I liked the first game more, there were times the developers absolutely listened to us such as no sliding and dodging stuff with a firearm where we drift to the left or right matters. However there are ways this game is a step back. Such as the out dated quick time events that are hardly ever used. Once with a bear at the beginning of the game that does add suspense though the developers seemed like they were too lazy to add more prompts and you'll die at least the first time or two.
What I like about these games is that it's like the super nintendo Metroid game where you are encouraged to back track with your new abilities which will make the game easier. Such as reaching new heights in a map to get a weapons part to or more gold coins. Though I feel the shop in the game is underutilized. One thing I find interesting is that Lara can talk to certain villagers to get missions to get more unlockables. Admittedly only one you do really early in the game is worth it. The rest are just there for firearm parts.
The puzzles in the tombs are for the most part very easy to figure out. Though there was 2 or 3 of them that I did have to youtube such as that annoying one in the baba yaga DLC.
The combat is the same as the game before. I wish that the aiming was fixed a bit. This and Hitman 2 I felt no matter what I did I couldn't get the controller just right as I'm really picky and avoided shoot outs. The stealth in this game is definitely a weakness. There are bushes to hide in but Lara still can't drag bodies away from being seen. There are some shoot outs that are unavoidable which sure this adds to the story but it gets annoying after a while. Especially when you back track to a cleared level when you're trying for 100% and there are certain enemies. Fun fact when you're about 80% done and revisit Russia there will always be an enemy with a flame thrower which are one of the harder enemies and a few elite enemies.
The weapons I don't feel are strong enough even fully upgraded at times. The assault rifle in particular. The shotgun is fine, i like the arrows but really the assault rifle needs to take more damage out. The only new gadget is the grappling hook and it's a gamble whether or not it feels like working. It makes the rock climbing look awkward. Especially in the lost city level where Lara clipped a few times.
The difficulty seemed a bit higher. Not unplayable but all the projectiles such as smoke grenades and gas arrows don't help as much as I'd want them to. The part I hated the most was back tracking for a relic and I was in "the chamber of souls" and there is way too much to jump over and do to trigger a checkpoint. Why there is no "return to the last campfire: is beyond me. The first bit of the game there is very little times to slow down and catch your breath. They struggle to have a story but by the time the Johnny Depp sounding wanna be who looks like Rasputen (Jacob) is introduced at least the story becomes more solid.
It's not a very long game, if you had an entire saturday off you could clear through this game in about 12 hours if you knew where to go and most of the puzzles. To 100% the game it'll take about 30-40 hours.
There is lots of small details such as walking through the snow or even Lara having snow falling on her clothing. Though I feel the clothing should have more different perks than the 3 or so they have. Another big complaint I have is that wolves are way too over powered in this game. All the aggressive animals are magnetized to Lara unless she wears the right outfit. Maybe she should switch perfumes or something?
The levels are diverse, yet some of them seem so disposable they should have just let us pass through them once as there are collectables to go back and get that you can only access a small chunk of the map such as Acropolis. They rely too heavily on bears in caves in this game. There's at least 3 or 4.
Scanning objects is boring and aimless, there should be more hints or instinct.
The maps could be improved, when you are at your campfire looking to complete collecting stuff in a level which let's face it the mine, the geothermal and a few other places going from one side of the map to the other is a chore. Not because of how large it is but how tedious it is and there's a lot of times where before choosing where to go it would be nice to know if I'm near coins or anything important.
The worst challenges in the game are the one where you've got to throw pumpkins in. It's too difficult. If I wanted to throw a ball into a hoop I'd play NBA games.
The diving is poorly described and when it comes time to do it, you'll go on youtube. I don't know why Lara doesn't do it automatically as there is one dive that the ladder is so poorly designed on the building that it becomes harder than it should.
The story is dull, the last boss fight seems a bit phoned in. Especially the helicopter without ruining anything important. Thankfully Johan is not a love interest of Lara.
The baba yaga DLC should be added much later in the game to trigger and that boss fight is like a puzzle fighting back at you. I have no idea why they cranked up the difficulty on her. I didn't enjoy it for a second minus the visuals.
Would I play this again? Sure not for at least a few months to a year as the game still has a bug where unless you do the camp sights perfectly to hear the audio diaries you won't get 208 of 208 documents but thankfully you still get 100%. Kind of sloppy on the developers end.
