Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix have done it. They have made a game that not only gives us a legitimate origin story of the Tomb Raider Lara Croft but have also given an intense action-packed thriller that makes us come back for more.

The game begins with twenty-one year old Lara Croft, just graduated from college and on a search for the island of Yamatai, which may or may not exist. Her college friend Sam, who is recording their journey for a reality show, the lead archaeologist, Whitman, who is funding the expedition, Roth, the Captain of the Endurance, an old friend of Lara’s father and a father figure to Lara, and the rest of the Endurance crew (Reyes, Alex, Jonah and Grim) all accompany her. Lara believes Yamatai is located in the Dragon’s Triangle near Japan, but the crew is uneasy because of the storms that surround that area. Roth believes in Lara’s instincts and the ship enters the Dragon’s Triangle. The Endurance becomes engulfed in the storm and sinks, leaving Lara and the crew of the Endurance stranded on an unknown island.

The game that follows is nothing short of intense, as Lara must not only survive on the island but also try to save her fellow shipmates and fight against enemies driven by an unknown force. All of this makes Lara realize that she must grow up fast if she is to save herself and protect the ones she loves.

From the start, “Tomb Raider” creates a very real survival atmosphere, sucking you into Lara’s emotions. Lara’s very first kill is traumatic for her and you feels her sorrow and fear. Voice actress Camilla Luddington brings a sensitive and raw side to Lara Croft that lends well to the new experience the character is going through.

Gameplay wise, “Tomb Raider” has third person combat mixed with quick time reaction (QTR) ques. During melee combat the QTR ques can be daunting to press perfectly each time, especially during a thrilling fight. Once mastered, however, they aren’t much of a bother. The QTR ques add extra adrenaline for you in life or death situations, such as Lara dangling from a cliff after thrashing through rapids. Lara’s deaths are ghastly to see but are intriguing nonetheless. The game designers wanted you to believe that this environment has no mercy and careless mistakes have consequences. If you jump at the wrong time, Lara will fall and be impaled through the neck by a sharpened tree branch. If you lose a fight with a wolf, it will rip your jugular out. If you do not guide Lara out of a rock slide fast enough, the rock will chop her in half and you will watch helplessly as her head explodes and blood spurts out.

At first, Lara only has the bow and arrow as a weapon. However, as the game progresses, she gains advanced weaponry and can upgrade her weapons through collecting salvage or raiding tombs. Lara’s skills can also be upgraded from defeating humans/animals and looting their bodies. However, the main focus of the game is not the actual raiding of tombs, as it was in Lara Croft’s past games. They are optional and not all that dangerous. The tombs serve as mini puzzles which, after solved, treasure is rewarded. The gameplay is focused squarely on survival through combat but also by traversing the island. Lara can rock climb, crawl through caves, zip line, and most obstacles are removed by burning them with any fire you can find.

When thinking back to the past games in the “Tomb Raider” franchise, it is astonishing to see how far the franchise has come. The improvements to the game mechanics such as running, jumping, and climbing are so vastly improved and are obviously much more natural. In previous games developed by Core Design, you would have to aim the camera angle in a specific way to accurately injure an enemy, which was a frustrating endeavor. As the games matured under the development of Crystal Dynamics, Lara’s movements became more weighted, more natural and nimbler.

Lara’s image, needless to say, is much less pornographic now than it was in her earlier games. By focusing on Lara’s mental state in her given situation, Crystal Dynamics has let the character carry the game rather than relying on body image. Overall, the “Tomb Raider” franchise recycled the old running, jumping, climbing, stealth and weapon animations so often that it is very refreshing to see new animations and ways to solve environmental puzzles. In Crystal Dynamics’ hands, Tomb Raider could reclaim the glory it once had when it premiered in 1996.

The score for “Tomb Raider” is brilliantly composed by Jason Graves. At times it is reminiscent of the game “Arkham City.” It gives Lara Croft the theme music that not only defines her as a video game icon but as a human character who feels fear and loss throughout her experience on the island.

The only negative aspects to “Tomb Raider” are the cut scenes, which are not lip synced well, and the multiplayer component. The multiplayer features the survivors verses the inhabitants of the island in several game modes such as team death match or free for all. Although entertaining, multiplayer was not needed for this game to boast replay value. The single player mode is more than enough to warrant more than one play through. But these are trivial complaints for what the gamer receives in this action packed, emotionally driven survival narrative.

