TOMB RAIDER SERIES MOVIE
TOMB RAIDER SERIES SERIES

In fact, Rise's plot isn't even all that interesting. Rather, Rise offers so much to do surrounding the main story. I'm still a ways from completing the main story, but this is a review-in-progress not because the main story is so enormous and involving. and even then, I only managed to complete about two-thirds of that region's tasks before remembering I had a review to write and getting on with the quest. I literally spent an entire day in a sprawling Siberian base and the surrounding environs, happily completing a variety of side missions and trying to unravel all its hidden secrets before moving on. It's similar to TR13 in that sense, but these areas feel larger, more substantial, and more complex. Most of Rise centers on a handful of large, persistent spaces packed with story objectives, hidden secrets, and optional missions. But even as it copies elements of the previous game almost verbatim (including another scene where Lara walks into an enemy base only to be ambushed by soldiers with flood lights shouting 'Light her up!'), it subtly refines them into something that feels more distinct from the Uncharted series. Rise sticks closely to the general formula and mechanics of 2013's Tomb Raider, reprising practically every system from base camps to hunting animals for resources. This portion comprises the overwhelming majority of Rise, and for the first time since Tomb Raider: Anniversary, developer Crystal Dynamics has perfectly nailed the exploratory essence that made the older Tomb Raiders so great. On one hand, you have a truly fantastic modern take on classic Tomb Raider, with vast spaces to explore and complex puzzles to solve. But if Rise falls decidedly short when it comes to exploring Lara's emotional scars and psychological trauma, the game itself more than makes up for it with the constant struggle of its split personalities.

TOMB RAIDER SERIES MOVIE

If Rise has a psychological element, it's about her working through her relationship with her late father by attempting to uncover the reality of the crackpot claims he made regarding lost civilizations and a 'divine source.' As usual, the Tomb Raider franchise walks carefully in the footsteps of its inspiration in this regard: Any movie buff will recall Indiana Jones' tense relationship with his own father, though in this case there's no opportunity for reconciliation with the deceased Lord Croft merely catharsis. Square Enix initially sold the game on the concept of Lara seeking therapy to deal with the trauma of the events of the first game, but after more than 20 hours with this sequel I've yet to see any hint of Lara truly struggling to come to terms with the savagery and supernatural horror of her first adventure. Perhaps, but even so it's impossible to deny the divided, contradictory nature of Rise's design. But since trying to be like other games has been Tomb Raider's thing since the very beginning, aren't the discordant sequences where Rise struggles to outdo the Uncharted franchise (among others) also quintessentially Tomb Raider? The Xbox-exclusive Rise of the Tomb Raider absolutely soars when it's simply being Tomb Raider, and it's honestly sort of dreadful when it's trying to be some other game.

The franchise's longstanding tradition of totally swiping from everyone else creates an interesting philosophical question about the latest of Lara Croft's adventures, though. Across multiple console generations, multiple developers, and even multiple reboots, the Tomb Raider games exist in a perpetual state of one-upmanship with Prince of Persia, its offspring Assassin's Creed, and the modern-day claimant to the throne, Uncharted.

And, as I touched on in last week's Retronauts, this twin tradition of innovation and imitation has remained a key element of Tomb Raider's DNA through the years. The resulting game felt at once incredibly derivative and totally fresh. Core also had the savvy to swap out their original leathery hero in favor of a curvaceous lady with bee-stung lips and a tough-as-nails attitude. It threw in a third dimension to the formula as well, creating an evolutionary track for the 3D platform action genre that ran parallel to Super Mario 64, and arguably has outlasted Mario's format. That said, however, Tomb Raider wasn't simply a mix of those two existing properties.

TOMB RAIDER SERIES SERIES

The entire series got its start when some folks at Core Design essentially decided to smash together Prince of Persia and Indiana Jones to see what would happen. Just as there's a thin line between archaeology and theft, the Tomb Raider series-starring archaeologist/adventurer/thief Lara Croft-has always balanced a precarious blend of innovation and pilfering.

Tomb raider series