Bioshock: Infinite Review

The Bioshock series is another series I have not been familiar with, not long after becoming a video game reviewer last year, I had started to play games I wouldn't have even thought of buying, Bioshock: Infinite was one of these games. When I first started up "Infinite" I had no idea what I was in for, I never followed the game or watched gameplay videos, and just after a few hours of playing this amazing game, I found it to be one of those video games that makes you glad you became a video game reviewer just so you wouldn't miss out on such great games like Bioshock: Infinite. Keep on reading this review to see how a clueless Bioshock player turned in to a big fan of the series.

Bioshock Infinite is set in 1912, and features the main character Booker DeWitt who is sent to find a young woman named Elizabeth in the floating air-city known as Columbia. You will find Elizabeth not to long in to the story therefore you and Elizabeth will have to progress through the story together. DeWitt will start to find out something very odd is going on (Even before he officially meets her) like Elizabeth actually being able to rip open time travel tears that can be used to their advantage, that is one of the many different examples of very strange occurrences over the course of Infinite. Elizabeth starts to open up to Booker pretty early in the game, and will do throughout the whole game, she wants to know information before the two met each other, but there is one major problem, Booker isn't really the type of guy who likes to be open with his past, and shrugs off any attempt by Elizabeth to learn more about who Booker is. Two extremely opposite characters work very well in this instance, and  helps to make it a much more interesting story.

Elizabeth isn't just some lame character that you have been ordered to protect, actually she protects YOU more than you have to protect her. During conflict with enemies, if you run out of ammo, Elizabeth can actually throw ammo to DeWitt or if DeWitt is low on health she will throw a health pack at you to use. Not once during the game did I feel like I had to protect Elizabeth which must be relief to many who thought it was a "protect someone in need" kind of gameplay addition. I talked earlier about how Elizabeth can rip through time travel tears in the game, well these tears actually make a presence in the gameplay as an advantage for DeWitt. You can ask Elizabeth to open a tear (X or square) which can help DeWitt in different ways like spawning a heavy weapon that will automatically attack a group of enemies. Hopefully my description of Elizabeth should show you how important she is to actual gameplay rather than her being a drag along that will have a negative effect on the game.

Bioshock Infinite starts off really slow, and lasts like that for at least the first 30 minutes. Within those 30 minutes not one tiny bit of action will occur. I feel this is because the game was pushing for the player to understand the surroundings as well as getting to know the people who occupy it too. After it is known that Booker has been sent to help Elizabeth escape, the game picks up in a big way. At that moment DeWitt will get a hold of his first of many weapons in this game, the weapon we first get a hold of is a melee weapon known as the Sky Hook. The Sky Hook has many other different purposes in the game which will be discussed in further detail later. The Sky Hook (for melee purposes) can be used just to hit the enemy constantly until they die, constantly hitting is boring though so I recommend mixing it up by finishing them off in style with a melee execution. Executions are performed by holding the triangle/Y button when you're prompted too (via a little icon that pops above the enemy's head) Executions can range from a brutal snapping of their neck or even cutting the head clean off for bloody results.


Infinite also manages to mix in some non linear aspects to the story so not everyone will have the exact same story experience  The choices don't impact the game, and most of them aren't the toughest choices in the world, but some can leave you thinking "Hmm what should I do?"A good example of this is having the option to choose if this certain person should be killed or spared. It's a minor addition but it's something I like, and I think others will like the fact that the story isn't totally linear. It felt to me like it was a little extra to add to this already awesome package of various features.

DeWitt will get a hold of a Pistol shortly after his true intentions of saving Elizabeth are well known, the pistol is one of the many guns that can be found in this game like shotguns, RPG's, Machine Guns and other guns can be found, but why keep your guns the same when you can upgrade the guns? Each gun has four upgrade slots that can be used to increase the power of each gun. Only two guns can be in your possession so you will have to drop your weapons if you lose all of that guns ammo/want a better a gun. Not every weapon you use in Bioshock Infinite is an actual physical weapon you have to hold, as the game progresses you will come in contact with these mysterious drinks called vigors. There are eight different vigors that you can obtain in this game, each one has its own power that is given to DeWitt. One of the vigors you will obtain early in the game is called "Devil's Kiss" which gives DeWitt the power to throw these fireballs from his hand. Vigors are also upgradable like guns.

