That's the thing. Beyond Crystal's endless exalting of Lara (which I swear is merely their growing desperation to get out from under Core's shadow and make the series their own), TR9 is the least TR-looking game I've ever seen. In nearly three years of development, what have we got to show for it? An hours worth of footage in which the player is led down a single, story-driven path that is littered with BS Hollywood-style set-pieces.
I get that Crystal want to make TR their own, but it seems to me that their track record of three mediocre games makes it look as though they never had a clear perception of what TR was to begin with. In their eyes, TR9 has got Lara in it, so no TR fan should have cause for concern. That couldn't be further from the truth. The games are what made Lara the icon she once was, not Lara herself. But Crystal seem to think that Lara is all anyone wants to know about, so now we have a game that rewrites pretty much everything and the only Tomb Raider traits that remain are the title and the main character.
I'd argue that a worthwhile percentage of people want to know about Lara. While it is the case at places like TRF, the majority of the general gaming public have come to view Lara as one of the fallen, a name associated with games that were good once, and they just don't care about her any more. And even as a massive fan of the series, I don't blame them for thinking that. The games she appears in have been crap since Angel of Darkness (although Chronicles was a turning point). To me, TR9 looks no better. It's another RE6, a game that'll shamelessly plagiarise all the popular stuff from its peers, sell millions, but will be nothing more than a cheap fireworks display.
Edited by Spong at 15:34:13 10-10-2012
I get that Crystal want to make TR their own, but it seems to me that their track record of three mediocre games makes it look as though they never had a clear perception of what TR was to begin with. In their eyes, TR9 has got Lara in it, so no TR fan should have cause for concern. That couldn't be further from the truth. The games are what made Lara the icon she once was, not Lara herself. But Crystal seem to think that Lara is all anyone wants to know about, so now we have a game that rewrites pretty much everything and the only Tomb Raider traits that remain are the title and the main character.
I'd argue that a worthwhile percentage of people want to know about Lara. While it is the case at places like TRF, the majority of the general gaming public have come to view Lara as one of the fallen, a name associated with games that were good once, and they just don't care about her any more. And even as a massive fan of the series, I don't blame them for thinking that. The games she appears in have been crap since Angel of Darkness (although Chronicles was a turning point). To me, TR9 looks no better. It's another RE6, a game that'll shamelessly plagiarise all the popular stuff from its peers, sell millions, but will be nothing more than a cheap fireworks display.
Edited by Spong at 15:34:13 10-10-2012