If the level design was less tedious where i could back track more seamlessly it would improve and all those small little things keep this from being a 10 / 10.
What I like about these games is that it's like the super nintendo Metroid game where you are encouraged to back track with your new abilities which will make the game easier. Such as reaching new heights in a map to get a weapons part to or more gold coins. Though I feel the shop in the game is underutilized. One thing I find interesting is that Lara can talk to certain villagers to get missions to get more unlockables. Admittedly only one you do really early in the game is worth it. The rest are just there for firearm parts.
The puzzles in the tombs are for the most part very easy to figure out. Though there was 2 or 3 of them that I did have to youtube such as that annoying one in the baba yaga DLC.
The combat is the same as the game before. I wish that the aiming was fixed a bit. This and Hitman 2 I felt no matter what I did I couldn't get the controller just right as I'm really picky and avoided shoot outs. The stealth in this game is definitely a weakness. There are bushes to hide in but Lara still can't drag bodies away from being seen. There are some shoot outs that are unavoidable which sure this adds to the story but it gets annoying after a while. Especially when you back track to a cleared level when you're trying for 100% and there are certain enemies. Fun fact when you're about 80% done and revisit Russia there will always be an enemy with a flame thrower which are one of the harder enemies and a few elite enemies.
The weapons I don't feel are strong enough even fully upgraded at times. The assault rifle in particular. The shotgun is fine, i like the arrows but really the assault rifle needs to take more damage out. The only new gadget is the grappling hook and it's a gamble whether or not it feels like working. It makes the rock climbing look awkward. Especially in the lost city level where Lara clipped a few times.
The difficulty seemed a bit higher. Not unplayable but all the projectiles such as smoke grenades and gas arrows don't help as much as I'd want them to. The part I hated the most was back tracking for a relic and I was in "the chamber of souls" and there is way too much to jump over and do to trigger a checkpoint. Why there is no "return to the last campfire: is beyond me. The first bit of the game there is very little times to slow down and catch your breath. They struggle to have a story but by the time the Johnny Depp sounding wanna be who looks like Rasputen (Jacob) is introduced at least the story becomes more solid.
It's not a very long game, if you had an entire saturday off you could clear through this game in about 12 hours if you knew where to go and most of the puzzles. To 100% the game it'll take about 30-40 hours.
There is lots of small details such as walking through the snow or even Lara having snow falling on her clothing. Though I feel the clothing should have more different perks than the 3 or so they have. Another big complaint I have is that wolves are way too over powered in this game. All the aggressive animals are magnetized to Lara unless she wears the right outfit. Maybe she should switch perfumes or something?
The levels are diverse, yet some of them seem so disposable they should have just let us pass through them once as there are collectables to go back and get that you can only access a small chunk of the map such as Acropolis. They rely too heavily on bears in caves in this game. There's at least 3 or 4.
Scanning objects is boring and aimless, there should be more hints or instinct.
The maps could be improved, when you are at your campfire looking to complete collecting stuff in a level which let's face it the mine, the geothermal and a few other places going from one side of the map to the other is a chore. Not because of how large it is but how tedious it is and there's a lot of times where before choosing where to go it would be nice to know if I'm near coins or anything important.
The worst challenges in the game are the one where you've got to throw pumpkins in. It's too difficult. If I wanted to throw a ball into a hoop I'd play NBA games.
The diving is poorly described and when it comes time to do it, you'll go on youtube. I don't know why Lara doesn't do it automatically as there is one dive that the ladder is so poorly designed on the building that it becomes harder than it should.
The story is dull, the last boss fight seems a bit phoned in. Especially the helicopter without ruining anything important. Thankfully Johan is not a love interest of Lara.
The baba yaga DLC should be added much later in the game to trigger and that boss fight is like a puzzle fighting back at you. I have no idea why they cranked up the difficulty on her. I didn't enjoy it for a second minus the visuals.
Would I play this again? Sure not for at least a few months to a year as the game still has a bug where unless you do the camp sights perfectly to hear the audio diaries you won't get 208 of 208 documents but thankfully you still get 100%. Kind of sloppy on the developers end.
If the level design was less tedious where i could back track more seamlessly it would improve and all those small little things keep this from being a 10 / 10.