The main flaw for me was the story. It was so uninspired and boring ! They keep teasing Lara as "growing into the badass we know her as" but she never really gets there ? She keeps complaining and is never excited about discovering stuff... How do you expect me to get excited if the main character herself isn't ?
Yup, she never gets there, she completely lacks personality outside of whiny crybaby. At no point does she get confident. And the storylines are absolutely boring, ESPECIALLY the last one, and I was really holding out hope at the start of it. Also…I’m sorry, but optional tomb raiding? This just isn’t Tomb Raider. Call it something-ANYTHING-else. A fun survivor series, but not a Tomb Raider series.
This was true for the majority of Tomb Raider 2013, but we saw glimpses every now and then towards the end. I'd definitely say that her excitement for discovery came back at Rise and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. The difference was that Lara was out in dangerous terrain because she WANTED to be there. The urgent care about survival was gone.
So many times I heard "But, you don't understand, this is her origin story. She's not a badass yet." She kept gasping for air as a comma till the last game, I didn't even bother to buy the other 2 bc I knew from the first game where this was going.
@EastonSmith86 Lol, that's not torture man. That's triggering a trap and just usual gameplay in most video games. Torture is what you have in the reboot Tomb Raider, where Lara is tied up, interrogated, slapped and kicked in the chest. Or when you have cutscenes, which you can't control in any way and you just have to watch a gang of big violent men beat the shit out of her for 15-20 seconds non-stop.
It's the same for the TR reboots. The deaths are all from triggering traps, falling into pits of spikes, set on fire by enemies, etc. Lara doesn't exactly get tortured, she dies brutally. It's very much in-line with the original games, just more gruesome. Not a bad thing.
@@Misty25939 Nope. That is factually not true. There are cutscenes in the reboot where Lara is literally beaten, groped, kicked, slapped and abused. That is torture. No such things exist in the classic games.
the thing i dislike the most is what they did to Lara as a character she shivers, complains about the cold, almost cry and screams in pain in every scene....limps....and looses balance continuously (especially in the first bits of the game). The real Lara used to have nerves of steel, was a witty badass and very self-confident. A true heroine. An example of what an intelligent, strong and educated woman could be... This lara is completely the opposite of that.
I kinda like vulnerability in my heroes. It makes them believable. What I really value is a character who will do the right thing and for the right reasons. Strength of character more than invulnerability. It makes sense that Lara would need to start out a little vulnerable in the first game. By the 2nd & 3rd games, she should be more confident. I honestly don’t remember if she was… I was too distracted by the gameplay I was hating on.
@@MediaKitGamingI like this take. This is similar to how I feel about Leon in the re4 remake. He feels more like a believable character who’s still traumatized by the events of raccoon city.. as to the original where he’s a cocky one liner super agent that’s not fazed by anything lol
@@MediaKitGaming Lara grew across the 3 games, but I feel like it was too slow. The Lara from Shadow of the Tomb Raider feels like the Lara at the end of TR 2013. We only really needed one game to give her an origin story, not 3. Because they felt like they needed to drag them out into 3 games, we had a Lara with very little growth after 2013. I feel like they used Rise and Shadow to figure out a better formula for future games that resembles the original TR games.
@@Misty25939 I've stated before, if the gameplay is good, the story doesn't matter that much to me. Ultimately I find the gameplay uncreative for me the player. I don't like how linear they are or how hard it is to approach a situation with different gameplay styles. Whether Lara is rocking twin pistols or making a bow out of sticks, is less of a sticking point for me.
@MediaKitGaming Yeah, that's very true. The TR reboots suffer the most from making gameplay feel the same as so many other over-the-shoulder 3rd person adventure shooters. It doesn't help that there's only one or two ways to enter every room and area, making you experience the same climbing segments over and over again.
I think my issue, this is a trend problem too is these emo developers wants their game to be oscar bait material. Not fun or entertaining like old Lara Croft was. Its just a shame that 2013 reboot ruined this so hard
@@sweetpeaches6957 I wonder how much of it has to do with nostalgia. I never had a playstation growing up, so I was more of a Mario 64 kind of person. Never touched a tomb raider game until Rise, and I loved it. I also like the other two games in the reboot trilogy. Since I liked them, I decided to give the original games a go and HATED them. Awkward clunky controls with frustrating level design and an absolutely absurd story. If any future games go back to the original roots, I'll probably pass them up.
The only hand holding TR Anniversary does is auto-grab ledges, but you can take that off as an option. When you do, you have to manually worry about everything when it comes to jumping. And jumping is a little harder since most ledges are not perfectly aligned to match Lara's jumping length.
I just played the game and everything u said is on point, the game is graphically beautiful but very unpolished just like all square-enix games. Nice editing btw.
yes this video is top quality, loved the attention to detail, especially when e was talking about the useless items lara has to hoard and he stacked up all the actual items from the game
Well, I agree with your conclusion. But you seem to have overlooked the part where I deconstructed one of the puzzles and laid out exactly *why* I don't like the Tomb Raider puzzles. I'm not against puzzles in principle.
Not that I disagree with the Tomb Raider reboot series being bad, but saying DSP struggles with the puzzle isn't the best criticism. It'd be like saying a crippled asthmatic has trouble running a marathon, therefore marathons are bad. As far as the 2013 game (haven't played beyond that), I just felt like it was trying to have it's cake and eat it too the way it wanted to be this gritty, realistic personal story while simultaneously having ridiculously over the top setpieces, and constant shootouts with basic cover shooting gameplay and forgettable characters. I would be down for a Metroidvania style level design, but it feels like they got the cliff notes of a Metroidvania and just put it in to fulfill a checklist of features. Each area basically has one entrance and one exit, where exploring just gets you level up points for your character or weapons (loot if you prefer) instead of something substantial, and I'm pretty sure theres no way to sequence break.
DSP's experience is the same experience everyone had for exactly the reasons you elaborated on. It's impossible to get that bell BEFORE trying to move on and reaching the checkpoint at the other end of the map. Normally I would use my own footage, but I didn't want to start a new game and slog through it again just for that example… I punted and found a TH-camr who shared my feelings. You can call out DSP for being dim if you want but that puzzle has “one entrance” as you put it, and the only way to get there is to leave it behind. You hit the nail on the head, “no way to sequence break.”
This game was made by/for people who don't know anything about games, I couldn't get passed the 2nd level i was too bored. It all feels fake and forced
I stopped at Rise of the Tomb Raider which a lot of people consider the pinnacle of the reboot series and Shadow the worst. I thought the original was a pretty good 7.5/10 and Rise was a meh, it was okay sometimes 6/10. These games just don't hit the same as the PS1 and PS2 games that I played and the reboot Lara just does not work as Lara. Cannot wait for the Tomb Raider IV-VI Remasters
"get gud" isn't an excuse for the game not having a crouch button. Hell, even DOOM 2016 has a crouch button, it has no stealth segments, just ventilation shafts.
No, Rise of the Tomb Raider was actually poorly ported to PC and I played it with my XBOX1 roller. There's a bit of input lag on it and it's just terrible to control her. Apparently Rise was best on the 360 console with 0 input delay, but when it was brought to XboxOne, the input delay was more prevalent (not sure if they fixed that for console players). But it was much worse on Steam. I'm now finishing it with MnK which actually feels much more responsive. The problem is, the game's movement and combat mechanics, actually suck ass when compared to games like HZD. I know for some it's not fair to compare the two, being 2 years apart but that's not a good enough excuse for being mediocre in that department imho. I hate how the sprint function resets after jumping. That was so stupid. Piss poor programming that ruins a "Feel good" flow with the movement. That's just the tip of it. The Steam port also has a bunch of bugs, some of which actually denies discoverable items like relics. You'll have to restart the game from your last save, for platforms to move or certain barriers to break down correctly. ROTTR is plagued with this sort of crap. I enjoyed 2013 a bit (not a stellar game but i finished it). Rise just sucks.
