Recent reviews by Elzam

Tomb Raider's never particularly been a series that I enjoyed. From my youth, I can recall people fawning over Eidos/Crystal Dynamic's creation as she swam through tombs, punched sharks in the face, and I presumably interacted with pre-rendered backgrounds.

Regardless of any connection to the former games, the 2013 remake of Tomb Raider is an incredible adventure in its own right. Setting the stage for Lara Croft, it acts very much as the birth of the character. Throughout the game, you will feel yourself pushed by nature until finally, Lara starts pushing back.

The environments are lush and relatively varied, especially considering that the entirety of the game is one geographic location. What becomes a game of hunting a few deer and defending yourself from feral wolves seems to effortlessly turn towards the Indiana Jones-style of blurred lines between myth and history.

The game has a high degree of reliance on two systems: its combat and climbing/navigation systems. I'll begin with the combat.

Like many adventure/action games these days, TR opts for a minimal HUD presentation, and players have access to (eventually) four weapons. Each of these weapons has its own alternate fire modes. Throughout the game, you are either granted or given additional tools or weapon upgrades; "parts" for weapons are obtained in the numberous boxes hidden all over the island, so there's always something to upgrade. Combat feels relatively tight but not TOO tight: upon playing the game I was a bit confused by the lack of the standard lock-on function at least at the mid to close range to aid with dodging and counters. However, upon reflection, this is appropriate: Lara may have training, but she's no Kratos. The game feels much more interested in asking the players to use Lara's wits to survive rather than her brawn for many situations, and although I favored the bow in my playthrough, I found myself changing my ammo types and pulling out my other weapons with great regularity to match the challenge ahead of me.

There are some issues in combat, however. While the majority of the game is easily on the "average gamer" difficulty, occasional situations can feel overwhelming, as enemy spawns appear linked to your movement. If you opt to mow down enemies while advancing forward, you can quickly find a pack of armored soldiers behind you. At least one encounter I died to, only to realize what was going on and upon slowing down it became much easier. This did somewhat bother me, as I felt like the game was dictating my pace, but it's not unforgivable. Additionally, at random times the heavy machine gunners will lock on you like they're 360noscopemlg420 and you'll find yourself eating dirt in less than 2 seconds from full health.

In addition, the Pistol feels like it's superfluous. Perhaps it's because mine lacked upgrades, but I pretty well threw it out the window. That being said, the moments where Lara finally realizes that she IS a badass and vocally lets it known are very appropriate in their timing in the combat and story.

The second system that it hinges on is its climbing and navigation. You have a small number of tools with a few uses. Long short short, you can climb rocks, grapple ropes on certain surfaces, etc. Lara's climbing got a solid "A" from me solely because it avoids slowing down the pace of the game unlike the grunt-laden climbing in games like Assassin's Creed where it becomes a chore. Occasionally the game actually will integrate the navigation and combat elements and it's a delight.

While I feel like the story has a couple gaps; namely that it takes Lara far longer to understand the plot than it takes the player, they really don't detract from the overall enjoyment of the game itself. The game is also relatively short; you should be able to finish the entire game in a full day, 6-9 hours depending on how many of the ample side quests and collectibles you want to grab.

The biggest "miss" I saw while playing is that the game really doesn't balance the hunting aspect very well. This is really stressed early on as you have to make a fire, find food, and so forth. However, and maybe this is to the benefit of the game, it's structured in such a way that you can ignore it once necessary.

All in all, Tomb Raider is a very solid entry into a saturated action-adventure field. It very successfully evokes feelings of desperation, sorrow, and downright sympathy from the player for the protagonist. You know the whole time that Lara will come out on top (especially if you're aware of the upcoming sequel), so there is no doubt that Ms. Croft will "live", but the game piles so much misery and brutality from an unhospitable location that you begin to wonder if she can ever "live well."

8/10

A sleek 8 to 16 bit graphic design hides a deceptively detailed strategy game, full of crew interactions, choices to be made with often randomized or stat-based results, random maps which ensure that no two games are alike, and a surprising amount of unlockables which don't feel superfluous but instead spur replayability. Choosing how to best preserve resources while accumulating more in order to outfit your ship and crew for the final confrontation take center stage in objectives, while strategy players will love the emphasis on being able to target specific areas of ships to create a variety of effects.

Suffocate your enemies by setting their ships alight, board their ships and strip their hulls for their last bits of scrap and weaponry, or just target their shield rooms to open the way for greater firepower are just a few of the options available to you depending on your ship, crew, and personal playstyle.

If you've never been either a fan, or even interested in Monkey Island, Tales still makes a pleasant introduction to the series. Guybrush Threepwood, mighty pirate, is played over five episodic adventures. The gameplay involves pointing, clicking, laughing, and doing many interesting puzzles as you go along trying to solve the mystery of the Pirate Pox. The Tales games remember what it is to be humorous and how to paint a world of colorful characters. Guybrush offers commentary throughout the entire game, and in a way serves as sort of a companion with the player rather than the player merely assuming his position. If you've ever wanted to evade a French scientist, challenge a pirate to a mean face competition, or create counterfeit action figures, this is the series for you.

A light-hearted episodic RPG, Precipice is a must-have for any fan of Penny Arcade and their unique brand of humor. Gabe and Tycho fight an army of Fruit F***ers, introduce plenty of Lovecraftian ideas, and some of their own, including cultist clowns. The combat system is light but remains interesting through use of unique run-time events to keep the player focused. The true victory here is the humor, as the Precipice games will keep you laughing, or at least painfully smiling, the entire time you play them. The games are breezy and light, and never threaten to bog down the player in material that the writers don't feel would be as effective.