This is the same game as Tomb Raider [2013].

[Luminaire]

Spoilers ahead:

As I stated in my Rise Of The Romb Raider review, this is the same game as the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot. The structure and major gameplay sequences are nearly identical, just in a different setting with a different anatgonist and some minor insights into Lara Croft's backstory thrown in. Let's go down the list:

• Our protagonist begins the game in a foreign land and gets caught in a dangerous scenario, having to run, swing, climb, and jump her way to safety.
  
  
• Once this prologue ends, emphasis is placed on needing to survive the night by finding food and shelter. Both games bring this up only once during the game's first hour - the survival elements are never revisited. This is one area I was hoping ROTR would expand upon (and I'm not talking about any DLC expansions, I mean in the main campaign).
  
  
• Shortly after this, Lara faces a threat in the form of wild animals - in Tomb Raider, it's a pack of wolves; in ROTR, it's a giant bear.
  
  
• Lara is hunted by a supernatural army who are only vaguely hinted at (and who you must sneak by in a stealth sequence nearly identical to the one in Tomb Raider) until the third act of the game when you fight them head-on in a very similar manner on a very similar battlefield.
  
  
• A friend / sidekick is kidnapped and Lara has to embark on a quest to rescue him (in Tomb Raider, it's Alex [the guy with the crush on Lara who gets trapped on a sinking ship and held hostage by Mathias's men]; in ROTR, it's Jonah who is abducted by Trinity.
  
  
• The final boss fight and the journey culminating in it play out in almost the exact same manner. You even finish off both bosses in a quick-time event.

These are all I can think of off the top of my head (not having played the original in over a year), but even the gunplay, puzzles, and platforming are near-identical, just refined a bit. That would be okay if Crystal Dynamics didn't so blatantly rip itself off, or even if they had a memorable story with good plot & character development, but that's lacking here (as is a sufficient backstory for Lara Croft; we only get pieces of it in a point & click, hour-long DLC episode). I still think game is very fun and well-made; it's just sad that the graphical upgrade was it's only substantial improvement over its predecessor and that Crystal Dynamics' leftovers are better than many other developers' main courses.

[Max Power]

You are absolutely correct.
I used to believe that I would love another Tomb Raider in a new context, even if the mechanics were the same; I was wrong.
It started off promising, with Lara continuing her expeditions. However, that's when it started falling short with the exact same formula, as you mentioned. From then on out, it was a grind-fest to finish the game. It's a cliche story without substance or character development. What's even worse is that they added twice the number of collictibles and challenges in order to make us feel like we're getting a 'bigger' game when they are trying to pad their hours with empty traversing.
Main missions aside, the DLC was so much more lacklustre. The 'Baba Yaga' story was much too short, too rushed and overall a chore with no satisfying twist or intrigue to the story or gameplay.
The 'Blood Ties' DLC was indeed a point and click adventure. Though the mystery behind her parents is intriguing, the mode does not add to the Lara Croft experience at all.
This whole package is definitely not worth the price, considering how the original goes for only $5 on sale and is practically identical.

I wouldn't have thought I'd be so eager to uninstall a franchise that I used to love. Crystal Dynamics knew that they weren't going to build upon their reboot, so they decided to milk what they had left.
Many companies have the curse of not being able to live up to the high expectations they had bestowed upon themselves with innovative and captivating original games. A few companies that suffer from this are Ubisoft, Telltale Games and 2K.
Unless they have a groundbreaking new feature to add to the following game, I expect Crystal Dynamics to fade away into obscurity once again.

[Luminaire]

Yep. The main campaign is padded to the brim with grindfests that trick the player into thinking there is more content than there actually is, and the story is terribly mediocre and unmemorable. Lara Croft in particular has the potential to be such a strong character, which is important as there are so few portrayals of complex women in videogames and Lara Croft is a pop culture icon, but Crystal Dynamics really dropped the ball in that regard. Yes, she's a physically tough, resilient woman, a sort of female Indiana Jones, but what made her that way? What shaped her and made her into the woman she is? The reaction she had to first killing a person in Tomb Raider [2013] provided so much more insight into her character than anything else in the series; ROTR just has forced, ill-fitting flashbacks which do nothing to develop her character or backstory.

I purchased both the Baba Yaga and Blood Ties DLC (on sale, thankfully), and I completely agree. Complete waste of money. I tried getting a refund, but unfortunately, I had continued playing the main campaign after both episodes, so those hours got logged and did not reflect the actual time I spent on the DLC as they're not separated in your Steam library.

I really hope the next entry in the Tomb Raider reboot saga doesn't use this same plot template in a different setting with some minor changes again; if so, Crystal Dynamics may as well come out with a new Tomb Raider game every November and turn the franchise into a Call Of Duty or Battlefield type of affair, because that's what it's dangerously close to becoming.

[Artoriaz]

Publicado originalmente por Luminaire:

Yep. The main campaign is padded to the brim with grindfests that trick the player into thinking there is more content than there actually is, and the story is terribly mediocre and unmemorable. Lara Croft in particular has the potential to be such a strong character, which is important as there are so few portrayals of complex women in videogames and Lara Croft is a pop culture icon, but Crystal Dynamics really dropped the ball in that regard. Yes, she's a physically tough, resilient woman, a sort of female Indiana Jones, but what made her that way? What shaped her and made her into the woman she is? The reaction she had to first killing a person in Tomb Raider [2013] provided so much more insight into her character than anything else in the series; ROTR just has forced, ill-fitting flashbacks which do nothing to develop her character or backstory.

I purchased both the Baba Yaga and Blood Ties DLC (on sale, thankfully), and I completely agree. Complete waste of money. I tried getting a refund, but unfortunately, I had continued playing the main campaign after both episodes, so those hours got logged and did not reflect the actual time I spent on the DLC as they're not separated in your Steam library.

