#Shadow of the tomb raider mirror puzzle series#

These communities serve as hub locations from which the majority of the gameвЂ™s main and side quests branch out. In their pursuit of Mayan myth, Shadow of the Tomb RaiderВ is a non-stop tour of jungles, caves, and secluded Latin-American communities. This scarcity does make his best moments that much more enjoyable, however, as his infrequent heart-to-hearts with Lara proved to be the gameвЂ™s most memorable scenes.ДЄfter Lara and JonahвЂ™s previous Tomb Raider trips to a lost island and the wilderness of Siberia, the duoвЂ™s new adventure takes them to the most Tomb Raider-y setting yet. He might not be as action-capable as Lara, but the characterвЂ™s extremely human performance does not get the screen time it deserves. Jonah is rarely on the frontlines, instead usually assisting from behind the scenes, often for some pretty contrived reasons. Whatever the reason, players will find themselves relishing her successes and sharing in the pain of her failures.Д«acking up this stellar performance is Jonah, LaraвЂ™s best friend and returning treasure hunting buddy. ItвЂ™s hard to say if the endearing personality she develops is the result of her excellent voice acting, the gameвЂ™s top-tier facial animation, or some combination of the two. Lara may be the most capable human being on the planet, but she never falls into the over-confident action girl stereotype.

Fortunately, Lara manages to retain the limelight by being even more sympathetic, despite her very thoughtless decision making. His driving motivation is to protect his home, and he passes up multiple opportunities to kill Lara, seemingly out of the goodness of his heart. At the very least, her actions cause far more damage than TrinityвЂ™s over the course of the story.ДЇurthering these conflicting sympathies is the actual main villain, Dominguez, who-perhaps in part due to a voice like a high school Spanish teacher-really doesnвЂ™t come off as a bad guy. While the chasm between the morals of the two parties becomes more defined as the story progresses, itвЂ™s an interesting narrative choice that actually calls into question if Lara is closer to villain than hero this time around. We soon learn that, whatever TrinityвЂ™s intentions later down the line, its leader knew of this threat, and proceeds to take the artifact from her to try and undo the damage sheвЂ™s done.

#Shadow of the tomb raider mirror puzzle series#

The game kicks off with Lara in a race to steal an artifact from a Mayan ruin before Trinity-the rival treasure-hunting organization from the previous game-can do it first, but unfortunately for Lara, removing the object commences a series of natural catastrophes. The вЂњshadowвЂќ alluded to in the gameвЂ™s title is not cast by the prophesized eclipse on its cover art, but instead by Lara herself, whose actions at the start of the game precipitate a dark sequence of events. If only heroine Lara Croft had the chance to make similarly informed decisions when the story begins. ItвЂ™s a simple yet extremely welcome feature that enhances player enjoyment through increased control over everyoneвЂ™s respective experience. What is more, each section comes with a description detailing how the varying difficulties will affect that realm of the adventure. Starting up the game, the player is given the standard Easy-to-Very Hard difficulty choices, but what makes them special is the option to adjust the individual difficulty of each of the experienceвЂ™s three gameplay pillars: combat, exploration, and puzzle-solving. This is a game that excels in quality over ingenuity, taking what works from other examples in the genre and doing it better.Д®vidence of Shadow of the Tomb RaiderвЂ™s quality-focused intent surfaces before the opening cutscene even rolls.

Its latest installment, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, is unique by virtue of not having anything thatвЂ™s particularly unique, instead focusing on polishing its predictable features to a mirror shine. The remade Tomb Raider series has struggled to find an identity in an industry that has been slowly leaving the brand behind, but maybe it doesnвЂ™t need to.