Rise of the Tomb Raider Impressions

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Rise of the Tomb Raider is the latest Gamefly game I sampled and I actually liked parts of it a lot.  I definitely enjoyed it more than the first game in this reboot of the series.

The first few hours of the game are full of action and adventure interlaced with story.  I loved the time I was spending with it.  But after the first couple hours I hit the main chunk of the game and suddenly they reintroduced the gathering/crafting/survival mechanics from the first game in the series... and then I lost all the steam I had built up for it.

The gathering in particular changed the way I played the game.  Now, instead of just pushing forward and enjoying the ride I had to constantly stop and search every corner.  I had to wait for my special survival vision to recharge and then activate it as often as I could so I didn't miss anything critical to advancing my character and gear.

I hate that advancement was suddenly tied to gathering in such a tight way.  I especially hate it because the fun game I was enjoying was still there underneath it but now there was a level of busywork on top of it that I didn't want to put up with.

I tried to push forward anyway but got fed up around the 5 hour mark.  If you don't mind gathering/crafting/survival mechanics in the middle of your action/adventure game then I bet you would love Rise of the Tomb Raider.  If not, it's probably better to steer clear of it.

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