Tag: solution

Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine now supports custom levels

Everybody has several games that mean quite a lot to them. For me, one of these games is Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine. I not only grew up with this game, but I also have a lot of memories of this game. Outside of that, I also met some amazing friends through the community behind this game. I even did several speedruns of this game, and I’m an active member of the community. Now, color me surprised that 25 years after the release of this game, we got new fan-made content for this game. Not just fan made content in the style of fan patches to solve bugs with the game, a whole new level and promises of a level editor to create even more new custom content. This blew me off my socks and in today’s article I want to talk about it. So strap in and let’s get ready to play new content for one of the best Indiana Jones games ever made.

The new level – SED

There is a speedrunning discord server for this game. Well, it was a speedrunning discord server but for a few years now, this server has grown into a server of people who appreciate this game. If you want to join this discord, here is an invite link. When the server started to grow, several modders joined our server. One of these modders is going under the name of Urgon (currently) and what we didn’t know is that he was decompiling the whole game. Not only that, he was creating a level editor based upon an existing level editor.

This existing level editor is for Star Wars Jedi Knight & Mysteries of the Sith. Those games used an engine that formed the basis for the Jones3D engine. While he was developing that editor, he tested his skills by creating a new level. So, basically, parts of this new level are tests of the new level editor and what you can do with it.

Now, information about this new level and the download link can be found at this GitHub repository. If you want to download the actual level, you have to go to this page and click the green button named “Code”. In that dropdown, you can choose “download zip”. You’ll need that later if you want to install/play this custom level. Now, if you read the pre-mod or the installation instructions for this level, you might feel overwhelmed if you aren’t very technically inclined. That’s why two community members wrote two special tools to aid you in preparing your game.

You might ask yourself, like Klamath did in at the end of our stream of this custom level, why are there two tools for basically the same? Well, let me tell you the history about it. When I wanted to play the custom level, I had a bit of trouble myself while figuring out the tutorial. I also found that the required steps were quite a lot to do. So, I decided to start writing a PowerShell script that did all the steps. I announced that in the Indy3D discord that I was writing this. When I almost completed my tool, the_Kovic dropped his version of the tool.

Personally, I didn’t want to throw my work out the window and continued finishing my GUI version. When I finished, I didn’t convert my tool to an EXE and left it just as a script file you could run using a command line or a code editor. The next day, Kovic released a GUI version of his tool and I gave some feedback on his tool. In the days after that, I created an EXE version of my tool and we both kept adding features in our tool. He wrote his tool in C#, which is a bit friendlier to create an EXE. If I didn’t release my first version as a script only and converted it to an EXE, I think it might have been less overwhelming for people.

That said, Kovic thanked me for creating my tool since like he said on our stream: “It put my butt into gear to create a tool and write a GUI, which I normally don’t write“. On top of that, our tools aren’t meant to compete with each other. I can’t write C# and Kovic can’t write PowerShell. And it would be a shame to just delete work because somebody else was quicker or made their tool more user-friendly first. The result now is that we both have two very strong tools with a very similar, maybe even completely the same, feature set.

Outside a different choice of coding language, the biggest differences between both our tools are under the hood. In Kovic’s tool, you get more files than in my tool when you download the tool. And that’s because to prepare your game for custom levels, you need to extract several files in the resource folder. The tool used for extraction has a bug where instead of extracting the folders of the archive into the resource folder, it extracts them into separate folders, like if you would extract a zip file. Kovic packs a modified version of this extraction tool so that part of the process goes a bit faster. In my version, the tool just downloads the latest official versions of the tool and prepare the game that way.

In the end, both our tools give you the same end result. They prepare your game to install custom levels and play them. If you want to try out the_kovic’s tool, you can find the latest version on this releases page. If you want to try our my tool, you can find it on this releases page. Feedback to our tools is always welcome! If you find an issue or if you have an idea, feel free to hit us up, and we will look into it.

Earlier I talked about a stream of the level we did. Klamath, the_Kovic and me did a live stream where we played through this level. Now, I have to emphasize that release of this level is an impressive technical achievement. Creating a level for a 3D game isn’t easy and requires a lot of work. It’s even more impressive when you know that not everything is documented about the engine, and you have to decompile a lot of it. In the next part of this article, I’m going to talk about the level itself and critique it.

If you don’t want spoilers, I’d advise you to skip that section for now and come back later. Now, I want to say that I start reviewing the level in a moment, but this feedback is mostly meant for people who want to make new custom content. What did this new level do right and wrong if you look at it as a player who doesn’t know the technical background of this level? This isn’t meant to break down the amazing work the modders did to make this work.

Reviewing the new level

Editorial note: this review will spoil quite a lot. If you don’t want to get spoiled, you have to skip this section of the article. This isn’t a walkthrough of the level either. Some sections are skipped, I’m only going to talk about the sections I want to talk about.

The new level takes place 25 years after the ending of the original game. Indy returns to his Canyonlands dig site. You are set loose at the tent where Sophia picked Indy up with a helicopter to start the Infernal Machine adventure.

In terms of new content, there isn’t a lot new to see. Some ladders are missing and some parts of the level are blocked off. Also, all treasures are missing that you would usually find in the level.

Before I continue, I want to mention that some parts of this level are made quite difficult on purpose. The developer wanted to give us the feeling we were young kids again, playing this game for the first time, and have us figure out the new puzzles by ourselves. Yet, finding a correct balance between difficulty and unfair is a very fine line to thread. Personally, I think that in some sections, the developer crossed the line into unfair level design.

When running on the top section, you notice that there are some new voice lines. These voice lines are made possible with a voice cloning AI tool that was trained on lines from Doug Lee, the original voice actor for this game. The new voice lines sound amazing, and if you didn’t know better, you’d think that Doug Lee came back to record the new lines. In most cases, these voice lines really fit Indy’s personality and fit right into the game.

We come to our first snag when we want to go to the new content. I can understand not seeing the shovel and being confused, since it’s hanging at the jeep on top. And you know what’s even more confusing, the other side of the jeep model has a shovel in its texture! Anyhow, when you pick up the shovel and dig up the Infernal Machine part, it’s clear that you need to break a wall. Here comes one of the worst parts of this level. The location of this cracked wall is insanely well hidden. It’s in one of the last places you’d look, and several of the first players ran around for hours upon hours in Canyonlands before it was found. And when it was found, it made us annoyed.

It’s a clear example of how players who are used to the level, overlooking the obvious. The wall you need to break has an actual cracked wall texture, but it’s behind something you can’t see through. I think it would have been fine if the location, where it is at, had a bigger ledge so you’d notice it somewhat instead of just having to go on a wild goose chase.

