uncharted – Matheus Pitillo

Tomb Raider

Release Date: March 05, 2013
Developer: Crystal Dynamics / Eidos Studios - Montreal
Publisher: Square-Enix
Genre: Action
Plataform: PlayStation 3 / Xbox 360 / Microsoft Windows

Lara Croft is iconic for a number of people around the world since she first appeared 17 years ago. Often times we would hear a woman with a strong personality be compared with the famous Lara Croft. And at some point, woman started to actually try to achieve that. Lara is the whole package: intelligent, strong, sexy, rich and powerful; so why women would not want to be like her? And for men she was more than strong, she was also a sex symbol that was cultivated for generations, from the digital world until Angelina Jolie donned the famous persona. (That, by the way, the blood river scene in the game was suppose to be a reference to Angelina Jolie in Beowulf? LOL.)

But this time in the new Tomb Raider, this is not the Lara Croft that we have come to know. Ok, she is still sexy, very good looking and can still do some gravity-defying acrobatics; but now Lara is young, inexperienced, vulnerable, naive and in some moments even too dramatic. All that she wants is to go back home and leave behind all the nightmare that she starts to face, but of course, this is not an option.

A SURVIVOR IS BORN

I would be lying if I don't admit that my first impressions of the game was totally incoherent with the rest of my game experience. If you were expecting to play a little bit before the whole "ship accident" happens, you are totally wrong - I was wrong too! - The game starts exactly with the same cinematic that we have seen countless times since Tomb Raider was first announced long ago. You don't have time to connect yourself and gain affection with the other characters of the ship Endurance. The game just starts: BOOOM! And you are trapped in the middle of a creepy cavern. Why would you want to risk your life to save someone that wasn't even introduced to you - as a player - in the game? That was my first bad impression. And unfortunately, this impression was followed by the next moments in the beginning of the game.

Since the cavern moment was the first part of the game, they try to make it so spectacular that they actually don't think about how the "new" Lara Croft would be able to face all the obstacles she faces inside the cave. We know that the whole game idea is to focus in how the little girl grows up and turns into a strong woman, but if Lara still needs to grow, how believable is it that, even in the first minutes of the game, Lara would be able to do all that she does? I just think that if they wanted to make her evolve, then allow a little more time for that. All this should be presented and learned with time, when she finally see herself as a Survivor. And not as the old heroin right from the start. (...) Besides that? The rest of the game is incredible and my opinion totally changed right after the first 20 minutes of gameplay.

The whole game runs around the idea of putting Lara Croft into situations that will test her limits. She is a Survivor and to keep alive she needs to defend herself by killing people, learning how to hunt animals, as well as exploring, climbing and hiding in different environments. The game also offers a cool "Survivor Instinct" option in which, when used, it makes the game screen black and white, highlighting only objective direction, items, enemies and animals. It's almost like the Eagle Vision in Assassin's Creed, working pretty well.

STORY AND ENVIRONMENTS

In search for the lost Japanese civilization of Yamatai, Lara convince the Endurance Crew to enter the Dragon's Triangle, an area renowned for causing ships to disappear. And, of course, the Endurance is added to this list by facing a huge storm and crashing in the island. When Lara wakes up in the beach, she is attacked right after, starting the whole cavern first game sequence. After the first minutes of the game you start to understand that the habitants of the island are in search of a woman sacrifice to resurrect the Sun Queen, Himiko. And guess what? Samantha - Lara's friend - is the one chosen.

The plot may seem to be a little bit weak or cliché, but actually it works pretty well. With some twists of magic and legends, and with some mature and gore content, all the island and each single environment compliments the game in an amazing way.

The environments' representation are amazing and it varies a lot during the game. There are forests, beaches, tombs, snow areas and everything that you could expect. The lighting matches according to those environments, creating even more an appropriate atmosphere. When it is raining you can see the lightning illuminating the environment, while the rain actually affects the game camera, making us believe that we are part of that world.

SOME ELEMENTS OF THE CLASSIC GAMES

So, here we are with this new Lara and the question arises: Does she faces puzzles and explore tombs like before? Does she like it? Well, if she likes I'm not so sure, considering that in a moment of the game she actually says that she hates tombs. But that does not means that she will not explore some of those. In this Tomb Raider the player has the option to find and explore different tombs - in a total of 7 of them - Upon completing it you are rewarded with some item and XP points, as well as a Treasure Map for an area on the island, helping the player to identify certain items.

Most all of the puzzles are presented in those optional tombs. Out of that, the player will probably face 3 or 4 different puzzle situations, which makes me feel as though they could have added more and increased the difficulty a little bit. I can count on one hand the number of times that I actually had difficulty with one puzzle in the game.

The relic viewer mode is also here. The player can find and collect relics around the game and, by doing that, you can visualize it by close, zoom in, rotating and even trying to find some extra clue. Those clues do not affect the gameplay itself, but give extra information to the main plot. By collecting relics you are rewarded with XP.

And finally, Lara Croft is still a very fast and light character, that can jump very far, hang in platforms, climb and shoot.

