Tomb Raider (2013)

Game Review: Tomb Raider


Tomb Raider sees the return of Lara Croft for the 10th time and is probably the best one since the very first.  I'm still not sure if this is a full reboot or just a prequel though. Lara Croft is 21 and on her first real archeological expedition headed east to find a lost island kingdom off the coast of Japan. After Lara suggests to her team that they head further east, the ship enters a severe storm and Lara and her crew end up stranded on a mysterious island that is inhabited by mad cultists that are also stranded and have been for some time. From here Lara is kidnapped(by the mad cultists) and has to escape and then fend for herself while she tries to locate her lost friends, fight off crazies, explore the island and look for a safe way to escape. As with every other Tomb Raider(due to its homage to Indiana Jones) the plot has a large supernatural element to it. Unlike previous games the supernatural side is slowly introduced which makes the adventure seem more believable and even towards the end it never gets to the level of Atlantean Mutants, Dragons and the Egyptian god Set reborn.
    Lara Croft seems more of a real person now and less of a Hollywood-style action heroine . She's much more like a young woman trapped in a dangerous situation, but there is an obvious disparity between Lara seeming shocked by the death and destruction around her and the fact that as soon as you enter combat you feel like a killing-machine. Also, most of the friendly NPC's don't get much screen time and we never really get to see their personalities develop as we do with Lara's and so they seem quite 1-Dimentional. However Lara's own journey itself is a decent bit of video-game storytelling.  Overall the plot is pretty good but nothing mind-blowing or game changing.
    One thing I really love about Tomb Raider is how they have heavily cut down on the overt sexualisation of Lara Croft which has given the series a seedy image to non-gamers and a still quite seedy image many gamers. Apart from the opening cut-scene when we see Lara fall from the sinking ship(and the camera takes a look down her top)  the cut-scenes no longer focus on Lara's(now reduced) breasts or backside and instead focus on the lush scenery and the many gory injuries that Lara is frequently plagued by.(I get the feeling that this is down to the Hunger Games as well as the general idea in narrative that the more pain and stress a protagonist endures the more the audience will sympathise with them. Either that or the creators are just sadistic bastards, some of the deaths are really gory, but as a seasoned Tomb Raider fan, killing Lara is all part of the fun(see the amazing TV show: Spaced)). Saying that, the creators have made Lara unreasonably attractive, but I can't really call this sexism. It's more Hollywood style Ugly-ism which is in practically every action block-buster and video game, and works both ways. Just look had the unrealistically buff the meat-heads from Gears of War are or the lengths the Metal Gear series have gone to make Raiden look like a pretty boy.
   

    The graphics are excellent(except the blood-splatter effects when killing enemies which look as if each splat has been copied and pasted). The island is beautiful; vibrant looking jungles interspersed with rotting wooden shrines, massive castles, crashed WWII bombers and shanty-towns that the cultists now reside in.
   
    Tomb Raider handles like a dream, Lara moves much smoother than in previous games and the game is such fun to play. I've never played Uncharted but from what I hear the presentation is very similar, in that Tomb Raider is highly cinematic, slipping from normal game play into cut scenes and set pieces. Lara moves a lot more realistically than even before(such as stumbling when she drops/falls from high ledges, and scrambling rather than doing neat combat rolls). Combat is more fun than in any previous Tomb Raider, no longer feeling like a chore(most of the time) but the main flaw is that Tomb Raider is yet another series to fall into the cover based shooter category, but at least it also allows for stealth in many parts of the game. One thing I'm not to keen on is the jump to regenerating health from health-packs but it does make combat that much easier. Over the course of the game you will assemble a large collection of weaponry but the first one you get to grips with is by far the most fun...anyone who's seen any of the footage for the game will of course know I refer to the bow and arrow. Even when I had an automatic machine gun with a grenade launcher attachment I still went back to archery the majority of the time. Unlike Crysis, which uses a bow and arrow in a futuristic setting, this weapon doesn't feel out of place(being that the island is off the coast of Japan where archery has been a samurai tradition for centuries). However one can't help feeling the writers or designers must have loved the Hunger Games, which also ties into another aspect of the game: hunting.
    Hunting is fun but after the first instance seems completely needless, as you never see her prepare or eat anything. I would have preferred a Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater eating system.
    As fun as the game is the platforming and climbing sections do seem noticeably easier than in previous games, and Lara does seem to have kept her slightly negotiationable relationship with gravity. On some long jumps she will curve slightly towards ledges and walls mid-jump, that said it's still plenty of fun and still more challenging than the Assassin's Creed climbing.

I can't really comment on the online mode. Tomb Raider has never had one before and so I see it as an optional extra, I was in it for the campaign.

The Verdict:

Despite several faults I love Tomb Raider and will definitely give it a second play through soon. It looks amazing, plays amazing and the plot is decent. If you've never bothered with the series before but enjoy action/adventure games I would definitely recommend  it as you don't need to know any of the previous games' back story to be drawn in. If you, like me, are already a fan of the series then there's enough jumping, climbing, shooting, large arenas, beautiful scenery and rotting ruins to keep you hooked until completion. I seriously can't wait until the next one now!

LHSRAting for Tomb Raider: 9/10

- Mike

Film Review: Les Misérables

Les Misérables is quite possibly the best novel based, turned musical play, turned film, ever. Alright, that might be a bit of a small category area, but it’s still pretty damn good. It has something for everyone and even the most masculine of people won’t be able to help but enjoy this well told story.