Rating 5/5- Tomb Raider has not only earned but deserves a perfect score. From the visuals, musical score, explosions, enemies both animal and human, the loss and the nostalgia of raiding tombs, “Tomb Raider” has it all for either those new to the franchise or for long time fans. Not only have Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix redeemed an icon but they have crafted an origin story that gives the “Tomb Raider” franchise the credibility it had lost long ago.

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When one thinks of the Tomb Raider, Lara Croft, one thinks of a voluptuous woman, with a long braid, holding pistols while climbing cliffs in short cut offs in a tiny tank top. In 1996 “Tomb Raider” was developed by Core Design, released by Edios Interactive and has since then changed developers and publishers. With ten games, two movies and a theme park ride under its belt, the franchise has gotten a little stale.

Developer Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix have teamed up to reboot the franchise in a way that will revitalize the “Tomb Raider” in a grittier, edgy new way: by making her human. The new Lara Croft adventure is a prequel that will take players back before Croft became a “kick-ass,” gun-toting adventurer; a young woman thrown into adventure who must fend for herself on a seemingly deserted island.

Along with this new take on “Tomb Raider,” Croft is younger and her body type design reflects this. It is no longer one that will be just gawked at; rather, her skills will be put on display. In the game videos Lara is seen hunting, falling from great heights, using stealth to evade enemies and surviving the elements of the island. The use of a bow and arrow is a welcomed addition as it reflects the best possible skill that Lara would need in surviving on an island. Using a gun would be too loud and give away her location to enemies. In addition, it would also scare away prey. The player would also be using a weapon not often seen in a third person adventure game. It will be interesting to see how the bow is incorporated into the gameplay as Lara acquires other weapons.

Another interesting aspect of this reboot is the inclusion of multiplayer. As a game that is heavily reliant on the single player story, it is curious that Crystal Dynamics would choose to include a multiplayer aspect to a game that did not need it in the first place. In an interview with IGN, the Creative Director of “Tomb Raider,” Noah Huges, stated that multiplayer is, “…important to establish Tomb Raider for the future […] that is part of what a reboot is about.” So far, the multiplayer will include a team vs. team mode and the bow will be available as a weapon of choice. What  is refreshing to see about the multiplayer mode is, that the third person point of view adds an extra challenge that the usual first person point of view does not create for the player. The character can also swing on ropes, climb on top of structures and hang from said structures, which means the player has more options for offense and defensive strategies.

The rebooted franchise sports two editions: regular edition ($59.99 USD) and “Survival Collector’s Edition” ($99.99 USD). The collector’s edition comes in an “endurance” tin from the game, has an eight inch figurine of Lara Croft with her bow and arrow weapon, iron on patches as well as access to a weapons pack in game. In addition for those who pre-ordered there is “Scavenger Hunt” that players can access online and play to win other in game items. The scavenger hunt integrates community elements and trivia questions by having players take photos of themselves with the answer to the trivia question for that particular week.

Gamers that buy from Amazon.com will get “The Final Hours Edition” which comes with “an exclusive Art Book, In-Game Skin for Lara  and a digital copy of Geoff Keighley’s, “The Final Hours of Tomb Raider” for the Kindle Fire.”

This exciting new twist on a fan favorite will be released on March 5, 2013.

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During Nintendo’s Press Conference at E3 2012, they introduced many new features the Wii U has to offer as well as some of the new games that will be released for the Wii U and the 3DS. Out of the list of games they announced, Nintendo Land seemed to get a lot of air time during the conference.

Taking up the mantle on discussing Nintendo Land was game designer and Manager at Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development (EAD) Katsuya Eguchi (Super Mario Bros 3, Super Mario World, Animal Crossing, Wii Sports). The main thing that Katsuya wanted to get across about Nintendo Land was that like Wii Sports, its main purpose is a fun training tool to help its gamers with how the new Game Pad controller functions. Like Wii Tennis, once the gamer picks up the controller for the first time, they are able to jump right into the game with ease.

Nintendo Land is set up like a theme park, like Universal Studios Theme Park Adventure, in which there is a theme park hub and a series of character-theme based mini games. Nintendo Land is one of the few Nintendo games that creates a shared universe for their characters. With a total of twelve mini games in Nintendo Land, five of them were announced at Nintendo’s E3 Press Conference.

The first game Nintendo announced was Takamaru’s Ninja Castle. This game is a single-player shooting gallery game based on the characters from the Japanese game Nazo no Murasame-jō. The objective of the game is simple. The player uses the Game Pad to shoot shurikens at attacking ninjas. When using the Game Pad to shoot shurikens, if the player tilts or rotates the Pad to adjust the angle of the throw, and the faster the player swipes the shuriken, the further it launches. This is a simple game that shows the user the motion functionality of the Game Pad.

