The final piece in the Tomb Raider Rebooted trilogy slots into place like an ancient key fitting into an Mesopotamian lock, but does it hold the same kind of wonders inside you ask? Join me as I travel to the Peruvian rainforest on an Xbox One X to find out…
Of course with this being the third game and the climax of the trilogy, you know that they had go down a darker more “EPIC!” path, and I’ll be gosh darned if they didn’t do just that. Set in the Peruvian jungles as Lara Croft tries to stop an apocalypse that she’s pretty much responsible for, whilst at the same time balancing the fact that her actions have consequences and the overall morality of what she’s doing. I’ll be honest, it’s a pretty decent story that mixes elements of horror and flashbacks to create a good level of anticipation and tension.
Gameplay-wise if you’ve played any of the previous games in the Reboot series then you’ve played Shadow. It doesn’t innovate in that sense, but the gameplay has been pretty good so keeping the climbing and adventuring the same that it isn’t detrimental to the game. One big innovation though is the ability to fully swim underwater, and whilst underwater levels are often the worst part of any game, in Shadow‘s case it’s probably one of the best parts of the game. Being underwater is honestly fantastic and having the full realm of controls is like stepping into a new world; a world that’s terrifying and beautiful and the most panic-inducing thing I’ve been part of.
As well as all the exploration gameplay, there’s also the combat gameplay and I can’t remember a game that’s as brutal when it comes to murdering anyone in your way. You are literally a one-woman killing machine! You can set traps for goons to aimlessly wander into, or shoot them with venom-imbued arrows or even take a your pickaxe and slam it right into their chest if you feel so inclined. For me though, the greatest thing to do is to cover yourself in mud so no one can see you and pretend like you’re Arnie and every bad guy is a Predator that you need to kill in the most horrific way possible.
The final piece to gameplay is of course the puzzles because you can’t have a Tomb Raider without a whole load of confusing puzzles set in big old tombs. Shadow doesn’t disappoint in this respect as there are puzzles aplenty littered throughout the story itself, but more importantly, making a welcome return in the form of the tombs themselves. The tombs are great, being a mission in exploration because you actually have to find them and then a lesson in patience as some of them can get pretty tough as you get further into the game.
Finally let’s have a look at graphics. Shadow of the Tomb Raider is a beautiful looking game that looks great no matter what your playing on, but I found that using the High Frame Rate mode on the Xbox One X made the game run fantastically if you have a Full HD TV making the game run at around 60fps (frames per second) in Full HD. If you own a 4K UHD TV though you can turn it High resolution mode and experience the game in 4K UHD with a frame rate of around 30fps. Either one of these is great but I had so much fun using the Xbox One X’s CPU boost to get the game running in 4K to really show case just how good the game is at shadows and darkness.
If you’re a fan of the Tomb Raider franchise then I say pick this up and even if you’re not, it’s a still a solid game even if it can be a bit intense at certain points.
Author: Hal, Plymouth store