Remember how a little bit earlier I talked about the first use of the Sky Hook? Well I said it has multiple purposes, one of the Sky Hook's purposes was as a melee weapon and the other reason to use the hook is to connect to the Sky Line which helps you travel all around Columbia. Travelling on the Sky Line also brings up even more gameplay options as you have the option to shoot enemies while on the Sky Line or you can perform a Sky Hook strike by jumping off the Sky Line on to the enemy that has a resemblance of an air assassination in Assassin's Creed.

During the game you might want to upgrade weapons or vigors which all can be done at the many vending machines that are scattered all around the world of Columbia. How do you purchase these items? Well there is a currency system in the game which are called Silver Eagles, these Silver Eagle coins can be found all around Columbia, but the best place to find them is looting them from the enemies you just killed. Looting enemies can also reward you with some food and/or ammo. Vending machines also have supplies of ammo and health but become pointless once Elizabeth is there to offer you these items.

The Final Verdict

Bioshock: Infinite was my first Bioshock game, and it was that good that it made me want to play the other Bioshock games that I never had even thought of playing before. The story was fun, gameplay was at a top quality, and I liked the many different combat choices that was on offer like being able to use guns, magic, melee (with executions) or let Elizabeth use a tear to our advantage and kill enemies that way. Columbia was graphically an amazing site to look at, I liked just looking around the area or from a far because it was just a stunning site to see. The game isn't too long, and shouldn't take more than 12 hours to complete the story, but that to me isn't a negative at all because I felt like it ended when it should, any longer would have caused the game to start dragging. Thinking about it there wasn't too many negatives except some little problems I had here and there. Solid game and a 100% recommended purchase.

+ The gameplay is really fun
+ Columbia looks graphically amazing
+ Elizabeth never felt like something that was dragging the story down but rather something that was making it better.
+ Good story. I like how it had me thinking "What is going on!!??" a few times during the game.

-Nothing too bad some might not like the extremely slow start, I personally had problems with the vigor/gun switching layout and not being able to have more than two weapons/vigors in your loadout

Final Score

9.5/10

Assassin's Creed III: The Tyranny of King Washington - The Betrayal DLC Review

 This review contains Episode 1 spoilers

It's March so that means it's time for the next part of the Tyranny Of King Washington DLC. Last month Episode 1 gave us a taste of what we will be incoming for the next 3 months, and to be honest that first taste we got wasn't all that great, although it wasn't bad at all. Episode 2 carries on straight after Episode 1's ending which sees Connor being sent to jail as well as being sentenced to death. Lets see if Episode 2 can improve from a lack luster Episode 1.

The DLC continues with the animal powers gimmick per episode, and in this episode Connor learns the power of the Eagle. The power of the Eagle gives the player some new perks and moves to Connor's advantage. The first addition is the ability to fly (Yes, you learn to fly) to pull off the new flying ability you have to aim at certain high parts of the area you are in and press Y/Triangle to fly to that area. With the flying ability you also have the chance to now pull off flying kills at enemies by again holding the Y/Triangle button. I enjoyed the new animal perks and found them a little better than the wolf perks due to having a much more fun pulling these off, and well... Flying is pretty damn cool too! The whole animal powers gimmick, while it sounds pretty ridiculous has been a high point for these DLC episodes.

The new animal power is awesome but sadly that is one of few positives this DLC brings as the story takes place in an extremely dull Boston which kills any enjoyment you could have had with this DLC. Boston lacks any life that it once had in the main Assassins Creed 3 game and also stops any creativity with your newly gained animal power. I wish Boston's dullness was the only thing dragging this DLC down but then as you go deeper in to the episode you just see more and more bad, for example in one mission you have an A.I with you fighting off enemies, and if he dies the mission gets desynchronized, normally I wouldn't mind this but not when the A.I is so bad that it is causing you to fail something that isn't your fault.

