games website "Tomb Raider 9" detailed review: The road to the Queen

In SUMMARY:

"Players will accompany Lara from the beginning, and enriching Lara's inner world is the focus of the game." As the ninth installment in the Tomb Raider series, the game does not have a number or suffix at the end of the title, and players are only presented with two simple English words: "Tomb Raider."

And this is exactly what the game developers want to tell the player the key point, that is, this game is neither a sequel, nor a prequel, not a random prequel, this is a reinterpretation of Laura's character image is different from any previous series style of new works. As a result, she can be seen as another Lara living in a parallel world, while giving players new expectations.

"Forget everything you know about Tomb Raider. In this game, we're exploring things that have never been seen before. We're going to tell the story of Lara Croft's origins and the story of a formative process." It is on this journey that Lara's latent personality is forged, unlike anyone else's.

As for the game style of this game, it is true that the previous series of Tomb Raider used a large number of well-designed puzzles as the main way of playing, and it definitely does not deny the sense of accomplishment that players feel when they successfully solve the puzzles.

However, with the development of the game, in the fast food games occupy the mainstream game market today, simply to test the player's observation and imagination and brain IQ games have been unable to occupy a place, the main consumers do not have a lot of time and energy to invest in a difficult puzzle AVG, such games that are easy to bring frustration to players are becoming more and more unpopular with players and developers.

Can not blame no brain Tutu Tutu become mainstream, this is also a very helpless but have to accept the fact. Resident Evil has turned into action shooting, God of War has simplified the QTE to the most simplified difficulty, Tomb Raider does not have to go all the way to the black?

Going back to Tomb Raider 9, the developer has been promoting the theme of survival, we control the young girl Lara in the crisis of danger and the tomb adventure to survive, how to survive is the primary purpose. Instead of Lara Croft, the Lord of the previous games, having nothing to do with her food and drink and going through rat holes looking for excitement.

After understanding the developer's good intentions, I believe that we will not use harsh eyes to ask our delicate soft sister version of Laura!

Here's the never-ending time for jokes, with many calling Tomb Raider 9 like Uncharted, Far Cry 3 and even Assassin's Creed 3 at...... First of all, the relationship between Uncharted and Tomb Raider is similar to being better than being better (if you don't think Lara is green, then I'm not saying), and then the "Uncharted" series has successfully started and created its own path.

And Laura, the teacher, after a quiet period of time, faced the outstanding student with no shame, and also achieved a new success. Copying is absolutely out of the question, and mutual learning and common progress is welcome to see. And "Far Cry 3" is basically nothing, one is FPS+RPG, one is TPS+AVG, one is to enjoy the beautiful scenery on a beautiful island, one is to smell the corpse in a grim tomb.

The TR9 has even less freedom than the FC3, and basically has nothing in common except that Jack and Lara are transformed from spoiled to murderous "big devil" images. AC3 not to mention, in addition to the protagonist can use bow and arrow hunting, the game has a certain degree of freedom, other really no......

I. Introduction to the game -- 9 points

The story begins with teenage Laura, who has been traveling with her parents on archaeological teams, and when she grows up and graduates from Cambridge University, she decides to set aside the old documents and musty libraries for an adventure of her own, and her first adventure, It was accompanied by explorer and bounty hunter Conrad Roth aboard the Endurance, a scientific exploration ship.

However, the life of an immortal beauty is thinner than paper, and the doomed disaster can cause misfortune anywhere. During the voyage, the Endurance weathered a storm, and Laura and his companions temporarily lost contact. After drifting to an unknown island and experiencing a variety of tragic encounters, Laura begins an adventure on this mysterious island with Japanese culture!

As the adventure progresses, all kinds of scary events follow, and watch our girl Laura use her wisdom and strength to solve various puzzles! Historically, "Tomb Raider" stories are based on one or more myths and legends (this as the legendary Japanese sun queen Humiku), from the description of the game, the island is similar to the "Devil Sea" (located between the Japanese islands and Ogasawara Islands, it is said that this triangle is similar to Bermuda, ship crashes frequently). Near Japan, perhaps the only place "worthy" of the amount of debris Laura saw.

In SUMMARY:

This is the story of a young girl who has just come out of college to discover her own strength, and the story of a rookie who has no experience in adventure and struggles to survive in a cruel environment surrounded by dangers. This Lara is not a shadow of the past, and this "Tomb Raider" is not a prequel to the series, but a complete re-start.

