Mortal Kombat II.
Douchebag game moves.
Picked up Injustice: Gods Among Us last night. Fun, beautiful and well crafted story.
But…
All the men have relatively realistic fighting stances and are fun to play but the women just pose like they’re on a photo shoot for Maxim. Don’t get me started on their proportions. And Wonder Woman, for me, is the worst fighter. It’s frakking Wonder Woman!!!
Fun game but, really, do we have to do this, still?!
Yeah yeah, I’m late on the review. But I’ve been on honeymoon so… you know… whatever.
I’m going to start off this review with a bit of a disclaimer: I never played any of the other Tomb Raider games. *gasp* *shock*
True, I was a gamer back in the day but Tomb Raider never really caught my eye. In retrospect, considering my current form of employment I think I should have paid more attention to Lara, especially now.
Tomb Raider, the 2013 version that is, started development back in 2009 when Crystal Dynamics laid off 30 of its employees to focus on Tomb Raider games which would eventually become the reboot. This all happened after the rather lackluster sales of Tomb Raider: Underworld. The last three years it’s been in development by them and eventually published in March by Square Enix. It was also penned by Rhianna Pratchett who you may recognize from other gems such as the Prince of Persia and Bioshock Infinite (along with being the daughter of Discworld author, Terry Pratchett).
The game starts off with a young Lara Croft being shipwrecked on a remote island plagued by dangerous storms. Her crew initially makes it out OK but Lara is quickly captured by a crazy cult guy and dragged off. The tutorial of the game is mostly her getting out of that situation. The rest of the story revolves around Lara shooting, fighting, blowing shit up, climbing (poorly) and generally getting herself and her friends the hell outta dodge. So I guess she’s less of a Tomb Raider and more of a Gilligan’s Island survivor when the natives are on Bath Salts? Sorry that kinda got away from me there.
While you’re in the game you’ll notice the distinct lack of a HUD on your screen other than the occasional ammo count. This was a design decision made by Crystal Dynamics, I’m sure, and it adds a more immersive experience at the expense of traditional video game staples such as a health bar; the screen simply gets darker and more grey the closer Lara is to dying. Lara also has an instinct mode but unfortunately has limited use while moving which makes it difficult to use when you’re trying to stalk your enemy or are having to move around a lot to avoid predators attacking you.
There’s a range of power ups to get by collecting salvage and parts but I was able to get them all in a single runthrough without any difficulty. Honestly, that’s one area of the game that I thought was lacking; replayability. I have no reason, outside of multiplayer, to go back and visit that island with Lara and the Crew. Seriously, none. The story, and gameplay, was simply too linear and just not open enough.
Puzzles are mostly found in tombs which are scattered throughout the mystery island Lara and the crew of the Endurance crashed on. There aren’t not so much puzzles in the traditional sense of the word, like they were in Fez, but rather just a more difficult version of the platform mechanics seen outside the Tomb. I don’t mind but I was hoping for something more challenging.
It was a quick play through for me and I enjoyed it immensely. I felt like I was on an adventure with Lara and the voice acting on her part really helped drive that home. Seeing the titular character come around and become the woman we know in later games was satisfying and I’m excited to play the inevitable follow ups.
My only real complaints were lack of replayability, a rather linear closed world (you can go back but, honestly, there’s not much need to) and lack of a real challenge. Normally, I would knock a game down a couple pegs for that but since this is kind of a reboot to the series, I’m treating it as the launch of a new franchise and am willing to allow some leeway.
In other words, it’s a strong first game.
But, after all that, that’s not why I really wanted to write this review, or even play the game. I debated even how I was going to write this review - what tone and from what point of view.
For some context, there was the infamous Tomb Raider announcement at E3 in 2012. The sorta rapey one. I’m not sure how something is “sorta” rapey, though.
Then there was the, let’s just call them “odd” comments on coming out of the games developers, Crystal Dynamics.
Then rumors swirled about some last minute redesigns on the story.
These all made me really nervous. I even made a post about it on my personal Facebook. I get that they want to reboot the series and make it newer and fresher but why, for the love of the Sith, must we always add in sexual assault as this lazy half-assed trope to give the character “complexity”? It’s absurd and insulting to gamers.
After going through a play of the game, I’m relieved that it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. There were two scenes when Lara got caught where even the hint of anything sexual might happen but it’s handled well, I think, and fit within the context of the game. Beyond that, Lara’s death noises do sometimes give a new meaning to Le Petit Mort. But if that’s seriously the biggest complaint about the whole game, then you’re doing pretty well.
Lara herself isn’t nearly as “helpless” as CD initially made her out to be and kinda kicks a lot of ass from the get go. It’s less “you have to save Lara” to a more “Go on this adventure with her”. Lara herself was pretty badass to begin with, climbing, kicking, shooting and fighting with the best of them and I loved that so it’s more like the game was teaching you rather than you, the player, teaching Lara.
