Tomb Raider has without a doubt been a successful video game series since its inception back in 1996 with “Tomb Raider (1) on the PC, PlayStation 1 and Sega Saturn video game consoles. But despite its long history and chronology, Crystal Dynamics alongside Square Enix opted to reboot the franchise last year with Tomb Raider (2013) on the PlayStation 3, PC and Xbox360 platforms. However last year was also a year of big changes for the worldwide video game industry with both Sony and Microsoft opting to move into the Eighth generation of consoles with relatively strong initial sales. While some big name games have had to wait years for a HD remake, Crystal Dynamics gave a middle-finger salute to tradition and opted to release a new “Definitive Edition” of the game from today.
The issue comes with the distribution model. While company’s such as Ubisoft and Activision allowed select 2013 releases to be part of a $10 upgrade program on both PS4 and Xbox One alike, with Tomb Raider being released before both console manufacturers offered the program there seems to be no way for them to easily incorporate a similar scheme. Therefore this has meant that the game has essentially been re-released at full market price less than a year of original launch. Considering prices of the 360 / PC / PS3 releases are now cheaper…. there needs to be something particularly special about this release to warrant as many fans as possible making the decision to re-purchase what is essentially the same game.
Storyline
As there has been no released or even confirmed single-player DLC content for Tomb Raider in the past, the experience you get out of the Definitive Edition box is identical to the one you would have played before.
You once again take control of a younger Lara Croft who is now an ambitious graduate archaeologist on a trek with other veteran archaeologists and researchers on a quest to find the lost Kingdom of Yamatai. After a dispute between expedition members led them to follow a new hunch posed by Lara, the crew find themselves shipwrecked on an island. Separated from the others, Lara is captured by an entity, later awaking tied-up and hung upside down in a cave. After managing to escape from her captors, she begins to uncover the secrets of the island which indicate that they arrived at their destination, Yamatai, after all.
The issue is that the island has seen hundreds of people crash on its shores over the decades, and is now inhabited by a cult known as The Solarii Brotherhood that worship the Sun Goddess Himiko who once ruled over Yamatai. Attempting to keep herself alive from the inhabitants, Lara begins a journey to survive, meet up with / rescue her team, uncover the mysteries of the island and ultimately make it off the island alive. Lara Croft is well developed throughout the game as we see her personality and resolve grow, unfortunately however most of the other characters remain pretty unmemorable with them moving in and out of the story for short periods of time.
Overall there is quite a lot to like about the storyline of Tomb Raider, with just enough content to warrant it being a storyline intensive action-adventure genre. For those wanting to venture onto the (even more) beaten track however, while there are a few opportunities to enjoy other aspects of the game outside of the path outlined by the plot, the storyline is predominantly linear. While it may not be for everyone, especially given the more serious direction it takes, there are a few intense moments where when coupled with the design really gain your attention….. at least until Lara is shot due to a strict QTE that do spontaneously appear with little warning.
Design / Music / Voice Acting
With no change to the storyline, a majority of the improvements made in Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition comes down to the visual quality. While I cannot speak for the quality of the Xbox One version, the PlayStation 4 edition showed a number of clear improvements even in the first few minutes, and to date is one of the nicest looking games I have seen on next generation consoles. The game world looks even more vibrant than before, Lara’s new character model looks even more realistic (Although I am not sure that some of the features such as TRESS FX technology on the hair really mattered to me) and it has set a standard for what I am expecting developers to produce in the future on next generation consoles.
There were however a few mishaps, particularly with character models and animation. Sometimes her appearance doesn’t always realistically react with the environment and on more than one occasion when being defeated, her head would fall through a physical object / the ground when on an inclining surface.
As with most components of the “Definitive Edition” release, there is no change to the audio / vocal components from the original Tomb Raider game. The musical backing is a strong accompaniment to the vocals, featuring a range of tracks that shines during the more intense, action-oriented moments.
Lara Croft is voiced by newcomer to the (video game) voice acting scene Camilla Luddington and does a strong performance of her respective character. The remainder of the voice cast also comprises of talent with only a few video game roles to their name apiece, with one very notable exception being Robin Atkin Downes as Conrad Roth. This is distinctly different from other Square Enix published titles such as Final Fantasy XIII which features veterans such as Ali Hillis, Laura Bailey and Troy Baker to name a few.
Gameplay
Some minor additions have been made to the gameplay mechanics in Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, however for the most part these are limited to taking advantage of the unique features present with the PlayStation 4 / Xbox One in comparison to their last generation counterparts. For most of the game you will be navigating Lara around the island of Yamatai – both across the hazardous terrain and the equally deadly caves against animal, human and natural threats.
At her disposal is an array of equipment that progressively unlocks as you complete the game and doesn’t attempt to give you everything in the opening couple of hours then leave it at that. Lara begins with the generic Torch and Hatchet combination, which soon expands to a number of more offensive weapons including a longbow and pistol, to a few items more useful for navigation such as rope arrows. These can be obtained either through the story,gathering salvage or acquiring random weapon parts from the environment. The upgrade system, while pretty rudimentary, was a nice touch that gave a purpose for a player to explore the expansive pockets of lush environment spread throughout the game for those last few pieces of required salvage.
The combat system allows you to both hunt animals and defend Lara in her activities on the island, although it is the latter that holds prominence, with the former primarily being for trophies and small bits of salvage / EXP. The system is what you would usually find in a game of this style, with a greater emphasis on using cover as Lara seems less impenetrable to bullets than other protagonists can be. Deaths can be plentiful and the battles brief, but it is nevertheless a satisfying system. Crystal Dynamics also opted to incorporate an RPGesque leveling system, which provides skill points to be distributed over “Survivor”, “Hunter” and “Brawler” skill trees. All three offer valuable skills and their value depends on your play style, with each offering some strong late-game abilities – particularly the Dodge Kill skills in the “Brawler” tree.
One of the few gameplay changes to this release is the implementation of voice controls on both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Usually I don’t have any care for these features, but in the heat of battle and on the run, shouting “Longbow” or “Pistol” I thought was quite nifty and surprisingly worked with high accuracy. This doesn’t change it from being nothing more than a gimmick…. but was a useful one at least.
The game also includes online multiplayer functionality which for the purpose of this review I didn’t go into too much into. Similar to earlier installments in the game, it does the job but isn’t something you will be pouring more than a couple of hours into despite the new DLC maps included in the Definitive Edition. The effort put into making the multiplayer maps could in my opinion have been better spent producing new DLC single-player content.
Final Words on Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition
Tomb Raider was last year and still is this year a great game game with fantastic visuals, solid development of the protagonist and gameplay, irrespective of what console you play on. By itself, the game serves as a standard for what an action platformer should be, and while the DLC costumes and maps may have been fairly unremarkable, the visual enhancements in the Definitive Edition only sweetened the deal and stayed true to its given “Definitive Edition”. This release highlighted that Crystal Dynamics was dedicated to delivering fans an enhanced product for the higher price tag, opting to not go down the route they could have and just done a standard port.
I dislike comparison articles that end with a vague response, therefore I committed myself upon starting this review to answer the question:
“Is there better value in picking up a last-generation console release at a cheaper price or going with the new Definitive Edition release?”
While there are factors such as personal preferences and owned consoles, unless the disparity between the prices is minimal, I would personally recommend the PS3 / Xbox360 release. The PS4 / Xbox One edition looks prettier, but asides from that there is little in the way of new to warrant another playthrough.
