Technical Issue!

AsperJosh has suffered a heavy impact. Every picture on every post before the Africa one has been lost due to an album online becoming corrupted.
I have almost every picture stored across 2 laptops and will slowly begin to re-upload them to my posts over a long period of time!
I will be starting from latest posts and work backwards to re-upload the pictures.
Thank you for understanding!
Joshua :'(

UPDATE - Fixed Posts
I HAVE FIXED ALL 2016 POSTS SO FAR!!!

2015 posts fixed so far:
- Tough Mudder 2015 - MCM Expo 2012 + Past Experiences - Telling People, I Have Aspergers - 5CPS - Marvel Phase Three - Attack On Titan - MCM Oct 2015 - Interstellar - Star Wars VII - Star Wars Original Trilogy - Star Wars Prequel Trilogy - Star Wars Battlefront - The Fault In Our Stars - Chronicle - Evans Night Out + Winter Wonderland 2015 -

2014 posts fixed so far:
- A Year's Progression At The Gym - 5CPS - The Land Before Time - X-Men Premier - X-Men DOFP - Halloween 2015 - Online Dating - Macbook Pro -

House MD, 3 Years Driving currently in progress.
More to be mended

Wednesday 12 March 2014

Tomb Raider: The Definitive Edition (Game Review)

How many of you know the gaming series involving a girl who's thrill is exploring? Who uses her acrobatic skills to go the distance when looking for relics and ancient history? Here's Lara Croft's new untold origins (from the Crystal Dynamics team) in their brand-new (re-release) Tomb Raider!

The world-famous British archaeologist (British FTW) heroine returns in this smash-hit reboot of the famous gaming franchise (the first six games in the series were published by Eidos and developed by Core Design, while Crystal Dynamics developed the latest five and this one was published by Square Enix) in an all new untold beginning on Lara Croft's origin on what shaped her to become the fearless, tough and strong girl from a confused rookie.
Lara's first adventure sees her on a ship "the Endurance" with fellow crew mates on an expedition to an ancient Island while looking for the lost kingdom of Yamatai off the coast of Japan in search of answers on the history of Queen Himieko *titled Sun Queen* who could rule the weather with her shamanistic powers. Little do they know that the island has a history of causing storms and shipwrecks which they will soon befall. After a thrilling opening cinematic, Lara and the others land on the island but Lara is captured by an evil cult called the "Solarii Brotherhood" and now her quest for escaping off a god-worshipping island is her main priority. But how can she and the others leave an island where "NO ONE LEAVES"?
I discovered the Tomb Raider series when I was (I must have been 8?) I played the first 2 on PC and that was a complicated keyboard pressing experience then soon I played number 3 and The Last Revelation on PlayStation. I never got round to Chronicles or The Angel of Darkness or even Underworld yet! So I've never really finished a Tomb Raider game before (except for Legend and Anniversary on PlayStation 2!) So this one here, is my real experience with Lara, not only because it's different to all the knowledge I know from the games and films and only because... well it's a reboot! Speaking of films, have you seen them? Lara is played by "Angelina Jolie" who looked and played the part beyond exceptional and thanks to her, the first film (only) is the 2nd highest-grossing film adaptation of a video game ever released in the US (behind Prince Of Persia)!
Sorry as I was saying, this game is my real journey into the Tomb Raider series (I still need to finish the other classics sometime!) What was your first Tomb Raider game?
Source: Videogamer.com

The graphics are high definition dynamite especially the amount of detail on our heroine who almost 18 years ago was made out of polygon bits, now look at her? (What do you expect from Square Enix and the Core Design?) The environments are eye-opening (literally) you gaze out over ancient Japanese ruins, skull and carcass decorated caverns and mountains and jungles that stretch out as far as the eye can see (need I say more?)

