners on Xbox One and PC will automatically receive the content for free, and moving forward the existing Season Pass will be updated to include the new content. There is no Season Pass on PlayStation 4, as all of the content is included in the initial release.

“The studio is celebrating with all Tomb Raider fans, thanking them for being on Lara’s 20 year journey with us,” said Scot Amos, co-Head of Studio at Crystal Dynamics. “The team has packed in surprises, new story, and the top-requested special features into this 20 Year Celebration edition.”

“Blood Ties,” a new premium DLC, beckons players to explore Croft Manor in a new story mode; then defend it against a zombie invasion in “Lara’s Nightmare”. When Lara’s uncle contests ownership of the Manor, Lara must explore the estate to find proof that she is the rightful heir, or lose her birthright and father’s secrets for good. Players can then test their zombie-killing skills in the replayable “Lara’s Nightmare” mode: a haunted Croft Manor where players have new challenges and must rid the Manor of an evil presence.

Additionally, support for PlayStation VR empowers players to unlock the mysteries of Croft Manor in first person.

“This year we celebrate 20 years of the iconic Lara Croft,” said Ron Rosenberg, co-Head of Studio at Crystal Dynamics. “This provided the perfect opportunity for us to deliver a new Tomb Raider experience. With the addition of PlayStation VR support, you can play the world through Lara’s eyes for the first time in franchise history.”

In addition, for the first time in a Tomb Raider game, a new online co-op expansion to Endurance mode lets fans raid tombs in a brutal wilderness together. Two players must team up to survive the harsh elements by day, as well as lethal threats from enemies by night. Fire takes fuel, food restores health, and every resource must be hunted, collected, or crafted. Battle to the top of the leaderboards, as others try to beat your longest survival run.

Working with long-time partner Nixxes Software, the development team has also created a number of additions that celebrate Tomb Raider releases through the years, including a re-envisioned version of the cold-weather outfit and the Hailstorm pistol that Lara donned in “Tomb Raider III”. A special classic Lara card pack will allow fans to replay the game with five classic Lara models from the games over the years, including the original Lara model that started it all in 1996.

At the special request of hardcore fans, the main game becomes even grittier with a brutal new “Extreme Survivor” setting. This new difficulty level takes the toughness of Survivor and ratchets it up several notches starting with all checkpoints being stripped out of the game. The only way to save the game is forage enough resources to light campfires.

All previously released DLC will be included, including the three hour story addition Baba Yaga: The Temple of the Witch, Cold Darkness Awakened in which players must combat waves of infected predators, 12 DLC outfits, 7 DLC weapons, over 35 Expedition Cards, and more.

Rise of the Tomb Raider, currently available for Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC, is one of the most celebrated games of the past year. The game was nominated for more than 75 awards, winning 27. Rise of the Tomb Raider was also nominated for nine DICE Awards, more than any other title in 2015.

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Tomb Raider Turns 20!

Shane Thomas — Wed, 30 Mar 2016 02:08:27 +0000

Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix are celebrating 20 years of Lara Croft, star of the award-winning TOMB RAIDER franchise this year, beginning with festivities for this major milestone at PAX East 2016. The developers of Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend, the critically acclaimed Tomb Raider reboot in 2013, last year’s hit Rise of the Tomb Raider and more will celebrate the achievements of the Tomb Raider series and its protagonist, with special activities and events planned throughout 2016.

“Since its introduction, Tomb Raider has held a significant place in video game history, and further cements that with this milestone,” said Ron Rosenberg, Co-Head of Studio at Crystal Dynamics. “We look forward to celebrating with fans, and honouring the iconic Lara Croft with special events, retrospectives, giveaways and other surprises throughout this year of Tomb Raider.”

First making her debut in 1996 with the original Tomb Raider from Core Design, famous archaeologist Lara Croft is a powerful force within the gaming industry, and has made an indelible mark on virtually every facet of entertainment. From being named an ambassador for scientific excellence to appearing live on tour with U2, Lara Croft reaches millions of people around the world.

With over 30 video game titles released and hundreds of awards, the heroine has been a cultural icon for 20 years on gaming screens and Hollywood silver screens, battling T-Rexes and the undead and adventuring around the globe. Lara has had adventures in over 25 countries, explored the Mediterranean, Adriatic, and Andaman Seas, ventured to Antarctica and the Arctic Circle, and rediscovered Atlantis and the lost island of Yamatai.

“Tomb Raider has become a cultural phenomenon over the last 20 years, selling millions of copies worldwide, sparking one of the most successful video game film adaptations in history, and inspiring our amazing fans of all ages,” said Scot Amos, Co-Head of Studio at Crystal Dynamics. “It’s incredible to be part of this legend and to see how much the series has evolved over time, and think about what’s yet to come. Here’s to 20 more years of adventure together.”

