March 17, 2008

Legend Lara

Never has a game made me write a review. This is a first. It all started with me going to Crossword, because I had

nothing better to do. They do sell video games at Crossword. Oddly recent games like Tomb Raider: Legend and Hitman:

Bloodmoney were priced at just Rs. 300. I had to get the game. After about 2 hours of deliberating I decided to get



Tomb Raider: Legend.


What made me get the game? Gamer TV gave it a 5/5 rating. I make a mental note of every 5/5 Gamer TV game. Lets see,

Star Wars Lego.. Ghost Recon 360.. Legend Of Zelda Wii.. there are more which I don't have time to remember..

Anyway to the game, the plot is pretty well, creative to say the least. Lara, on investigating the death of her mother, realizes that she has to get the sword of Excalibur, the parts of which are scattered in different countries. The game follows Lara to these diverse countries. The scenery is amazing, although I when I switched on the "Next Generation" display setting the game speed reduced to a halt.. almost.

The countries are as diverse as Bolivia, Peru, Japan, Kazhakistan, Ghana, and Nepal. Each country has a different piece of the sword.

Also, Lara is looking her best yet in this game. Check this out
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/ff/LaraCroftTombRaiderEvoWUnderw.jpg

Lara's tricks are dependent on timing. Theres no specific tutorial for the tricks, you have to find that out yourself. Like pressing the F key the right number of times and at the correct intervals will get her to somersault and stuff.

What impressed me was the combat, although I had to change the weapon keys, the combat was extremely fluid.

Also, I didn't get bored at all. Lara has some really funny and witty conversations with Zip (her right hand man), who speaks to her via some satellite thing from her mansion. Its sorta like the Prince Of Persia talking to himself or having conversations with his darker side.

Another new feature is the use of a magnetic grapple, which is used to attach to higher objects and then swing from it or to pull objects towards herself.

The game is fairly easy (in Normal mode) and short too. I finished the whole thing in 2 days. Gamespot had an issue with the length and the camera angles. The camera angles are pretty good actually, save for some instances, and some levels. The camera goes berserk during the last boss battle.
Also, sometimes Lara doesnt respond properly. For example, Lara will sometimes do a back flip even though you've pressed Right and Jump.

Frankly, I couldn't find too many faults with the game, or maybe I'm just overlooking them. Even if there are some, the other aspects more than make for it.

FPS w/o the S

I've not always liked games which focus on combat, although I do play them for lack of choice. But its always great to see a non-combat game come along (I'm not talking of RTS or RPG's). Looks like EA DICE (yet another EA branch) have taken the initiative. A game called "Mirror's Edge" will be out soon. Unfortunately theres no real gameplay footage yet, but what I've heard of the game is awesome. Believe it or not, its an FPS, without guns! So its not a shooter, its just FP.. The game is like Assassins Creed (but not Sandbox). It involves a girl called "Faith" who can scale any surface. The focus is on jumping & running from building to building. Here you outrun enemies instead of fighting them. The full story here

Tech 2 'Mirror's Edge' Preview