I’m just tired of all these cinematic games feeling like the same game with different characters and environment. Horizon , Gow, tomb raider , assassins creed . Shits getting old
You played shadow with white paint on? Why? That removes 70% of the inmersion. Shsdow is the closes to the original games. Great feeling of isolation, environments, you can ignore junk and finish the game becsuse the skill tree is not really needed. Just platforms and puzzles. A 9/10 game for me. Totally misunderstood. Play it again and ignore junk and skill tree, put it in hard and remove all guides and tutorial. You’ll see what I mean. In ps5 is 50fps and my 75” tv is a BEAUTIFUL EXPERIENCE.
100% agree with this. Shadow was the best one. and also the one that sold worst since it had all the baggage from the other 2 games. turning everything off, putting it on hardest and there were some great sections. without that artificially forced Jonah clown and the bugs the game would have been a 9/10 for me as well.
I once defended this trash trilogy a long time ago but once I realized that this Lara will never became like the old school version. Huge character assassination just like Aya Brea (Parasite Eve) and Samus (Metroid). Thank goodness we got the 1-3 remasters.
My disdain for the survivor prequels besides lc being way to gd talky and whiny was how she never progressed fully into her aspiring confident mature Tomb Raider persona..Was the fact that these games were literally uncharted plus bow and arrow boring. she never gets her guns and hardly explores any more.
When I played the first two games, I think the biggest problem is the shitty rewards for the exploration and the bad melee combat. The game's name is tomb raider right, which should imply that our character is a treasure hunter. So this feels to me like alongside it's combat this game should also be an exploring game which it claims it is actually but I want to ask a question: what good comes from treasure hunting if I can't use or sell what I have found in the so called "secret" or "hidden" tombs/caves? First of all, those areas are not hidden at all, they are really easy to access pretty much everytime and the game tells you that "there is something on this side of the map, go check it out" which immediately kills the mystery in my opinion. My second problem with all this, most of these areas are really mediocre, what I mean by this is that you run through a cave corridor and solve a room sized puzzle and get the so called legendary item. It wouldn't be too bad if the puzzles weren't dependent too much on the rope arrow mechanic but god of war puzzles are too much dependent on the axe throwing mechanic either so I won't complain about this as much. So the legendary items lara finds in the tombs, we can't use them or sell them. What is she gonna do with them then, give it to a museoum or decorate her room in london which she doesn't go anymore? Doing all this just for preventing trinity from using them is a bit lazy writing and lazy game developing in my opinion. For example lara finds an old magical sword in some dude's tomb, and the game gives us a random buff or a skill point. Why the fuck we can't use the op things we find on these tombs? Or let her find a treasure like a healing stone or something and it unlocks the ability to heal during the fights. Much better than just eating some herbs during gun fight imo. The only time I remember lara gets a buff based on the treasure she finds was the greek fire arrows one if I remember correctly and that was really good but the rest is just too lazy. Elden ring is a better treasure hunting game at this point because it rewards you with awesome stuff and lets you use it if you want so that you don't feel you just wasted time in the end for all that effort.
I actually made a vid about better reward systems. It doesn't mention Elden Ring or the Tomb Raider games, but you might find kinship with some of the ideas. Best - This leveling system needs to GO! th-cam.com/video/2ZI4_4Cp0n8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=-u0V6IGne1CMe9hu
I love the original trilogy in 3-1-2 order (expansions included) and I play these over and over every now and then. I kinda' like the fourth installment, consider fifth a guilty pleasure of mine and re-visited sixth one (TRAOD) thanks to all the more-recent patches, bugfixes and updates. I have most of these Core Design era games in multiple editions and all occupy my "showcase" shelf. Then I played through the LAU trilogy with some very mixed feelings, to put it mildly.. Long story short, I finished each 100% on a one / two / four retries, respectively, and that including the ridiculous time-trials, which are IMHO the antithesis of the spirit of (what) TR games (should be). I never got back to these games as I never felt the itch to do so. Now, I have the DVDs somewhere, just in case I get old & senile and need a boost to my ego by finishing something that short and simple. Then I gave the 2013 a try, but shut it off within a few hours, as I realized it was not a TR game anymore. I also played the other two (at firends' consoles), but to sum it up, all three felt both boring and pissing me off at the same time. This Lara was a weak high-school-level whining pussy, any immersion into the environment was non-existent, the cutscenes and cinematics were just a showcase of the level of idiocy of story-writers and most of the gameplay's scripted explorations were just a simple matter of spotting the yellow-painted ledge to hop to with auto-grab. No player thinking or control mastery required. Or, just like stated in this video, figuring out what the game wanted me to do, all common sense a/o logic aside. Also let's not forget those "press button when asked to" segments - these were just Simon Says for 4-year-olds level of stupid. I could continue, but let's finish this by me stating, that I may still have the 2013 DVD somewhere, but I don't know where - and I don't care.
Playing through 2013 and man is it rough. I’ve never been this frustrated with a single player game outside of Ubisoft and EA slop. Shit they did in this game is BAFFLING
imo The biggest failure of the Tomb Raider franchise was how they depicted Lara as a character. Sure, the gameplay was less than stellar, but they took a badass, wise cracking character who used to be the epitome of strong women in games and made her a third rate Nathan Drake knock-off who complains constantly, needs others to bail her out of problems SHE CREATED all the time, and REFUSES to act logically at damn near every opportunity. It really doesn't help that her VA sounds like she's about to fall asleep in the recording booth with every single line
I'm listening to this while playing the good games of Tomb Raider Remastered :) These reboot Tomb Raiders were trying to be Uncharted. A fools errant, because Uncharted is always gonna be better at being Uncharted, and Tomb Raider should stick to what it is being good at: being Tomb Raider.
I know why all menus are bad, because of Consoles, lazy port and not wanting to fix it for PC, I'm also getting tired of games squishing menus in to fit the "app" standards today.
I've heard “it was made for consoles” before by people defending Skyrim. (see my video here th-cam.com/video/oj9_sZLrhkc/w-d-xo.html) Thing is, console games often have really great menus. Almost ALL games come out for PC & console. So, I don't think anyone can make the console excuse. Totally agree about apps. I've tried playing app games on PC & PC games on app. It rarely works.
The idea of a reboot is already horrible because it negates the previous ones. A Lara without a debauched personality and stuck gameplay. Even Tomb Raider on Gameboy has more movements and jumps in different directions than this trilogy. If there was a Mod and replaced Lara with any other character, no one would notice the difference. The game doesn't have enough identity to be recognized as Tomb Raider. Horrible.
I only played 2013 finished it and sorry i will not play no more games from Crystal Dynamics. Only the true Tomb Raider made by CORE Design. Of course we had Aspyr thankfully
You used DSP gaming as a reference. Bro, I can’t take you serious. He’s one of the worst gamers on the planet. He gets handheld through everything. And that’s who you use. Makes me wonder if you’re a dent.
Thank you for your thoughtful observations. What DSP experienced in that part of the game is genuine to everyone's experience, myself included. A player cannot access that area until after triggering the cutscene at the other end of the map, then they have to backtrack. The area *seems* reachable, and players can waste time trying to find the route which does not exist before the cutscene. Everyone has to do this, it's how the game was designed. DSP's frustration was similar to mine concerning this part of the game. I use his footage (giving credit, because it's only fair) not because he's good or bad at gaming, but because I didn't capture my own footage when I was there and didn't want to replay just to recapture that moment in the progression. Please understand, short of exploiting a glitch (which may not exist) no player, no matter how adept, can reach that area until after triggering the cutscene. It frustrated DSP. It frustrated me. And it has likely frustrated many other first time players.You can criticize the developers for the decision or defend them but it is not a reflection of how gud a gamer DSP is.
I just beat rise yesterday after its been sitting on my shelf since the year it came to ps4 so it's fresh for me. The story is even worse then the gameplay. Feels like NOTHING ever happens. Its full of instances like Jonah pointing a gun at the bad guy but not shooting him so the bad guy could stab him or Lara taking a solid minute to smash the artifact down while surrounded by an army of zombie greeks and it makes me want to die. Also lara was such a badass in the old games and now shes limping, complaining, getting smacked around, and never putting her phone down and walking slow so I can't play the game. Worst of all, she NEVER shuts up. Imagine playing a zelda game and link was constantly talking to himself saying "I think I need to open this door somehow" "I might be able to climb up there." That's what this game is. Not only do these games disrespect your time, they disrespect your intelligence and those are two of the worst sins a game can commit. It also has no reason to be open world or have crafting. I'm done with games shoehorning crafting into them. Ruins the flow of gameplay because now instead of clearing a room and moving on, I have to loot all the bodies and bumble around looking for ore and stuff like a moron.