As part of the 20-year celebration, Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics have partnered with GameChanger Charity to provide a free digital copy of Tomb Raider 2013 for every donation made to the charity of at least $1.

Eligible contributors who donate at least $20 will be entered into a drawing where prizes include a special Crystal Dynamics swag bag including a collector’s edition of Rise of The Tomb Raider, along with special items related to the series and its famed globetrotting explorer (see official rules for details). GameChanger is a non-profit focused on improving the lives of children suffering from life-threatening diseases. GameChanger delivers video game gifts to hospitals, and provides financial support to deserving families.

Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics today also released the third Rise of The Tomb Raider content pack titled Cold Darkness Awakened for PC on Steam and The Windows Store. Players who have purchased the Season Pass or have downloaded the additional content separately will be able to continue the journey as Lara Croft takes on nightmarish predators in an abandoned Cold War base.

Cold Darkness Awakened will also be available that same day for Xbox One and Xbox 360.

Along with the award-winning Tomb Raider Definitive Edition and Rise of the Tomb Raider, the series spans PC, console, mobile and handheld, with other hit titles such as Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris, Lara Croft: Relic Run and Lara Croft GO.

You can DONATE to GameChanger HERE.

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2015 – A Gaming Year in Review

Darren Price — Thu, 07 Jan 2016 08:36:26 +0000

2015, what a year. It’s been a year where I spent many an hour retreating old games with shiny new visuals, but also one where I experienced gameplay and graphical fidelity unlike anything I’d seen in the thirty-five years that I’ve been playing video games. Here are some of the highlights of my gaming year.

PlayStation 4 exclusive The Order: 1886 broke new ground in interactive storytelling. A visual feast depicting characters and Victorian London with almost photo-real clarity, sadly it didn’t get the acclaim I thought it deserved.

Press coverage for The Order, instead of lauding the interesting story and beautiful visuals, decided to slaughter the game, deriding it for is brevity, excessive quick time events and lengthy cut-scenes. I think they missed the point, myself, but it meant that the game was practically stillborn. Such a shame.

Despite my misgivings based on playing a preview build, Techland’s Dying Light managed to reinvent the open-world zombie game that the developer practically invented with their Dead Island series. Intelligent, interesting and above all pretty frightening, Dying Light immediately took my top spot when it comes to surviving a virtual zombie apocalypse.

EA’s Battlefield Hardline didn’t quite do it for me. Whilst I salute Visceral Studios for trying something different with DICE’s Battlefield series, Hardline was perhaps too much of a departure. In swapping huge battlegrounds for urban cops and robbers, the game lacked the scale and excitement of it’s military-themed predecessors. By all accounts, still a good game, but not a good Battlefield game.

Cities: Skylines on PC was a pleasant surprise. The city building game manages to take everything that was wrong with SimCity (a game that I personally still enjoyed) and create a nigh-on perfect example of the sometimes embittered genre.

Easy to get to grips with, beautiful to look at and relatively bug-free, Cities: Skylines has become my go-to city building game. With the introduction of a day/night cycle later in the year, the game became even more beautiful to look at.

Ori and the Blind Forest provided a charming break from the AAA action-fests that dominated 2015. Taking more than a little inspiration from the visual style of Hayao Miyazaki and his Studio Ghibli animated movies, Ori and the Blind Forest follows the trials of the orphaned guardian spirit, Ori.

It sends players on a magical journey and is full of emotion. At its heart, though, Ori and the Blind Forest is no more than an old-school platformer which with repeated plays felt more and more derivative. A great game if you are looking for something short and sweet.

As a gamer that likes a bit of story with my action, 2K’s multiplayer squad shooter, Evolve didn’t really do it for me. It’s nice idea, being a member of a group of mercenaries charged with hunting and killing a gigantic player-controlled monster, but it lacked that Left 4 Dead feeling of comradery.

I’ve returned to the game many times over the year and enjoyed my time with it, but there are plenty of other games that I’d sooner be playing. To all intents and purposes, Evolve is still a great game, but not necessarily my sort of game.

The classic fighting franchise, Mortal Kombat made it’s new-gen debut in 2015 with Mortal Kombat X. With new-gen visuals, the series gruesome finishing mores were too much for Australian censors which slapped it with an R rating.

With a great story featuring character both old and new, beautiful graphics and some fantastic gameplay, Mortal Kombat X is the best fighting game I’ve played in a long time.

