Never played Rise of the Tomb Raider, but thinking of giving it a go- recommended/not recommended?

[Master Chuuster]

Title sums it up pretty much.

What are the game's biggest strengths? What are its biggest weaknesses? Also how long is it? That last part is pretty important, because I'm currently occupied with DQ11, and by the time I'm done with it, I'm assuming I will only have 10-12 days before Spider-Man arrives, and I want to make sure I can finish Rise in that time (if I do end up playing it, that is).

 

[nogoodnamesleft]

IMO

Strengths: Bow gameplay, set pieces, visuals,

Weakness: Story, characters (they arent bad, just forgettable)

IIRC i finished it in about 15 hours.

You lucky MOFO too, being entrenched in DQ11

 

[ASleepingMonkey]

Story is probably 12 - 15 hours? Reasonable. Maybe 10 if you ignore side content.

Gunplay isn't anything special, kinda bland honestly. Story isn't that great either. Ya know the whole game wasn't that special and I never got the hype. It's ok though, if you just want something to play it'll do the job.

 

[Nimby]

Rise is a great action TPS with bombastic setpieces and action-oriented cinematics, with some light exploration. Just as good as the first one. The biggest weakness is its story, the characters are bland and unmemorable. In all it's about 20 hours give or take.

All in all, it's a pretty decent game.

 

[Dmax3901]

The story is mind-numbingly generic, but other than that it's ok.

 

[PassiveObserver]

I dropped it after getting caught up in the collectibles hunt. I should pull this out again and really hammer on the story path.

 

[opalheart]

Story's nothing to write home about, but the exploration is quite nice especially when you find a cave or puzzle tomb, which are plentiful. I really like the upgrade and crafting system too. Definitely worth a play!

 

[Minilla]

Its alright, combat is not great, story is weak, but the areas are really good. Its nowhere near as good as the previous game, just ok.

 

[JustinH]

I really liked the game. Apparently I'm in the minority though, as I liked it more than its predecessor.

I think its length depends on how much you explore in games, because I remember spending quite a bit of time off "the beaten path" doing extra stuff and not progressing through the story. I consider taking out places stealthily a strength as I found that fun, but that's just my opinion. I also thought the secret tombs were a strength too. I guess a weakness is if you're looking for all the things to collect in a certain area that could get boring after a while. ​

 

[Xenon]

Fun game in an open-ish world with an insane amount of content to keep you busy. As others have said the story is a weak spot but collecting all the extras fleshes it out a bit more. The hunting and crafting is lite but enjoyable. The games strength for me is all the extras and exploring. I wouldn't recommend it for just a straight play through.

 

[Pooh]

It's a fun game :D Give it a shot.

 

[Ninjimbo]

As far as cinematic third person shooters go, it's near the top mostly due to the strength of its presentation and gameplay. It's a really polished game.

Just keep in mind that it's a AAA game, so expect the usual trappings. Don't go in expecting it to be a complex game that tests your knowledge of systems and your ability to master skills. This isn't that type of game.

 

[callamp]

It's a really good game. Great game play and graphics. The tombs are a step up on the previous game. The DLC is also pretty good.

It should probably take around 15 hours to beat the main story but you could easily spend another 20 hours on side content / collectibles.

Would definitely recommend.

 

[melodiousmowl]

The game is great save for the times it funnels you into linear set-pieces with unavoidable cover-based gunfights.

 

[TwistedChemical]

I'd buy it if we're heavily discounted. It ps a beautiful game and the gameplay is great but it's a game that can't tie story to the gameplay to keep you wanting to play it. It's really poor it keeping you with what's going on, but when you just want to shoot something, it's alright.

 

[TheBeardedOne]

It's a great game. The 2013 reboot is a bit better, though.

 

[Grimminski]

You can burn through it really quickly if you just spam poison arrows. They kill everything in 1 hit, even guys in Hazmat suits.

 

[spool]

Don't waste too much time on the optional challenges and the hundreds of little pickups in the world and it's a pretty good game. Do seek out the optional tombs, though. I enjoyed my time with it.

 

[Deleted member 9714]

It feels like a game that was made by an AI rather than any real people. It just.... exists, but there's no reason it had to other than the first one did well. It doesn't feel like there was any creative vision behind it, just the ticking of boxes on a spreadsheet.

Take those 10-12 days to relax or play more of a game you already have. No real reason to buy and play RotTR.

 

[Shpeshal Nick]

It's the best Uncharted game out there so definitely play it.

It's incredible. If you have a One X you're in for a treat with the 1080/60 option. Looks ridiculous.