ROTR is in my opinion the best out of the rebooted series, chapter replay and endurance mode plus the manor was great. Shadow of the Raider shit on us like D4 did and took away a lot of these awesome elements, and if you play on PC using a controller is far better option the mouse and keyboard I have found out.
Seem like a lot of these issues would have been non-existent if "pc-masterace" would have used a controller. In fact it almost makes me think "pc-masterace" is an absolute nonsense, and those games were made with consoles in mind.
I had a completely different experience. Most of the issues you mentioned, especially the first two, were my favorite parts. I love backtracking and finding things on the map, so that was very satisfying for me. When I decided to play the Tomb Raider reboots, I expected to find plenty of collectibles because I think that's the main goal: to find treasures and such. I suppose the enemies and the plot are more in the background. I understand that there might be too many collectibles, but, as I said, I think that's the whole point. And I play on an Xbox, not a PC, so maybe that's why I didn't have problems with Quick Time Events. However, I understand your reasons. Gamers are different and we don't all enjoy the same video games. Nice editing by the way.
When this came out, I asked people why they liked it. I came across 2 reasons. 1. It has same brand name like a game I liked and therefore I must like this. 2. It looks great and games with good graphics can't be bad, ever. I don't really accept either of these but sadly all these years later, most people still argue like that.
I was in doubt to buy the Tomb Raider reboot for 2.49 and I decided to watch this video. You reminded me why I have avoided this game for so long, thank you!
If the reboot games aren’t for you their are mannyyy tomb raider games. The reboot games are very very different from all the other tomb raider games Try out the Legend trilogy! Tomb Raider Anniversary, Legend, Underworld are fantastic modern interpretations of tomb raider games. Start with Anniversary
I agree with a lot of this. I wasn't as bored as you, but imo, Rise and Shadow just missed something the first one had. Can't quite put my finger on it. I didn't enjoy them nearly as much as the 2013 Tomb Raider.
had the same exact experience in that gas torture room. add #11. Camera view control in active action vs obvious cut scenes. the game takes away/ interferes with your camera view control and insists its own weird camera view angle in some running/inching-jump scenes and lets you control the camera view once you thought camera view is locked. it is so disorienting that it ruins your sense of direction and jump trajectory making you die unnecessarily. it is so simple: cutscene-let go of controller. active action-use controller. idk why they miss this basic game logic or they may just be trolling
It's funny I've thought for years a metroidvania Tomb Raider would work wonderfully if done right. These games dont. Aside its so linear you never need to return to those areas with equipment from later, there's no reason to unless you're just collecting. Metroid and Castlevania have important areas locked off entirely by needing a skill or item, and some are told to you some arent, the ones that arent usually lead to GOOD loot. And I despise these games mostly for how they disgrace Lara Croft and hae some of the worst writing I've ever seen.
Why did you not touch on the story as other people mention in the comments? I just recently bought shadow of the thombraider, never having played any of the games. I asked myself what it was that made me not like it and it has to do with mainly the story not being strong enough, it does not make you curious or want to play on. The quests also dont really catch me. Its so different from games like resident evil or some open world games where there is a very compelling main objective
For me, story is always... ALWAYS secondary to gameplay and mechanics. A flat story can be saved by good gameplay. Flat gameplay can never be saved by a good story... IMO.
@@MediaKitGaming for me that's point of debate. Agreed, a flat story most definitely can be saved by good gameplay. I myself however really enjoy some survival horror games or story based games (for example until dawn or dark pictures). In these games the story for me is what carries it. The gameplay in the tomb raider is definitely disappointing and not logical but for me the story dissapointed me more than for instance 'not being able to manually crouch' or 'the weapons not being nicely arranged in the menu'. Added to all the valid points you made, I think the story being not catching enough is a major point
Some years ago, there was a time when I played Tomb Raider 2013. I really loved the game, but my laptop wasn't able to run the other 2 games.Now that I bought a better laptop, I've played Rise and it really didn't seem that special to me.The pacing was crap, not intense moments like the first one, the ending was rushed, I couldn't care less about any character(not even Lara).The only good thing I can say about the game is that the graphics are awesome.Is Shadow any better?
Shadow has the worst story by far. It was written by a different team and fails to continue building on Lara as a character. Rather it spends the entire time seemingly misunderstanding her and trying to build her to the point she had already reached at the end of Rise.
My mother who played Tomb Raider I on PS1, and every Tomb Raider afterwards, played the first Survivor game (Tomb Raider 2013) and said "This is not Lara Croft". Case closed. I'm not even sure if she beat it or not, but I don't think she played another one (Rise or Shadow). The second the remasters were announced she pre-ordered them and played them day 1. Beat them in maybe a week. It'll be the same with IV-VI Remastered lol. Case closed x2.
Its shit, 10/10 ign I never bothered to play this trilogy to begin with, i saw this and more problems miles away and just didn't even think it was worth it, even for free lol
It’s been too long for me for the first game. But I remember liking the sounds of the weapons in the sequels, especially reloading FX. I thought they were snappy.
I disagree about the exploration- that’s one of the parts that successfully kept the tomb raider dna from the old games. You don’t need all the upgrades- combat isn’t overly challenging in the first place so you can ignore a lot of the collectibles. Agreed on the crouch. Hate when games do that shit. Assassin’s creed black flag also does it.
They’re very different games. I’m not sure they should be compared. Nevertheless, I agree that Oni was exemplary in its genre, while the Tomb Raider games represent their genre poorly.
Amanda Ripley has more skill to survive her environment than the new Lara Croft .... And Lara is supposed to be the top apex tomb raider character... These game are stupid, and I don't get why they included these stupid little quick event where you need to press buttons to avoid falling rocks or climb wall fast, etc. It sucks and render the game more of a bad experience. But some people like it if they made 3 of theses.
Lara was 'Microsofted.' By that I mean so insanely complicated that I don't even want to play it. The one in Japan was mediocre with the complexity of abilities. It's like they are trying to make Tomb Raider like Skyrim or Assassin's Creed which I'm done with. The games and tech needed to run these on a PC is fucking insane, sorry to say. I prefer the Remasters overall.
Theses games are so fckng BORING! It takes all player agency out of everything apart from combat. But why the hell would I play TOMB RAIDER to throw arrows???
@@MediaKitGaming They suck. There is not a ounce of good work or design within them. Embracer should just take the IP away from CD and let people within the community handle it.
I agree with most of your points, but I, for one, love the Metroidvania aspect of these games. Tomb Raider was always about exploration and widening the scope to giant levels that backtrack was a perfect fit for Tomb Raider. It was a perfect evolution from the old games. They definitely overdid it with the need to craft and scavenge for resources, though. I would love it if they completely cut that off, along with the skill tree. Lara is supposed to be perfect at everything, so that doesn't fit for the later, more seasoned years to constantly need to improve on basic skills. I also didn't mind the QTEs. Frankly, I miss the old puzzles, when they weren't relying on physics. The new puzzles suck and are quite frankly, TOO EASY. Shadow of the Tomb Raider would've been perfect if they didn't force you to wear certain outfits at certain parts of the game. It felt like the devs were obsessed with dressing Lara with as many ugly outfits as humanly possible.
Appreciate your perspective. I feel that a good Metroidvania mechanic won't just open a previously locked door, it will also open new areas. And it will also introduce new ways to use that ability/mechanic in creative ways beyond just opening that “door”. I didn't feel like Tomb Raider did that. But also, as you saw, there were many more things that were annoying me too.
Some of these complaints are a bit nitpicky, non issues, or optional. I definitely agree in some regards. But the biggest issue with this game that others have said is how unlikable and boring Lara is. There is nothing redeeming or interesting about her character. Game takes itself way too seriously.
