By: Blayde Biacan Freelancer
The original tomb raider turned 20 years old last week, and since then has gained a huge fan following. With the 20th anniversary, “Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration” was released on Oct.11. The new edition includes many new features, such as virtual reality and multiplayer.
The game also has a new downloadable expansion called “Blood Ties”. This addition to the story explains Lara Croft’s family bonds and doesn’t add many new details to the story, but rather, enforces some content that was lightly mentioned throughout the plot of the game. The playthrough of this is more story-based so there isn’t much action, but there is a lot of time to connect the dots. This is also playable for anyone with a virtual reality device through free hand control or a move-click system as a form of movement. However, it looks smooth enough without the system and can cause motion sickness.
Another feature of the game which is unlockable after completing the Blood Ties story is a similar playthrough except with the addition of zombies and a more eerie environment to play in. When playing, it’s difficult to really know the direction from where a zombie might appear. The dark environment is no help to this, as it has a small field of view with mixed audio signals in a cramped space with multiple pathways for zombies to approach.
I like the new multiplayer mode, although it’s not competitive. It has a survival component with another player and both players need to rely on each other for food and supplies as well as exploring booby trapped maps that are randomly generated each playthrough.
I would recommend this game to anyone that has played the previous “Rise of the Tomb Raider” and who wants to experience something new with an additional challenge and highly recommend it for people that have not. This is a game that has lasted 20 years in an ever-changing gaming community. Truly a game that deserves the title “old but gold”.
Contact the author at bbiacan16@wou.edu