In real life I’d say that two wheels are better than four when it comes to having fun on the road. I’ve never really found a game that has managed to capture the excitement of motorcycling. Milestone S.r.l.’s Ride comes close.

Building on their successful Moto GP franchise, the Italian developers have, with Ride, created a game that celebrates the motorcyclist, their machine and racing on the open road.

Whilst it was released in 2014, Dragon Age: Inquisition dominated my playing schedule throughout 2015 due to the great DLC release during the year that bought the amazing story to its conclusion. The game received seven expansions during 2015, from the beautiful and varied terrain in the Jaws of Hakken to the conclusion of Trespasser. The Black Emporium gave players opportunity to change their character’s face (something that my unfortunate-looking Inquisitor was in dire need of).

The crowd funded / developed Project CARS really upped the ante when it comes to racing games. It the tradition of Gran Turismo, Forza Motorsport and GRID AutoSport, Project CARS is a driving simulator rather than an arcade racer.

Project CARS copped a lot of flak for being virtually unplayable on a gamepad. With a decent steering wheel and shifter, however, the game is in a league of its own. Add a couple more monitors for a panoramic view of the track and it’s just like being there, sitting in a race car.

May 2015 finally saw the release of one of the year’s most anticipated games, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. This is the game that I still return to when I game in my own time. CD Projekt RED polished up the gameplay that they had been developing over the last two games and dropped players in a gorgeous open-world.

The vast world of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt offers player hours and hours of adventure, which the developers augmented with 12 free DLC packs and an expansion called Hearts of Stone.

Warner’s Batman: Arkham Knight managed to polarise the fans. Not a game that I had to review, but one that I purchased myself, on PC. Whilst the console version was, for the most part, celebrated, the PC version was not. PC gamers reported performance issues and missing effects indicated a badly-ported console to PC game.

Running Batman: Arkham Knight on a PC-rig bordering on the un-natural, my 32 gigs and 2xSLI GTX980 machine never really had any problems running the game, much to the ire of my peers. Still the PC version was a massive fail for both Warner Interactive and nVIDIA, whose Gameworks code seems to be a root cause of many of the problems. To this day, Batman: Arkham Knight still doesn’t run as intended on PC.

Rory McIlroy PGA Tour kicked of EA Sports’ annual barrage of sports sims. The franchises two-year break allowed the developers to rebuild the game using Battlefield’s Frostbite engine and even including the Battlefield 4-themed Paracel Islands course.

I found the fantasy courses in Rory McIlroy PGA Tour more interesting than the real-life course which is probably because I don’t follow the game on TV. Still, PGA Tour is a good game and a was a great start to the 2015 EA Sports season.

I feel that I’d played every game that’ll ever be made. Most games wear their inspiration on their sleeve to such an extent that they seem like no more than derivative rehashes. Original gaming experiences are few and far between. Sony’s Everyone’s Gone to the Rapture is one of the most original games that I’ve played in a long time.

Derided as being no more than a walking simulator by those that fail to be engaged by the game’s subtle storytelling, Everyone’s Gone to the Rapture is an apocalyptic game with a difference. Set in a deserted English village, the game reveals the tragic events that befall on the people at the end of the world. It’s a very British horror story in the vein of Nigel Kneale’sQuatermass and one that keeps you thinking about it long after you’ve switched it off.

The PlayStation 4 exclusive Until Dawn was a bit of a surprise. Perfectly capturing the teen slasher movie look and feel, the game put the lives of a group of friends trapped in a mountain lodge in the hands of the player. Everyone that I spoke to about the game had a different experience with it. Not the longest game out there, but certainly nigh-on perfectly formed.

2015 saw the release of a game that seemed to have taken forever to arrive. Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain arrived in a storm of controversy that, for a change, had nothing to do with the game’s female lead wearing next to nothing. The launch was overshadowed by the seemingly very public, and rather unprofessional, spat between the game’s publishers, Konami, and the Metal Gear series’ creator, Hideo Kojima.

Regardless of the politics surrounding the game, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is a superb effort, with the open-world gameplay taking the series’ tried and tested mechanics to a new level.

As accomplished as it is, I thought that Microsoft’s Forza Motosport 6 failed to live up to the excitement of 2014’s Forza Horizons 2.

Still a beautiful game, possibly the best-looking racing game ever, Forza 6 felt held back by the real-life locations that we’ve seen countless times before. The end result is a very accomplished game, but one that still feels a bit sterile.

Destiny: The Taken King proved to be more than just an expansion for Activision’s acclaimed shooter. Destiny’s second year of adventure kicked off by wiping Game of Thrones actor, Peter Dinklage’s much-maligned voice-over work from the game and replacing it with that of Uncharted’s Nolan North.