Now, we enter the new area. We come to a big open space where the next set of puzzles are. The first puzzle is actually a jumping puzzle. Now, I highly advise you to not play this level if you haven’t played through most of Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine. Not that there are spoilers, but because some of the jumps in this level are straight up difficult and not what you really expect from this game. Kovic calls it “Kaizo Jones” for a good reason.

There are some small platforms and not having the look key working is going to be a pain in this section. Since, there are some moments where you need to be able to free look and not being able to see beneath or above you will make things a lot more tricky. After you finished these jumps, you might start to notice that the developer of this custom level added some details. Like, the rope bridges are gently moving in the wind. This is something that isn’t present in the original game. It’s a new “COG” script that makes that possible.

These cog scripts are a blessing for custom content. Since, this game isn’t hardcoded at all, so if you learn how to write these cog scripts, you can basically write new mechanics as well. It’s insane what possibilities there are going to be in the future for this game. I hope there is going to be good documentation so that custom level creaters know what’s possible and what’s impossible with the level editor.

While you are exploring this area, you notice that it’s huge. This also explains why it takes quite a while to load this level. Currently, modders are looking into why it’s running so slow. Since, we don’t really know if it’s the level size or something else slowing down the loading of this level.

So, after jumping around the central column, you’ll arive at the shed. Here you notice you can actually enter the shed from the top. Kovic explains it quite well during the stream. If you want to hear some technical explanations on how this level works, I’d advice you to watch our stream. Since there is a lot of interesting development talk in there. Later, Kovic and myself had a contest in trying to quote voice lines from the main game. We got close to 200. Kovic won that because I said a line he already said.

After you picked up everything from this shed and climbed outside, you experience another new mechanic of this game. It’s a mechanic that gets backported from Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb. The fact you can use your whip to go over a zipline.

After you returned and struggled with getting across the other bridge, you will encounter other parts of this level. Here you’ll encounter two voice lines that straight up lie to you. The first voice line is that you need more force, explosives to break a rock that’s blocking your way forwards. Here is the issue with that, you get an explosive barrel later. You need to find an extremely hidden swim tunnel in the water. It’s not the only hidden thing in the water, so investigate behind and underneath rocks quite well. Since, these puzzles in this water border in the unfair territory. What makes that explosive voice line even more evil is that there is a box of TNT in the shed earlier. But what’s the second voice line that lies to you?

Well, that is after you made your way past said boulder. You find a minecart and interacting with it, Indy says that it will run with gasoline. And there is still gasoline left in the shed. Sadly, you can’t pick it up anymore. Now, this is a red haring, you don’t need this minecart at all.

By now, you have learned that this level likes to break the rules of how the main game is designed. You’ll have to think outside of the box sometimes to beat this level. But, for some jumps, you need to use your knowledge of what’s possible and impossible to progress. This makes it quite tricky sometimes to progress. And this brings me to a conclusion we also said on stream. I think that the issue is that people expected a more tame level than what we actually got and that might turn some people off. But, I’m so glad that the quick save system exists in this game. So, abuse the quick save system and make multiple saves since you’ll need them if you aren’t a veteran player of this game.

Anyhow, let’s get back into the flow of the level. After we completed the lever puzzle, we go back towards to the huge open area and take the lift to a new location. What follows is a totally new area where it’s a good thing if you saved up on health packs and you have a great sense of direction.

So, the short minecart ridge comes to an end. It doesn’t take long before you find yourself into a watermaze. This watermaze is unfair in my honest opinion. Klamath had a tricky time solving it and he had to use almost every health pack to get through it. Without Kovic pointing out the right tunnel, I think it would have made the stream quite a bit longer. There was supposed to be a minecart section instead of this swimming maze, but the developer had a hard time making the minecart section to work and he gave up and made this swimming maze.

Now, I’m all fine with this swimming maze, but the map glitches out at certain parts. I have a mediocre sense of direction and I wanted to rely on the map. The map doesn’t always render the tunnels correctly. You sometimes swim off the map or “in nothingness”. Sadly, I have to draw my own map. I wish I still had it, since it would make for a nice screenshot here… But I threw it out but me and my clumsiness… I knocked over my waterbottle over it.

After the swimming maze, we get a new section of “Kaizo Jones”. Where we get some extremely tricky platforming. Here is where you need to use the look key again and be sure you are playing in 4:3. If you are playing in another resolution like 16:9 or 16:10, this will also be one of the moments where you don’t see all the information.

The block puzzle that follows, feels right out of Tomb Raider. The initial reviews of this game called out this game as a Tomb Raider clone. While, this game does the formula a whole lot differently. We even talked about that during the stream. In terms of theming, Infernal Machine is a lot better. Tomb Raider feels like obstacle courses. But that’s thanks to a different engine and control style. If you want to hear the whole discussion, you can watch the stream from this point. Excuse Kovic’s internet being spotty while he was replying.

After the block puzzle, a new path opens in the swim maze. Then, some platforming comes. Something I love is how there is even a troll hidden inside the platforming. It caught me off guard and made me smile. This platforming section was also love to do. It felt like a real test on how well I know the game. This platforming section feels a lot better put together and feel less cryptic on where you need to go next. You really start to notice that the developer was getting more used to the level editor and made better puzzles. The moment of having to use the whip to swing over the gap while the platform underneath you was breaking was amazing.

After that, we get into the finale of this level. We jump into a portal and we land in a playable area which is shown at the end of Shambala, the 4th level in the original game. That area that’s shown to you after you have beaten the Ice Guardian. The path that takes you to Palawan Lagoon. It was possible to explore that using cheats and modified saves, but now it’s in a level for real. Exploring the little house at the end brings us to something you totally don’t expect this custom level to do. You’ll find a parchment inside with a riddle and at the end you notice something in red saying: “MAT -> ZIP”.

There is some meta gaming now going on. You’ll need to make a hard save and exit your game. You’ll need to go to your resource folder & then open the MAT folder. In there you’ll need to rename “SED.MAT” to “SED.ZIP”. You’ll also need to enter the password for the zip, since you get a new cog script to continue the level, which you need to place in your cog folder. In there, there is another surprise. But, that’s something I’m not going to spoil. But, be sure that Kovic is playing with that surprise and maybe I’m going to dig into it. PS, the next paragraph is in white with the right spelling of the password:

Marcus

The way the level ends is bittersweet. If you solve the final puzzle, something special happens and you can beat the level. You could argue that the ending of this level is “lazy” or “creative”… But, it’s an amazing way to wrap up the story in one level with a nice bow.

At the start of the custom level, I felt that it was quite rough around the edges and it had some moments that felt badly designed. In terms of game design that is. If you look at it visually and level flow wise, I personally think that this level would fit right into the original game as a final challenge. But, the further you go into the level, the more you start to notice that the developer of this level is getting used to the tools and the editor and more polished puzzles and area’s are coming through. You notice the journey of the developer and see it becoming better and better.

