The new Tomb Raider is on the top of many a gamer's "Best Game of E3" lists. This time, Lara doesn't flaunt the sex appeal like in previous adventures; instead, we see a darker, more brutal, unsure side of miss Croft that we really haven't seen before. Heck, the very first thing she does in the game is burns off a strait jacket, falls two stories after being hung upside-down from her ankles, and gets impaled on a metal spike. She then rips it out of her body with her bare hands before continuing to escape the horrible catacombs she has been imprisoned in. And it only gets more awesome from there.
Most of the demo we were shown was a replay of the stage demo we saw at the Microsoft press conference. Lara wandered through the makeshift hovels that were set up in the caves, and her creepy dreadlocked captors attempted to capture her once more and/or kill her good and dead. However, we were also shown some more puzzle-solving elements as well, which looked almost as if they'd been pulled straight out of a Portal game rather than a Tomb Raider installment.
Here is an example: As Lara swims through some flooded caverns, she finds a room filled with refuse and a rope holding up a gate. Earlier in the demo, we were taught that floating debris can be lit on fire, and we used this floating debris to burn ropes at the ends of small streams. The problem is that the only fire available is on the other side of a waterfall, and if you send flaming wreckage through the waterfall, it will just extinguish the flames. Instead, you'll have to find a way to get some refuse into a cage that is set up near a steel chute before lighting it on fire. Then you'll tilt the cage, sending the flaming trash down the chute. It will pop out on the other side of the waterfall, burning the rope and letting you move onward. Complicated? Not really. But it's certainly fun. You get this "Aha! Eureka!" moment every time you successfully solve a puzzle, just like you do in Portal. You're just using flaming trash and deadly spikes instead of portal guns and tractor beams.
After we reached the end of the stage demo, Square fast-forwarded the game a little to show us Croft's eventual base camp. This makeshift base of operations is situated in the middle of the mysterious island she is stuck on and acts as a hub world for the rest of the game's content. The different exits from base camp sent her on different missions, each one rated with a different difficulty. Aside from story missions, she also had numerous side missions she could go on, although we weren't shown any. We were told that each would give her rewards that would help her on her main quest, but just what those rewards are remains a secret.
Here we met Lara's companion Roth who, after an unfortunate fight with some wolves, seems to have decided that he likes his bones on the outside of his leg rather than the inside. Lara tries to patch him up, but the damage is too great. Roth eventually passes out, but not before telling us that the wolves took a much-needed emergency transmitter and survival pack. Lara then sets out, leaving the hub world behind to find the transmitter. What ensues is another spelunking journey deep into caves with wolves on your tail. This section of gameplay had many more stealth elements than the stage demo (fewer quick time events as well). Lara snuck into the cave and managed to avoid being spotted while we heard the hungry growling of wolves in the background. Eventually she finds the transmitter and tosses stealth aside, choosing instead to book it out of the cave before anything else decided she would make a great snack.
She also used a bow and arrow along the way, which seemed like a pretty straightforward ranged weapon. The combat in the game isn't as cut-and-dry as it was in previous Tomb Raider titles. You will have to stay on your toes or get your face eaten off by wild animals. An ambush by a deadly enemy might just kill you outright.
After she patched up Roth, we were shown the last piece of the demo, the menu system. Unfortunately, all we really saw was the top menu, as each individual menu had not yet been designed. We were told that here, at base camp, Lara will be able to spend experience and money (or whatever the equivalent may be) to increase her abilities, manage her inventory, and even build up the base camp itself. Lara has limited inventory space on missions, so you will also store the rest of your weapons here.
Overall, we are pretty hyped for the next coming of Tomb Raider. This game is so much more than a cheesy attempt at sex appeal. Lara is a real person, and she is going through real trials here. Frankly, I think the designers did a great job turning Lara into a real action hero, rather than just a pair of breasts on a stick. I hope to see more of the awesome heroine in the future.
By Angelo M. D’Argenio
CCC Contributing Writer
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