Although there was some dull parts to the story, I found it better than the previous episode as it gave us more direction to final episode, and to be honest they have built up this final episode pretty well. I won't spoil the ending because it is a non spoiler review but I will say that in the end of Episode 2 you should find yourself wanting to play the next episode just to see what twist and turns will be happening, and also how it will all go down. After two disappointing episodes, Episode 3 really needs to blow us away, and make people think that this whole side story wasn't just a big waste of time.

The Final Verdict

It's such a shame the way this DLC has been so far because it seriously has so much potential but there are way too many problems to consider this side story a success. I applaud the efforts for trying something different with Assassin's Creed but the problems all started pretty much straight away as the DLC shouldn't have even been in episode format because it keeps taking you out of the story every time you become interested, it is like playing the full retail version of a game but you can only complete half of it in one month and the other half in the next month. I just really hope Episode 3 is really good, and leaves the player with a good taste in their mouth once they are finished.


+The animal powers are defiantly going to be the highlight of this entire DLC side story as the eagle powers give this DLC some life.

+I found the story better this time around, and once I finished the 2nd DLC episode I found myself wanting to see how the story ends.


-A.I issues could cause you some troubles in this episode.
-Boston is dull as the location for this new DLC.
-Overpriced, shouldn't be in episodes and the DLC is no longer than 2 hours.


Final Score

6/10 

Gears Of War: Judgment Review

Change. That word "Change" is the word that comes to my mind after playing Gears Of War: Judgment. The main campaign isn't your sequel to Gears Of War 3, but rather an entirely different story that takes place before the very first game. On top of a different side to the Gears story there are also many positive changes to the campaign that we was once used to, but lets just leave it at that for now. Multiplayer boasts all new modes (Except one classic) which will all be talked about in detail in this review. Lets see if Judgment can hold up to the past Gears games.

The campaign is based on a group known as the Kilo Squad which is made up of four characters, two of these characters are familiar faces (Damon Baird and Augustus Cole who is better known as "The Cole Train") and two of these characters are newcomers (Sofia Hendrick and Garron Paduk) The Kilo Squad are accused of treason by Colonel Ezra Loomis after a battle against the locust in Halvo Bay. The Kilo Squad are sent to trial as each member tells their side of the story, each side of their story is also one whole chapter. After 5 chapters (Baird gets 2 chapters) we go back to present day at the trial. That is all I can say about the story/plot of Judgment as this is a non spoiler review.

Brand new to the Gears Of War series is the stars system. During each section of the game (Sections vary between 6-8) you can earn up to 3 stars, the stars meter is located at the top left of your screen, and they need to be fully filled in to earn each star. Star progression is earned by doing certain things in the campaign, these actions can earn star progression, completing a declassified mission (More on that later), head shots, earning ribbons, executions and also you can lose star progression by being "downed" by an attacking enemy. Stars aren't just some random bragging rights/earn some achievements feature, they are very big feature of Gears Of War: Judgment as you have to earn 40 stars in campaign mode to even unlock "Aftermath" (Again more on this later) Stars also unlock other items like new multiplayer characters and character skins.

In my opinion the biggest addition to the campaign is the Declassified missions, the missions give more life to the campaign and offer a greater challenge to the campaign (They also boost up star progression) Declassified missions are totally optional, and can be accessed by examining the Gears logo that are painted on walls. Accessing a declassified mission again like stars isn't just a bragging rights feature, it actually unlocks more dialogue from characters who are retelling the story at the trial. Missions range from tasks like completing a section with just one certain weapon, A section that has tons of dust in the area so enemies are hard to see and also destroying certain things, these are just a few of the many different declassified missions.

The campaign itself was pretty solid, I liked how the story was a retelling of the events rather than playing as if it was happening right now because it was different, and I think this is what Epic Games was going for with this whole game which is being different from what we are used too with Gears Of War. Sadly the campaign wasn't all positives for me as I felt the campaign was pretty short compared to past Gears Of War games, sections in each chapter ended way too short, and it caused the campaign to suffer from too much stopping and starting.

