Lara Croft’s renaissance a crowning achievement
LARA Croft’s renaissance continues with the ultimate instalment in the latest and greatest Tomb Raider trilogy: Shadow of the Tomb Raider. The trilogy has thus far put a modern spin on an iconic character, remoulding Lara into a headstrong but troubled heroine that possesses an introspective quality that was never really developed in any of the past games.
What has not changed, however, is the series’ devotion to bombastic, borderline silly storylines that nonetheless will have you welded to the edge of your seat. Shadow of the Tomb Raider is focussed on an impending apocalypse, one that Lara can prevent by finding an ancient item located somewhere in the depths of South America.
There is another, concurrent storyline that is orders of magnitude more delicate, turning inwards and examining Lara’s inability to let go of obsession. It truly is a never-explored facet of Lara Croft and adds some surprisingly poignant context to her transition from child to remorseless killer.
One of the greatest things about Shadow of the Tomb Raider is that it leans much more towards the original series of Tomb Raider games than its modern counterparts in terms of gameplay. Actual firefights are largely eschewed in favour of lonely traversal through incredible set pieces and a heavy focus on exploration.
The element of verticality in the level design introduced through the new rappel and overhang mechanics truly elevate Shadow of the Tomb Raider to the absolute best Tomb Raider title in terms of both level design and puzzle difficulty. Shadow of the Tomb Raider is by no means easy but neither is it unfairly difficult, resulting in an exhilerating sense of reward from besting any of the tombs in its 25-hour run time.
The world of Shadow of the Tomb Raider is simply immense. Built around all of the tombs is a huge open world teeming with detail and life. Exploring crypts and caves will reward the player in the form of outfits and animals but the incentive to do this will likely fade quickly as the you realise that Lara’s skill tree and weapon collection are easily filled through completing story missions and tombs alone.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider is probably the greatest instalment in the Tomb Raider series so far and almost certainly Eidos’ crowning achievement. Some gripes with the open-world section of the game are easily ignored due to the near-perfection of the gameplay and storyline.