Recent reviews by Alphy

Kind of a broken and janky cash grab tbh.
At least as of now, if the final release irons out some major bugs and refines some broken mechanics I could be eating my words. But I'm not holding my breath for that

It's a fine enough brain teaser, especially being free, with a really cool art style and soundtrack to boot.
Not a huge fan how the final boos changes the games genre, only moving one space at a time becomes very frustrating when trying to make precise and quick movements.
That's my only gripe tho.
prepare to scratch your head.

All full up, can't carry anymore.

While the story kind of takes a hit in this sequel to Lara's origin, Rise of the Tomb Raider does something very interesting with it's gameplay that it didn't really have to.
We have narrative progress introducing traversal upgrades so that is still the same as 2013.
But while your playing that game it's clear that they were trying to capture something from the original by having a story and gameplay setting were Lara is isolated and vulnerable. It didn't quite hit the level of immersion that the core games could.
It was passable though, and they could have kept it as is, but crystal took a long look at the original formula and came up with something clever to make the gameplay feel more like the core titles, while still keeping the established systems in place.
See in the core games exploration is strongly incentivized to offset the ♥♥♥♥♥♥ combat, they knew they didn't have time to fix it so instead they made the rewards for your curiosity, through combing the levels many nooks and crannies, items that you would need to tank damage and stronger ammo for dealing with enemies more effectively.
Things you need to stay ahead of the curb
Now jump to 2013 and most ammo you would need is scattered around combat arenas and looted from defeated enemies, there's nothing wrong with that but theirs also noting that major when incentivizing exploration.
Rise addresses this in an effort to move closer to Tomb Raiders roots.
In a brilliant bit of design they used the upgrade and leveling system to achieve this because exploration now rewards you the resources needed to unlock upgrades and stronger weapons earlier than your supposed to, letting you stay ahead of the curb and giving the edge you need to make combat easier.
For the first time in a while, I was giddy to find extras in a tomb raider game and I really appreciate CD's clever used of their new systems to try and recapture the appeal of their predecessors.
It's an edge I would inevitably need in the final stretch of the game as the enemies proved extremely resilient.
There's also so much more to discover and do to the point where you can easily triple your playtime going for optional stuff.
Highly recommend this one if you loved exploring in the original game, and if you'd prefer a more streamlined, legend type game then 2013 might be more your speed.
I did throw up in my mouth a little when I saw that there was micro transactions for the multiplayer mode in a loot box system no less.
To think that some executive tried to shoe horn that in to such a focused and polished game is laughable, especially considering that multiplayer is very much dead.

Finally after playing 12 games that had their potentials squandered in varying degrees by development crunch, studio meddling, and a lack of identity.
This Tomb Raider experience is the first that feels fully realized.
No more half baked tomfoolery like unstable glitches, or underdeveloped mechanics, or bad conveyance, or unfair design.
It feels like a breath of fresh air honestly, and while this reboot takes a slightly different aim at a tomb raider experience, it executes it very well.
What we have here is a first for the series, a cover based shooter with a proper leveling system that rewards you for general exploration, and not just a simulated key and lock system so you can "feel stronger now."
Much like the legend trilogy we have the systems and mechanics in place to make the game feel like an action film rather than try to fill the puzzle platforming niche that the original filled so well, but my expectations of that being the focus again are long gone at this point.
And when I say "action" movie Lara is less of a James Bond and more of a Die Hard this time around, embracing a kind of metraoidvainia style to it as you find useful traversal upgrades to access previous areas mixed with a feeling of being isolated as this Tomb Raider to be has the worst day of her life.
Couple that with the "Hunter Vision" mechanic that highlights points of interest, enemies, and collectible goodies I was reminded of Batman Arkham Asylum a number of times.
Of course that's just when it came to navigation and tone, when you're doped into one of the games many combat arenas it's hard not to draw Uncharted comparisons, but unlike Nathan Drake this is certainly not a tale of globe trotting and daring do.
So yeah, this is a different take on the franchise, but it marches forward with such confidence that I recommend it for sure. Much like the Bethesda Doom games, if you have an affinity for the classic formula, those games are getting some pretty robust remasters soon so it's a win for both sides of the camp

What we have here is a yet another tomb raider game that doesn't know exactly what it want's to be, imagine that.
ToO is worse than GoL in a few ways, namely it's pacing and heavy emphasis on repetitive puzzles. while GoL had a light dusting of co-op puzzles that I thought were quite fun, this game lays way too heavy into them, likely in an attempt to make it feel "more like tomb raider."
I say these games should have went with the fast paced dual stick shooter co-op approach instead, because when it does, it can be quite entertaining.
The variety of weapons and amulets you can get and the random nature in which they drop from chests that each player can claim and own as individual rewards feels nice, it can add some diversity in playstyles and a light competitive aspect as you scramble to beat your teammates to grab all the gems to get the best gear at the end of a tomb.
that is when the online works properly anyway, still a host of performance issues especially on the PC version.
I'd say stick to the first game if your interested in this kind of thing.

You can make numbers go up that make more numbers go up.
The grind is very real, but big number good, red and very pretty.

*Loses*
This game blows, it's literally just luck....
*plays it again*
*Wins*
Honestly this is my game of the year

I gotta say first off Crystal Dynamics was ahead of their time with this one, I mean almost a decade prior and this game looks *exactly* like those fake mobile game ads about surviving a zombie apocalypse or becoming a level 100 mob boss.
Joking aside this game was okay.
I hate to go into so little detail but this game just kind of does what it says on the tin.
LCGOL is a lower budget, isometric, dual stick, co-op shooter with a tomb raider skin on it.
Nothing more nothing less, there are a handful of puzzles to solve which integrate both player's abilities nicely and is probably the highlight of a co-op run, tho the game is beatable solo.
uhhhh yeah, you can do worse for 10 bucks. Tho if you do plan on doing co-op I do recommend doing it locally, the online servers aren't great, with a whole host of latency issues

Just made the first model I'm truly proud of.
Don't give up!