I want to give a big congrats to everybody who was involved in releasing this custom level. It’s a blast to play and I can’t wait to see more custom levels. The stream I did with this level was one of the best streams ever and it was also quite a lot of fun to write the tool to help people play this custom level. I’m curious what you think about this custom level and/or the content of this article. Feel free to drop something in the comment section down below.

And with that, I have said everything I wanted to say about this for now. I want to thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope to welcome you back in another article but until then, have a great rest of your day and take care.

Game Quicky: Cipher Zero [Demo] (PC – Steam) ~ Picross With Extra Solutions

Press kit – Website – Steam store page

I’m always happy when developers give me the chance to review their game. While these days, I don’t always have the time to write an article in time for the release… I make it a priority to review these games first. In today’s article, I’m taking a look at Cipher Zero. Also, if you find this game interesting, you might want to take a look at the original version created for a game jam here or play the demo at the linked Steam page. In any case, I got a press key to give my 100% honest opinion on the game, so let’s go. If you have any thoughts/opinions on the game and/or the content of the article, feel free to share them in the comment section down below.

Editorial note: Currently, the full game isn’t out, but a demo is. The demo is giving a first impression on the final product.

The good

In this game, there is no real story. There is some world building, so this game isn’t your typical bland puzzle game. But, it’s vague and mysterious, so you fill it with your imagination. The relaxing music and the liminal space vibe this game is going for is just amazing.

Currently, the game is tracking quite a lot of what the players are doing in game. This could have some privacy concerns, but you can enable or disable that in the settings. The data is mostly meant for the developers to see if a puzzle is working or not. For example, while I was playing and researching this game… I got stuck on one level. After beating the level, somebody at the development team gave my suggestions to the team, and they are keeping an eye on that puzzle and the data it generates. This gives me a good feeling, since the developer is listing to input from their players and looking at where they get stuck to improve their game.

Sidenote, this is what is being tracked by the developer:

Regarding tracking, we’re tracking standard metrics in the game: how long you’re in the game for, how long you spend on puzzles, how many times you get things correct or incorrect. We also have a separate tool that tracks performance/crash data from the game so we can get additional information on crashes or errors that are happening during development. No other information is gathered from the user past that, and users have the ability to opt out before any data tracking begins.

– Developers of this game.

So, this game is basically a Nonogram with extra steps. If you don’t know what a nonogram is, you should read the linked Wikipedia article, since it’s tricky to explain. The tl;dr is basically that you have to fill in a grid where the amount of squares you need to be filled in are indicated at the sides of the grid.

Now, usually these puzzles are in a full grid. Yet, in this game, the grids have their own unique shapes, making the puzzles more unique. Also, slowly new mechanics are introduced, spicing up the puzzles. Something I love quite a lot is that sometimes a puzzle might have multiple solutions. I enjoyed trying to find all different solutions to a puzzle whenever it was possible.

The visuals are quite clean and overall easy to understand. The animations also clearly communicate to the player where they went wrong in the puzzle. Since there is no tutorial, that’s essential to get right. At one hand, the fact that there is no tutorial can be off putting to some players, yet overall the progression in this game is very well done… So, that’s no big problem at all.

The bad

Currently, the minimalistic design has some flaws. Like some things have a bind but no button. For example, there is no easy way to reset your puzzle. Along those lines, the iconography in this game isn’t the best. You have a gray circle to check your answer… It took me a while at my first puzzle to know I could click that to check my answer.

Going along that route, the level map is also not displaying enough information. It’s a nightmare trying to find a level to replay since if you don’t remember its location… There is no real indication on the world map what the map mechanic is in that batch of levels. Also, there is no way to go to the last level when you are at the start of the map.

Most problems I had with this game came from the UI, controls and a little bit of the flow of the game. I already gave two examples in terms of the UI. Let me give you another one. While you are playing a batch of levels, you have a bar at the top showing you how far you are in that section. Yet, it’s pretty unclear where one level starts and where one ends. So, if you want to go back to study an earlier example… Well, that’s going to require some clicking and guess work. I think this could be solved by breaking up that bar or having more clear indications for levels. Now, it’s a bit too clean.

Another small UI issue I find is that it in the options menu, it isn’t clear if an option is on or off. Now, we have a toggle switch that’s kind of meaningless.

The flow issue I have with the demo is that after beating the final puzzle… you don’t go automatically to the “end demo” screen. You do unlock it on the map menu, but it would be nice if I didn’t have to do those additional clicks.

In terms of the controls, the only issue I had is that the scroll wheel shouldn’t be the default way to go back and forth between puzzles. It is a bit too easy to hit your scroll wheel and loosing progress in that way.

The final thing I want to talk about is that there is no real hint system in this game. I’d love to see a small hint system where if you fail a certain amount of times, you can let the game fill in one or more squares in for you. It’d help for people getting stuck and being frustrated since one puzzle is stopping their progress.

There are also some amazing features being unbound by default. Like clearing the map or cycle through the solutions. If you want to play this game, I highly recommend that you bind these keys in the options menu first. You’ll thank me later for that.

The conclusion

So, when you read this article, you might think that this game has some major problems. Overall, this game currently has a very solid foundation. Yet, if the final product is just going to be additional levels… I think this game is going to get mediocre reviews.

My biggest issue with this game is that the minimalistic UI choices make it that some quality of life features are missing. Things like level numbers, indications of puzzle theme on the level map and here and there more icons for actions you can do would go a long way. Just a bit more information for the player. And you can always make these features a toggle, so the player can choose to show or hide them.

Suggestions for the full game is adding an easy way to reset your progress and have a built-in speedrun timer. Since, this game is the perfect game for speedrunning. Also, let the animations from the level map speed into the actual level from time to time. How cool would it be to see the train pass through the bottom while you are solving one of the levels?

All in all, after playing the demo I have high hopes for this game. I just cross my fingers that it’s going to be more than just more levels and puzzle mechanics. Since, if you polish this game a bit more besides giving it more levels… It’s going to go a long way. More levels don’t always make it a better game. Sometimes an extremely polished short game is better than a long game with undercooked or underused things. So, I’m curious to see the final product, so I can keep puzzling on while being puzzled.

And with that said, I have said everything I want about the game for now. I want to thank you so much for reading this article and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope to welcome you in another one, but until then have a great rest of your day and take care.