A lot of gamers share your point of view. For me, characters and story are secondary to gameplay. Important? Yes. But not as much as gameplay. I have no beef with this version of Lara as a character. Don't love her, don't hate her. But if you replaced her with the best character ever, the gameplay would still suck. “Fixing” the character would not fix the game. I can get “good” characters and stories from movies. I come to games to PLAY. S'wy, I hate The Witcher 3. All story, laborious conversations, and weak gameplay. I beat it on hard difficulty BTW. Thanks for sharing your position.
@@MediaKitGaming Oh don't get me wrong, I'm a gameplay first guy all the way. Usually stories in games don't bother me as they are mostly superfluous or usually filled with boring/repetitive tropes. But Lara to me is offensive as a character. She gets worse in the Shadow. I personally think despite some issues, the reboot games play well. But I think it would help the game's case if it didn't takes itself so seriously ALL the time.
So, I just beat Rise of the Tomb Raider. Originally, I thought that MediaKit was just being overly critical of the game. I mean, I liked the first Tomb Raider, surely these complaints are misguided in Rise of the Tomb Raider. WELP, MediaKit was spot on! I was frustrated with a lot of the design mechanics, went back to watch this video now having played the game, and damn it, he hit on all my BIG annoyances with the game. The biggest annoyance was the fetch questing. Just a slog, I didn't care in the end. I already had enough weapons to get the job done, it didn't matter to upgrade the reload speed a second time. That was just fluff filler. And the linear pathing for climbing and such. What a bore to follow a predetermined route up a cliff. That's not challenging, it just a waste of time. Assassin Creed games and Zelda: BotW let you climb any surface, you had choice. The writing also was lackluster. I didn't care about any of the characters or people involved as the story went on. Each new cutscene seemed to be a rehash of the one before. Like the head baddie kept reminding me, "We'll get the Divine Source since I am chosen. Even though I said that 3 cutscenes ago, I need to let you know I'm still chosen." Just was filler without any depth or progress other than to say the boss is still alive. Even the decision you make at the end with him didn't really matter. So overall, the games aren't that good. Lovely looking, and combat can be challenging, but everything else is just filler and boring.
Honestly, the only Tomb Raider games for me are just the first six, and the sixth one was barely a TR, too. Utter trash, but still a TR game nonetheless... 7, 8 and Anniversary were better games, but weren't TR anymore to me. No comment on the 3 latest ones. They're more likely bad Uncharted clones, to me.
They're not bad, they're terrible. The gameplay is laughable, non-existent puzzles, abysmal enemy AI (not that a TR game should be focussed on combat) and ridiculously basic "tomb design". Then there's the other awful components....the story and character "devolution", bland and uninspired are the kindest words I can use to describe these aspects. I LOVE the OG games and don't mind the Legend era but this stuff...nah.
I played the console version, I like metroidvania games but the last 3 tomb raider games suck. tomb raider only needs to be a level to level game with a Lara that isn't weak and vulnerable, Lara isn't suppose to have feelings and cry when she kills humans, they made her emo. need to stop changing tomb raider and Lara and just work with what it is, what's next a tomb raider beat em up game? as a game
I'll always prefer the classic. Anniversary, Legend, and Underworld were really good. If only they would have remade 2, 3, & 4 like Anniversary. I suggested it but only fans listen.
I liked the reboots but i never played the classic as there to old but i hated the quick time events and the mechanics controls in these new games. Would be nice just to make it all tombs and puzzles with less shaky cam for the cinematic events it to over done even setting it to low in the settings doesn't help
Just got this game, and already having buyers remorse😅 thought this was an exploration game but all I'm doing is shooting bullet sponged enemies. What a letdown this game sucks😅
Sorry friend. A lot of people like them… I mean… I don't… but a lot of people like them! I hate investing in a game I don't like. Then I feel forced to “enjoy” it so I can get my money's worth and I end up hating it even more. 😛
The main problem is that they are trying to make Lara relatable instead of leaning into the fact that she's a psychopath that's kind of racist. They also make her a center of the plot which is dumb since the older games just made her a rival faction that was slightly less of a piece of sh!t than the people she was up against. Just accept that Lara is a piece of sh!t instead of trying to relate to her. She's a female Hannibal Lecter.
@@MediaKitGaming People still by Madden games every year. Just because a game sells well doesn't mean it's good. The first remake was carried by the name alone. However, with each new one that came out, less and less people bought it. Rise of the Tomb Raider: 12 Million copies. Shadow of the Tomb Raider: 8 million copies. Shadow of the Tomb Raider: The Nightmare: 4 million copies. Yeah, not a good look. Granted, they did sell more and more copies as the price got slashed, and I'm only quoting the initial release sales which really shows how many people were interested in the game. Take that however you want, but it's clear people lost interest in Crystal Dynamics broody version of Lara Croft.
@@Kenshin6321 Nicely researched reply. I never looked into the sales stats. We're obviously on the same page for not liking the games. But there is the occasional commenter on this video that hates my take. They're obviously fans. I was always under the impression that the new trilogy was generally liked, and by making an anti-video, I was giving somewhat of a hot take. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ -Peace!
QTE's was a thing introduced to alot of ps2 games the LAU trilogy included. But back then it was actually pretty good. But now it's outdated and shouldnt be implemented into games now. And it certainly isnt as satisfying in these "Tomb Raider" games as it was in the LAU trilogy
“Days Gone” taught me something I thought I'd never learn… that QTEs can be done well, and work. In “Days Gone” Deacon will occasionally be knocked down by a wild animal, a circle appears over the action as the scene goes into slow motion. An indicator/needle quickly travels around the circle and the player has to hit a button on the controller/keyboard (always the same button) as the indicator passes over the small colored portion of the circle. If the player times it right, the indicator freezes over the colored part of the circle and wins the QTE (survives the animal attack). What makes it work, is there is a little bit of prep-time and the button never changes. You can get good at this QTE.
The main flaw for me was the story. It was so uninspired and boring ! They keep teasing Lara as "growing into the badass we know her as" but she never really gets there ? She keeps complaining and is never excited about discovering stuff... How do you expect me to get excited if the main character herself isn't ?
Yup, she never gets there, she completely lacks personality outside of whiny crybaby. At no point does she get confident. And the storylines are absolutely boring, ESPECIALLY the last one, and I was really holding out hope at the start of it. Also…I’m sorry, but optional tomb raiding? This just isn’t Tomb Raider. Call it something-ANYTHING-else. A fun survivor series, but not a Tomb Raider series.
This was true for the majority of Tomb Raider 2013, but we saw glimpses every now and then towards the end. I'd definitely say that her excitement for discovery came back at Rise and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. The difference was that Lara was out in dangerous terrain because she WANTED to be there. The urgent care about survival was gone.
The main issue is the woefully simple gameplay. It's so bloody basic and not in a good way. They lead you by the hand every step of the way.
So many times I heard "But, you don't understand, this is her origin story. She's not a badass yet." She kept gasping for air as a comma till the last game, I didn't even bother to buy the other 2 bc I knew from the first game where this was going.
A weird thing someone brought up was its weird obsession with torturing Lara especially in the death scenes
thats from the classics, not mad about that
What are you talking about? Classics didnt have any torture scenes.
@EastonSmith86 Lol, that's not torture man. That's triggering a trap and just usual gameplay in most video games. Torture is what you have in the reboot Tomb Raider, where Lara is tied up, interrogated, slapped and kicked in the chest. Or when you have cutscenes, which you can't control in any way and you just have to watch a gang of big violent men beat the shit out of her for 15-20 seconds non-stop.
It's the same for the TR reboots. The deaths are all from triggering traps, falling into pits of spikes, set on fire by enemies, etc. Lara doesn't exactly get tortured, she dies brutally. It's very much in-line with the original games, just more gruesome. Not a bad thing.
@@Misty25939 Nope. That is factually not true. There are cutscenes in the reboot where Lara is literally beaten, groped, kicked, slapped and abused. That is torture. No such things exist in the classic games.
the thing i dislike the most is what they did to Lara as a character
she shivers, complains about the cold, almost cry and screams in pain in every scene....limps....and looses balance continuously (especially in the first bits of the game).
The real Lara used to have nerves of steel, was a witty badass and very self-confident. A true heroine. An example of what an intelligent, strong and educated woman could be...
This lara is completely the opposite of that.
