Shadow of the Tomb Raider is the third, final installment of the Tomb Raider prequel/reboot series. The game continues sometime after Rise of the Tomb Raider (the second game out of the trilogy). Lara Croft is still at battle with the secret society called Trinity. She and her friend Jonah journey first to Mexico, and then to Peru to unlock the secret, powerful artifact that can cause cataclysms. A leader of Trinity whose name is Dominquez is hellbent on obtaining the object for power.
I find the plot fascinating, along with its solid acting. I find this game raised the bar for the action/adventure genre. The game doesn’t have too many new features, but I still find the game fun to play. The controls are just the right touch. It covers stealth based attacks; Lara can perform the same old stealth attacks from the pervious game. Newer features for the game involve her being camouflaged by covering herself up in mud and then blending into bushes against the wall. Lara can do some long-range stealth attacks by using a rope arrow as a weapon and hanging her victim on a tree. Lara can use her arrows in a variety of ways such as fire arrows, grenade arrows, and she can craft fear arrows and use those arrows to put her enemies into fear and paranoia turning against their own allies. She can use a variety of weapons such as a shotgun, pistol and assault rifle with their own special features while you upgrade your abilities. Stealth and stealth attacks are largely dependable, Lara has limited combat ability by using her dual pickaxes, but once you upgrade your combat skill, she still does a dodge and counter ability…nothing new under the sun. It would’ve been better if she displayed some hand to hand combat much like its competitive game counterpart Uncharted series. That would resonate from its 2018 Tomb Raider movie in such a way. Lara’s personality tends to change when she becomes more selfish and determined to find the ancient treasure and put an end to Trinity. Only her friend Jonah at times brings Lara down to earth more. With the game series, it comes to have a natural transitional phase in the protagonist to have a personality change or an identity crisis. Lara can collect different types of plants to give her special attributes, such as perception in order to find various resources and to pinpoint an animals weakness in order to strike with a bow & arrow or firearm in order to hunt animals for resources. Lara can also use plants to slow down time for speed and accuracy to defeat foes.
The game delivers very well with its open world game. The graphics looks vibrant and rich. The game balances itself very well between platforming, solving puzzles and fighting or sneaking around enemies. There are tombs and crypts to explore and solve, giving you a rewarding accomplishment in order to perform special feats further on in the game. The downside of the game is the side missions. To be honest here, I had no interest in playing side missions for that game, that is a little bonus on the side to get extra xp points, extra money to buy items and whatnot. I only played through one side mission game in order to earn a trophy for a sense of incentive. In the end, side missions are for players who want to have an extended game experience. You can visit merchants throughout Peru to sell, trade and purchase items such as tools, ammo, and weapons. It is a very wonderful gaming experience.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider is worth buying if you have played the previous reboot versions. Therefore, complete your collection by having the third, final game of the Lara Croft origin game. Some more fresher features could have been added in the game; however, I have a level of satisfactory for this game.
Jon Bynoe