First Impressions: Sherlock Holmes – Crimes and Punishments (XBOX360) ~ Hipster CSI in Ye Olden England

Wikipedia entry

I can’t really explain why, but sometimes I really like to play detective games and trying to solve a crime. That’s why I’m really into the CSI games. Now, when one of my neighbors in our yearly local garage sale started selling his XBOX360 and PS4 collection, I saw he had Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments. While I’m well aware that this game got a port this year onto the Nintendo Switch and Steam, I chose to play the XBOX360 version. Mainly since it was €4 at the garage sale and the Switch version would have set me back way more for just a bit of visual upgrades? Well, I wanted another excuse to boot up my XBOX360 once more. But, did it stay on, or did I start looking toward other games and/or consoles? Well, let’s talk about it in this article, while I invite you to leave a comment in the comment section down below with your thoughts and/or opinions on the content of the game and/or this article.

Hipster CSI in Ye Olden England

It’s no real surprise that you take on the role of Sherlock Holmes in this game. Together with your trusty best friend Watson, you are solving strange cases left and right in London in the Victorian era. This game takes place in 1893. In the first case, you investigate the murder of an old captain with a vile reputation. Explaining any more of the plot would ruin the story.

The cases in this game aren’t that long, and they are somewhat unrelated. So, if you are looking for a game with character development or growth… This isn’t the game for you. The writing in this game is more aimed at players who want to relax and enjoy a fun murder mystery like an episode of CSI. With some familiar characters, but each episode is a different case.

The writing itself is quite enjoyable. I really feel that I’m in a Sherlock Holmes story, and I’m enjoying every minute of it. The story really scratches that itch, I have to play some more detective games but only this time, it isn’t with modern technology.

The voice work is also quite good. They made the atmosphere of this game come to life. Every line of dialogue and thoughts are voice acted. Now, there is one thing I’m a bit on the fence about in terms of the voice acting. Maybe it’s because I have been reviewing games for so long and know a bit about developing games as well, but I had times when I felt like some lines were a bit generic.

For example, when you are searching in Holmes’ archives and find the piece you are looking for… It’s always the same line. Sometimes recording more than one line, and randomizing it, helps with the immersion of the game. Otherwise, you are running the risk of it all blending together and making some mechanics feel a bit boring. Or why does doctor Watson nearly always ask where to go next. It’s as if they didn’t record other lines for him. Maybe some fun banter or remark about the location. Like, in the first case, about the well-kept garden. I wouldn’t mind it looping, but something more than “Where to go next, Holmes” and Sherlock not even replying. Since, now, the line feels a bit out of place to me. Thankfully, these moments didn’t bother me too much and are overall quite rare.

I’m well aware that perfection doesn’t exist, and thankfully so. Thankfully, this is the only problem I have with the writing. Very few lines are a bit generic or out of place. And maybe I really notice them because I wanted to review this game and the overall quality is quite high, and I wondered if there was something to critique about the story.

Pop! Here I am!

Visually, this game looks good. The environments are quite detailed and look amazing. But, it isn’t perfect. This game suffers from popping issues sometimes. Especially when you go from a cut scene to gameplay, where some textures just take a bit longer to load, and it just looks weird. I had one especially bad case of this when Holmes’ case book didn’t load the correct texture for like 30 seconds. And I was wondering what the text was on the book.

This happened to me while I was in the “load screen” wagon between two locations. During the loading screen, you can view your case book or enter your thoughts’ menu. And, to be honest, I highly advise you do, since the background scrolling during these wagon scenes don’t always look great. I even saw moments where the background suddenly restarted. And the backgrounds are such lower quality compared to the rest of the game, it’s a shame. Just like the small screen tear issues this game sometimes has when exploring around.

The animations of this game are good as well. They make the game come to life that much more. Yet, sometimes I feel that some characters move a bit too slow or lack a few frames of animation to make it look like the game it’s dipping in frames. But that isn’t the worst issue I have with the visuals and animation. That dubious honor is for the fact that sometimes when exploring, Holmes can “raise up in the air” on an object and when you move the camera just a tiny bit immediately snap down to earth. This happened more than once, but thankfully it didn’t cause any game breaking bugs by for example placing me out of bounds.

Maybe I’m being too harsh on the game. I mean, image the amount of work the developers had to put into the visuals. Especially when you are able to chose if you want a first person camera or a third person camera by the press of a button. This goes so seamless it’s a surprise to me that this works so amazingly well.

Also, you can dress up Sherlock Holmes as you want. The amount of different variations is just silly and adds to the impressive visual possibilities that this game has. Dressing up is just one of the mechanics this game has. You’ll need it sometimes to trick a character into talking.

Now, what exactly is it that you do in this game? Well, you investigate a crime and you look at the crime scene for clues. Sometimes you go back to Baker Street to preform experiments or the search in your archive. While you are exploring the locations, you can also talk to suspects to gather more information about the case.

During your research, you’ll find a lot of clues. Some of these clues need to be interacted with. In your notebook, those clues have a special icon so you know that you need to research in your archive or preform certain experiments with them. Also, the task list is quite handy to keep track of what you still should investigate.

During your research, you’ll be able to use your imagniation. This is a sort of “recreation” button for some scenes in the game. Or when a clue is quite hidden, you can use the strong observation skills of Holmes. To avoid these mechanics becoming a needle in a haystack story, you’ll notice those icons at the top right when you need to use those skills.

Another important mechanic is what I call the “connect the logic dots” mechanic. Here you need to connect two clues to form another clue. It reminds me a bit of Time Hollow which has a similar mechanic, but explaining that would spoil parts of that game. When you connected all your loose clue’s, you can try to make sense of them all. Connecting the right dots will lead you to a conclusion. But is it the right one? Who knows? Be sure to think it over more then once. Since, seeing if your theory is correct is a lot of fun to see play out.

Something that this game does a lot better compared to the CSI games is that this game gives you some freedom. You can actually explore the area the crime took place and look for clues. Some of these areas are huge but expertly crafted, making it a breeze to explore them.

The responsive controls make it quite fun to walk around and explore those areas. Thankfully, Holmes has infinite stamina, so you can also run around when you find his walking pace too slow. And when you forget how to control the game, you can just press the two joysticks of your controller to bring up a handy chart of the games’ controls.

There are two things that controls a bit awkward at first and that’s searching in the archives and searching in your case book, but it doesn’t take long before you can get the hang of it when you know that almost every button has a different purpose, and you look at the buttons that are displayed on the screen.

Skipping the skip

One big difference compared to the CSI games is that there is no hint system in this game during your case. If you are stuck, you can’t get any hints from somebody. This is something that some people like and others aren’t really fond of. But, just like the CSI games, this game has mini-games and puzzles.

Now, you can skip most of these puzzles and mini-games by the press of a button. It barely has any influence on the game if you played or skipped the puzzles, but it’s a nice addition that it’s there. When you just want to get on with the game instead of figuring out one stupid puzzle that otherwise would have locked you out the rest of the game. Something that would make it even more perfect is that in the end of the case, you can see how much puzzles you have skipped. That way you can make it an “honor” thing where people who completed the game without skipping any puzzle get an achievement or something.