Nintendo then introduced Luigi’s Ghost Mansion. This is a five player survival maze set in the Luigi Mansion universe. The ability to hold up to five players on one console makes this game unique. Four people can play using a Wiimote and one person can use the Game Pad. The objective of the game is to hunt the ghost with flashlights before the time limit runs out or before the ghost takes them out. The four Wiimote players are the humans, and the ghost is controlled by the player using the Game Pad.

The Wiimote users play the game on the T.V. while they hunt for the ghost that they can’t see (the Wiimote vibrates when the player is near the ghost), while the Game Pad user plays the game on the Pad’s screen. This player can see where everyone is and hunt them down one by one. This type of gameplay is what Nintendo advertises as Asymmetric Gameplay, in which the same game is played differently depending on if the players are using the Wiimote or the Game Pad. Luigi’s Ghost Mansion is a very interesting mini game from Nintendo Land because of this Assymetric Gameplay.

Animal Crossing: Sweet Day is a simple collecting game that also involves 5 players. Four Wiimote users run around trying to gather the most candy while the Game Pad user plays as Chasers trying to stop the other players. Other than the Chaser, this game is as simple as it gets, but still entertaining for a basic mini game.

Donkey Kong Crash Course is a single-player cart driving game in which the player tilts the Game Pad to move the cart back and forth as they navigate through a maze resembling levels from Mario vs. Donkey Kong. The objective is fairly basic, collect as many bananas as you can without dying.

The last game that was announced at E3 was The Legend of Zelda: Battle Quest. Battle Quest is a three player rail shooter game in which two players using the Wiimotes play as swordsmen while the Game Pad user plays an archer. The game relies heavily on cooperation, the swordsmen take on close range enemies while the archer takes on enemies at a distance, as well as hitting switches that come along the way. The players also share a health bar, so once the five hearts are used up, it’s game over for everyone.

Nintendo Land looks to be a very promising introduction to how the Wii U functions, and with any luck Nintendo Land will come with the Wii U based Wii Sports on the Wii. With seven more games that have yet to be unveiled, Nintendo keeps us waiting for what surprises they have in store for us with Nintendo Land.

Image Courtesey of GDC 

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Diablo fans got a nasty surprise on March 9 when lead game designer Jay Wilson announced that Diablo III’s PvP content will not be available until after the game is released.

“After a lot of consideration and discussion, we ultimately felt that delaying the whole game purely for PvP would just be punishing to everyone who’s waiting to enjoy the campaign and core solo/co-op content, all of which is just about complete,” Wilson said in an official statement on the official Diablo 3 website.

Although the Diablo series focuses on Player vs. Monster combat, there have always been fans who would rather slaughter each other instead of the minions of hell. Diablo II featured a ‘go hostile’ button that allowed a player to attack other players.

In many cases, this was used for consensual dueling, but there were also people who would unilaterally declare hostility (a practice known as Player Killing or PKing). Players who suddenly found themselves on the receiving end of a declaration of hostility often died because their characters were not properly configured for PvP play.

Diablo III was supposed to offer a more advanced PvP experience. Instead of fighting each other within the main game, PvP fans would be able to duel in special Arenas. Non-consensual PvP would also be a thing of the past. Players would only be able to fight each other within the confines of the Arena.

But instead of shipping with the game, PvP content will be patched in at some point after the game is released. Wilson attempted to placate disappointed fans by touting the awesomeness that is to come.

“When the PvP patch is ultimately ready, it will add multiple Arena maps with themed locations and layouts, PvP-centric achievements, and a matchmaking system that will help you and your team get into fairly matched games quickly and easily. We’ll also be adding a personal progression system that will reward you for successfully bashing in the other team’s skulls.”

Sadly, this is just the latest feature that has had to be jettisoned because of time constraints. Special fatality animations, the Mystic artisan, and now PvP have all been sacrificed or postponed in order to get the game out. But considering the game has been in development for over a decade, fans could be forgiven for raising an eyebrow at Blizzard’s sudden need for speed.

Ironically, back in May 2010, a fan suggested that PvP content be delayed until after launch in order to speed things up. At the time, a Blizzard community manager rubbished the notion, assuring fans that implementing the PvP content would not delay the game’s release (!). But with any luck, this is one of the last hurdles, and we will soon be counting down the days until the Lord of Terror is released on the world once more.

Image Courtesy of   http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/

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