I kinda like vulnerability in my heroes. It makes them believable. What I really value is a character who will do the right thing and for the right reasons. Strength of character more than invulnerability. It makes sense that Lara would need to start out a little vulnerable in the first game. By the 2nd & 3rd games, she should be more confident. I honestly don’t remember if she was… I was too distracted by the gameplay I was hating on.
@@MediaKitGamingI like this take. This is similar to how I feel about Leon in the re4 remake. He feels more like a believable character who’s still traumatized by the events of raccoon city.. as to the original where he’s a cocky one liner super agent that’s not fazed by anything lol
@@MediaKitGaming Lara grew across the 3 games, but I feel like it was too slow. The Lara from Shadow of the Tomb Raider feels like the Lara at the end of TR 2013. We only really needed one game to give her an origin story, not 3. Because they felt like they needed to drag them out into 3 games, we had a Lara with very little growth after 2013. I feel like they used Rise and Shadow to figure out a better formula for future games that resembles the original TR games.
@@Misty25939 I've stated before, if the gameplay is good, the story doesn't matter that much to me. Ultimately I find the gameplay uncreative for me the player. I don't like how linear they are or how hard it is to approach a situation with different gameplay styles. Whether Lara is rocking twin pistols or making a bow out of sticks, is less of a sticking point for me.
@MediaKitGaming Yeah, that's very true. The TR reboots suffer the most from making gameplay feel the same as so many other over-the-shoulder 3rd person adventure shooters. It doesn't help that there's only one or two ways to enter every room and area, making you experience the same climbing segments over and over again.
I think my issue, this is a trend problem too is these emo developers wants their game to be oscar bait material. Not fun or entertaining like old Lara Croft was. Its just a shame that 2013 reboot ruined this so hard
Remember when Tomb Raider was just a platforming series?
@@sweetpeaches6957anniversary has hand held platforming. It is nothing like the original games where it actually required timing and precision
@@sweetpeaches6957 I wonder how much of it has to do with nostalgia. I never had a playstation growing up, so I was more of a Mario 64 kind of person. Never touched a tomb raider game until Rise, and I loved it. I also like the other two games in the reboot trilogy. Since I liked them, I decided to give the original games a go and HATED them. Awkward clunky controls with frustrating level design and an absolutely absurd story. If any future games go back to the original roots, I'll probably pass them up.
The only hand holding TR Anniversary does is auto-grab ledges, but you can take that off as an option. When you do, you have to manually worry about everything when it comes to jumping. And jumping is a little harder since most ledges are not perfectly aligned to match Lara's jumping length.
I didnt like it.
nope
Couldn't agree more on the UI part.
These games are so console focused in their design I gave up and plugged in my Xbox controller to finish the game.
I just played the game and everything u said is on point, the game is graphically beautiful but very unpolished just like all square-enix games.
Nice editing btw.
You made my day, friend.
yes this video is top quality, loved the attention to detail, especially when e was talking about the useless items lara has to hoard and he stacked up all the actual items from the game
for a gritty reboot the series feels pretty milktoast
And that’s why original Lara Croft was taking over the 90’s and why this Lara won’t be as popular as before
"Puzzles on easy. I just don't like the puzzles"
Like....bruh...that's what Tomb Raider is lol. This might not be the franchise for you.
Well, I agree with your conclusion. But you seem to have overlooked the part where I deconstructed one of the puzzles and laid out exactly *why* I don't like the Tomb Raider puzzles. I'm not against puzzles in principle.
Honestly, that's what Tomb Raider WAS.
This is one of the clumsiest games to control I've ever played.
i can't believe you went that far... i got annoyed and bored after 5 minutes in all 3 games
I realized before long I might be making a “hate” video. That pushed me through.
The first two games are 96 and 94% on steam, why does everyone like it? I didn't play it.
Not that I disagree with the Tomb Raider reboot series being bad, but saying DSP struggles with the puzzle isn't the best criticism. It'd be like saying a crippled asthmatic has trouble running a marathon, therefore marathons are bad. As far as the 2013 game (haven't played beyond that), I just felt like it was trying to have it's cake and eat it too the way it wanted to be this gritty, realistic personal story while simultaneously having ridiculously over the top setpieces, and constant shootouts with basic cover shooting gameplay and forgettable characters. I would be down for a Metroidvania style level design, but it feels like they got the cliff notes of a Metroidvania and just put it in to fulfill a checklist of features. Each area basically has one entrance and one exit, where exploring just gets you level up points for your character or weapons (loot if you prefer) instead of something substantial, and I'm pretty sure theres no way to sequence break.
DSP's experience is the same experience everyone had for exactly the reasons you elaborated on. It's impossible to get that bell BEFORE trying to move on and reaching the checkpoint at the other end of the map. Normally I would use my own footage, but I didn't want to start a new game and slog through it again just for that example… I punted and found a TH-camr who shared my feelings. You can call out DSP for being dim if you want but that puzzle has “one entrance” as you put it, and the only way to get there is to leave it behind. You hit the nail on the head, “no way to sequence break.”
This game was made by/for people who don't know anything about games, I couldn't get passed the 2nd level i was too bored. It all feels fake and forced
I stopped at Rise of the Tomb Raider which a lot of people consider the pinnacle of the reboot series and Shadow the worst. I thought the original was a pretty good 7.5/10 and Rise was a meh, it was okay sometimes 6/10. These games just don't hit the same as the PS1 and PS2 games that I played and the reboot Lara just does not work as Lara. Cannot wait for the Tomb Raider IV-VI Remasters
"get gud" isn't an excuse for the game not having a crouch button.
Hell, even DOOM 2016 has a crouch button, it has no stealth segments, just ventilation shafts.
Not a big fan of this TR trilogy but a crouch button would have been useless. Uncharted doesn't have It either and It perfectly fine
okay i get it now, people hate the tomb raider trilogy because they played with mouse and keyboard and not controllers. mystery solved for me
No, Rise of the Tomb Raider was actually poorly ported to PC and I played it with my XBOX1 roller. There's a bit of input lag on it and it's just terrible to control her. Apparently Rise was best on the 360 console with 0 input delay, but when it was brought to XboxOne, the input delay was more prevalent (not sure if they fixed that for console players). But it was much worse on Steam.
I'm now finishing it with MnK which actually feels much more responsive.
The problem is, the game's movement and combat mechanics, actually suck ass when compared to games like HZD. I know for some it's not fair to compare the two, being 2 years apart but that's not a good enough excuse for being mediocre in that department imho. I hate how the sprint function resets after jumping. That was so stupid. Piss poor programming that ruins a "Feel good" flow with the movement. That's just the tip of it. The Steam port also has a bunch of bugs, some of which actually denies discoverable items like relics. You'll have to restart the game from your last save, for platforms to move or certain barriers to break down correctly.
ROTTR is plagued with this sort of crap. I enjoyed 2013 a bit (not a stellar game but i finished it). Rise just sucks.
I’m just tired of all these cinematic games feeling like the same game with different characters and environment. Horizon , Gow, tomb raider , assassins creed . Shits getting old
I've never played it but Modern GOW seems so trash to me.
@ it is. If they brought a new old school type gow to ps5 that shit would be crazy
You played shadow with white paint on? Why? That removes 70% of the inmersion. Shsdow is the closes to the original games. Great feeling of isolation, environments, you can ignore junk and finish the game becsuse the skill tree is not really needed. Just platforms and puzzles. A 9/10 game for me. Totally misunderstood. Play it again and ignore junk and skill tree, put it in hard and remove all guides and tutorial. You’ll see what I mean. In ps5 is 50fps and my 75” tv is a BEAUTIFUL EXPERIENCE.
100% agree with this. Shadow was the best one. and also the one that sold worst since it had all the baggage from the other 2 games.
turning everything off, putting it on hardest and there were some great sections. without that artificially forced Jonah clown
and the bugs the game would have been a 9/10 for me as well.
I once defended this trash trilogy a long time ago but once I realized that this Lara will never became like the old school version. Huge character assassination just like Aya Brea (Parasite Eve) and Samus (Metroid). Thank goodness we got the 1-3 remasters.
