In light of a sequel, here are some of my thoughts on Tomb Raider
I can't explain to you how much I have come to enjoy the simplistic game design of the Tomb Raider franchise. I originally started playing Tomb Raider on the PSOne, but only in the form of a demo for the second game in the series, and I did not enjoy the tank controls nor did I-- at a young age-- care for the evolution in gaming that was the start of the series. Yes, Tomb Raider 1 was an evolution in gaming, its full 3D environments left nothing to the imagination. The game was a full on pseudo-puzzle exploration game.
Fast forward some years to the release of the Tomb Raider Trilogy, featuring remastered versions of Tomb Raider: Legend; Tomb Raider: Anniversary and a copy of Tomb Raider: Underworld (which was the first fore-ray into HD for the series). I picked up a copy of this Trilogy after doing some digging on the ventures of the series and its merits. Lets just say, I was not disappointed. Tomb Raider-- which had already, by this point, been taken over by developer Crystal Dynamics--welcomed me to a reconfigured control scheme and basic mechanics that felt just right. The mechanics for jumping and grabbing ledges are manually controlled and are fantastically engrossing. Traversing the games semi-open environments and experiencing the global exploits of series protagonist Lara Croft, is nothing short of a breath of fresh air, in the wake of shoot-all-games with little in the way of room to explore.
Welcome to the Vaunted Gamer.
Here I will layout just what I want the direction of the blog/site to be going forward. This is just a quick meandering attempt at coming up with some foundations for the site, so bear with me. These "guideline"to what or how I post are and will reaming in-flux, at least for now--I mean it is a blog, after all.
Reviews:
- I would like for the reviews that I post to be in-depth. In-depth reviews to me does not mean that I must provide every single piece of minutia there is. That would possibly amount to a designers manual that neither you nor I would benefit from. Lets just say I like to go into detail on what I believe, from the experience I had with the game, Is important to either the enjoyment or displeasure of the game. If for any reason I leave out any detail that someone might feel is necessary--let me know right away. I will either replay the title; agree on the spot, and chalk it up to a mistake/oversight on my part; or explain to you or whomever why I felt the detail was not important--at least in my honest opinion and judgement. I want to provide readers with reviews that give them a short and differing opinion/take on a game that they will potentially purchase, look into, or just wanted to here more about.
A new 3DS XL color is inbound. On August 11th, the 3DS XL will be available in black, as first reported on by IGN.
This is great news, for those who were on the fence due to paltry color selection. Seeing as how I already have a 3DS XL, well, this news is a bit late for me. Though I hope Nintendo does intend to continue, albeit at a faster pace, the introduction of new colors. I can understand that the color of a handheld system is more of a self-identifiable thing than the color of a home console, that just sits at home.