The A.I can shaky at times too, when your character is "downed" by an enemy your own team mate walks past you or doesn't even come to save you at all, thankfully it wasn't all the time but it needed to be noted. Other than a few problems here and there I found the campaign fun to play, but maybe stick to human CO-OP if you're going for the harder difficulty. Sometimes in the campaign there will be parts of survival mode (More on that soon) inserted in to the campaign as you have to survive waves of enemies and use fortifications (Fortifications are already automatically placed for you) it's a nice change of pace from the usual campaign we get. I have to applaud the efforts for some real change in the campaign.

Once you have earned 40 stars in the campaign you unlock "Aftermath" which is a lost chapter of Gears Of War 3. This brand new campaign sees a much older Cole and Baird reunite with Paduk. Aftermath only has one chapter with seven sectionst, but the campaign is in Gears Of War 3 style so each section lasts much longer compared to Judgments sections. With it being in Gears Of War 3 style this means that the stars system and declassified missions won't be making an appearance in this lost chapter. It's a nice little 1 hour addition to the game, and I am glad it was there rather than being a paid DLC.

Now it's time to talk about the other half of Gears Of War: Judgment which is the multiplayer, except Team Deathmatch every multiplayer mode is new to the Gears Of War series. The first multiplayer mode you should see on the main menu is the Survival Mode,  Survival is similar to Horde Mode with some new Overrun mode added to it. The object of Survival is to stop all 10 waves of enemies from opening up the E-Hole, you have 3 chances at beating the 10 waves of enemies, but after them 3 chances it is all over. You can pick between 4 different classes of characters, and they are engineer, medic, soldier and scout each come with their own perks like health or a repair gun. I have to say that this mode for me was really difficult, and during my 10 different games of Survival, I only got up to the 6th wave. Fun mode? Yeah,  but you have to trust your team mates and also make sure they are going to be good enough to survive all 10 waves.

Overrun is basically Survival mode expect it's now 5 vs 5, and you can play as the enemies, another fun mode that really needs no more explanation. There is also a Free For All mode which supports up to 10 players, the player wins by being the first to reach 25 kills. Domination is a 5 vs 5 mode with the object being you have to capture all 3 rings, and keep them so you earn points with the first to 250 points winning. Finally there is Team Deathmatch which the classic 5 Vs 5, first to reach the certain kill score wins. On the subject of multiplayer, the maximum level you can earn is level 50 but you can start over again which is pretty much similar to Call Of Duty prestige.

The maps for online in my opinion are pretty good, there are some cool maps that have some map specific environments that can be used to your advantage like for example in one map you can get in this helicopter and fly around the map while shooting at the players on the ground (Trust me it's really fun. Finally you have the character set up mode for your online player, this includes choosing between 9 characters (Half need unlocking), choosing your weapons skin and also character skins. The most interesting part of the mode
is the brand new prizeboxes, prizeboxes range from normal to rare to epic, and each one has their own prize like XP or character skins for example.

The Final Verdict

Gears Of War: Judgment was another great entry to the Gears Of War series, it had some problems which was mostly due to the campaign, but nothing so negative that it is worth lowering the final score even more. I liked how Judgment was a change in direction compared to past Gears games content like the campaign adding these welcomed new features. Also props for not just adding a separate campaign to be used as a DLC. Multiplayer was really fun too, and while I am writing this review I just want to go back to the game and level up some more which shows you how much I liked this game.  If you were unsure before reviews whether to get Gears Of War: Judgment or not, I say to them people "Get this game!"

+Stars System
+Declassified missions
+Lots of content
+Fun multiplayer

-Campaign felt short
-Squad A.I is unreliable

Final Score

8.5/10 

Gears Of War: Judgment was reviewed with a copy supplied by Microsoft Studios

Sleeping Dogs - Year Of The Snake DLC Review

More Sleeping Dogs? That should be a good thing? Right? Of course it is, Sleeping Dogs was one of the best games releases of 2012 in my opinion, and when you get more of this game it should automatically be good. Lets see if the new Sleeping Dogs DLC can keep the praise for Sleeping Dogs coming.

