The PC version is about twice as big, so I’m assuming there are higher res textures in that one.
Other than that, this is definitely something to get on the console. Really works well on a dual stick controller.
Grabbed this as well, it’s rather good.
Which we have on the PC as well ;)
Has anyone managed to disable that fire trap in under 30 seconds yet? 'Cause I’m stumped.
Edit: ah, found a tip video that gave me the edge I needed – rolling (with X) is faster than running.
Rolling is your best friend when getting into the heavier combat later in the game.
Bomb and roll!
I am loving this game so far. I played through the trial, which comprises the entire first level, and had no hesitation about buying it. I was a little bummed to see that Achievements I would’ve earned in the first level had I been playing the full version did not unlock after I bought it, but whatever. I was planning to play through that first level again anyway.
The game has a great mix of shooting, platforming, puzzle solving and loot getting. It’s really exceeded my expectations so far.
Here’s why I’m loving this game:
On stage 2 once you cross the first broken bridge you can’t get back across because you don’t have a platform on that side to spear-jump to… or can you?
I noticed that the metal balls are practically launched if you put them on the edge of bombs so I took one and rolled it to the edge of the bridge and put a bomb on the side and climbed on top. One slight singe later and I’m across.
I’m surprised at how much I like this. Definitely need to drag a friend over and try out the coop.
The only thing that confuses me is how this isn’t a Tomb Raider game – it’s a game using the Tomb Raider: Underworld engine, done by the same people who worked on TR:U, reusing assets and music from previous Tomb Raider games, starring Lara Croft as she… raids tombs.
C’mon, guys, it looks, talks, smells, sounds, and tastes like a duck. It even hands out duck business cards.
What makes this not a Tomb Raider game other than Crystal Dynamics asserting that it isn’t?
I tried the demo of this last night and I think it could be the first XBLA game this year that I really just have to buy-it just felt like old-school fun for some reason, but without any of the frustration that used to entail. Very fun stuff, looking forward to getting it tonight.
It’s a marketing/branding thing. They said that from now on all the downloadable XBLA/PSN style “smaller” games will have Lara Croft in the title, which is to differentiate them from the full on AAA-titles you’ll see at retail, which will still have the Tomb Raider moniker.
It’s pretty forgiving, but still gives you a nice feeling of accomplishment when you pull off a tricky set of jumps. Not too many games balance that quite so well.
I guess that makes sense, but it seems like a sort of nitpicky distinction for them to make. Honestly, I like this better than the last full TR game I played, so it’s hard to see it hurting the TR brand in any way.
I think it’s because of the way they saw people get overloaded on the brand back in the early Tomb Raider days. If they called all of them Tomb Raider, people might get the same brand overload type of feeling.
Ugh. Another Tomb Raider game? Didn’t one just come out 6 months ago? That type of sentiment. It doesn’t matter if they’re all pretty good games, I think it’s a good idea to try to avoid the appearance of over-saturation. Now, whether calling the download-able titles Lara Croft will help avoid this feeling for consumers, I don’t know.
I cheesed some achievements by using a second controller (all but a few are simple to do on the first screen) and ended up nearly playing the entire first level again (tricky part at the end was probably doable but I wasn’t in the mood) and being super impressed with the dynamics of the grappling hook in particular when you have two people. Damn they need to release the online co-op soon. When very cool thing I discovered was all your unlocked items are tied to your gamertag so if you earned things in singleplayer and then started a new co-op game you’d have all your weapons/relics. Also worth noting is if only one person dies they just need to wait out a short count before they drop back in. Not that it really matters though considering the game appears to save every 10 feet and if you quit out of the game and return it puts you in the exact spot you quit at. Probably the most user friendly game I’ve played all year.
Rendering at a higher resolution doesn’t make the game one byte larger. Well, I suppose the code to tell it the render target resolutions might add a few bytes… but you get the idea.
If the models and textures and sounds are the same, your game wouldn’t need to be one whit larger to render at 2560x1600 than to render at 640x480. It uses a lot more video memory, but not storage space.
My guess: either the textures/models are actually higher resolution, or the 7GB is the “required HD space” but not how much room the game will take up. PC games always have requirements that you have more free space than the game’s actual size, for virtual memory and unpacking in the installer and so on and so forth.
I’m quite surprised by this game. It feels awesome in a completely unexpected way. The controls and camera angle remind me of Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance. But where Dark Alliance had these really annoying jumping parts in the dungeons in Act 1 that didn’t fit the game (and gladly were never repeated after Act 1), everything feels so good in this game, even the jumping.
I think Lara Croft is more limber and can jump farther than she could in any of her other adventures. But maybe it just seems that way because of the isometric view. Plus aiming and firing at enemies feels more natural here to me than it did in Dark Alliance, and even any of the Tomb Raider games. It all just feels good, like I said. It’s very surprising. I didn’t know that was possible from a Dark Alliance type of game.
I think this game should be Exhibit A to prove that a Diablo game could feel great on a console controller if done right. It doesn’t have to feel awkward like Sacred 2.
My biggest complaint is they got that super recognizable cartoon voice actor to voice Totec and it’s one step away from being Cam Clarke inappropriate. Not that it matters considering the story is completely unimportant beyond the bare framework of “You are chasing this guy trying to fix what you did”
I highly recommend getting the autoshotgun from the Level 2 score challenge, that thing rips.
Technically true, however running at higher resolutions means the same scene is being rendered using more pixels and thus calls for higher resolution textures to achieve a higher fidelity image the higher resolution is capable of. Just running the game at a higher resolution without appropriately sized textures wouldn’t necessarily result in a better visual experience.
Does any game have cross-platform co-op support? I wish this game did :(
Well it would be pretty worthless right now.
And not because of the lack of online co-op.
It is cross platform with every device that it is programmed for… i.e. the Xbox 360. Durrrrr
I’m about at the mid-point (keep stopping and trying to complete challenges) and I have more weapons on me than any game since Fallout 3.