My disdain for the survivor prequels besides lc being way to gd talky and whiny was how she never progressed fully into her aspiring confident mature Tomb Raider persona..Was the fact that these games were literally uncharted plus bow and arrow boring. she never gets her guns and hardly explores any more.
The only good puzzles in tomb raider rise are the keyboard controls.
LOL
Those aren't good puzzles, but that was a good joke. XD
hahahahaha
You forgot the part where Lara is a boring character in the reboot
When I played the first two games, I think the biggest problem is the shitty rewards for the exploration and the bad melee combat. The game's name is tomb raider right, which should imply that our character is a treasure hunter. So this feels to me like alongside it's combat this game should also be an exploring game which it claims it is actually but I want to ask a question: what good comes from treasure hunting if I can't use or sell what I have found in the so called "secret" or "hidden" tombs/caves? First of all, those areas are not hidden at all, they are really easy to access pretty much everytime and the game tells you that "there is something on this side of the map, go check it out" which immediately kills the mystery in my opinion. My second problem with all this, most of these areas are really mediocre, what I mean by this is that you run through a cave corridor and solve a room sized puzzle and get the so called legendary item. It wouldn't be too bad if the puzzles weren't dependent too much on the rope arrow mechanic but god of war puzzles are too much dependent on the axe throwing mechanic either so I won't complain about this as much. So the legendary items lara finds in the tombs, we can't use them or sell them. What is she gonna do with them then, give it to a museoum or decorate her room in london which she doesn't go anymore? Doing all this just for preventing trinity from using them is a bit lazy writing and lazy game developing in my opinion. For example lara finds an old magical sword in some dude's tomb, and the game gives us a random buff or a skill point. Why the fuck we can't use the op things we find on these tombs? Or let her find a treasure like a healing stone or something and it unlocks the ability to heal during the fights. Much better than just eating some herbs during gun fight imo. The only time I remember lara gets a buff based on the treasure she finds was the greek fire arrows one if I remember correctly and that was really good but the rest is just too lazy. Elden ring is a better treasure hunting game at this point because it rewards you with awesome stuff and lets you use it if you want so that you don't feel you just wasted time in the end for all that effort.
I actually made a vid about better reward systems. It doesn't mention Elden Ring or the Tomb Raider games, but you might find kinship with some of the ideas. Best -
This leveling system needs to GO! th-cam.com/video/2ZI4_4Cp0n8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=-u0V6IGne1CMe9hu
i just finished this terrible game and i agree with absolutely everything you said.
I love the original trilogy in 3-1-2 order (expansions included) and I play these over and over every now and then. I kinda' like the fourth installment, consider fifth a guilty pleasure of mine and re-visited sixth one (TRAOD) thanks to all the more-recent patches, bugfixes and updates. I have most of these Core Design era games in multiple editions and all occupy my "showcase" shelf.
Then I played through the LAU trilogy with some very mixed feelings, to put it mildly.. Long story short, I finished each 100% on a one / two / four retries, respectively, and that including the ridiculous time-trials, which are IMHO the antithesis of the spirit of (what) TR games (should be). I never got back to these games as I never felt the itch to do so. Now, I have the DVDs somewhere, just in case I get old & senile and need a boost to my ego by finishing something that short and simple.
Then I gave the 2013 a try, but shut it off within a few hours, as I realized it was not a TR game anymore. I also played the other two (at firends' consoles), but to sum it up, all three felt both boring and pissing me off at the same time. This Lara was a weak high-school-level whining pussy, any immersion into the environment was non-existent, the cutscenes and cinematics were just a showcase of the level of idiocy of story-writers and most of the gameplay's scripted explorations were just a simple matter of spotting the yellow-painted ledge to hop to with auto-grab. No player thinking or control mastery required. Or, just like stated in this video, figuring out what the game wanted me to do, all common sense a/o logic aside. Also let's not forget those "press button when asked to" segments - these were just Simon Says for 4-year-olds level of stupid. I could continue, but let's finish this by me stating, that I may still have the 2013 DVD somewhere, but I don't know where - and I don't care.
I think you dislike them more than I do. Your last sentence made me LOL. I'm glad to have provided you a place to vent. -Best
@@MediaKitGaming Good catch 🙂
Playing through 2013 and man is it rough. I’ve never been this frustrated with a single player game outside of Ubisoft and EA slop. Shit they did in this game is BAFFLING
Agree, just too much sensless violence and not enough magic. Like the old ones
imo The biggest failure of the Tomb Raider franchise was how they depicted Lara as a character. Sure, the gameplay was less than stellar, but they took a badass, wise cracking character who used to be the epitome of strong women in games and made her a third rate Nathan Drake knock-off who complains constantly, needs others to bail her out of problems SHE CREATED all the time, and REFUSES to act logically at damn near every opportunity. It really doesn't help that her VA sounds like she's about to fall asleep in the recording booth with every single line
I agree with your points for improvement but by no means the first two games are bad, still are incredible looking and fun to me
That's legit. A bad game is only bad for the person who thinks it. And yeah, they do look great. Especially the last one.
I'm listening to this while playing the good games of Tomb Raider Remastered :) These reboot Tomb Raiders were trying to be Uncharted. A fools errant, because Uncharted is always gonna be better at being Uncharted, and Tomb Raider should stick to what it is being good at: being Tomb Raider.
I know why all menus are bad, because of Consoles, lazy port and not wanting to fix it for PC, I'm also getting tired of games squishing menus in to fit the "app" standards today.
I've heard “it was made for consoles” before by people defending Skyrim. (see my video here th-cam.com/video/oj9_sZLrhkc/w-d-xo.html) Thing is, console games often have really great menus. Almost ALL games come out for PC & console. So, I don't think anyone can make the console excuse. Totally agree about apps. I've tried playing app games on PC & PC games on app. It rarely works.
The idea of a reboot is already horrible because it negates the previous ones. A Lara without a debauched personality and stuck gameplay. Even Tomb Raider on Gameboy has more movements and jumps in different directions than this trilogy. If there was a Mod and replaced Lara with any other character, no one would notice the difference. The game doesn't have enough identity to be recognized as Tomb Raider. Horrible.
I only played 2013 finished it and sorry i will not play no more games from Crystal Dynamics.
Only the true Tomb Raider made by CORE Design.
Of course we had Aspyr thankfully
You used DSP gaming as a reference. Bro, I can’t take you serious. He’s one of the worst gamers on the planet. He gets handheld through everything. And that’s who you use. Makes me wonder if you’re a dent.
Thank you for your thoughtful observations. What DSP experienced in that part of the game is genuine to everyone's experience, myself included. A player cannot access that area until after triggering the cutscene at the other end of the map, then they have to backtrack. The area *seems* reachable, and players can waste time trying to find the route which does not exist before the cutscene. Everyone has to do this, it's how the game was designed. DSP's frustration was similar to mine concerning this part of the game. I use his footage (giving credit, because it's only fair) not because he's good or bad at gaming, but because I didn't capture my own footage when I was there and didn't want to replay just to recapture that moment in the progression. Please understand, short of exploiting a glitch (which may not exist) no player, no matter how adept, can reach that area until after triggering the cutscene. It frustrated DSP. It frustrated me. And it has likely frustrated many other first time players.You can criticize the developers for the decision or defend them but it is not a reflection of how gud a gamer DSP is.
I just beat rise yesterday after its been sitting on my shelf since the year it came to ps4 so it's fresh for me.
The story is even worse then the gameplay. Feels like NOTHING ever happens. Its full of instances like Jonah pointing a gun at the bad guy but not shooting him so the bad guy could stab him or Lara taking a solid minute to smash the artifact down while surrounded by an army of zombie greeks and it makes me want to die. Also lara was such a badass in the old games and now shes limping, complaining, getting smacked around, and never putting her phone down and walking slow so I can't play the game. Worst of all, she NEVER shuts up. Imagine playing a zelda game and link was constantly talking to himself saying "I think I need to open this door somehow" "I might be able to climb up there." That's what this game is. Not only do these games disrespect your time, they disrespect your intelligence and those are two of the worst sins a game can commit. It also has no reason to be open world or have crafting. I'm done with games shoehorning crafting into them. Ruins the flow of gameplay because now instead of clearing a room and moving on, I have to loot all the bodies and bumble around looking for ore and stuff like a moron.