The inclusion of a revised leveling system, more akin to traditional role-playing games in Destiny: The Taken King as well as new missions, locations and a sinister new foe makes the game feel fresh again.

In a seemingly desperate move to shake their alleged misogynistic reputation, EA’s FIFA 16 includes, for the very first time, a selection of Women’s international teams. I found it to be a rather welcome move, making the 2016 entry more than just a roster update with a few token gameplay changes.

EA Sports’FIFA 16 is also the best looking entry in the series, the developers really starting to embrace the new-gen console’s graphics abilities.

Rock Band 4 re-introduced a new-generation of gamers to the rhythm music game. As I said in my review, Rock Band 4 was likely borne out of necessity over anything else as the die-hard Rock Band fans replaced their PS3s and Xbox 360s with new-gen consoles.

Rock Band 4 really doesn’t bring anything new to the table, apart from freestyle solos, which allow you to basically go mad with your instrument and still make a sound that seems like real music. Despite the lack of innovation for this fourth outing, Rock Band 4 is still an excellent game. The fact that you can still use your old instruments and previously purchased music make the game an essential purchase for fans.

I wasn’t particularly happy when I found out that Rise of the Tomb Raider was being release, initially anyway, as an Xbox exclusive. I’d been playing the Tomb Raider reboot on PC, with all its exquisite graphics cranked up to the max. I just could help but think that the Xbox One version’s visuals could be anything other than a disappointment.

Of course, I was wrong. The Rise of the Tomb Raider development team had been working closely with the guys at Microsoft to ensure that the latest adventure of Lara Croft looked nothing short of fabulous on the Xbox One. Whilst lacking a bit in the story department, the inclusion of more tombs to raider was welcome, even if the puzzles are still a lot easier that they were back in the day.

Likely in response to Harmonix and their rebooting of the Rock Band franchise, Activision countered with their Guitar Hero Live. Whereas Rock Band was essentially the same as before, it was all change for Guitar Hero.

With an almost retro feel, Guitar Hero Live uses real-life video from the point of view of the guitar player to put you right into the performance. The Guitar Hero TV experience allows players to stream official music videos and play them on the redesigned Guitar Hero guitar.

Fans of post-apocalyptic role-playing games got everything they could wish for with the release of Fallout 4. Not only does the game offer players a vast world to explore and a superb story, but you can also spend literally hours building things.

In previous games I’ve often wondered why the developers littler the world with useless objects. In Fallout 4 I could break items down to material and create all sorts of things from essential water purification systems to rather extravagant outdoor lighting.

In the build-up for the release of the new Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens, the release of EA Games’ Star Wars Battlefront was perfectly timed. The free DLC, The Battle of Jakku, offered players their first peek at a key new location from the film.

With visuals plucked straight from the movies, Star Wars Battlefront, pressed all the right buttons for me and many of us that had been waiting nearly forty years to step into the movies. Many, however, were a bit upset with the lack of content included in the retail package and the price tag that EA put on the game’s season pass.

When it comes to over-the-top action, the Just Cause series turns it up to eleven. With Just Cause 3 Avalanche Studios took what was best about the other games- blowing shit up, and basically made the game all about that. The result is a game that doesn’t take itself too seriously, but offers players a crazy amount of fun.

You can spend hours in Just Cause 3 just designing mayhem. Be it tying stuff together and watching what happens or putting rocket mines on cows’ butts and having them fly about before exploding in a red mist. Naughty, but nice.

I’m still putting the finishing touches together for my Call of Duty: Black Ops III review. A far cry from last year’s Advance Warfare, Black Ops III has, in my mind, finally pushed the series too far away from its original premise and turned Call of Duty into a sci-fi shooter.

With an enjoyable if incomprehensible single-player campaign and a multiplayer experience that feels borrowed from Titanfall (but without the big robots), Call of Duty: Black Ops III really jumps the shark, giving us a fun, if totally brain-dead entry in to the series.

After last year’s critically panned game, I was surprised to find that the Victorian London-based Assassin’s Creed Syndicate shared most of its gameplay with the very similarly styled Assassin’s Creed Unity. It was interesting to find that whilst one game was derided regarding awkward controls, this new, much-lauded entry seemed to share most of the same mechanics.

Assassin’s Creed Syndicate did, however, work right out of the box on both console and PC. Personally I found the brother / sister team of Jacob and Evie Frye not as interesting as previous protagonists (notably Edward Kenway, who they will forever have trouble following) and the setting, Victorian London a bit too familiar and not as exotic as, say, the pirate-ridden Caribbean.