(Left to Right: Kurt, Camilla, Tommy and Liam at the MCM London Comic Con May 2013)
Lara's character design was made using Performance Capture basically what "Andy Serkis" did for "Gollum/ Smeagol" in The Lord Of The Rings films! And Lara's image and voice were all based on the b-e-a-utiful Camilla Luddington who also did "Kate Middleton" in that William & Kate film. Camilla replaced Keeley Hawes who did Lara during the 4 previous games! My mates Kurt and Tommy from work met her at MCM Comic Con and I missed her, lucky bastards!
During the original game in 2013 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC, her face looked in my opinion sad, and helpless, but when the "Definitive Edition" came out in 2014 on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC she still looked scared but more determined and persistent, not to mention hot! While I was searching on Google Images for pics, I saw that a lot of "Graphic Comparison" pics for Xbox One and PS4 version that show huge differences in "FramesPerSecond" so judging from the pics, I cannot deny that PS4 version is way better quality!

Source: Videogamer.com
Source: Videogamer.com
Even when Lara gets muddy, bloody or hurt, you don't miss an inch of detail up-close since she can't just shake it all off but luckily a little rain/ water helps wash away the bloody mess (except that time she was in a river of blood). Thank you Toby Gard for designing an amazing game character!
Gameplay is sensational and makes it a real challenge full of many puzzles (physical) because I think the game encourages gamers to use strategies in order to advance whether it's using rope and a bow, climbing gear to scale walls or when it comes to combat to use the arsenal of weaponry that Lara will soon acquire (it also makes her more of a badass). A new intriguing feature in the game was when Lara reached campsites, sometimes you hear a "monologue" on her thoughts which help add a tense, lonely atmosphere that I feel reminds us that she is alone, confused and working out what to do next. But the real main point of these campsites were for Lara to use XP to upgrade her survival and combat skills or use collected salvage from boxes to upgrade her weapons, helping her become the Survivor she was meant to be.
I really enjoyed many jumping/ explosive/ chaotic cutscenes that involve reaction commands that definitely caught me off guard a lot and made me panic on what to do so I had to quickthink a lot in order to not fail. And I tense a little when jumping and taking that constant leap of faith that could have been Lara's last (let's face it even I wouldn't have the balls to do what Lara did in this game so easily, especially feeling mucky).

 
Am I the only one that thinks that when Lara discovered Tombs and opened up Tomb Relic Boxes that she made a sound that sounded naughty/ sexy *giggidy*?
By the way, is it me, or does the gameplay remind you of Nathan Drake from the "Uncharted" gaming series?

This all sounds/ looks a lot to take in but even when playing I had my moments of angry fits and frustration (mostly with the achievements or searching for tiny collectibles), but more with how certain gear along with upgrades are required to help you acquire the relics/ collectibles so "patience was a virtue for me" (though I had none). Another is whenever Lara found relics in little boxes I get to here her explain what it is, where its from and her own opinion, sure it was fascinating sometimes but I couldn't help but think "what a know it all" like "Hermione Granger" and just as cute. Also to me some of the mechanics didn't make sense (because I read too much detail into everything) such as how did Lara store all these relics/ documents etc? Did she just inspect them then leave them? Also how can you fit a Vase into a box the size of 3 video game cases stacked?
This time Multiplayer was added to the game (first introduced in "Angel Of Darkness" game, and me and my fellow "Achievement Hunter" mates from work had hilarious fun and no trouble working together to level up and win achievements easily. I found the whole multiplayer gameplay fine but not really my thing since I'm used to first-person shooters and find that kind of multiplayer to be my taste (unless your talking Pokemon or Mario Kart etc then we have a whole new topic to discuss *wink*.)

Before I end this post, I will admit I didn't pay much attention to the Music really! But Lara's Theme "A Survivor Is Born" is a treat to enjoy at the beginning and ending and it emitted a strong deep emotional piano atmosphere. Comparing it to the theme from the original game, there is no comparison since the original was mysterious and enlightening with the choir while this one shows struggle and makes you feel a little sad. But don't take my word for it since it was only used to make her character more real and from what I made her do, she proved how extraordinary she really is.
Lara's story was a real treat and was probably better than Legend, I did feel jealous when one man/ hero performed CPR on her and she kissed another man/ hero during his sacrifice. This tale was explosive, eye-opening, thrilling, mysterious and amazing, well worth the playthrough! I smiled during the final moment as I scaled my way to the top and ended Lara's first story!
I even got a thank you message from the Crystal Dynamics team and members at the end.
I think the whole reason there was a re-release to this game which is the "Definitive Editon" is because it has all the DLCs "Downloadable Contect".
No doubt about it guys, this is one of the best games I have ever played!

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