ROTR is in my opinion the best out of the rebooted series, chapter replay and endurance mode plus the manor was great. Shadow of the Raider shit on us like D4 did and took away a lot of these awesome elements, and if you play on PC using a controller is far better option the mouse and keyboard I have found out.
To be far the QTEs are way better on console where it's actually visible.
Seem like a lot of these issues would have been non-existent if "pc-masterace" would have used a controller.
In fact it almost makes me think "pc-masterace" is an absolute nonsense, and those games were made with consoles in mind.
I had a completely different experience. Most of the issues you mentioned, especially the first two, were my favorite parts. I love backtracking and finding things on the map, so that was very satisfying for me. When I decided to play the Tomb Raider reboots, I expected to find plenty of collectibles because I think that's the main goal: to find treasures and such. I suppose the enemies and the plot are more in the background. I understand that there might be too many collectibles, but, as I said, I think that's the whole point. And I play on an Xbox, not a PC, so maybe that's why I didn't have problems with Quick Time Events. However, I understand your reasons. Gamers are different and we don't all enjoy the same video games.
Nice editing by the way.
I 100% respect that you liked the games. And I 200% respect that you bothered to express YOUR experience. Thanks.
When this came out, I asked people why they liked it. I came across 2 reasons.
1. It has same brand name like a game I liked and therefore I must like this.
2. It looks great and games with good graphics can't be bad, ever.
I don't really accept either of these but sadly all these years later, most people still argue like that.
I was in doubt to buy the Tomb Raider reboot for 2.49 and I decided to watch this video. You reminded me why I have avoided this game for so long, thank you!
If the reboot games aren’t for you their are mannyyy tomb raider games. The reboot games are very very different from all the other tomb raider games
Try out the Legend trilogy! Tomb Raider Anniversary, Legend, Underworld are fantastic modern interpretations of tomb raider games. Start with Anniversary
Thank you for the suggestions
good as in at least playable
Also Tomb Raider 1-3 is also good. Reboot 2013 just ruined the series sadly : I
I agree with a lot of this. I wasn't as bored as you, but imo, Rise and Shadow just missed something the first one had. Can't quite put my finger on it. I didn't enjoy them nearly as much as the 2013 Tomb Raider.
had the same exact experience in that gas torture room. add #11. Camera view control in active action vs obvious cut scenes. the game takes away/ interferes with your camera view control and insists its own weird camera view angle in some running/inching-jump scenes and lets you control the camera view once you thought camera view is locked. it is so disorienting that it ruins your sense of direction and jump trajectory making you die unnecessarily. it is so simple: cutscene-let go of controller. active action-use controller. idk why they miss this basic game logic or they may just be trolling
I made a hate-video for “Remember Me” and one of my gripes was the frequent camera-takeover the game does. I’m right there with you.
It's funny I've thought for years a metroidvania Tomb Raider would work wonderfully if done right. These games dont. Aside its so linear you never need to return to those areas with equipment from later, there's no reason to unless you're just collecting. Metroid and Castlevania have important areas locked off entirely by needing a skill or item, and some are told to you some arent, the ones that arent usually lead to GOOD loot.
And I despise these games mostly for how they disgrace Lara Croft and hae some of the worst writing I've ever seen.
Why did you not touch on the story as other people mention in the comments? I just recently bought shadow of the thombraider, never having played any of the games. I asked myself what it was that made me not like it and it has to do with mainly the story not being strong enough, it does not make you curious or want to play on. The quests also dont really catch me. Its so different from games like resident evil or some open world games where there is a very compelling main objective
For me, story is always... ALWAYS secondary to gameplay and mechanics. A flat story can be saved by good gameplay. Flat gameplay can never be saved by a good story... IMO.
@@MediaKitGaming for me that's point of debate. Agreed, a flat story most definitely can be saved by good gameplay. I myself however really enjoy some survival horror games or story based games (for example until dawn or dark pictures). In these games the story for me is what carries it. The gameplay in the tomb raider is definitely disappointing and not logical but for me the story dissapointed me more than for instance 'not being able to manually crouch' or 'the weapons not being nicely arranged in the menu'. Added to all the valid points you made, I think the story being not catching enough is a major point
Some years ago, there was a time when I played Tomb Raider 2013. I really loved the game, but my laptop wasn't able to run the other 2 games.Now that I bought a better laptop, I've played Rise and it really didn't seem that special to me.The pacing was crap, not intense moments like the first one, the ending was rushed, I couldn't care less about any character(not even Lara).The only good thing I can say about the game is that the graphics are awesome.Is Shadow any better?
Shadow has the worst story by far. It was written by a different team and fails to continue building on Lara as a character. Rather it spends the entire time seemingly misunderstanding her and trying to build her to the point she had already reached at the end of Rise.
My mother who played Tomb Raider I on PS1, and every Tomb Raider afterwards, played the first Survivor game (Tomb Raider 2013) and said "This is not Lara Croft". Case closed. I'm not even sure if she beat it or not, but I don't think she played another one (Rise or Shadow). The second the remasters were announced she pre-ordered them and played them day 1. Beat them in maybe a week. It'll be the same with IV-VI Remastered lol. Case closed x2.
LOL - mother knows best.
@@MediaKitGaming Absolutely, haha.
Its shit, 10/10 ign
I never bothered to play this trilogy to begin with, i saw this and more problems miles away and just didn't even think it was worth it, even for free lol
Reboot, you mean the first reboot (Legends, Anniversary, Underworld) or the second reboot (2013, Rise, Shadow)?
I really enjoyed the sound of the firearms in the first game. They sounded awesome on my 5.1 setup. In the 2nd game, all the weapons sounded weak.
It’s been too long for me for the first game. But I remember liking the sounds of the weapons in the sequels, especially reloading FX. I thought they were snappy.
and the gameplay is dull and boring, I couldn't even finish the first reboot because of this
I disagree about the exploration- that’s one of the parts that successfully kept the tomb raider dna from the old games. You don’t need all the upgrades- combat isn’t overly challenging in the first place so you can ignore a lot of the collectibles.
Agreed on the crouch. Hate when games do that shit. Assassin’s creed black flag also does it.
ONI! Oni was really so good!
even with the terrible graphics of the time...beats the shit out of this shitty tomb raider in every way
They’re very different games. I’m not sure they should be compared. Nevertheless, I agree that Oni was exemplary in its genre, while the Tomb Raider games represent their genre poorly.
Amanda Ripley has more skill to survive her environment than the new Lara Croft .... And Lara is supposed to be the top apex tomb raider character... These game are stupid, and I don't get why they included these stupid little quick event where you need to press buttons to avoid falling rocks or climb wall fast, etc. It sucks and render the game more of a bad experience. But some people like it if they made 3 of theses.
the only move forward W sections are "immersive" loading screens.
Lara was 'Microsofted.' By that I mean so insanely complicated that I don't even want to play it. The one in Japan was mediocre with the complexity of abilities. It's like they are trying to make Tomb Raider like Skyrim or Assassin's Creed which I'm done with. The games and tech needed to run these on a PC is fucking insane, sorry to say. I prefer the Remasters overall.
these always sucked.
Theses games are so fckng BORING! It takes all player agency out of everything apart from combat. But why the hell would I play TOMB RAIDER to throw arrows???
These games suck now. Too easy, the puzzles arent there, games just feel like a tutorial
They arent tomb raider games.
Yeah, but change the title… they still aren’t very good games.
@@MediaKitGaming They suck. There is not a ounce of good work or design within them. Embracer should just take the IP away from CD and let people within the community handle it.
I agree with most of your points, but I, for one, love the Metroidvania aspect of these games. Tomb Raider was always about exploration and widening the scope to giant levels that backtrack was a perfect fit for Tomb Raider. It was a perfect evolution from the old games.
They definitely overdid it with the need to craft and scavenge for resources, though. I would love it if they completely cut that off, along with the skill tree. Lara is supposed to be perfect at everything, so that doesn't fit for the later, more seasoned years to constantly need to improve on basic skills. I also didn't mind the QTEs. Frankly, I miss the old puzzles, when they weren't relying on physics. The new puzzles suck and are quite frankly, TOO EASY.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider would've been perfect if they didn't force you to wear certain outfits at certain parts of the game. It felt like the devs were obsessed with dressing Lara with as many ugly outfits as humanly possible.