The new DLC named "Year Of The Snake" takes place after the main story and also takes place around the time of the 2013 Chinese New Year. After his actions as an undercover cop which ended up causing tons of damage and costs, Wei Shen has been given a much lesser rank at the Hong Kong Police Department. Once known as the heroic undercover cop, Wei is now dealing with small time crimes as well as doing street patrol around Hong Kong. During one of Wei's street patrols he sees a car driving recklessly causing Wei to hunt down the dangerous driver but little did he know that he would be in for much more than he first expected.

Wei catches up to these suspects, and ends up finding out that these people are actually apart of a cult group who are guaranteeing the world will end on Chinese New Year. Wei does some detective work, and ends up finding out that this cult group are making bombs that are being planned to set off very soon. That's all for story talk as this is a non spoiler review. This leads us to the next major part of the DLC, and that is the missions. The missions are a little bit more varied compared to Nightmare At Northpoint's nonstop fighting missions. Wei will once again have to go undercover at one point to eavesdrop on people at a nightclub, there are bomb threat missions where Wei has to retrieve a bomb to give to the bomb squad in time and finally you get the fighting missions which this DLC seems to have pretty frequently. I thought the missions being a little bit more varied was a good change compared to the past DLC.

With Wei now being apart of the Police Department he now has some new Police skills added to his combat. Wei can now have the option to arrest people during a fight in the story missions or he can be a much more ruthless cop who is not satisfied until his attacker is out cold. Other cop skills Wei gains in the new DLC is the stun gun attack, when Wei has an enemy attack him he can grapple the enemy and press X/Square to now use a stun gun instead of punching in the grapple. Due to these additions I checked what else Wei can now do as the local cop, Wei will now show his badge, and say something along the lines of "Hong Kong Police!, I need this vehicle" when steal... Lets just say "borrowing" a car. Other than that Wei keeps most of his character the same like during fights he can still use environmental finishes and can still leap from car to car, and steal the car without warning.

Along with the main story you will also additional clothing, weapons, side mission jobs and a brand new batch of collectibles to find which is just evidence. The main story is pretty short sadly as it only runs for about 1 hour and 30 minutes, add maybe 20/30 extra minutes for the side mission jobs to boost your game time to around 2 hours in total. It's a shame the story is so short but I wasn't majorly surprised due to the price of the DLC. If you wanted to play a big new chunk of Sleeping Dogs you will be very disappointed with this DLC but if you wanted a nice short ride then this DLC is for you. I actually was really enjoying the main story of the DLC too, and it deserves some praise but the DLC felt like it was ripped away from me way too soon. Once I finished it I needed more Sleeping Dogs so I just hope that a Sleeping Dogs 2 is on the way.

The Final Verdict

The Year Of The Snake DLC was easily the best DLC offering from Square Enix for Sleeping Dogs. Although the DLC had some flaws, it still managed to be a pretty good (As well as fun) DLC release. Missions are handled a bit better this time around, lot more additions compared to other DLC's, and the story itself it quite fun to play too. The story is sadly pretty short but the price isn't too bad so I would still recommend the DLC if you loved Sleeping Dogs but if you thought Sleeping Dogs was just "good" then maybe you might want to give this DLC a pass or wait for a price drop.

+Found the DLC fun to play
+Good story
+More Sleeping Dogs is always a good thing

-Too short

Final Score

7.5/10 

Mass Effect 3: Citadel DLC Review

 So here it is, the last ever content in the Mass Effect 3 DLC. Due to it being the last one Bioware went all out with this DLC by bringing back old faces from ME1 and ME2 as well as a new place for Shepard to hang out but this is just a small part of what comes with this massive 4GB DLC! Let's see if the Mass Effect trilogy can go out on one last good note.

