Four hours one-on-one with Lara Croft

Contents

The last chapter
A stronger footprint

If Shadow of the Tomb Raider is ramping up its promotion through different videos as the release draws near, we got to see a lot more from our end a few weeks ago. Indeed, after the reveal demo, then that of E3, we took over the game during a special event. A long session, lasting about four hours, which allowed us to refine our opinion on this episode in order to identify its faults and qualities before the test.

Is Lara Croft on her way to passing her final exam to become THE grave robber?

The last chapter

Although Crystal Dynamics has carried the license for more than ten years, the studio will not be fully part of the adventure as it may have been the case before. Busy designing The Avengers Project in the greatest secrecy, the studio passed the torch to Eidos Montreal (Deus Ex), who had also participated in the first two episodes of the Tomb Raider reboot. The mission is twofold for the developers, because they must not only make it a point of honor to conclude the trilogy initiated in 2013, with the expectations that this generates, but also tell how Miss Croft became THE grave robber with whom the players met as early as 1996.

If it has since changed enormously, we have been able to observe an evolution on the narrative level, on the character himself, who we hope will be able to go the distance. Very insecure in 2013, his fears and other youthful insecurities tended to be transposed onto the screen in an overly cartoonish way, with almost constant overplay from Alice David, the heroine’s dubber for the French version. This time, the actress has also given way to Anna Sigalevitch, official voice of Alicia Vikander with us, the Lara Croft of the last Tomb Raider feature film. This change therefore seemed beneficial to us, with a fairer and less forced interpretation in VF. But that also applies to the writing, which seemed more calm to us, without being fine, with more sincere moments such as during a discussion between Jonah and the adventurer around a fire. It is obviously too early to be happy with the work done on this part and the possible progress, but we are crossing our fingers that this is indeed the case in order to breathe new life into this opus.

A stronger footprint

At the time of Rise of the Tomb Raider, many criticized the game for having too many similarities with the previous installment, and a monotony in settings that failed to renew themselves. Lara therefore left Siberia for warmer countries, more provided with luxuriant forests, thus getting closer to the origins of the franchise which is not to displease us. Despite well rendered light effects at times, you should not expect a visual slap, it is even rather the opposite. The graphics engine shows its weaknesses in 2018, like too robotic animations of our adventurer, and models that would have benefited from being really detailed. However, the whole thing is somewhat counterbalanced thanks to the artistic direction, to the care given to the landscapes. These clearly invite exploration and contribute to a more “old school” atmosphere, more in tune with the history of the series.

A more old school vibe

Eidos Montreal tried to inject life here and there, so that you felt both safe and in danger. The enemies of Trinity are always present, since your main objective is to stop their actions permanently, but your survival may be jeopardized by the fauna. Not by the nice rabbits you kill to loot resources, but by other majestic animals like a jaguar. A confrontation serving to demonstrate that this journey will not be easy, and reminds us, for example, of the encounter with the bear from Tomb Raider 1. Pitfalls that will have to be overcome by Lara and her new talents that keep making her grow, advancing in her post-student life.

In this chapter, the wanderer is no longer a victim, but on the contrary adopts a role of predator vis-à-vis her adversaries. If classic confrontations, to which we will come back, are still relevant, you can turn the forest to your advantage. Our heroine will know how to be agile when necessary, jumping from tree to tree to reach places out of sight, but also to eliminate his rivals in all discretion. At least on paper, because in reality, you’ll have to be careful about the timing required to spear an enemy, wrap a rope around their neck, and leave them hanging from a tree, or their allies will quickly unmask you and do anything. to cut you down cold.

In addition, Lara will now be able to blend into the environments, like a Schwarzy in Predator being one with the flora, his body covered in mud. This feature has the effect of giving you a chance to avoid enemies in case of alert, and to eliminate guard by guard by briefly moving from your cover. The mud, which is supposed to modify the gameplay, is currently highly dispensable for several reasons. First of all, the ability to coat your face in slush is entirely governed by the game. In other words, you will have to wait to see a puddle defined by the developers to be able to interact with it. Also, the camouflage is pretty anecdotal, and seems like it was put there just for consistency, but we didn’t pack more than that.

Lara will now be able to blend into environments

In order to stick with the promised survival atmosphere, Lara will be able to pick up different elements to heal herself, make weapons or restore them or even collect coins to buy new ones. If necessary, these resources can be made easily visible through herbs called concentration plants. Moreover, and as for its equipment, Miss Croft will have the opportunity to craft her own outfits by going to a campfire. In addition to the cosmetic aspect, these have faculties that will reduce, for example, the noise caused when running, or increase the time that enemies take to spot you. Unfortunately, it would be difficult to be categorical on this point as we have not yet seen anything about it. Nevertheless, we shouldn’t discover anything earth-shattering or revolutionary.

These skills and other instruments of death won’t be too much to keep your health afloat, especially as the soldiers hit hard. In no time, you can go from life to death. These meetings lead us to come back to the big black point in our opinion: the gunfights. This area has certainly never been a quality for the franchise (reboot included), but we naively thought that it would be the right time to correct the situation for this finale.

The weight of the weapons is non-existent (apart from perhaps the Desert Eagle), the handling very heavy and not very precise (this time we had revised upwards the sensitivity of the stick), and the animations of Lara and the enemies fish still able to give preposterous sequences. However, there is a proven solution: jonly work on the infiltration + arc combo. By choosing this configuration, these passages then become much more pleasant and we strongly advise you to take this path to erase the disappointment of poorly calibrated confrontations. THE level design “arenas” was also too skimpy in this session to be able to take advantage of the verticality of this opus.

The most interesting adventure

But luckily, Shadow of the Tomb Raider isn’t all about gunfights, and seems to give pride of place to exploration, regularly leading to puzzles. There are of course the obligatory puzzles in the story, but also secondary tombs which will reward the most observant, which likes to go everywhere. The difficulty should be within everyone’s reach, but be aware that you can lower your level at leisure (this applies to combat and exploration) so as not to be stuck for a long time in front of a closed door. Thinking outside the box also allows you to raise your experience, which can be exchanged for skills via your skill tree, with various skills divided into three categories: Researcher, Pillager, Warrior.

Piranha-infested aquatic escapades are also back, fish that will surround you to better eat you if you took the wrong path. Likewise, this episode hosts more platforming phases who will ask you to be concentrated so as not to stupidly miss a ledge. These full-fledged components of the gameplay smack of nostalgia, bring us closer to the Tomb Raider of yesteryear, and are more successful than the “Over-the-Top” moments. In addition, we were also able to visit a new village, a “social hub” smaller than Paititi, which is there to reinforce the desired atmosphere, and which can be an opportunity to do some shopping, or to accept side missions. interacting with the locals. A nice addition that enhances this new trip

If the first Shadow of the Tomb Raider demo was more than disappointing in more ways than one, this new preview was encouraging. Despite obvious flaws (gunfights, some new things like mud, etc.) we had more of this feeling of finding a Tomb Raider of yesteryear. A Tomb Raider made of escape, exploration, puzzles, dangerous animals and less assisted platform phases than in the two previous parts. In this, Shadow of the Tomb Raider is on track to be the most interesting episode of this trilogy, even if it should not reinvent the wheel. We can only hope that this atmosphere continues from start to finish, and that the action does not take over to the point of erasing the origins of the license.

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