Was the E3 trailer and the comments out of CD a result of poor editing and a case of foot-in-mouth? Or did someone up high listen to the push back and make those last minute changes that were rumored? While I suspect the latter, I don’t have any real reason to actually know and I’m satisfied with the finished product either way. I don’t expect a game to be perfect from day one of development or even announcement and I anticipate there to be stumbles and falls along the way in any game, so I don’t hold any of that against them.
tl;dr:
The Good: controls, platforming mechanics and story.
The Bad: Short, linear and relatively easy and, for a “first” game, that’s not so bad.
The Ugly: the press during pre-release and at E3 but that’s a non-issue now.
Total: Four out of five.
Say what you will about ME3’s ending, you know you’d watch this.
So, I decided I’d try my hand at some Xbox game reviewing just for the hell of it. Why Xbox? I have the other consoles but I don’t play them as much. And, full disclaimer, I work at Microsoft for an Xbox LIVE team. That being said, the opinions expressed here are mine and mine alone. I’m not being paid for this. These posts do not represent anything official for Xbox or Microsoft in any way, shape or form. Period.
Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, at the end of the review, I’ll be giving the title 0-5 stars and that will reflect what I think about the game. Here’s what I intend their meaning to be:
5 Stars
A great game and everyone, from casual to hardcore gamer, should pick it up. It’s just that good.
4 Stars
A good game with solid mechanics. They didn’t really get anything wrong but the developers might be missing some aspects to give it a 5. Everyone should at least play it once and fans will probably pick it up at the local game retailer.
3 stars
Meh. It’s an average game with so-so mechanics and story. It’s not really worth the time unless you’re a fan of the genre and, then, wait until it’s on sale.
2 Stars
The developers likely cut corners, were lazy or were just flat out inexperienced. I wouldn’t suggest picking this title up unless you really are just that bored.
1 stars
Sweet mother of Hades how did this monstrosity get birthed into existence? Something happened here that made me question the good of humanity. If you encounter this in the wild, beware. I understand a gunshot to the head is the only guaranteed method of destroying it. Avoid it lest you get infected and turned into one of Them. Godspeed.
0 stars
The only reason I include this is because I’m an engineer and, naturally, start counting from 0. Games don’t fail to “achieve” this level out of a lack of trying but because it defies the laws of physics.
So, with that out of the way, my first game is….
Fez was published by Polytron and released on April 13, 2012 after nearly five years in development. In case you were wondering, five years for an Arcade title is unusual but it seems to have paid off for Polytron.
What marshaled my attention was the accolades this game received early on. Before its release, it was already receiving awards. Years before its release. Awards like:
“Excellence in Visual Art” at the Independent Games Festival in 2008
“Best In Show” at IndieCade in 2011
“Grand Prize” at the Independent Games Festival in 2012
It also was nominated for Design Innovation at IGF in 2008 and was one of the PAX10 at PAX Prime in 2011.
Needless to say, my ears perked up.
So, I downloaded it on the Game Marketplace and gave it a shot.
Fez stars a mini Staypuff-esque… thing. Really, that’s the only way I can describe him. At least I think it’s a him. It’s name is “Gomez” so let’s go with “him” for now, shall we? Either way, Gomez is in need of pants.
You start off in your own little world - an island of sorts. At first, the game is completely 2-D in traditional 8-bit style graphics. And I do mean completely. Even the game’s NPCs make mention that there are no such things as “cubes” and other non-Euclidian shapes are the stuff of myths and scary bedtime stories.
At some point early on, you gain the ability to shift your perspective around, ala IloMilo, and are able to go boldly where no one has gone before – like behind that grandfather clock you never dust. Careful, I hear the dust bunnies are particularly ferocious.
The point of the game is to go around collecting cube fragments which open up doors to new areas that, in turn, have more fragments and more puzzles all to put back together your new alien cube friend.
Fez is surprisingly simple and deceptively charming but the layers of puzzles and replayability add complexity for the completionist. I dig the use of the third dimension as a puzzle and platform mechanic and, in some ways, it’s reminiscent of IloMilo. The 8-bit era graphics take you back to the days of stomping goombas and shooting “pews” at Dr. Wily. Collecting all the secrets in all the rooms is a must for the completionists out there but can be a little frustrating for some – at times it felt like a 3-D “find the pixel” only with doors and cube fragments (hint: doors which you haven’t opened yet are closed). There are puzzles within puzzles within puzzles - binary puzzles and QR codes that you can scan and a multitude of other things. After just a quick play through, I quickly came to understand why it stayed so long in developmental limbo. All in all, I sincerely enjoyed my playing time.
Score: 4 Stars
How’d I do?
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are the sole property and opinion of the writer’s. It is not intended to be an official review for Xbox, Polytron or anyone else.
