Eurogamer Expo: Hands on with Tomb Raider
Words by: Dave Moran | Posted: 8 months ago | Filed under: Eurogamer 2012, Previews.
Having played every Tomb Raider ever it’s pretty obvious that I’m a bit of a fan. When I heard about the direction that Crystal Dynamics was taking the series I was intrigued but very excited. Today I finally got my hands on the game and left wanting more.
This isn’t the Lara Croft we have all become accustomed to but at the same time she isn’t to be underestimated. The demo begins and Lara isn’t in a good way she needs to find her way to shelter and she needs to find some food.
The environment around her looks incredible and the way Lara interacts with is something I have never seen before, a narrow cliff face needs navigating, she lightly touches the wall with her fingers as she slowly moves along the ledge the way she slides down verges and handles jump look so impressive. You are drawn in by her fear of trying to negotiate larger jumps or balancing her way across fallen tree trunks.
Eventually she comes across some belongings including a box of matches, and a walkie-talkie, but there is no response. She needs to move on especially as a huge storm strikes and the rain begins to fall. You can now see she is shivering and she needs to find shelter fast. It’s no long before she does, under a rock face and it looks like someone else had the same idea as the is evidence of people having already camped there. She gets a fire started and down for the night.
After spending the night in a makeshift shelter, it’s time to explore our immediate surroundings. After making our way down a short incline, we find ourselves in a huge forest. An objective pops up, find food, after some more exploring she finds a hut and an alarming discovery, a hanging corpse tied by their feet, with a bow and arrow on their back. Lara finds a way up to get the weapon and you are then shown how to use it, you find a deer and after my two poorly placed shots it’s been felled. This is the first thing Lara has killed, she is apologetic as she puts the animal out of its misery, it’s not going to be the last time she is going to be violent, this time it’s all about survival.
It’s hard to put into words just how impressed I was with this game, but I really was. The biggest shame is that we have to wait so long for release, this is a day one purchase for me.
About Dave Moran
Dave is Xboxer's Community Manager and has been with the team since October 2011. When he isn't changing nappies or learning the latest songs on Cbeebies you'll find him taking the world on at FIFA or bouncing around on Kinect games.
