This was the last of my sale games. This one I was a little weary of though because I had played Hitman GO and thought it was just OK. You can read my full review of Hitman GO, here. Moving on though, I figured it wasn’t fair to judge a game based on another similar game so I decided to give this one a shot and see if it was in any different or if it was more of the same.
This isn’t your typical Tomb Raider game, but you’ll still be playing as Lara Croft in this short adventure. You’ll have 5 main levels to complete that will involve Lara doing what she does best, raiding a tomb and putting herself in all types of danger. There are two extra bonus levels as well that are similar but only span one level each. This game is strictly strategy based though as you’ll play though each level moving a little “chess” like piece of Lara around a board that’s filled with different obstacles. Avoid all of the obstacles in order to get to the end and move on. Make one wrong move and it’s the end of Lara.
Although this game, like Hitman GO, doesn’t that deep story that both franchises are known for I still enjoyed this game a little bit better. I think the reason was because the story throughout this game was more thought out. You had to collect three keys in order to reach the main prize of the tomb. It’s pretty clear, and I feel like this is one of those game franchises where you can do this with. For me, Hitman GO didn’t do this and it felt like every level was random and didn’t coincide with the previous level. I also enjoyed the strategy based play where you basically had to plan out each move in order to get things just right since making the wrong move usually resulted in death.
When it comes to the playability for this game, here’s the thing, the first 5 levels operated smoothly. You were told how to use the spear, how to move pillars and so on. This was a simple mechanism that worked, but I have no idea what the hell happened when you reached the two bonus levels of 6 and 7. All of these mechanisms that ran smoothly went to shit as the simple task of throwing the spear just wouldn’t work at times. The same thing with the moving of the pillars. I don’t know how many times I tried to grab the pillar only to move without it or finally grab it and move in the wrong direction. This became increasing frustrating and at one point I even thought it was because of my controller. Wanting to make sure it was the game and not my controller, I switched out controllers only to have the same thing happen. It’s like the two bonus levels were completely different from the first 5 and were untested. This is a major problem that I’m probably guessing will not get fixed. If you’re going to put out a whole game, make sure the whole thing works, not just the first part of it.
I really enjoyed the graphics for this game and was once again surprised that it made the transition from mobile to the PS4 as well as it did. The graphics were filled with detail and it really felt like it was a Tomb Raider game. Lara Croft looked like Lara Croft, not like she looks today, but how she used to look, which was a nice bit of nostalgia, and each area was well designed and had an appealing look to it.
Complete this game and do everything it has to offer in order to get 18 trophies. There are 17 regular trophies and then one platinum. The trophies are super simple and some just require you to play the game. The only difficult trophies are for the collectibles. There are times when you’ll have to go back because you missed one of the many vases you have to find throughout the game, but at least the game gives you the option to go back to the specific level that you have to go back to and even tells you if you were able to get all the collectibles or not.
This is strictly a single player game, just how I like my games. No need for other people to play with or trying to bribe one of your friends to help you out. It’s all up to you.
Overall I give this game a 3 out of 5.
What’s Great:
+ While there isn’t a spoken story, there’s still a story and if you’re a Tomb Raider player it’s easy to follow along.
+ The game is interesting and strategy based meaning you can’t just run into the tomb and shoot your way through it. You actually have think about your moves ahead of time.
+ The graphics transfer nicely from mobile to PS4 and it brings back the old design of Lara Croft that everyone knows and loves.
What’s Not So Great:
– While the first 5 levels work perfectly, the last two levels will make you think like you’re playing a completely different game as the things that used to work, no longer work how you want them to.
I really wish I could have scored this game higher because I did enjoy it and I enjoyed it a lot more than Hitman GO, but the simple fact that the performance of this game went downhill for the last two bonus missions were a big no-no. This was simply uncalled for and just bad game design and development. It was seriously like playing a new game and it kind of ruined the experience just a bit for me. Sometimes a game could be good, great even, but it takes something like the end part of the game not working for it to ruin the whole game. I would suggest that if you purchase this game that you do so cautiously. The first 5 levels will give you a nice challenge as you move though each level and while the last two bonus levels will do the same thing, the mechanisms won’t work and you’ll want to toss your controller through the window. At least if you’re going to buy this, make sure you don’t pay the full $9.99 and pick this game up on sale.
1 Broke Gamer Girl 