At the start of the DLC Shepard gets a message from Anderson saying Shepard has been given Anderson's apartment that is located at the Citadel. Once you are there have a look around your new place. You then get an invite from Joker inviting Shepard for Sushi but there is a problem with this. Joker never sent this message, and this is when the story of the DLC starts to kick in as Shepard must fight a new threat.

Compared to the other Mass Effect 3 DLC's this one feels like it has more rewards for the players. Omega had potential to be one of the best Mass Effect DLC's of all time but shortcuts and lack of content killed any thoughts of it being up there with the best Mass Effect DLC's. The Citadel DLC is the opposite of Omega as the DLC is free from the shortcuts so that means you can take any of your squad on missions while the Omega DLC had to use a pretty lame excuse for the fact that EA/Bioware didn't want to pay for more voice overs in the DLC. So I was happy to see that the DLC let you pick who ever you wanted this time round.

Other new features players can look forward to is being able to go to the casino and play games for credits. These casino games include roulette for example. You can expect to gain brand new weapons during the playthrough of the DLC as well. You have been given a nice new home so why don't you improve it? Because you can in this DLC as you are given the option to change some of the things around your new home. For example you can get remodel your house and also add new furniture. You can also use the combat simulator were you can go up against enemies of your choosing while trying to rack up as much points as you can. You might like to hear that you can use old squad-mates from the trilogy to help you. There are also some new side quests to complete.

The actual main story for the DLC is good but some fans might be thinking "Really?" at some of the major plot points in the DLC. I don't want to spoil anything in the DLC so I hope you can assume which parts I am referring too. The DLC's main story has a surprising comedic edge to it rather than the DLC being super serious. At one point Shepard and the crew make reference to Shepard's "I should go" line that he says almost every time a conversation ends in all 3 Mass Effects with the scene being a sign of (funny) things to come. I guarantee if you are a long time Mass Effect fan you will probably have some fun playing the DLC just because of some of these one liners and moments in the DLC.

You will find yourself finishing the main story at around 2 hours but don't worry that is just the "1st half" of this DLC. After the shooting and combat is over it's time to party! Literally! As you can invite certain past squad-mates from the trilogy for a party at your new home. This party is stacked with conversations, and easily took me around an hour to see/hear all the moments from this big party. The party part of the DLC is probably the reason for the large amount of GB as you can have a totally different party compared to a friend as parts of the party depend on certain factors like romances, squad-mate deaths, past choices, renegade/paragon, and who you decided to invite to the party. I already thought the DLC was pretty decent but the party really pushed the DLC up in the final score.

The Final Verdict

The DLC was pretty fun to play, and it also brings a ton of new content with it like the combat simulator, weapons, side missions, new HUB area with a casino and arcade as well as the great party "mission" that might honestly be the most fun I have had playing Mass Effect. The main story could have ran a little longer and the story itself was a bit meh but it's nothing too bad. I also liked how the DLC had a much more comedic side rather than a serious side as it was a change of pace to normal Mass Effect missions. I am happy to say the Mass Effect trilogy ends on one final high note, and what a ride that trilogy has been.

+Stacked with content compared to Omega DLC
+The party will leave you with a big smile on your face all the way through
+Nice end to the Mass Effect trilogy

-Story could be better
-For the price the main story could be longer

Final Score

8.5/10

Tomb Raider Review

Tomb Raider wasn't a game I was planning to get last year, and to make this review even more unlikely that it was going to happen, I had never even played a Tomb Raider game before. After hearing the hype about this game I decided to buy the game and see what Tomb Raider is like. I can say that my first experience with a Tomb Raider game was awesome. There was many things I liked about the game which I will talk about in this review. There are also some things I didn't like which will also be addressed.

Tomb Raider starts of a little slow with Lara not even coming in contact with an actual enemy for about 45 minutes in to the game. The first little part of the game is about survival, and doesn't feature any big shoot em up gun fights that normally happen within the first 2 minutes of a game. After getting out of a mysterious cave, a wounded Lara will need to find a camp and food to eat. Once the objective is done we start pushing towards the more action route of the game. During this time period of the game Lara will find different weapons like a bow as well as a gun. She will also find tools to help her survive like a pry axe to help open doors which when used triggers a QTE that shows a pry axe meter that needs to be filled to open the door.

