Say the name “Lara Croft” out loud and you will instantly see a lot of people perk up at the sound of the Tomb Raider’s name being called out. Yes, my friends, the archaeologist slash adventurer slash controversial grave-digger has achieved cult-like popularity across all demographics ever since her low polygon pointy-bosomed figure came onto the PlayStation console. Since then she’s jumped, swam, crawled, and fell to her death countless of times into many a gamer’s hearts.
With the recent reboot of her story we got to see a different side of Lara. Instead of the spelunking and gun-toting artifact expert we’ve come to know her to be, we’re witnessing her grow into the Tomb Raider she is destined to become. Having finished the latest installment of the Tomb Raider games, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, here are a few things about why the new game is worth a play on the PS4 console.
The story
Fresh from the heels of Rise of the Tomb Raider, where Lara dealt with the secret society known as Trinity, she’s back in Shadow attempting to stop them from acquiring an ancient artifact that could spell world domination. Unfortunately, in her efforts to foil Trinity’s plans, she accidentally starts the end of the world.
In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, players get to control Lara as she descends into the jungle and tries to stop the Mayan apocalypse while preventing Trinity from taking control of the artifacts that could end the world. Aside from the main storyline, players also get to witness Lara’s transformation from the scared explorer that she was from the reboot to the more dangerous Tomb Raider she will become in this final installment.
The game mechanics
Shadow of the Tomb Raider still contains the same basic gameplay mechanics as its two predecessors, except for a few notable changes. In Shadow, players can now tweak the difficulty settings to make gameplay more interesting. For example, combat difficulty settings could be set to easy, but exploration and puzzles could be set to hard. This means that there would be zero hints and prompts from the game, making your experience feel immersive and kind of like Breakout Games Indy.
The graphics
The graphics have come a long way since the very first game was released on the PS1 console. From having pointy boobs and a mouth that would not move, Lara Croft now sports a more detailed character model. What’s also interesting to note is how her character model for Shadow of the Tomb Raider has more muscle definition than the character models for the previous two games.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider also stepped it up in terms of the graphics for the environments. Numerous particle effects and atmospheric lighting create a very immersive world that is best appreciated through the new and improved Photo Mode.
Lara Croft
Lara Croft is easily the best part of this whole new addition to the Tomb Raider titles. She’s even more gritty and fearsome than the last two titles. In the first game for this Tomb Raider reboot, she was still struggling to survive. Rise of the Tomb Raider saw her conquering not her fears but rather her environment. And in this final installment to the reboot, we see Lara Croft becoming the Tomb Raider she was always born to be.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider is a great addition to the lore of the legend that is Lara Croft, and is one of the most enjoyable games out in the market right now. From the immersive environments to the engaging storyline, this is one Tomb Raider title you don’t want to miss out on.