This week Shacknews is counting down its top ten 2015 Games of the Year, as tabulated by both staff votes and input from our own Chatty community. At the #8 spot we have Crystal Dynamics' continued evolution of a gaming icon, Rise of the Tomb Raider.
Steve Watts, Editor-in-Chief: Remember how after a long spate of mediocre sequels Lara Croft had become something of an industry punchline? What a difference a few years makes. Crystal Dynamics set out to revive the flailing franchise with 2013's Tomb Raider, and succeeded beautifully. In this year's Rise of the Tomb Raider, the studio iterated on what works, largely threw out what didn't, and proved this heroine still has plenty of room to grow.
The marquee features seemed directly aimed at fan complaints, particularly the addition of more tombs to raid. For me, though, the standout was the core gameplay loop of upgrades and crafting. I explored every nook and cranny because I wanted--needed--to turn my version of Lara into an unstoppable force of justice. The end result was an archer who would split Robin Hood's arrow in twain. On top of that, Crystal Dynamics accentuated Lara's role as an archeologist: translating ruins by brushing up on ancient languages and adding her own insightful commentary to the staid old audiologs trope.
Nathan Drake may have stolen Lara Croft's mantle, but this year she took it back. She's not just a lucky adventurer with a too-cool attitude. She's a smart, capable survivalist. Your move, Naughty Dog.
Ozzie Mejia, Senior Editor: Yeah, I love that they made the optional tombs the side missions that they should be, but the incentives were good enough to make you want to take time out to finish them. You could finish the game without them, but you probably don't want to, because they make life a lot easier. And these tombs are worth finishing, because the design and the puzzles are just so well crafted.
Not to mention, they really do play up Lara the archaeologist. It doesn't entirely address one of the biggest issues regarding her character, in that her biggest character trait is still a woman with daddy issues, but it does emphasize her intelligence. It makes the explorer side, the archaeological side, a point of emphasis. Her intelligence is a game mechanic and I love how it logically addresses items you can't read yet as her being rusty. It highlights her knowledge, but doesn't just hand you everything.
And there's just so much to play with out there beyond all of that. That's a huge playground filled with wild animals out there.
SW: I do love how they dealt with the "daddy issues" trope, because that was always a part of the character and they couldn't exactly ignore it. Rise of the Tomb Raider addresses it head-on in a pretty grisly fashion, and without spoiling anything, it lets Lara move past it. Instead of that shadow looming over her for several games, we had one game where she dealt with that baggage and became her own person. As a building block towards a franchise, this was the best way to deal with that aspect of the character and move on.
And it clearly is a building block. Rise of the Tomb Raider gives Lara her own arch-nemesis organization that can be explored over the course of several games. Konstantin was the big-bad of this game, but he's a cog in a machine. What's more, he was a pretty sympathetic cog once more revelations came out about his rationale and background, and that's not something you can say for many action games or even many works of action-oriented fiction in general.
Which brings me back to what I love so much about this modernized Lara. She's representative of a smarter brand of action hero, and that's a trend I'd love to see continue both in this series and in the industry at large.
Shacknews Games of the Year:
- 8. Rise of the Tomb Raider
- 9. Cities: Skylines
- 10. Bloodborne
- 10. Metal Gear Solid 5
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Shack Staff posted a new article, 2015 Game of the Year #8: Rise of the Tomb Raider
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Yup.
Paid exclusives are pretty stupid, particularly in a situation like this where a hotly anticipated game comes out for the system no one cares about which means that the majority of people ignore the game. You can try all you want to build hype up 2 months later but it just won't work.
I got shat on pretty hard the other day by saying I won't pay full price for this because of the 2 month delay but I honestly won't. I would have easily paid full price on Day 1 if there had been a PC version when the game launched in November, as it stands now I likely won't play it until this time next year when I can grab it for $15.-
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I don't buy that.
Like I've said, I bought the first Tomb Raider day 1 (I think I pre-ordered it honestly) and would have bought this one the same way if not for the pointless delay.
I have no access to sales numbers but I can only imagine that if a lot of people made the same decision I am (which I highly doubt is the case) then they could see that trend in the numbers and recognize the platform exclusivity was the issue and not draw faulty conclusions about the platform (and lets be clear, this applies to PS4 in this conversation as well).
If they are genuinely unable to make that distinction then they have far bigger issues.
Also I'm not willing to commit to PC being a second class platform. All the most popular and profitable games in the world are PC exclusives. That can't be ignored. Additionally cross-platform games that have a solid PC version (ala Witcher 3, Shador Mordor, and many more) sell very well on PC. If companies aren't recognizing the diffferences there then they are just looking for excuses and nothing you or I do will effect that one way or another.-
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I am really struggling to understand your actions. I think most people in this thread are as well.
The work is not treating you like anything. The game is coming out on your platform of choice. It happens to be coming out 2 months after it was released on a different platform. Why does the difference in release date matter? Because you wished you could have played it sooner? Even if PC and Xbone versions came out on the same day, it would still technically be a timed exclusive because of the year delay before the PS4 version. Would that be supporting 2nd class treatment? Do you modify your purchasing behavior with all games that have different console or PC release dates (something that has historically been quite common)?
It all seems very exhausting and ultimately just results in you not playing games you know you would like and not supporting developers who make quality products. -
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Again, this delay was not at all related to platform sales though. It was Microsoft paying for exclusivity.
If I'm wrong about that fact then I will gladly admit to being completely misguided and concede the point but I don't see anyone arguing otherwise.
I don't understand the thought process that makes you, or anyone else, believe that buying the game at full price will, in any way, deter that practice. If anything it will say that the practice works and the developers can take money from companies for exclusivity and still get full sales on other platforms.
If you don't take issue with the exclusive deals, that is fine, but believing that buying the game at full price after such a deal is in place sends any message other than "Keep doing what you're doing" doesn't add up to me. -
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Shacknews Lurkers' Top 10 Games of 2015* as Determined By Lurkers
Well folks, the votes have been tallied and the results are in!
10) ______________
09) ____________
08) __________________
07) _____________
06) _____________________
05) __________________ (Tie)
05) _________ (Tie)
03) ____________
02) __________________
Aaaaand *drum roll*
01) _______________**
Not happy with the results? Remember to Lurk next year! Thanks again Shacknews, Chatty, and all the Lurkers who took time out to read the poll!
*Same rules as the Chatty list, no re-releases/ports, no DLC/Expansions unless they stand alone, no unfinished episodic games, nothing in Early Access or similar, and only games released during the window of Jan 1 through Dec 13 2015. Sorry UnderRail even if you're awesome, no love for you. Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star? I would appreciate it if you didn't eat me. Maybe next year the poll will include games during this awkward window?
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