Recent reviews by Reformed Restroom

TLDR? Fun, but maybe not what you're expecting.

I've never really played a Tomb Raider game, before, so I decideed I'd try this out, just to see how it plays. And, having given it a thorough 86% of a thrashing, I can say that I enjoyed the game much more than I expected, but that appears to be because it was a much different game than I expected.

When I think Tomb Raider, and gather every piece of cursory knowledge I have gained over the years, what it appears to be, usually, is a puzzle game, with some adventure elements. And that is what I expected. Instead, what I received was everything I had hoped for, to come out of Assassin's Creed 3 or 4: A large focus on archery, sneak attacks, free-running challenges, exploring ancient temples, etc. To see it come out under the wrong title, without some of the trademark trappings of the series, like Leaps of Faith, or mention of the Assassins and Templars, is a bit confusing, but I've managed. You play a not-Assassins Lara Croft as she doesn't assassinate a bunch of crazy cultists in a jungle island using a number of types of arrows, with the occasional use of guns if something goes wrong, to keep them from using a magic artifact with god-like powers.

All in all, it's kind-of hard to review this. Did I enjoy it? Immensely. Would I recommend it to a friend? Sure, it's a fun rmomp, and pretty short, so, if it's on sale, maybe $20-$25, buy it. But would I say I feel like I've tried a Tomb Raider game? Not really.

This game has a magic system worth a look at, and even worth a little playing with. But, unless it super clicks for you, the spell creation system will likely be a little too complex, and you'll end up letting the game handle it with the Smart Inventory option. And, once you take away the spell building mechanics, this becomes a medicore, incredibly repetitive magic-flavored 3D beat 'em up. Similaly, the story is also interesting, but it's given out in such small portions that there isn't even enough to get your beak wet. It's an issue that rears it's head up, all over: Cool ideas, but not enough to keep your interest. It's not that the game doesn't try: At one point, a mouse crawls out of a wizard's mouth, and into another guy's, and then the other guy becomes the wizard, and even that confusion wasn't enough to keep me engaged! The enemies are interesting at first, but you quickly find yourself bored with fighting the same 5 mobs in the same zone, over and over. Even a new zone only comes with a reskin, to fool you into thinking you've gotten new enemies, but, within a few fights, you know exactly who is who, already.

I don't think I got to the first boss, before I ended up quitting, my first playthrough. On a second playthrough, I managed to struggle through til what appeared to be the second to last zone, given the journal system's layout, before I just ran out of steam, again. I wish this game just had either a little more meat on it's bones, or at least trimmed the fat of so many repititions of the same fights, over and over, to something of a shorter experience. If either of those happened, I could suggest purchasing this game. However, as is, I can't suggest buying this game for more than maybe 1-2 bucks, and even then, just to get a taste of the magic system, and then probably to set right back down.

This is a great game, up until the very last few scenes. I ain't gunna spoil it, but, ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ that ending was so dumb. I get the whole theme stuff, but, could you have done it a little less... Deus ex machina-y? Holy shoot, am I angry. The game was amazing, up until then, honestly a game for any kind of gamer, 10/10 up until the part, then the rest of it is just... UGH! Way to ruin the ending of the game!

The first act of this game is fun. It's assassin's creed without the weird future scenes, and placed in The Lord of The Rings. It plays well, and has a lot of unique mechanics. My only issue is that the game is poorly-paced. At the end of the first zone, it feels like you've beaten the game, and then the game dumps you into a new zone, and makes you rebuild from the bottom up, and that can really kill your will to keep playing. If you can muscle through that, it'l be a blast.

An Edit:

So, it's been quite a few years later, now, and, having finally beaten it, it's worth the seeming restart after the first zone. The game picks up, and powers through with a more... Well, I hesitate to call it a "cohesive" story, because nothing related to LotR is really 100% understandable, but a more existant story. And the story DLC are more than worth it. The beast one has a fun escalation of your more brutal, in-your-face combat fighting, while the prequel DLC feels like a long demo to a sequel, with an appreciated difficulty increase, and a really kind-of more enjoyable story.

A wild ride through a third person shooter. Terribly cliche grizzled cop shooting up New York mobsters, using and abusing his ability to dual-weild machine guns and slo-mo jump-dodging? It sounds dumb, and it is, but in that way that will have you just sorta throwing yourself at things for kicks. I spent a lot of time side-jumping onto couchs, and "relaxing". Definately worth a few bucks.

Against the opinions of a lot of people, I actually really enjoyed this. The story is cool, and goes in-line with the XCOM story, somewhat, helping me understand the universe a little better. The DLC isn't worth the cash you pay for it, as it's just excess weapons you won't use, and an effectivly a "kill as many bad guys as you can before you die in an arena" mode that doesn't add anything to the story.

I've never played any point and click adventure games before. Never really saw the attraction. But, this game definately shows some of the best of what that genre must have to offer. A slick satire of the entire genre, packed with references to it's root, and modern pop culture, you play as a walking, talking parody of the Film Noir Grizzled Detective trope in a Shadowrun-esque 2050, filled with mutants, radiation, and a story that seems way to intense for the shlock the game revels in for the first half of the game, but, after a harrowing, almost horror-esque section at the end of the second act, it hits it's tone nicely.

If you like point and click adventure games, this is probably going to be quite the fun ride.
Like playing Fallout New Vegas on wakcy wasteland, but wish there was less shooting, and more interacting with NPCs? You've struck gold.
Just looking for a fun way to spend an evening or two? You could do worse. Much, much worse.

This game is RAD!

It's got a great story, a wicked universe, and one of my favorite combat systems around.

For everyone? No. Good, if it's your thing? HELLA.

This game is alright. It has some clipping issues, and the difficulty curve just plain-old starts high, but, the game is over-all good. Work your way into figuring out a gun and power-up combo you like, and you can probably find your way through this. You will get VERY frustrated, but, there's a little secret every five runs, so, if you're about to throw it down after your 4th run... Just keep going. It gets easier.

THis game is FANTASTIC!