Rather than simply explaining how Lara became the Tomb Raider we know, the new film retains Lara's soul and personality, creating a parallel world that has nothing to do with the previous Tomb Raider games.

2. Game screen -- 8.5 points

First of all, talk about the image of the new Laura, a single ponytail + a combination of Chinese and Western face, curvy body, I personally am very satisfied. Thanks to SE's excellent facial motion capture technology, the game's portrayal of Laura's expression is very real and delicate.

From the very beginning, Laura finds herself alone in the island of fear and helplessness, is shivering in the cold to seek the source of fire (Emma, when playing here, I really want to shout "sister don't be afraid, hold brother"), to the helpless under the hunting deer to feed the heart of compassion, Being cheated and playing with the feelings of the man uncle indecent hatred shy to fight back will cheat and play with the feelings of the man's head after the face of the body blood at a loss.

You will feel a living image of the young Laura standing in front of you, so weak that you can't help but want to hug the arms of the queen Laura instead of the omnipotent and powerful image of the world's men. SE's characterization of Laura this time - full marks!

The overall picture style is dark, and the details of the game are very good. It not only designs the large and small items in the scene environment, but also describes the overall environment and climate of the desert island incisively and vividly. Throughout the game, the treacherous atmosphere has been followed by the player and controlled by sister Lara.

There was no sign of developer laziness on Laura's clothes, wounds and dried blood. The game uses the use of real dynamic motion capture technology, Laura in the climbing walls, moving between the smooth movement, the camera Angle is also a variety of service players master, have to sigh, western sister development is good......

Ah, no, it's the producers' mastery of the game's camera, with enough variety and rhythm to grasp one by one, the movie is full of presence, although I still can't help but pay attention to Laura's three spherical objects, good good, poor really don't know what 95-55-85 represents.

The light and shadow effects in the game are great, especially the flame burning effect, when Laura lit the torch in the tomb adventure, the light displacement and fire cast the surrounding objects and Laura's shadow effect. The fire spread effect necessary to solve the puzzle is not as exaggerated as in FC3, but it is good enough!

The surface texture and building texture in the scene environment are relatively detailed. Excellent physics and a very rich interaction between Laura and the environment. The death of the protagonist and the enemy in the game will also be more cruel, bloody effect is full, evil players can enjoy Lara's sister a thousand ways to die, falling to death, drowning, being hit by a boulder, being choked to death, being shot by random arrows, being bitten by a wild Wolf to break the throat and so on.

Of course, the shortcomings also have to mention, the first is the model error, a variety of arms and heads through the wall from time to time. Second, compared with the flame, the water surface effect treatment is very slag. Finally, the hair effect is very poor, but this is also related to the host function, just read the news that in the PC version of AMD will restore a long hair of the image of Laura, let us wait and see if it is not the agricultural enterprise fan from the face.

Another point I want to say is that the game's opening CG is great, belonging to the top level, and then in the follow-up game, the entire CG level has dropped not one or two grades, completely turned into a real-time calculus, SE surface effort is full of.

Summary: Overall the game picture is still good, the scene style is very appropriate to the theme of the game, but the console version can not be looked at. The excellent environment interaction deserves praise, and the use of a large number of cinematic shots is memorable.

3. Game music/sound effects -- 9 points

The score was composed by composer Jason Graves. The music style of the game is similar to that of most horror adventure games, with no music or soothing music in the normal state. However, once the player is in a dangerous situation or encounters a powerful enemy, the music immediately switches to a slightly scary soundtrack to create a tense atmosphere for the player.

The sound effect of the game is more prominent, and the types of firearms are not much, but they have their own characteristics. The atmosphere sound is very feeling, and the footsteps in the game are very good.

In terms of voice actors, the current steal version only English voice actors, all kinds of Jiao panting and moaning in the game absolutely let the little virgin hear red and nosebleeds. The official release of the Japanese version is relatively late, and we look forward to the full performance of the Japanese voice actors.

Summary: good children had better wear headphones when playing games, otherwise they will be thought by their parents to be playing what strange games......

4. Game operation - 9 points

The operation of the game is simplified a lot, and the free aiming system replaces the previous attack system of locking targets, showing a more natural and real action picture. The QTE system is not only easy to operate, but also refreshing. The Y-key finish, and the automatic hiding in cover, the overall feeling is very smooth, and a few simple keys can complete a large series of seemingly dazzling actions.