I talked earlier about how early in the game Lara had to find a camp. That was not a one time thing as there are many different camps scattered across the map, and these camps have a much bigger purpose than keeping Lara warm. Once you activate a camp you will have a new menu pop up with three different options, Skills, Fast Travel and Gear. Skills are earned in separate points, and to earn these points you must do certain things in the game to gain XP to fill the XP bar. Once the XP bar is full you will gain a new point. You have two different upgrades to choose from. The upgrades you can choose from are Survivor Upgrades and Hunter Upgrades. Some Survivor Upgrades you will come across will be things like Animal Instincts which makes hard to find animals and food sources glow in the distance or you can earn extra rewards when looting. Hunter Upgrades include more ammo and a steadier aim.

When you pick Fast Travel you can choose between different camps you have found to make it easier to travel for the player. Then you have the final option, and that is the gear option. In the gear option you can upgrade your weapons and also survival gear you have earned during the game. To upgrade your items you have to find units of salvage which you can find in crates scattered all around the map or you can loot it in dead bodies. Once you have enough salvage you can use it in exchange for better weapon/gear perks.

Tomb Raider also uses QTE's very heavily in the game. They are used for all kinds of moments in the game like opening doors or during an encounter with an animal (Like a wolf for example) or a normal human enemy. I thought the use of QTE's got a little annoying after a while because it was so heavily used, and also during encounters I died quite a lot because of QTE's (Look out for the Triangle/Y button QTE because it can be a pain) While on the subject of annoying things it should be noted that Lara can be quite annoying too with her groans during fights. After a while though the you learn to ignore the annoying Lara grunts and groans.

The gameplay itself is very solid, and reminds me a lot like the brilliant Uncharted series. You will start to notice the similarities when Lara is climbing up wrecked objects and doing the big leap of faith jumps. This isn't to say Tomb Raider is a rip off of Uncharted at all as Tomb Raider separates itself from Uncharted by having moments where survival is more important than having a gun fight. It's also nice to just relax at a camp after a big moment during the game to regroup, upgrade some weapons, and then start off again. To sum it up, first you will think of Uncharted but soon after you will think of it as Tomb Raider with Uncharted elements on the side. Confrontations with enemies are very well done and the combat is extremely fun. There are a decent amount of ways to get through enemies like stealth kills, all out shoot em up gun fights and you can even sneak past enemies without even killing anyone. The way you fight is up to you.

The story of the game is decent too. I liked how they made Lara regret killing for the first time, and it felt like Lara had to kill to survive even if she hated doing it. Some may find the way it's all done to be a bit uncreative as after Lara kills her first victim with such a huge regret you can go and shoot everyone else straight after with no regrets from her at all but again this depends on how you play. You can try and never kill someone again because it's possible. As this is non spoiler review I can't go in to much detail about the story except saying it's decent and worth playing to see the end.

Tomb Raider boasts some very sharp looking graphics. The scenery in this game is amazing to look at when you are just hanging around and also just looking around. The start of the game takes place in a forest and it's also for me when the scenery of Tomb Raider is at its best. The games characters also look graphically solid as well as cutscenes looking very sharp too. Tomb Raider has some very good voice actors too that can and will be added to the list stacks of positives.

The Final Verdict

Tomb Raider is an excellent video game, and also most important to me a very fun game to play. I had a blast playing through the game and must recommend it to everyone. What's not to like about this game? You get great gameplay, fun combat, survival elements, stealth elements, quality graphics and good voice acting. It's a complete game. Main Story will take around 10-14 hours to complete depending on different factors like if you want to do other things in the game or if you want to steam through the game. Tomb Raider is a solid start to what looks like an amazing March of video games.

+Fun combat
+Gameplay
+Graphics
+Voice acting

-QTE's used a little too much at times
-Annoying sounds at times

Final Score

9/10