NEW ELEMENTS FOR A NEW GENERATION

What would be good new features for the game? Surprisingly - for me at least - the upgrades are one of the nicest part of the game. By collecting relics, killing enemies with headshot, finding treasures in tombs or even reaching new environments, the player will be rewarded with XP. Accessing one of the camps, the player can exchange those XP for a number of new abilities to Lara, increasing from Hunting Skills to Fighting Skills.

Another upgrade system is related with the weapons and gears. By collecting Salvage - destroying boxes or getting from enemy bodies - you can use it to upgrade your weapons. Sometimes you need more than Salvage to get the weapon to another level. In this case, the player will need to find more parts of the respective weapon, usually by collecting the treasures that you can find in each optional tomb. In the end, both upgrade system works very well and it's not annoying or hard to understand. Actually the game makes me want to collect everything, just to be able to upgrade my equipments and skills and this is something new for me.

The hunting is one of the newest element in this game, but also the most stupid. The idea of it is pretty nice, but the execution went very bad. Right in the beginning of the game you are "forced" to hunt a deer, to learn how to do it and how to collect something from their body. But the problem is that after this first time, you can play the whole game without ever having to hunt again. It turns something totally unnecessary and with no purpose, considering that Lara Croft does not have a hunger bar or anything like that.

LEVEL DESIGN AND GAMEPLAY

I had loads of fun by playing Tomb Raider. Maybe because it features various elements that are present in two of my favourite game series: Uncharted and Assassin's Creed.

Uncharted by following the recipe of integrating many cinematic sequences while you have a total in-game control, loads of enemies appearing all the time, incredible combat situations, explosions, different types of gameplay - like the one in the parachute or in the waterfall - and a charismatic character. And Assassin's Creed by considering a whole area that you can "free" explore, quick travelling between camps and even with some screen glitches.

The gameplay and controls work in a very smooth way. Everything is very intuitive and clear. It's fun to use Lara's Bow, trying to kill the enemies while keeping yourself in a stealth approach. That was actually one of my favourites part of the game: the use of the Bow.

While the gameplay gives us a very good experience, the Level Design tends to try to convince us of a fake freedom. As I said before, some elements remind me of Assassin's Creed, when you see that you are surrounded by this big map, full of choices and directions to go. But all this freedom is broken by following the right path in the game. The player ends up needing to follow ahead to the next point, moving on with the right direction, not actually giving choices to the player. They tried to sell us a free experience, but in my opinion is just a linear Uncharted Level Design, with clear objectives and directions. Well, not that I am complaining. At least I didn't get lost.

IN THE WAITING FOR THE NEXT ONES

Finally, Tomb Raider did a good job in returning to this generation, promising something new and fun to play. With a large and beautiful environment, super exciting gameplay moments and cinematics, it seems that they finally got the right choices for the game and we are assuming that next ones will come soon. It will be interesting to imagine what new ideas and features can come. And, if they accomplish at least half of what this Tomb Raider offered to us, I'm pretty sure it will be another success.

My Personal Score: 4.5/5

[button type="icon" icon="paper"]Written by Matheus Pitillo.[/button]

Published by Matheus Pitillo in Reviews

Tags: 2013, Action, Blood and Gore, Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Studios, game, Matheus Pitillo, Multiplatform, PC, PS3, review, Square-Enix, Tomb Raider, uncharted, Video Game, Xbox 360

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

Release Date: November 1, 2011
Developer: Naughty Dog
Publisher: SCEA
Genre: Action
Plataform: PlayStation 3

When we play Uncharted 1 for the very first time, we feel the sensation that we never saw a game with such a amazing graphics and scenarios full of so realistic nature. Then comes Uncharted 2, which can offer to you graphics even better and with a so distinct narrative that we never saw in a game before, as they can present to you the story in the same time that you are playing and controlling your game character. And finally, when we are thinking in how Naughty Dog could give to us a new Uncharted with a lot of surprising things like the old ones, we will never expected that would be this all. However we could find that the game would be great, we would not expect how much he really was amazing. And that's why I'm always saying that Naughty Dog is one of the most incredible game companies that I know until now, and of course, like me, must have another thousands of people dreaming to work there someday.

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception have the same initial plot focused on something that is always in the games of the series. Nathan Drake is in search of lost treasure in a mysterious land in the middle of ~~nothing~~ desert and for that, he have the presence of his inseparable friend Victor Sullivan. But even coming with the same cliche as always, this time we notice that the main objective of his search in the story is not exactly just the treasure, but actually the answers for some unsolved questions that Nate are carrying for so long. The story is much more! Is about Nathan's life, his feelings, what he believes and how proud he can be, at the point of risk his and his friends lifes.

In some way we have two opposite opinions here. This screenplay is one of the most vague of all, or one of the most strong? I’m saying that because differently from the other previous two games, you never feel that you are really searching for the treasure. Of course you are going to find tips of how to find the correct place that the treasure are, you are dealing with enemies that want the same as you, and you are risking your life for that. But during all the story, I don’t feel that the main characters really want to find the precious treasure, like in the old games. And that’s why I’m here questioning myself if it is something good or not. Since in all the others games of the series we are always seeing the same plot. It looks like that Amy Hennig - game director and script writer of Naughty Dog - finally made a story that absorbs players into something more intimate and exciting.

