The new crafting system is largely pointless unless you tackle the game on its hardest difficulty, which I'll come to. It's narrower here, certainly, but it works very well. Successfully completing a section without being seen feels every bit as good as it does in MGS5. Tossing glass jars to distract guards is fun, and the rules of stealth soon feel enjoyably defined. You can wade in with explosive arrows, Molotov cocktails and assault rifles, or you can sneak around in the undergrowth and silently off your foes, one by one. What a bitch.īut Lara in bitch mode is awesome. You sometimes hear enemies talking about their home life, or arguing about some coins they found… then you burn them to a screaming crisp and take the coins for yourself. Even so, she is very much in cold-blooded killer mode here. The first half of the game is rather conflict-light, just maybe because people complained Lara was too kill-happy last time. It's probably no coincidence that the frequency of combat increases here. That familiar, breathless delivery of set-pieces and revelations from the previous game and the opening of this one starts to flow and all is well again. Even so, Rise definitely stalls for a while here, leaving you to somewhat aimlessly hunt around for relics, run some errands for rather one-dimensional NPCs, and kill a few endangered species (I set a bear on fire)… basically do busywork until the story kicks back in.Īnd it really does. Stretching the new technology in the other direction, some of the outdoor environments are downright massive, in particular the Geothermal Springs hub around a third of the way through the game. Indeed, the interior settings ramp up the detail to render-quality, as vines, skulls and ancient statues are drawn in magnificent 3D, bathing in the light from Lara's glowstick. Rays of light pierce dust-laden air in the devilishly macabre tombs. Pure white snow glistens with sparkling ice crystals in the half-light, and leaves deep footprints when you walk in it. My Xbox hard drive is filling up with screenshots where I just thought 'that is so pretty' I had to take a picture. Big Head Lara is an abomination and is more worthy of being killed with fire than any of her enemies.Īnd that beauty is electrifying.

Yes, it's 2015 and there's a big head mode.

Then there's 'Remnant Resistance', a series of short challenges that run in 'big head mode'. However, since these challenges recycle 5-10 minute chunks of the pre-scripted game – complete with tutorial pop-ups - they don't feel well-suited to speedruns. Expeditions lets you replay levels with perks and challenges (like a bonus for not getting hit, or all the enemies are on fire), which you unlock via packs of random cards, and there are online leaderboards to chase. There are side modes, but no multiplayer.

Rise of the tomb raider review