Speaking about the ending of the cases, you can come to the wrong conclusion. If it has consequences or not, I won’t reveal to not spoil the game, but it’s great to see that you are able to redo it when you want to see the other endings OR want to correct yourself. You can also choose between either reporting the criminal or letting the criminal go. And that’s also everything I wanted to say about that mechanic. It leads to some quite interesting things.

This game isn’t too difficult. The biggest difficulty in this game is when you overlook a clue and reach the wrong conclusion. If you are stuck, I highly advise you to go over your case notebook and imagination. Since, you might have missed a clue. Only once I had to look up the walkthrough, and it turned out that I was doing two things in the wrong order. Apart from one puzzle in the 3rd case, this game doesn’t have any “moon logic” puzzles. The puzzle in the 3rd case isn’t hard, but it takes a while to click with some people what the idea behind the puzzle is.

This game has achievements. And it’s quite a lot of fun to go for the achievements in this game. They don’t add a lot of replay value since this game doesn’t have a lot of replay value. Unless you decide to start speedrunning it to see the endings you missed since you didn’t start over when you choose your moral stance.

Usually in my reviews, I write about the audiovisual presentation right after the visual presentation. But, since I had some more things I wanted to talk about in the visual presentation department, I’m talking about the audiovisual presentation later. And I can be very short about it, it’s nothing special. Don’t get me wrong, the music is good and fits the atmosphere like a glove… But, it doesn’t stand out to me. I find the music a bit to the generic opera side of things, and I would have a hard time matching it with Sherlock Holmes outside the game. I think the main issue is that it doesn’t feel like a “song” or “track” but more like a 10 or 20 second melody that’s repeating in somewhat different tones for 3-ish minutes.

Now, the sound effects are used amazingly well. While exploring, it really adds to the atmosphere sometimes. Really listen while exploring that one area at the end of the 3rd case, and you’ll understand what I mean.

Before I go to the conclusion, I want to talk about the game’s preformance. A big complaint is that the load times are quite lengthy sometimes and honestly, I have to disagree. I have played games with longer load times and the load times in this game didn’t bother me at all. It was the ideal moment for me to sip of my drink or to think about my theory of the case.

The game ran always at quite the stable frame rate (apart from some small moments in cut scenes). But, there is one thing that should have worked differently. I find it a strange decision that when you are waiting for a door to open since the game needs to load the area behind it… You can move away from it. It gave me the impression at first that my input didn’t register. Locking Holmes in place would communicated that a bit better to the player.

Anyways, when you read this article you might think that this is a very flawed game. If you got that impression, you reached the wrong conclusion and didn’t see all the evedince I left in the article. You might want to think it over and you might reach the intended conclusion (which you can always see at the press of a button when you have beaten the case once).

I fell in love with this game. I totally understand why so many people see this game as one of the best Sherlock Holmes games. It does so many things right that it’s still so much fun after 8 years later, this game is still a blast to play through. Of course, the XBOX360 release has some issues. Especially in the visuals department where the preformance can be spotty sometimes and in some places the game really shows its age.

But did those problems bother me? Oh heavens no. I still enjoyed myself and I was quite happy that I was able to pick up this game for quite a cheap price. It also made me quite curious to play the other Sherlock Holmes games in my collection and that’s perfect since my summer break just started.

So, if you enjoy mystery adventure games like Professor Layton, CSI or Ace Attorney AND/OR if you enjoy point-and-click adventure games like Deponia or Broken Sword or Monkey Island… I think you owe it yourself to check out this game. Since the port earlier this year, this game is on so many platforms and quite easy to get so if you want some better preformance, I highly suspect that the PS4 and Switch versions’ll outpreform the XBOX360 version. But hey, the XBOX360 version is still worth playing!

And with that said, I have reached my conclusion about this highly enjoyable game and where shall we go next–

Thank you for reading this article so much. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope to be able to welcome you in another article but until then, have a great rest of your day and take care.

Game Quicky: Baba Is You (Switch) ~ Review Is Win

Official website – Nintendo.com subsite

So, what if a game developer falls in love with the game he created for a game jam? Well, some of those developers make their game into a fully-fledged game like the developer behind Baba is You. Arvi Teikari created the basic concept for this game for a Game Jam. The Jam version is free, but for a more expanded version, you have to pay around 15 dollars. But, is this puzzle game worth your time or was it better as a Jam Game? Let’s take a first impression and quick look at the game that has been released on PC and Switch. The version I’m reviewing is the Switch version. 

The good

One of the main reasons I’m writing a review for this game in my game quicky style is because this game doesn’t have a story. So, I have less to critique which makes for a shorter article. But, why am I mentioning this with the good points? Well, that’s simple. The lack of a story in this game is actually a rather enjoyable thing.

Since this game is a really meta puzzle game, writing a story for this game would be a huge hindrance. It would be too silly or it would take itself too seriously. Also, it puts the focus on the unique gameplay of the game and that’s all that matters.

The gameplay of this game is extremely addictive. The idea of this game is that you finish the level by hitting the object that “Is Win”. So, how do you that? Well, by manipulating almost everything in the level. You can see the basic idea at work in the gif I attached to this article (source: official website of the game).

You see “Pillar is Push”, so that means that you can push around the pillar. Off-screen, there is “Water is Sink”, so you sink/die when you touch the water. Now, something that’s unique is that the text can also be moved. So, you can make: “Pillar is You” as well. And that means that you control both Baba and the pillar.

As long as you make real sentences, the game will act accordingly. Now, there is no real tutorial in the game but the game is divided into sections. The first few stages of a level are introductory levels to the mechanics that the level is going to use. And, these training levels are needed since this game can get pretty challenging.

Mark Brown from Game Maker’s Toolkit explained how smart this game is in his video where he praised this game as his most innovative game of 2019. And I have to agree, this game challenges the most veteran players to finish each level. And sometimes the level is stupidly simple while you look over the solution multiple times. It’s such a rewarding feeling when you finally beat a stage that you were stuck on for so long. Something I enjoyed quite a lot was when a friend and I were figuring out puzzles together. Discussing strategies and trying to figure out how each puzzle worked.

Now, I can keep praising the gameplay for a long time here. But, take it from me. If you enjoy puzzle games or great brain teasers, this is the game for you. But is the rest of the game any good? In the visuals department, I can only give you one answer and that’s yes!

Compared to the Game Jam build, this game got a visual overhaul. From a cuter main character to better animations. It’s all here. I personally think that Baba is a sort of white rabbit/cat hybrid animal. In this version, the improved animations give the player more information instead of the rather static look of the original game.

There are barely any sound effects in the game. But, that’s no big issue. Since it would destroy the atmosphere of the game if the developer added sound effects for the calm water or lava. It would be a bit too much. The music, on the other hand, is amazing. It’s rather calming and soothing to listen too. It’s a trance soundtrack that relaxes you to think outside of the box to find the answer more easily.