The Little Thief
Soon after the first scene of the game - which by the way is set in a Pub in London - in the end of the first chapter, we are led to the first steps of Nathan as a little thief and treasure hunter. We can control the Nathan of 20 years ago through the colourful streets of Colombia, and better understand how his childhood was influenced for everything and how he met Sullivan and started his friendship in a uncommon way.

It's interesting to learn how was Nathan's life, and all the difficulties that he passed. And it's amazing to see how the story take all the old characters of the old games and put then together in a natural way.

One new character is presented too, and she is the villain of Drake's Deception. Her name is Marlowe and she's in Nate's childhood too. Marlowe was the first woman villain in Uncharted series, and she can be both a manipulative woman, also a person who cares about Nate in some strange ways. She want to find the same treasure that Nate are searching for 20 years ago.

Visual richness in all aspects
Every time Naughty Dog focuses on a different main ambiance. The first two games we were surprised with a great realistic nature, water and ice scenarios, respectively. This time, graphically, we can see that they made a big upgrade with more realistic scenarios, and presenting for the first time one huge desert full of sand effects. With all references that the team searched for, they were capable to create realistic real time sand physics, presenting exactly how the sand reacts when someone walks on it. It's amazing and indescribable when Nate walks around the desert, trying to stand firm and survive while walking with no direction.

The Level Design team had a lot of research based in all scenarios to make them the most realistic possible. Every detail has been thoroughly studied, able to create a very realistic atmosphere for every place. They visited cities such as Cartagena, in Colombia, Pubs in London and even castles in Syria, to create the most realistic possible the new scenarios of the game. And the result that they had have been really impressive. The wealth of detail is such that reminds me some times the game Assassin's Creed, but with brighter and more vibrant colours.

But as if that's not enough, Drake's Deception can impress us even more with all the light effects and render, that we had never seen in PS3 game so far. It's impossible to don't agree that we feel like we are seeing a playable hollywood action movie in real time.

Barbie, the new generation
If have something that Nathan doesn't cease to do in Drake's Deception is to change his clothes. I was taking note every time that he appears using new clothes or just swapping between the old ones or adding a new accessory. Naughty Dog was not stopped when it came to creating new looks for our hero.

Throughout the game, Nate ranged between visual as a elegant black smoke, his jeans and green T-shirt for use in forests, long sleeve white shirt, then adding a Blue Palestinian scarf for levels in the desert and, finally, returning to the traditional green T-shirt.

A new cherry in the old cake recipe
Overall the game follows a very similar gameplay to the already known in the series. All progress through the game is presented by a gameplay that tricks you with a false freedom that doesn't exist. As different as your fighting may be, the end result will always be the same, looking like you're following a rhythm of quick-time events. But what benefits these pace of play, is that the narrative can convince you that you have control of your choices and in the end what matters most are the scenes that you saw through its results.

This time the game also focuses on melee combat. It is clear that the moments of great tension and firing are included in the game as always. But now you also have the option of attacking your enemies with many different types of scams, and even steal their weapons and grenades during your defence against the enemy attack, and your own counterattack.

Another thing that makes the gameplay more fun and variable is how the level design is very important for the gameplay. This time you have more option to take advantage of scenarios to use them in your favour, dodging the blows of the enemy, climbing platforms and even taking advantage of object scenarios to attack your rivals, for example, using chairs and bottles.

Of course we see some glitches during the gameplay. One of the most notable and frequent is during the horse fighting level. Sometimes we can see that is impossible to Nate jump in the back of the horse from where he is, and then, even so, he just appear on it like everything was totally normal. By the way, this level is amazing!

In general the gameplay changes between action and puzzles, with great well-built cutscenes, making you feel like you never spend so long on just one activity during the game. They knew how to mix all chapters in a way that you don't want to stop to play the game until you solve everything. Even though the game follows a linear sequence, and without many difficulties.

Without wasting more time, I might add that the soundtrack is also something that deserves our congratulations. All the action scenes were perfectly represented by the music, as well as the most sensitive and quiet scenes of the game. What about voice acting, Drake's Deception also remains with the impeccable quality of the previous games, but maybe a little disappointed in the language voiceovers in Portuguese-BR, because of some inconsistencies with our true language.

Naughty Dog Lovers
The Uncharted series has always been a good option for the worshipers of games, the curious, and especially for Game Designers. The extras with several making-of in the game are still available. Not to mention the variety of options for dubbing and subtitles in several languages, including our Portuguese of Brazil.

It's clear that the game - as all of them! - has some failures. But I believe that the qualities that the same gives to the players and all the affection and love that we can see in the production of it, makes any slight failures be acceptable to the point of putting Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception in the list of one of the best games ever developed.

My Personal Score: 5/5

[button type="icon" icon="paper"]Written by Matheus Pitillo.[/button]

Published by Matheus Pitillo in Game Articles, Reviews

Tags: Amy Hennig, análise, game, Matheus Pitillo, nathan drake clothes, naughty dog, PS3, review, uncharted, uncharted 3

Review: Tomb Raider

Review: Uncharted 3