Rise of the Tomb Raider is the second game in the rebooted Tomb Raider series that started with the 2013 game. It was initially released as a timed exclusive for Xbox 360 and Xbox One before releasing a year later on PS4 with all the DLC included. Having all the DLC in the package helped make the wait more worth it, in terms of value at least.
The gameplay will be familiar to anyone who has played the first game. It is a third person action adventure. There are several distinctive gameplay elements. There is the exploration aspect where Lara traverses the huge environments to find collectibles, which often involves platforming and puzzle solving. Then there is the survival aspect where Lara find items to craft equipment and ammunition, as well as hunting down animals. Finally there are the combat sections where it is either all guns blazing, or Lara may have the opportunity to use stealth instead. Noteworthy though is that the game leans more towards the exploration and platforming aspect, which is great since having constant shootouts will be boring.
The controls are easy to manage and extra skills gradually unlock so you don’t get overwhelmed when you start the game. Lara can run, jump, shimmy, swim and climb on various surfaces. She initially has access to only her bow which she can use in conjunction with rope to access faraway platforms. Later on, she’ll obtain guns, and also the ability to craft different types of ammunition such as exploding arrows or grenade attachments to her rifles. In most combat situations, Lara can actually use stealth to kill most, if not all of the enemies and it is satisfying when you succeed.
Nearly everything you do will give you experience points. You’ll gain them by killing enemies, finding collectibles and progressing the story. You then use them to unlock new skills that make the game easier. These light RPG elements keep you hooked and helps give meaning to the collectibles.
On the topic of collectibles, there are way too many of them scattered about. If you are going for 100% completion then it is a huge chore. What make this worse are the huge environments. They will distract you for a long time each time you enter a new area and can be quite overwhelming at first.
One of the best aspects of the game though is the Challenge Tombs. These are interesting environmental puzzles that aren’t too hard but still requires a bit of thought. Anytime you are unsure of what to do, using the R3 button will highlight objectives of interest in the environment. Annoyingly, moving will cause the view to revert back to normal so you’ll find yourself constantly clicking the analogue stick as it’s too useful to leave off.
There are areas at the beginning of the game that you cannot access as you don’t have the required tools. They are gradually unlocked over the course of the story and is a great feeling once you get all the tools and nothing can stop you anymore. Once you get the grapple and can climb higher walls with its aid, the design of some of the platforming is terrible. There are not infrequent cases where it is not obvious where you can go. The jumping can seem a bit off and you end up not grappling the wall like you wanted, but fall to your death.
While the graphics are impressive, the constant snow and cave environments can get bland and boring. Disappointingly, the PS4 version doesn’t have HDR, that is only available on Xbox One. If you have PS4 Pro, then you can opt for one of three modes: high framerate, 4K resolution, or an “enrich visuals” mode which increases the visual effects.
The story starts off with Lara climbing an icy mountain and just doing everything she can to not die. It is an impressive beginning that sets the tone for the rest of the game. It then goes back to show the events that came up to this point. We then learn that Lara is following in her father’s footsteps to find the Divine Source. As her father was ridiculed before he died, Lara wants to find it in order to clear her father’s name. In contrast to the first game where she was forced into the situation that she was in and had to kill, here she is a lot more experienced.
The set pieces over the course of the game are big but it can be messy. There is too much happening such that you can accidentally die. While it puts you back right before that point so you don’t lose much progress, it breaks the flow. There are also clashes when Lara is supposedly escaping as part of the story or going through a heavily armed area, but still finds time to explore a tomb or translate some language.
Unfortunately, the story never really picks up. It feels like an afterthought or excuse for the excellent gameplay surrounding it. Just like the first game, there are some mystical elements but overall it is forgettable and lacks drive. The final boss was terrible. The situation Lara was placed in was oddly contrived and with restrictions placed on the player that makes no sense. It served to frustrate more than it was a tense or epic moment. While it heavily depends on how many of the collectibles you do, the story takes around ten to twenty hours to complete.
After you complete the story mode, there are a few other modes to keep your attention. You can replay any chapter, with or without all your upgrades. There is a score attack mode where you aim for a high score by finishing the level quickly, as well as completing other challenges like collecting flames scattered in the level or finding all the collectibles. In this mode, there are cards which you can use to give you positive or negative effects that affect the score multiplier.
Baba Yaga is the only traditional story DLC for the game and unfortunately, it is a disappointing one. It is extremely short, taking only around an hour or two with a tiny new area to explore. The worst thing is that the gameplay design is clunky. It is similar to those levels from Batman: Arkham Asylum where Lara will hallucinate and go through levels that has a weird visual effect applied on top. It’s done poorly and the boss battle, which takes up a huge chunk of the DLC, drags on for far too long. The gimmick to defeat it was okay at first but then you have to repeat it… and repeat it… and repeat it… which ends up being infuriating. The story adds nothing to the game and even judging it as a self-contained side story, it is still bad. Coupled with the wonky platforming design, especially when going for the collectibles and this DLC is poor value.
Endurance Mode is a survival mode where Lara is placed in a huge snowfield map. There is now a hunger meter and a warmth meter that will continually decline, as well as wild animals and enemies roaming about. The aim is to survive for as long as you can by staving off hunger and keeping warm while exploring crypts to obtain artifacts. The playthrough ends when you find a signal fire and then decide to light it up in order to get extracted. It’s a bit confusing at first since there is no map so it can be easy to get lost (which is the point). You also start with nothing and have to obtain the crafting materials while also looting enemies to get weapons and ammunition. The worst part though is if you die, it ends the playthrough, and it can feel cheap when you accidentally run into a trap in a crypt. There is also a co-op version of this but apart from some elements like marking enemies, there is no difference.
The Cold Darkness DLC puts you on a map infested with what are effectively zombies. The backstory is that a Soviet installation suddenly has everyone infected due to the leakage of toxic gas. Lara goes in to traverse to the various towers in order to shut off the production of the toxic gas. It takes place completely at night, and a flashlight is used to illuminate the surroundings. There are “puzzles” which you have to spend time looking for certain things in order to know which lever to pull. Every so often, a horde of enemies will gun for you. You have to gather resources and find equipment just like the other modes. It’s not a great mode, and some of the challenges are really annoying in that it relies on luck. The infinite enemies get tiring really quickly especially when they respawn very soon after you have killed them. A playthrough only takes 30-60 minutes to complete.
The final piece of DLC is Croft Manor which is comprised of two parts. The first is Blood Ties, which does not have any combat at all. Instead, Lara is exploring Croft Manor in order to find hints and proof that she has the legal right to the Croft inheritance. There are nearly 100 collectibles in this mode, and there are no puzzles, it’s basically just running around finding stuff in order to progress. Along the way, the backstory of Lara’s younger days, as well as her parents, are slowly revealed. The second part is Lara’s Nightmare, in which it takes place in Croft Manor as well. In this mode though, Lara is rushed by infinite enemies as she has to fight her way through the manor and destroy three skulls to spawn the final boss and beat that. It is actually fairly challenging given the tight spaces, limited beginning ammo and randomized nature, but like most of the game’s DLC, it is low effort.
Overall, Rise of the Tomb Raider is a solid game although doesn’t improve too much over the first. It is still a lot of fun but the collectathon is starting to get out of hand, and the bulk of the DLC all try to do different things. Unfortunately, they are too far removed from the base game to feel coherent and are heavily padded with fluff in a misguided attempt to make them last longer. The value of the PS4 version is still there though and is not a game to be missed if you enjoyed the first game.
-------------------------------------------------
For other game reviews, have a look at this page.