Controlling this game is also a blast. I rarely had any issues with the controls. The fact that you only need a few buttons makes the game easy to understand. All you need to know is how to move Baba, how to undo an action or how to wait. You can press the “A” button to wait for an object to either teleport, move, jump… while you are standing still.

Now, yes, I’m praising this game to the moon and back. But, does that mean it’s flawless? Sadly enough, no. I have a few things that I have to mention in my negatives section. 😦

The bad

Now, the game makes a few minor mistakes that might be called nitpicks. First of all, there is something I really dislike about the UI. You are stuck to the level layout. That means that you can’t move freely over the screen when selecting levels. This can make navigating in the level select a bit tricky.

You get a flower when you finish a level in a stage. Whenever you finished around 6 stages in a level, you can go on to the next level. But sometimes, you earn sun symbols. And it’s never clear when you are going to win which symbol. This is extremely annoying when you are only one sun-symbol removed from opening that one gate that’s blocking that one world.

Now, since when is the “B” button a select button? In almost every game I play, the “B” button is a cancel button. Not in this game, it’s a selection button. My brain is so hardwired to press B to go back to the world map, I get extremely confused when I suddenly enter a level or select an option that I didn’t want to select.

Something that I think would be great is a sort of hint system. This game could have used a help system where the user could unlock a hint after a certain amount of time. Sadly enough, you are on your own in this game. Oh well, thankfully there are walkthroughs when I really want to know the solution to one level.

And yes, that are all the negatives of this game. So, let’s wrap this article up and let’s go to the conclusion.

Conclusion

I can totally understand that this game isn’t for everybody. This game is for people who really enjoy solving brain-melting puzzles or extremely unique indie games. The game is extremely charming and enjoyable. The addictiveness of this game has that one more try mentality. And as soon as you find the solution, you get that rush of adrenaline.

I really meant what I said in my tweet in January. I think there are huge chances that this game will be in my top 10 games of 2020 list. I enjoyed my time with the game, the visuals, the soundtrack, and the gameplay that much.

So, give this game a try! It’s totally worth your time in my opinion. And not only that, 10% of the game’s profits go to charity which is an extremely nice move of the developer. Even for an indie developer.

There are a few minor things that this game does wrong but honestly, I think they can be fixed with a patch or a feature update easily. Especially the “B” button thing since I found that extremely annoying.

And with that said, I think I have said everything about this game I wanted to say. Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it. I hope you have a great rest of your day and take care!

Score: 100/100

First Impression: Layton’s Mystery Journey: Katerielle and the Millonaires’ Conspiracy (3DS) ~ Miss Layton

layton lady katrielle mystery journey.jpgWikipedia page

To be honest, when I first heard about the release of this game, I thought that Level5 was going to port the Android spin-off Layton Brothers to the 3DS. Since it has a similar concept. A team that solves smaller cases as a detective and try to solve crimes. Yet, to my surprise, the story of this game goes about the daughter of the famous professor Layton, named Katrielle. While the game first released on mobile devices, I played the 3DS version. I’m used to be playing Professor Layton games on the 3DS, so why change that if I knew that a 3DS version was coming. Since I haven’t played the mobile version, that means I won’t be talking about it in my first impression here either. So, I think it’s time that I talk about this game, is it a good entry into the Layton franchise or is it a spin-off that should only exist one time? As usual, feel free to leave your opinion on the article and/or the game in the comment section down below.

It’s Miss Layton now

Laytons-Mystery-Journey-Katrielle-and-the-Millionaires-Consipracy-Screenshot-01.jpgIn this game, you play as Katrielle, Layton’s daughter. She just opened a mystery solving shop in London and she is awaiting her first mysteries to solve. Her motto is “any mystery solved”. Together with her assistant named Ernest, you come across a talking dog. Katrielle gives the talking dog a name, Sherl. Yes, as a reference to Sherlock Holmes. The strange thing is that not everybody can hear Sherl talking. Katrielle’s first mystery is trying to solve why that is. Yet, it doesn’t take long before the first case reveals itself and Katrielle gets distracted by solving that. Not too soon after, Katrielle, Ernest, and Sherl go on different adventures to solve cases.

The writing in this game is very lighthearted and a joy to read. I really enjoy how Katrielle does anything for food, how Ernest is the clumsy romantic and Sherl the dog that knows a lot about how humans live their daily lives. The story can take itself seriously when it needs to, but overall, this is a less serious entry into the series compared to the previous games in the series. I’m currently at the 5th case in the game, so it’s possible that it can change. But, we shall see. The voice acting on the characters is also amazing. I think that the cast did an amazing job voicing these characters and make them come to life. A gold star for that!

I do have one minor complaint about the naming of certain characters in the game. The word puns in some cases made me cringe a bit. They didn’t feel creative, they felt forced in. Like, there was a couple where the lady was called Vic and the male called Tim. There were a bit more names like that and it didn’t click with me. I felt that more day-to-day names like Marc, William, Sara, Marian would be fitted better.

The story is structured in such a way that it more resembles a Saturday morning anime. Each case doesn’t take too long to solve, but each case has a nice start, middle and finale. During the case, you gather clues, that you have to fit in a puzzle. While this puzzle is extremely easy to make, I think it’s a step up from the previous Layton games since it’s more than a button that unlocks in a menu.

I do have one complaint about the story actually. I feel like the focus on the backstory of Sherl is a bit too much pushed to the background in the first cases. For real, the twist the game starts with about Sherl didn’t go anywhere substantial in the first four cases. If it did, I must have missed it.

Layton at its core

Laytons-Mystery-Journey-Katrielle-and-the-Millionaires-Consipracy-Screenshot-02While this game has a different main cast, the gameplay of this game is still the usual Layton gameplay at its core. In this game, you solve brain teasers and puzzles to get information from people. There are over 150 puzzles in this game. While you don’t have to solve them all to beat the game, there are some points in the game where you need to solve a certain amount of puzzles in order to progress. In this case, the game will clearly state how many you need to solve.

As I said earlier, this game is all about solving mysteries and finding clues to solve that mystery. Like I said before, the game is pretty lighthearted, so the mysteries aren’t; well how shall I put it? A missing pet or a missing part of a movie, that is the two of the first four cases. Yeah, I think that explains itself. So, you have to explore the London to find clues to what happened and how to solve the case.

While you are exploring, you can go to various locations and each location has various things to do. Exploration is just traveling from screen to screen. Sometimes you will have to ride a bike to another remote location, but that is about it. Also, you can only go to screens you unlocked. What I mean by this is that when for example, a lady on street tells you that your client lives a bit more down the road, the map opens up to that location.