 

[Megatron]

The game was really fun and will set you up to play Shadow later. I say go for it. It's free on game pass if you have an XB1.

 

[Zaied]

Title sums it up pretty much.

What are the game's biggest strengths? What are its biggest weaknesses? Also how long is it? That last part is pretty important, because I'm currently occupied with DQ11, and by the time I'm done with it, I'm assuming I will only have 10-12 days before Spider-Man arrives, and I want to make sure I can finish Rise in that time (if I do end up playing it, that is).

Click to shrink...

Rise of the Tomb Raider is a well-made title. The combat, graphics, co-op, Blood Ties (DLC), and having the best version of Lara Croft are its strengths. Weaknesses are a bit harder to judge, but I definitely think the setpieces were a downgrade from the first game. I also grew tired of the grindy crafting system, bland environments, trying to navigate the map by finding linear paths, and I thought too much of the game was designed around the Survival Instincts mechanic. The gazillion collectibles could be considered a negative, but they're easy enough to ignore. Some will say the writing and characters are weak, but that's an area where these games have consistently been praised for. Tomb Raider was nominated for best narrative that year, and Rise of the Tomb Raider won multiple awards for its writing in 2016. The writers have done an exceptional job with this series so far.

Also how long is it?

Click to shrink...

Not that long if you're just playing through the main story. I think it took me around 12 hours, plus another 2 hours to finish Blood Ties. I didn't get every collectible, but I did the tombs and side missions.

 

[rainking187]

The main game was pretty good, but I felt like it started to drag a bit towards the end, by the time I was a quarter way through the final area I was just ready for the game to be over. I also thought it was a weird decision to go the survival horror route with a couple of the DLC, and I didn't particularly enjoy those, but the Baba Yaga and Blood Ties DLC were pretty good. And the game has way too many collectibles.

 

[Master Chuuster]

You lucky MOFO too, being entrenched in DQ11

Click to shrink...

Oh yeah, over 40 hours in and loving every minute of it :D

Story is probably 12 - 15 hours? Reasonable. Maybe 10 if you ignore side content.

Click to shrink...

I read somewhere (I think in the Gamespot review) that there are difficulty spikes in the later stages without stuff you get from some of the optional content, is that true?

If you have a One X you're in for a treat with the 1080/60 option. Looks ridiculous.

Click to shrink...

How's the 4K option?

 

[No Depth]

I found it disappointing, but that was coming off enjoying the previous game and felt the sequel didn't go far enough to improve the issues or demands wanted of the first.

It's alright on its own as a weeklong romp with lots of bombast, stealth action, physics puzzles, but a bad story.

If you want to raid tombs and see sights, you get a meager sampling here, but plenty of shooting baddies in ww2 bunkers.

 

[Shpeshal Nick]

Oh yeah, over 40 hours in and loving every minute of it :D


I read somewhere that there are difficulty spikes in the later stages without stuff you get from some of the optional content, is that true?


How's the 4K option?

Click to shrink...

I have a 1080 plasma and playing it in 1080/60 is incredible. I never realised what a difference 60 makes to the visuals.

 

[Heart_Attack]

The story is garbage and the worst in the entire series. Probably my biggest disappointment this gen,

 

[skeezx]

game doesn't do anything bad it just kind of ... exists. gameplay is just okay, story is just okay. some cool set pieces if you want to go on a virtual not-Indiana Jones adventure

 

[Rickenslacker]

I'd recommend it, but it depends on what you value in a game. Fantastic looking environments, great combat, absolutely dreadful characters and writing. So if you're wanting to follow the plot beat by beat and be engaged by the character interactions, you're not getting anything good here. The combat is ace though.

 

[Imitation Of Life]

It's the best Uncharted game out there so definitely play it.

It's incredible. If you have a One X you're in for a treat with the 1080/60 option. Looks ridiculous.

Click to shrink...

I was waiting for this and no it's not. Not even close. The story and characters are trash that you don't care about. Big area to neglect in a cinematic narrative driven game. There is current TR gets outshined critically and commercially by Uncharted despite being on every platform. And hype is extremely low for the upcoming game.

 

[Mr. Pointy]

If you get it for cheap, it's pretty good. It's very polished on the gameplay side. But it just lacks a bit of personality.

 

[Megatron]

The story criticisms are overblown. Almost all games have shit stories. The gameplay is excellent.

 

[leng jai]

It's your typically solid and polished AAA game with excellent production values. It's worth a play through at its current price. The main problem is that the characters are all garbage and the story is bad as well.