I really hope the next entry in the Tomb Raider reboot saga doesn't use this same plot template in a different setting with some minor changes again; if so, Crystal Dynamics may as well come out with a new Tomb Raider game every November and turn the franchise into a Call Of Duty or Battlefield type of affair, because that's what it's dangerously close to becoming.

The next game is supposedly developed by eidos montreal and not Crystal Dynamics so it will probably have a different approach. Also the lead writer for both games has gone so we should get a much more diverse story in the next and hopfully they add some interesting characters next time.

[Mr Fister]

This belongs in reviews.

[Luminaire]

Publicado originalmente por Luna Wolf:

This belongs in reviews.

Says who? This topic is worth discussing, especially when people have input like this:

Publicado originalmente por JonathanWhiting13:

The next game is supposedly developed by eidos montreal and not Crystal Dynamics so it will probably have a different approach. Also the lead writer for both games has gone so we should get a much more diverse story in the next and hopfully they add some interesting characters next time.

[Mr Fister]

Publicado originalmente por Luminaire:

Publicado originalmente por Luna Wolf:

This belongs in reviews.

Says who? This topic is worth discussing, especially when people have input like this:

Publicado originalmente por JonathanWhiting13:

The next game is supposedly developed by eidos montreal and not Crystal Dynamics so it will probably have a different approach. Also the lead writer for both games has gone so we should get a much more diverse story in the next and hopfully they add some interesting characters next time.

Says myself and the forum rules. Because it is by deffinition a review. Also you may and people do discuss said reviews in the comments section of the review.

[Sunwave]

Though the first point is absolutely dumb to make, since that is the POINT OF THE GAME SERIES, I have to agree with the rest of your points. I still liked the game very much, but they didn't show a lot of ingenuity in creating a unique story. They improved a lot of points, but they didn't add a whole lot of newness to it. Well, I guess they went with the "If it sells..." mindset. I wasn't really bothered by that, though. If I want a great story I'll play an RPG.

[Luminaire]

Publicado originalmente por Sunwave:

Though the first point is absolutely dumb to make, since that is the POINT OF THE GAME SERIES, I have to agree with the rest of your points. I still liked the game very much, but they didn't show a lot of ingenuity in creating a unique story. They improved a lot of points, but they didn't add a whole lot of newness to it. Well, I guess they went with the "If it sells..." mindset. I wasn't really bothered by that, though. If I want a great story I'll play an RPG.

I meant point #1 in its specificity (the opening sequences in both games are remarkably similar with the hanging and swinging on a rope, falling down a section of land on which you navigate by sliding in the same exact way, running from falling land [in the first game, a cave-in; in the second, an avalanche]) and not the overall experience. That is why I say in point #2, "Once this prologue ends..." I should've worded it less generally, but it is not a dumb point.

I agree that you don't play Tomb Raider games for their story or characters, but it absolutely doesn't hurt to have an engaging plot and at least a couple compelling characters to follow, and it really isn't difficult to do. Game developers spend so much money on production, the least they could do is hire writers who are equally competent as everyone else on the project.

[Sunwave]

Well making the story/characters more engaging wouldn't hurt at all. If they had done that, it would have been a great game instead of just a good game. As I said, I agree with the rest of your points. They're not the biggest issues, but they're certainly issues that make the game less than it could have been.

Still not sure if I agree with the "prologue feels the same" thing. The previous one was more horror-oriented and pretty slow, with a puzzle in it and action at the end. This one was a more awe-inspiring and quick one, dialogue/exposition with action at the end. Only the ending part (running on the crumbling land) seemed similar to me.

[General Iffy]

Eh. Why would anyone be surprised by that. Most movies these days are just rehashes reboots and soft reboots of existing IP's. The Force Awakens was basically a scene for scene copy of A New Hope and Empire.

[Luminaire]

Publicado originalmente por Iffy the Bothan Booty:

Eh. Why would anyone be surprised by that. Most movies these days are just rehashes reboots and soft reboots of existing IP's. The Force Awakens was basically a scene for scene copy of A New Hope and Empire.

I'm not surprised by it, just upset that this has become so commonplace that most of the people who do notice it just accept it.

[jacobvandy]

I don't really mind the re-hashed themes, although in the latter half of the game there was an amusing disconnect between the supposed urgency of story events and my desire to explore newly-discovered open world areas. "The bad guys are coming, you must hurry!" Shut up, I'm gonna take an hour looking around and finding shinies. :P

[Attuoz]

See the difference between system requirements. New game engine, better graphics. Gameplay also changed. Press c to drop instead of shift, use l mouse button for robe instead of middle. And a few more i can't remember now. As long as they improve, i am fine with it.

[Sunwave]

Publicado originalmente por Turan:

See the difference between system requirements. New game engine, better graphics. Gameplay also changed. Press c to drop instead of shift, use l mouse button for robe instead of middle. And a few more i can't remember now. As long as they improve, i am fine with it.

Better graphics hardly makes a better game. There was no NEW gameplay (only improved on existing concepts), and a few new keybinds doesn't count at all as a difference. Please tell me this was a sarcastic post... =/

[Mr Fister]

Publicado originalmente por Sunwave:

Publicado originalmente por Turan:

See the difference between system requirements. New game engine, better graphics. Gameplay also changed. Press c to drop instead of shift, use l mouse button for robe instead of middle. And a few more i can't remember now. As long as they improve, i am fine with it.

Better graphics hardly makes a better game. There was no NEW gameplay (only improved on existing concepts), and a few new keybinds doesn't count at all as a difference. Please tell me this was a sarcastic post... =/

Hey if you sit on here and cry long enough maybe you can afford better games.