This is how exploration always worked in the Layton games. Yet, you can do a lot on each screen. You can find hidden collectibles or puzzles, hint coins, progress the story or get interesting commentary about the object you tapped on. I really advise you to look at each screen with a lot of attention since all those things can be handy in solving the future cases. Especially the hint coins, if you can collect them, that’s always a great idea.

If you have played Layton games before, most hiding spots of the hint coins won’t be a surprise to you. Otherwise, try to tap on everything and it won’t take long before you will start to understand how this whole system works. So, why are these hint coins so handy? Well, let me tell you. You can get a hint when you are stuck in solving a brain teaser. Believe me, some will get you stumped and make you think. A great advice from me is to have a pen and notebook handy and maybe a calculator too.

While you can take notes and draw on the touchscreen while you solve the puzzle, I always felt that this system didn’t work flawlessly. If you want to input an answer, you have to exit out of your notes. In addition to that, I love writing my thoughts more on paper or on a bigger screen than the 3DS’s screen to solve puzzles.

The puzzles that you can solve in this game will range from math riddles to mazes you will have to solve. If you are stuck, don’t hesitate to think outside of the box. Since a lot of answers will simpler then you think. Something I didn’t like about this game is something that Level5 stopped doing in the previous entry in the Layton series. In the first games in the series, they explained the answer. In this game, they don’t always do that. So, when I didn’t understand why I had to answer in a certain way, I was disappointed to see a simple screen saying “you do it!” and nothing more.

Compared to previous Layton games, this game has also some side quests you can perform. During your exploration, you come across various characters who give you a new puzzle that is saved in Katrielle’s trunk. Like a puzzle where you need to solve a maze with the least amount of steps and finding the perfect meal with a cryptic description. Actually, I wouldn’t call them side quests, I think a better name is a side activity or a side puzzle.

Each puzzle is worth a certain amount of picards. The side puzzles aren’t worth any picards. So, what do these picards do? Well, the more you earn, the more bonus material you unlock after finishing the game. So, try to gain as much picards if you can. Since, if you give a wrong answer to a puzzle, the number of picards you earn from that puzzle drop. Keep that in mind if you want to unlock everything.

Visual eye-candy

lady layton 2.jpgThe visual presentation of this game is just amazing. This game has some amazing artwork and is a real piece of visual eye-candy to look at. While the game doesn’t use 3D that often, or at all, I think I can’t decide which art style I like the best for the game. The overall game is 2D, but the character models are rendered in 3D. While in cutscenes, everything is in 2D. I think the screenshots will explain it better than I can with words.

But, there is one thing that I didn’t like about the presentation and that are the cutscenes. To be honest, most cutscenes are just too short. Some cutscenes aren’t longer than one sneeze and blowing your nose. This is a shame since the cutscenes look so well made. I really wish there were longer cutscenes to enjoy. I feel that they are just an afterthought, while they feel like a nice reward for finding a breakthrough or solving the case.

The music for this game is enjoyable as well. The soundtrack isn’t one where I would listen to when I’m doing other things, but it adds a lot to the atmosphere of the game and I have no complaints about that. The music really fits the Layton universe perfectly, if you didn’t know better, you would say that it’s a soundtrack from another Layton game earlier in the series. The sound design also feels right at home. While there aren’t too many sound effects in the game, when they are used, they are used to give the world a bit more life or the story a bit more punch.

Like previous Layton games, this game also has daily puzzles. But this time, I feel that the reward is better for solving them. As you might know, I’m a game collector and I love seeing artwork from the games I played. So, when you solve a daily puzzle, you will get museum points. If you get 100 museum points, you can unlock artwork from any of the previous titles. This is such a great feature since it pulls on my nostalgic strings so much. To be honest, I spend a lot of time-solving the daily puzzles. I really enjoy solving most of them and I wish that time went a bit faster so I could receive my puzzles a bit faster.

While most of the issues I have with the game are minor, I think this game is still a great game. Some issues I have with the game or some minor, they became a nitpick. For example, I really liked how in previous games, each save slot had a different character from the main cast presenting it. In this game, it’s Katrielle for all three. Yeah, major nitpick right there.

Another minor issue that I have are some parts of the controls. While you can use the “A” button, and strangely enough the arrow buttons, to continue dialogues; you can’t use the psychical buttons for anything else. Besides solving some puzzles. Everything is done using the touchscreen. I really miss some shortcut keys. Like using the circle button to move your looking glass around or the shoulder buttons to open the movement menu or a button to open the trunk like “Y” for example. That would be a great addition.

Then again, there are things in the game I really like. Like how you can decorate the mystery solving office to how you want. Changing the Fengshui if you want. Depending on how many puzzles you solve, you get a ticket to “buy” a new item to change up the decoration of your office.

That isn’t the only thing you can change, there are also outfits for Katrielle you can buy. Some even as DLC for a small fee. While they have only a visual purpose and nothing else, the ones you can buy as DLC have an additional puzzle for you to solve.

About the costumes, there is one minor flaw I have to bring up. You can change Katrielle’s costume at any time you want. Yet, I noticed that Katrielle wears special outfits during other chapters. For example, in one chapter she dresses up in a nice dress since she is going out to see a movie with Ernest. If you exit that case and go to a different case to find hint coins you missed, Katrielle is still wearing that special dress. This is a bit out of context in my eyes and shouldn’t happen. Oh well, only a minor complaint?

Oh yeah, you can go back to previous cases in order to find hint coins and puzzles you missed. The only minor complaint I have is that there is no indication when you missed another collectible in the case. Even an indication on the case brief screen would have been nice. Since, if you skipped over one collectible, have fun looking for it, since the game won’t help you there. On the other hand, I think it’s a great move that you can visit back and solve puzzles you haven’t solved or found and looking for hint coins you missed. The only tip the game gives you there is the screen you missed it on. So, have fun looking for what you missed.

So far, I’m enjoying myself with this game. While the game isn’t flawless at all, I think that the positives outweigh the negatives here. If you are still deciding if this game is for you, know that it’s a more lighthearted Layton game with the same atmosphere and gameplay but without Layton, Luke and the usual gang. This game has a completely new cast of characters. It’s a breath of fresh air for the series and I can’t wait to see where Level5 takes this. I would love to see Katrielle and Layton meet one day.

That is everything I wanted to say about this game for now. I thank you so much for reading this article and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope to be able to welcome you in another article on my blog but until then, have a great rest of your day and take care!

 

Review: Tomb Raider Legend (PC) ~ The Sword of King Arthur

Tomb_Raider_-_Legend

Wikipedia entry

I remember picking up this game quite well. I was hyped for this game. Not too long before the release of this game, I got a new computer that was able to run to this game quite well. It even ran with the next-gen graphics. Back then, I finished this game and I remember that I had a lot of fun. Eleven years later, I decided that I want to write a review of this game. So, I took my copy from the shelves and booted up my Windows XP retro game pc and restarted playing this game. So, does this game still hold up or is this game just good in my nostalgic filled mind? Let’s dive into the Legend of the Tomb Raider. And as usual, feel free to leave a comment with your opinion on the game and/or the content of the article in the comment section below. 