Les Mis is a musical drama set in France during the 19^th century, which itself is a brilliant historical place and time. The story follows a man named Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman), an ex-convict who breaks bail and is constantly on the run from a police officer called Javert (Russell Crowe). During the film Valjean comes into contact with a range of different people, spanning from prostitutes and convicts, to revolutionaries and priests. Each one of them has a unique tale to tell about their lives, and each one is gripping in its own way.

As you would expect with a musical there is quite a lot of singing in this film. In fact, unlike most other musical films, this story is almost 100% sung to us. At first it seems a little strange, but after the first five minutes you kind of forget that it’s a musical and you just find yourself engrossed in the character’s lives. Most of the music, like most of the film, is really quite depressing. But you kind of have to expect that in a film that is about the people at the bottom of society in a time and place that was well and truly hard.

It’s not all doom and gloom though. Thénardier (Sacha Baron Cohen) and his wife (Helena Bonham Carter) bring a comical element to the film and just as you’re about to cry they will make you laugh. I honestly think this is the best role Cohen has ever played. It’s like it was written just for him.

That been said, every single actor played their role perfectly and the acting really could not have been improved. It’s even more impressive when you think that most of the main actors aren’t professional singers. One actor that stood out for me though has to be the young Daniel Huttlestone who plays Gavroche, a child soldier who is more than aware of his position in society and is more than happy to do his part for the French revolution.

The only real complaint I have to make about this film is that it did go on a little too long. Even for a brilliant musical, 158 minutes is quite a long time. So even though there is something for everyone in this film, it goes on for a while so you might be waiting sometime between the parts that you enjoy. That been said though, I personally enjoyed the entire thing, just some parts more than others. It’s still worth sitting through and it is really only the ending that seems to drag a little.  

THE VERDICT

Les Misérables might turn out to be the best musical you’ll have seen in recent memory. It is set in a period of French history that was a really hard time to live in, and tells the story of one man and those that he comes into contact with throughout his life. The music and songs sang tell the story brilliantly and the acting is next to flawless. Even though the film goes on for quite a long time, it is still one that could make you shed a tear or two and will definitely make you laugh on occasion.

LHSRAting for Les Misérables 8/10

-Ayden

Follow us on Facebook 
and Twitter 

Film Review: Lincoln

This isn’t Spielberg’s best film. But when you’ve directed almost 50 movies, and amongst them are some of the greats such as Schindler’s List, then a film not being your best doesn’t really mean much... And to be fair it’s still up there.

Lincoln starts off by showing a brutally bloody battle one year before the end of the American civil war and the opening scene really sucks you in from the offset. That’s pretty much as far as the film goes with showing us the horrors of the American civil war however. So if you want to watch a film that has loads of battle scenes in it, then this film is not for you.

Instead Lincoln moves forward to the very final months of the civil war and is mainly focused around the political struggles that Abraham Lincoln (Daniel Day-Lewis) faces in trying to pass the thirteenth amendment to end slavery, whilst at the same time trying to end the war... at the right time. Lincoln is a film that is fully focused on US history and politics. It shows the struggles that the Union faced internally in trying to eradicate slavery, the different views that particular groups of politicians had on giving slaves their freedom, and even touched on Lincoln’s own views regarding equality between white and black people (although unless you know what Lincolns views really where then you probably won’t realise). 

Daniel Day-Lewis does a superb job at playing the role of Lincoln; a mainly calm, storytelling, convincing man that was loved by most. He shows how Lincoln had a knack for changing the minds of men without them realising what he was doing until it was already done.

 

But I don’t think Daniel Day-Lewis was the best actor in this film and I don’t think that Abraham Lincoln was the best Character either, even though it’s a film about him. The guy who stole the show for me and made me really connect with this film was Representative Thaddeus Stevens (Tommy Lee Jones). Stevens would probably be classed as an extreme left winger in today’s US politics, so you can imagine what the thought of him in the 19^th century. He not only advocated that black people should be free from slavery, but that they should be treated as white people’s equal (something that Lincoln never did).  Anyway, I digress into a History lesson, although that is what this film is. Stevens in this film is portrayed brilliantly and he has an extremely dry, insulting wit that he uses in the House constantly in quick response to any attack that is sent his way. In short, Stevens will make you laugh in this film because he’s brilliantly provocative.

     

Unfortunately this film is a little too long for my liking and could probably have told the same story in two hours. The end also seems quite messy. It seems that Lincoln’s death is rushed through as a way of trying to avoid telling that par of history. And then there’s a bit of a flashback to one of Lincoln’s speeches. It’s a shame really because this film could have ended a lot better in a number of different ways.  

  

THE VERDICT

Lincoln is a brilliant film for portraying US history (although too gently at times) and the political system that surrounded the Union towards the end of the civil war. This film will teach you about a very important era in US history whilst giving you a glimpse into who the people at the time really were. The acting in it is brilliant and the characters are played exceptionally well.  Lincoln, although a very serious film, will not fail to make you laugh on occasions. This goes double if you enjoy politics as well. But if you’re not into politics or history and you need lots of battle scenes, then this film isn’t for you and you may find that its 150 minute length may drag. Otherwise, this film is worth a watch.

LHSRAting for Lincoln – 7.8/10

- Ayden

Welcome - Our first post

Hello! I'm just going to regurgitate our blog's description as a test post. This blog has been set up by a group of proud geeks that like to talk nonsense about everything; from computer games and films to religion and politics, we're bound to have someone in our little merry group that is overly opinionated on any topic. And now we've decided to bring all of this to you, the people of the internet. We plan on reviewing all sorts of stuff and we hope you enjoy reading the things we have to say.

-Ayden