Tomb Rider (2012)

[fragger]

 ???? How did you know that?

I've done some of those (there's quite a few different ones), I plan to go back after a bit and try and do what I haven't done yet. Cheers though :)

There are some cool things you can learn or upgrade too, such as upgrading you bow to shoot flaming arrows (sound familiar? :-()) and attach ropes to arrows to essentially make your own zip lines. Those are only allowed in certain places though, where there is a particular kind of surface to aim at (a little like the proper type of wall to aim at in Portal) and a nearby post to attach your end of the rope to.

There's quite a bit to keep one occupied outside of the story. I do miss the puzzle-solving though, I must admit. There's precious little of it in this, it's much more of an actioner than previous TRs.

[Art Blade]

I know that because I watched at least half a playthrough on YouTube and mentioned that earlier ;)

[fragger]

Of course :)

This game is actually bigger then I was expecting, I've been at it for a week or so and I'm about 70% through it. And that's not counting all the stuff that I can go back and look for if I want, and I've missed a fair bit. Replay value? Yeah, there is some. There are different ways you can go regarding skilling up and upgrading stuff, and there are three difficulty levels (which you can change mid-game). I could play through it again two or three more times, after a bit of a hiatus.

I gained a neat new skill today (one of many). If a bad guy gets too close, I can dodge him, throw a handful of dirt in his face and then sink my climbing axe into his neck while he's trying to get the dirt out of his eyes. Pretty cool. I can now also shoot arrows with explosive tips in addition to the flaming ones, just like that dude on Rook Island does ;) There are other weapons - an automatic pistol, a pump-action shottie and an assault rifle which can be fitted with a grenade launcher once you find it. All weps are upgradable once you find the parts and/or get the dough (compare the bow Lara's carrying in the first pic below to the primitive affair I started with). There are lots of upgrades.

Had to happen - killed my first boss today, this heavily-armoured bad boy who was built like The Hulk and had an attitude to match. The "rope ascender" is a bit of hardware I took off him which allows me to motor my way up ziplines instead of having to pull myself up hand over hand. I can now also fire an arrow with rope attached at certain heavy objects and use the ascender to pull them either towards me or out of the way.

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Lara channels Carrie :-() I love the lighting effects in TR. The blue light is actually flashing intermittently and is being cast by an arcing, damaged electrical box, and the water is casting rippling light reflections onto the walls. Looks sensational.

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And this is cool. When Lara wades through water, she makes waves and ripples that behave quite realistically. I know I've said it before, but I'm really impressed with the water effects in this 8)

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"Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the fairest - uh, forget it".

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[PZ]

...Had to happen - killed my first boss today...

I know how much you love the boss sequences fragger 

Even though I knew of the boss sequence in FC3, I still dreaded the moment that I arrived at the detestable point in the game.

[fragger]

 :)

The first time I saw that boss thing in FC3 I thought, "You've got to be kidding..." ::)

[PZ]

You got to that point in the game before I did, and at first I did not want to believe it was true.  After expecting an extension of the at least somewhat realistic game play FC2 to be evident in FC3, I did not want to see any kind of boss sequence.

[Art Blade]

The first time I saw that boss thing in FC3 I thought, "You've got to be kidding..." ::)

I thought, "f@#k."

[PZ]

 

That stupid boss reminded me of a ridiculous "B" rated movie called "Gargoyles" with Cornel Wilde.  The boss (gargoyle) is on the cover

[fragger]

I'm getting there, about 93% complete. I spent quite some time going back to try finding all the stuff I'd missed. I've got nearly all of it now, except for a redcap mushroom hidden somewhere in a forest (got 9 out of 10 of them), a mummified body hanging in a bag somewhere in a bunch of smelly caves which I have to find and set alight, and a little sun-shaped totem hidden somewhere in an abandoned Japanese research complex. Some of this stuff is really hard to locate, you need to look into every nook and cranny.

I think I'm almost at the end of the story, but at some point soon I think I'm going to have to deal with this badass boss who's built like Solomon Grundy on steroids but wears ancient Samurai armour and wields a heavy duty metal club which wouldn't look out of place hanging off the saddle of the Witch King of Angmar's ride. I've seen this dude a couple of times during the game but so far haven't been required to try kicking his armoured bum - which would be no mean feat considering it's higher off the ground than Lara's head.

Bosses. How I love them...

[Art Blade]

 :)
You'll manage eventually, fragger.. then rip off his self-inflated pighead and relieve yourself down his open neck. Just to put emphasis on how much you appreciated him. :-D

[fragger]

I think I'll do just that >:D