Next year Lara Croft makes her début return, only we’ve never see this Lara. It’s not the cool experienced head that had a butler you could lock in the freezer, it’s a young, scared Miss Croft. The games due to launch on 5th March 2013 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.
Square Enix brought their Tomb Raider reboot to this years Eurogamer Expo for gamers to see up close for the first time. The demo featured a hunting level where we needed to find food, and fast…. or at least that’s how it was scripted. Only problem was we had nothing to hunt with…
The demo started and the first thing I noticed was how good looking this game was, it was running on a PS3 and looked brilliant. After a few mins of ogling it was time to run and jump, controls were responsive which always helps in an adventure game. One part required me to jump up a plane which then started to fall, this part reminded very much of an uncharted scene with swiftness needed while tension was built. After a near miss from death I found a bow, it required a little fall to remove from a dead guy but once pried from his caucus It was time to hunt.
Being trapped on an island does have its advantages, like free running deer and no hunting licence needed. With hesitation I shot a couple of shots in a very life-like deer and went over for the final kill. Once the meat was collected it was a quick run back to the camp fire where the demo finished. Overall it lasted about 15mins but it left me intrigued and wanting more…
Throughout the whole demo it reminded you who Lara was, a scared teenage girl lost on a hostile island just trying to survive. It’s a gritty game, and the games shows this. It’s not perfect with Lara still being able to jump and climb her way around while she bleeds to death, but it didn’t bother me, it bothered me more I couldn’t do anything to stop the bleeding. There were several cut scenes that interjected between gameplay with no loading times so you were never left out of the action. The game kept my attention throughout the demo, not once did I check another games screen; I was hooked and it was the powerful story telling which never let me lose interest.
Crystal Dynamics should be proud of what they’ve achieved, there not just rebooting an old game; they’re creating an adventure which will keep you on the edge of your seat, a Lara full of emotion and a breathtaking game.
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