Thrill ride

160089-lara-croft-tomb-raider-legend-xbox-360-screenshot-use-your

The story of this game starts off with a young Lara on a plane. She is flying with her mother through a thunderstorm when suddenly, the plane crashes.

Lara finds an ancient sword and touches it. Her mother pulls Lara away and then pulls out the sword and disappears.  We fast forward a few years when Lara starts the journey to try and find out what happened to her mother.

In my opinion, the story is pretty good. Not great, since some parts of the story a bit too predictable. I was able to guess what was going to happen in the last parts of the game. I really liked the twist at the end, setting up the next game Underworld perfectly.

I know that Anniversary released before Underworld, but it has really nothing to do with the story of this game and Underworld.

In any case, the voice acting in this game is pretty good. I loved it when I played the game for the first time when I was a child and I still love it now. My favorite voice actress in the game is Keeley Hawes. She voices Lara Croft in this game and she does a pretty great job, just how I imagine Lara Croft sounding like.

Most of this game story is told in cutscenes. But, if you already finished the game, you can skip the cutscene by tapping the pause button and choose for “Skip Cinematic”.

I have played this game on two different systems for this review. One that can handle the next generation content and one that can’t handle that. The next generation content is nothing really special in my opinion. It just adds some additional visual fluff to the game.

Something I did notice, is that when I played it on my more than capable retro gaming PC, one that his the recommend specs perfectly, there is a lot of flickering in some stages and textures not fully loading in. I mostly had this problem when I did the motorcycle bit in the snowy area.

There is a lot of variaty in this game. You have driving sections, QTE, platforming and shooting sections. Wait, Quick Time Events? I know that some people really hate this, but I personally don’t mind them too much. They aren’t too frequent and they are over quickly. To be honest, I enjoy most of them.

Exploring Lara’s house

Tomb Raider Legend

It’s a shame that the game has some graphical problems here and there. Maybe it has to do with the fact that old PC has an ATI device in it, and the other PC has a NVidea card. It does display at the start.

But, the overall presentation is good. The environments and tombs you explore in this game are pretty well designed. The animation is great too. Some death animations really send a shiver down my spine. They felt a bit too real, but some became funny when Lara keeps sliding more than you expect and falls off a cliff.

You can also explore the Croft Manor in this game. In this game, the Croft Manor isn’t the tutorial like we have seen in all previous Tomb Raider games. Now, you can unlock certain training areas to explore when you finish a certain level in the game. I personally recommend that you play through the Croft Manor when you either want a relaxing level or a post-game thing to play.

There are also secrets to find in the Croft Manor. These extras range from character profiles to object models. There is also a special surprise if you collect them all. Thankfully, it’s quite easy to replay a level to try and find secrets you missed.

One thing that really annoyed me was the saving mechanic. It works fine and the autosave points are placed perfectly, but the loading of save games is just a bit broken. Tomb Raider is known for difficult jumps sometimes or multiple jumps you have to do in a row. I like to save after I did a few of them so I can load the game when I did something wrong. In all the previous titles, that I played, when you load; you start right back at the position you saved. Not in this game, you start at the beginning of the jump bit or sometimes even earlier.

The soundtrack of this game is great. I really enjoy listing to it and it added a great atmosphere while you are exploring the tombs. The orchestral soundtrack of this game really impressed me as a kid and it still does as an adult. The sound design for this game is good as well.

Put that gun away, Lara!

tr7_ghana

If there is one thing that could use some improvement in this game is the controls.

Don’t get me wrong, they aren’t terrible in any meaning of the word.

There were just a few times that I pressed the grab button, but Lara didn’t grab a ledge. Yet, it isn’t the wrong thing about the controls. There isn’t a “put your gun away” button. And if there is, I wasn’t able to find it. This was really annoying when you were done fighting some enemies and you wanted to start a jump puzzle and Lara doesn’t grab the ledge because she is still holding a gun.

Also, the default layout for the controls is just bad for some functions. For example, to switch your weapon, it’s “End”. To switch your light on or off, it’s “Del”. Medkit is “Home” and your binoculars is “Page Down”. So, I highly recommend you rebinding those controls when you want to play this game.

I don’t know what was causing this problem, but sometimes, the camera moved without me moving my mouse at all. This happened multiple times when I was swinging on a rope.

That’s enough complaining about the controls. Let’s talk about the rest of the game. There is a sort of help system in the game. The PDA. It’s helpful, but I rarely used it. The only time I used it was when I returned to the game after a long while to check what I needed to do.

But, the binoculars can help there as well. With them, you can see what you can use and plan out your route. Yet, the level design is so clear, you barely have to use it when you pay attention to what’s around you.

The difficulty in this game is spot on. No complaints there. The UI of this game is pretty well crafted too. Again, no issues there.

The combat in this game is really enjoyable. My favorite moments are when you enter a sort of bullet time mode and you jump on enemies shield to launch you into the air and shoot the defenseless enemy.

Before we go to the conclusion, I want to touch on one final thing. This game’s length is spot on. It isn’t too long but it isn’t too short either. If you decide to complete this game that is. Since, if you rush through this game, you might be able to beat it in a day. Since it’s 8 hours long. If you want to complete this game, you double your play time.

Conclusion

The good:

+ Good story, while predictable sometimes

+ Great voice acting.

+ Good level design.

+ A lot of variety in gameplay styles.

+ ….

The bad:

-Some visual issues on some computers.

-The controls, while good, could use some polishing up. The default layout is just bad.

-The game is too short if you rush through it.

Final thoughts:

This game didn’t age too well. As a kid, I thought this game was one of the best games I have ever played. But, looking at it now as an adult, I see the flaws of this game. It’s by no means a bad game. The story, voice acting, level design… they are all good.

The big issue is that they aren’t great. The sequel games, like Anniversary and Underworld, are so much better in my opinion.

In general, this game has its problems. Some are noticeable, others aren’t. I do remember having adrenaline rushes when I played this game for the first time. When I played it for this review, I had them too but way less.

In conclusion, I think that this game is worth it. I would recommend it to any fan of Tomb Raider and adventure games. If you have a decent enough computer that can run it and doesn’t get affected by the same graphical issues I was. Since I can tell you for a fact, I didn’t have them on my old childhood computer. This game is good, but not great. It could have been better if there was a bit more polish.

Thank you for reading this review and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope to be able to welcome you in another article but until then, take care and have a great rest of your day!

Score: 70/100