Tomb Raider, Square Enix/Crystal Dynamics (2013)
Although I am enormous fan of the Tomb Raider series, I enjoyed this year's reboot for reasons that have nothing to do with Tomb Raider.
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For a start, the motion-captured protagonist was immensely fun to control. She felt satisfyingly heavy to control and interacted believably with her environment. The action was tactile and fun, making the exploration hugely enjoyable rather than a chore. I liked the fact that she was a woman, and looked like one. Never have I felt more like I was controlling a person, rather than a video game character.
The environments were impressively diverse for a game set entirely a single island. Many of them, particularly the abandoned bunkers and the beach, reminded me of the ex-MOD wastelands and abandoned warships that marked the naval port landscape where I grew up.
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The things I loved about TombRaider series up until this point (lots of puzzles and minimal combat) weren't really present in this game, to the point where it didn't feel like a Tomb Raider game at all. But that didn't stop me massively enjoying it, being thrilled by the ending or playing it three times in a row as soon as I got it home..
Although I am enormous fan of the Tomb Raider series, I enjoyed this year's reboot for reasons that have nothing to do with Tomb Raider.
For a start, the motion-captured protagonist was immensely fun to control. She felt satisfyingly heavy to control and interacted believably with her environment. The action was tactile and fun, making the exploration hugely enjoyable rather than a chore. I liked the fact that she was a woman, and looked like one. Never have I felt more like I was controlling a person, rather than a video game character.
The environments were impressively diverse for a game set entirely a single island. Many of them, particularly the abandoned bunkers and the beach, reminded me of the ex-MOD wastelands and abandoned warships that marked the naval port landscape where I grew up.
The things I loved about TombRaider series up until this point (lots of puzzles and minimal combat) weren't really present in this game, to the point where it didn't feel like a Tomb Raider game at all. But that didn't stop me massively enjoying it, being thrilled by the ending or playing it three times in a row as soon as I got it home..