Ubisoft’s Rainbow Six: Siege, for me, suffers in a similar way that many found with Star Wars Battlefront. In leaving out the traditional single-player experience, the game just did sit well with me. Here was a full-priced game to all intents and purposes missing half of its content.

Don’t get me wrong, the multiplayer experience in Rainbow Six: Siege is very well honed, but with only a handful of maps, I’d hardly have called it complete. Add the real need for online co-operation into the mix and you’ve got a game that can really only be played within your circle of friends.

It was the year of the remaster and resurrecting games that were originally released in previous years I’ve deliberately left them out of the list above. I took a look at Saints Row IV: Re-Elected, DMC Devil May Cry: Definitive Edition, Borderlands: The Handsome Jack Collection, Journey, God of War III Remastered, Rare Replay and Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection. With the exception of Journey and Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection, none of the others really did it for me. Rare Replay was an interesting trip down memory lane, but there was no way I was playing a thirty-five-year-old game for hours. Borderlands: The Handsome Jack Collection was good, but these where game that were still fresh in my mind and, quite frankly, looked just as good on the last-gen consoles.

2015 has been an epic gaming year, with the release of many games that we had been waiting quite some time for. There was very little to be disappointed with, either, with most games living up to the hype, the notable exceptions being Star Wars Battlefront (which could never have lived up to that sort of hype) and the disappointing PC port of Batman: Arkham Knight.

I’m going to close this feature with a list of my top games for 2015:

Best Story –Everyone’s Gone to the Rapture

Best Graphics – Star Wars Battlefront

Best Shooter/Combat Game – Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Best RPG – The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Best Sports Game – FIFA 16

Best Music Game – Guitar Hero Live

Best Racing Game – Project CARS

Best Action Game – Just Cause 3

Best Sci-Fi Game – Fallout 4

Best DLC – Dragon Age Inquisition: The Jaws of Hakkon

Best Remaster – Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection

Game of the Year – The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Here’s to a great 2016!

The post 2015 – A Gaming Year in Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Tomb Raider is About to Get a Whole Lot Badder

STG News — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 01:35:43 +0000

Back in October, Xbox and Crystal Dynamics revealed how the single player experience will be extended in Rise of the Tomb Raider and recently at The Game Awards shared a first glimpse at Baba Yaga: The Temple of the Witch, one of the major content packs coming early next year via the Season Pass or as standalone DLC. In addition to Baba Yaga: The Temple of the Witch, fans can also look forward to two other considerable additions to Rise of the Tomb Raider with Endurance Mode (available December 29th, 2015) and Cold Darkness Awakened (available in 2016) along with a slew of new outfits, weapons and expedition cards to personalize and extend fans experience in the main campaign.

Endurance Mode – Available December 29th 2015.

Alone and in the wild, Lara must scrounge, scavenge, craft and survive the harsh elements by day, as well as lethal threats from enemies, both man and beast, by night. This is her ultimate woman-versus-wild test to push the limits of how long she can survive on her own in sprawling, unforgiving landscapes. Fire takes fuel, cold kills the unprepared, food restores health, but everything must be caught, collected, or crafted. You start with nothing and must find everything. Challenge friends to your longest survival run and battle to the top of the leaderboards for the title of Ultimate Survivor. Includes a new outfit and weapon.

Baba Yaga: The Temple of the Witch – Available in early 2016

Deep in the wilds of Siberia, there is a forbidden forest that no man will enter, where a Soviet expedition vanished without a trace. Lara enters the Wicked Vale in search of a missing man, but what she finds is a nightmare that she cannot explain. Is the witch, Baba Yaga, truly haunting the forbidden forest? Or is there more to the legend? Featuring hours of new gameplay, this adventure expands the story of the main campaign with Lara facing deadly new adversaries, exploring a new puzzle-filled tomb, and solving a decades old mystery, all culminating in a showdown with an ancient and mythic evil. Includes a new outfit, and a new bow.

Cold Darkness Awakened – Available in 2016

Decommissioned during the Cold War, a dormant weapons research base has been breached, unleashing a mysterious affliction into the Siberian wilds that transforms beasts and men into blood-thirsty, mindless killers. Lara must overcome increasingly dangerous waves of these infected predators while scrounging their equipment and crafting additional gear on the fly, in kill or be killed survival-combat. Fight for your life against new enemies and complete new challenges, while discovering a way to stop or perhaps even reverse this impending catastrophe. Includes a new outfit and weapon.

The post Tomb Raider is About to Get a Whole Lot Badder appeared first on Shane the Gamer.