There's also a climbing system, but it's much simpler than the previous installments in the series. Although the operation is simplified, the actual effect is improved a lot, 18 tools are in full force, and 36 gymnastics movements are used, watching Laura as if wearing flowers and butterflies, and you only need to press a few very simple buttons to complete, is it also very satisfying? This is in line with the current trend in gaming.

New Survival Instinct system is introduced. When LB is pressed, the environment tone changes to a dark gray, while wildlife, organs, targets, materials, and collectibles are highlighted in yellow (some displays require unlocking skills to appear).

Summary: Simple and not simple game operation, the effect of the player does not fall.

Game style and system -- 9.5

The Tomb Raider series has always amazed players with its open setting, perfect puzzles, shooting and platform jumping. This game does not change its core. The puzzle part is still an important part of the new game, but the difficulty is much reduced, and there is no longer a situation where players struggle to solve it.

At the same time, puzzles related to environmental factors (wind, fire and water) are greatly enhanced. As for the open elements, this game will get rid of the shackles of the "level" system and adopt a semi-open game. Before the complete main task, players can wander around collecting various materials to strengthen weapons, while they can also kill enemies to gain experience. There are a large number of collectible elements on the map that players need to look for carefully. When you save, you can see the completion of the game, and after completing the level, you can continue to find hidden elements and work towards 100% completion!

The innovation of this game is the revolutionary addition of the BASE CAMP system, when Laura sits down next to the campfire to rest, we can enter the camp system to learn SKILLS for Laura, strengthen the GEAR and FAST TRAVEL between the camps.

1. Skill upgrading

When the player controls Lara to take risks in the game, kill enemies, and successfully complete the mission, they will gain a certain amount of experience. Upon reaching a certain level of experience, a character will level up and gain a few skill points. These skill points are for learning to unlock Lara's skills.

Skills are divided into three categories: SURVIVOR (survival skills), HUNTER (hunting skills), and BRAWLER (fighting skills). Among them, there are 9 survival skills, mainly to improve Lara's own survival and exploration abilities, including animal instincts, survivalist, advanced salvaging, bone collector, bone collector, and animal instincts. Is this an homage to Angelina Jolie's human bone puzzle?) , arrow retrieval (Arrow retrieval), scavenging (scavenging), climber's agility (agile climber), orienteering (archaeology), cartography (mapping).

A total of 8 predation skills, mainly improve Lara's weapon fighting ability, These include steady shot, ammo capacity, heavy lifter, accomplished killer, bow expert, and pistol expert (expert pistol headshot), rifle expert (expert rifle headshot), shotgun expert (expert shotgun headshot).

A total of 7 combat skills, as the name suggests, mainly increase Lara's combat ability, These include pain tolerance, dirty tricks, axe strikes, axe expert, dodge counter, dodge kill, and dodge kill mastery. Kill mastery.

2. Weapons enhancement

Lara in the game has a total of 5 different weapons, from the earliest bow and axe to the back of the pistol, shotgun, rifle, different weapons have their different roles. As the game progresses, weapons that have not been strengthened at the beginning become weak when faced with more complex organs.

For example, mountaineering axes can be used to pry open simple wooden doors and small wooden cases at the beginning, and then strengthen the mountaineering axes in order to pry open these heavy organs when facing large wooden organs and large boxes. The material used to enhance the weapon is obtained through searching in the game, and the type of enhancement varies according to the weapon, but it is similar to the power, loading amount, rate of fire, shooting accuracy, and noise reduction.

3. Fast travel

Fast Travel allows Lara to quickly travel to areas that have already been explored before, so that Lara can go back and reexplore those areas to collect items, earn experience, or find clues to solve puzzles.

And to make sure we don't lose our current location as we travel to our original location, Lara's latest discoveries are highlighted on the map so we can keep the latest adventure progress while teleporting back to other locations so we can return later.

When Lara first arrives in an area, it is likely that she will not be able to complete the exploration of the area because she does not have some special ability or equipment, so she will need to return to the area after acquiring the appropriate equipment or ability. This also requires the use of fast travel.

Text and text: games website Literature Group -- Cauliflower Literature Guide: Half-God Lich