Appreciate your perspective. I feel that a good Metroidvania mechanic won't just open a previously locked door, it will also open new areas. And it will also introduce new ways to use that ability/mechanic in creative ways beyond just opening that “door”. I didn't feel like Tomb Raider did that. But also, as you saw, there were many more things that were annoying me too.
Some of these complaints are a bit nitpicky, non issues, or optional. I definitely agree in some regards. But the biggest issue with this game that others have said is how unlikable and boring Lara is. There is nothing redeeming or interesting about her character. Game takes itself way too seriously.
A lot of gamers share your point of view. For me, characters and story are secondary to gameplay. Important? Yes. But not as much as gameplay. I have no beef with this version of Lara as a character. Don't love her, don't hate her. But if you replaced her with the best character ever, the gameplay would still suck. “Fixing” the character would not fix the game. I can get “good” characters and stories from movies. I come to games to PLAY. S'wy, I hate The Witcher 3. All story, laborious conversations, and weak gameplay. I beat it on hard difficulty BTW. Thanks for sharing your position.
@@MediaKitGaming Oh don't get me wrong, I'm a gameplay first guy all the way. Usually stories in games don't bother me as they are mostly superfluous or usually filled with boring/repetitive tropes. But Lara to me is offensive as a character. She gets worse in the Shadow. I personally think despite some issues, the reboot games play well. But I think it would help the game's case if it didn't takes itself so seriously ALL the time.
So, I just beat Rise of the Tomb Raider. Originally, I thought that MediaKit was just being overly critical of the game. I mean, I liked the first Tomb Raider, surely these complaints are misguided in Rise of the Tomb Raider. WELP, MediaKit was spot on!
I was frustrated with a lot of the design mechanics, went back to watch this video now having played the game, and damn it, he hit on all my BIG annoyances with the game. The biggest annoyance was the fetch questing. Just a slog, I didn't care in the end. I already had enough weapons to get the job done, it didn't matter to upgrade the reload speed a second time. That was just fluff filler. And the linear pathing for climbing and such. What a bore to follow a predetermined route up a cliff. That's not challenging, it just a waste of time. Assassin Creed games and Zelda: BotW let you climb any surface, you had choice.
The writing also was lackluster. I didn't care about any of the characters or people involved as the story went on. Each new cutscene seemed to be a rehash of the one before. Like the head baddie kept reminding me, "We'll get the Divine Source since I am chosen. Even though I said that 3 cutscenes ago, I need to let you know I'm still chosen." Just was filler without any depth or progress other than to say the boss is still alive. Even the decision you make at the end with him didn't really matter.
So overall, the games aren't that good. Lovely looking, and combat can be challenging, but everything else is just filler and boring.
I love this trilogy. Anyone hating this should get their brain checked
all your problems would've been solved by using a ps4 controller haha
The lag on the Epic Games launcher is always there.
Honestly, the only Tomb Raider games for me are just the first six, and the sixth one was barely a TR, too. Utter trash, but still a TR game nonetheless... 7, 8 and Anniversary were better games, but weren't TR anymore to me. No comment on the 3 latest ones. They're more likely bad Uncharted clones, to me.
All well pointed out and explained. Thanks
i agree with every single criticism but find the conclusion untenable.
They're not bad, they're terrible. The gameplay is laughable, non-existent puzzles, abysmal enemy AI (not that a TR game should be focussed on combat) and ridiculously basic "tomb design". Then there's the other awful components....the story and character "devolution", bland and uninspired are the kindest words I can use to describe these aspects. I LOVE the OG games and don't mind the Legend era but this stuff...nah.
I played the console version, I like metroidvania games but the last 3 tomb raider games suck.
tomb raider only needs to be a level to level game with a Lara that isn't weak and vulnerable, Lara isn't suppose to have feelings and cry when she kills humans, they made her emo.
need to stop changing tomb raider and Lara and just work with what it is, what's next a tomb raider beat em up game?
as a game
I'll always prefer the classic. Anniversary, Legend, and Underworld were really good. If only they would have remade 2, 3, & 4 like Anniversary. I suggested it but only fans listen.
I liked the reboots but i never played the classic as there to old but i hated the quick time events and the mechanics controls in these new games. Would be nice just to make it all tombs and puzzles with less shaky cam for the cinematic events it to over done even setting it to low in the settings doesn't help
Interesting editing skills
Alot of this are just nitpicking
They are not bad at all. They are different, but in a very good way 😉
Just got this game, and already having buyers remorse😅 thought this was an exploration game but all I'm doing is shooting bullet sponged enemies. What a letdown this game sucks😅
Sorry friend. A lot of people like them… I mean… I don't… but a lot of people like them! I hate investing in a game I don't like. Then I feel forced to “enjoy” it so I can get my money's worth and I end up hating it even more. 😛
@@MediaKitGaming thanks man. And good video by the way. Keep up the good work
I paid 4 bucks and still feel robbed.
@@itzJuztThomas 😂😂 I stopped playing it. Maybe I'll go back one day
bullet sponge/ Even on the hardest difficulty it takes one shot to kill enemies with a headshot with all guns.
I dont like any of them. The classic games remastered are much better
Did do comics people how play for get crafting camp was in comics
Shadow was great. The other 2 are ok.
QTE's. Too. Many. QTE's.
The most no1 reason is no gamplay plus
I hated the first Deadspace
2 is the best and the only one I still replay, the first game is all backtracking. It does have a better into and ending though.
@Particle_Ghost It was the difficulty and puzzles. They weren't skill based, felt like pot luck at times.
Story is just meh,’ gameplay and combat was fun
Because Capcom> fodderunix
The main problem is that they are trying to make Lara relatable instead of leaning into the fact that she's a psychopath that's kind of racist. They also make her a center of the plot which is dumb since the older games just made her a rival faction that was slightly less of a piece of sh!t than the people she was up against. Just accept that Lara is a piece of sh!t instead of trying to relate to her. She's a female Hannibal Lecter.
You talk about chores, do BIOSHOCK...
thanks for the heads up
very much agree
this is NOT tomb raider. 🤢🤢🤢🤮🤢🤢🤮🤮🤮🤮
promosm 😃
You're saying "actually" bad as if anyone thought they were good lol. Forget what gaming journos say, their opinion is as good as dirt.
Well... They sold well enough to make 3 of them. Somebody kept coming back.
@@MediaKitGaming People still by Madden games every year. Just because a game sells well doesn't mean it's good. The first remake was carried by the name alone. However, with each new one that came out, less and less people bought it.
Rise of the Tomb Raider: 12 Million copies.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider: 8 million copies.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider: The Nightmare: 4 million copies.
Yeah, not a good look. Granted, they did sell more and more copies as the price got slashed, and I'm only quoting the initial release sales which really shows how many people were interested in the game. Take that however you want, but it's clear people lost interest in Crystal Dynamics broody version of Lara Croft.
@@Kenshin6321 Nicely researched reply. I never looked into the sales stats. We're obviously on the same page for not liking the games. But there is the occasional commenter on this video that hates my take. They're obviously fans. I was always under the impression that the new trilogy was generally liked, and by making an anti-video, I was giving somewhat of a hot take. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ -Peace!
FIRST!
QTE's was a thing introduced to alot of ps2 games the LAU trilogy included. But back then it was actually pretty good. But now it's outdated and shouldnt be implemented into games now. And it certainly isnt as satisfying in these "Tomb Raider" games as it was in the LAU trilogy
“Days Gone” taught me something I thought I'd never learn… that QTEs can be done well, and work. In “Days Gone” Deacon will occasionally be knocked down by a wild animal, a circle appears over the action as the scene goes into slow motion. An indicator/needle quickly travels around the circle and the player has to hit a button on the controller/keyboard (always the same button) as the indicator passes over the small colored portion of the circle. If the player times it right, the indicator freezes over the colored part of the circle and wins the QTE (survives the animal attack). What makes it work, is there is a little bit of prep-time and the button never changes. You can get good at this QTE.