The game is ludicrously easy so you definitely need to play on Survivor straight away.

 

[Melody]

It felt like a lower budget and very uninspired take on Uncharted, to be honest. Or at least I think so, since I've put very little time into Uncharted.

The gunplay is fine and the game looks good, but it's so bland that I can't really recall much about it, except for thinking that it seemed like the developers were just going down a 3rd person semi-open world checklist. It's worth a try since it's cheap now and it wasn't bad, just aggressively bland. Also, some of the setpeieces aren't very good or just look off, which is where the budget Uncharted feel comes from for me.

 

[DestroyerOfWorlds]

A lot of people hating on the story and characters, but I enjoyed it all. Interesting premise, great setting, and many exciting moments, but sometimes a bit predictable.

It's not a perfect game, but absolutely worth playing.

 

[lowhighkang_LHK]

I found it to be pretty damn forgettable so no.

 

[Rei no Otaku]

I loved it. A great game and if you have an X then it looks amazing.

 

[Staf]

It's a good game. But it's good despite of it's bad story and horrible rendition of Lara. Still worth a shot for the spectacle.

 

[Deleted member 20297]

It's a really good game, in my opinion. The tombs are mostly great, visuals are on top and most importantly, gameplay is really fun. The story itself is somewhat forgettable but this applies to a lot of games out there. It also has a lot of sidequest-like content so there is also a lot of stuff to do which, combined with the great gameplay, makes it fun to sink hours in.

 

[NightShift]

It's decent but completely forgettable with lackluster combat and the most cliche and boring story. Although I would recommend it if you really like metroidvania-esque world design in a high budget 3D game which rarely happens. If not, I don't recommend it as there are so many better games you can play. It's also about 15 hours but you could probably half that if you rush through and it's not difficult at all.

 

[Penny Royal]

It's a competently constructed AAA game with a high degree of polish - I found that one of the side-stories was better than the mainline quest storyline tho.

I'm in the 'First Tomb Raider reboot was better' camp tho - I just found it more fun to play, preferred the Lara model used and loved the bow in a way I didn't get the feels for in Rise.

If you like action AAA TPS games you'll most likely enjoy it.

 

[Laughing Banana]

I really like it. I would recommend it, OP, to me the gameplay as a whole is a lot more enjoyable than Uncharted 4, or any of the Uncharted games for that matter.

 

[Raein]

Both games have very fun gameplay and very pretty scenery, and I'm not talking about Lara. The stories are serviceable.

 

[The Spoony Hou]

I say play the reboot first. Rise is the same, but gameplay wise it's bigger and better. Story wise I thought it was weaker (but most people hate it anyway).

 

[upinsmoke]

I played like the first hour and didn't like it. It was just doing nothing for me, people moan about uncharted and praise this I just don't see how. The scripted events just don't even flow together. Also the visuals are meh to me, after coming from UC4, Lost Legacy and then God Of War it's not even close to the same fidelity

Preferred the first reboot too. Felt more original, I think I did more dramatic jumping from falling pillar or lose rock in the first hour than I did the entire first TR reboot

 

[CaviarMeths]

I really enjoyed Tomb Raider '13. Rises is even better. The stories aren't fantastic, but they're serviceable. Gameplay is really fun. It's basically Uncharted with some RPG-lite mechanics thrown on top, if that's your kind of thing.

 

[Isee]

- Story & Characters: Mediocre & predictable at best. The game won won the "outstanding achievement" award for video game writing (Writer's Guild awards) by the way. Nobody understood why back then.

+Combat, set pieces, graphics, world design.

 

[Xeontech]

If you're super invested in OG Laura, don't bother. It'll just upset you.

But if you just want a casual game with interesting set pieces, it's fine.

 

[Tortahegesztő]

It's a mindless rollercoaster with mostly exploding setpieces sprinkled with some collectathon hub areas. Altough there are some unique methods of traversing.
Most of the "challenge tombs" are just run in, get upgrade, then run out the way way you came.
As far as the combat goes you'll be always presented with a ton of options but 99% of the time you can just shoot through the game with a pistol.
IMHO the biggest weakness of the reboot series is the writing and the characters. They are bland at best and annoying at their worst while these games try to take themself very seriously.
Best parts are the graphics, Rise and even the 2013 reboot are still good looking games.

 

[mindsale]

It's the exact same game mechanically as its forebear. Same weapons, same upgrades, still can't dual-wield pistols even though you could at the end of the first game, writing is still awful, graphics are still beautiful, puzzles are easy.