ugvm

Many people have complained that the recent Tomb Raider game is too combat-oriented, which is very true when you compare it to the older games in the series.  But if you compare it to Uncharted, Lara is a veritable peace-loving hippy.  Exploration seems to take second fiddle to hiding in cover and shooting enemies, then picking up their ammunition before going through the next door and taking cover again.  There have been a few puzzles, but nothing more complex than finding a key to open a door or pulling a couple of levels to flood a room.  The platforming is probably the best part of the game, having to work out how to get to high-up ledges, and it's a shame there's not more of it - and it's annoying the controls are quite so imprecise.  A lack of lock-on to enemies from cover doesn't help.

Still, it's a fun game with some spectacular setpieces, even if the best parts of these are generally non-interactive.  I've just finished a section where I was speeding through canals on a jetski - well, I say speeding, but it was easier and more efficient to inch forwards, stopping every few seconds to shoot the explosive barrels and enemies in my path.

Oh dear, it doesn't sound like I'm having much fun, does it?  Oddly, I'm looking forward to continuing - as long as this doesn't outstay its welcome.  I think the problem this game has is that Tomb Raider has since done it so much better, and this suffers from being played second.

Er, of course I did play this before Tomb Raider - I got my first two trophies on 15 April 2011 - but I was expecting a purely platforming exploration game and the constant gunfights put me off.  I cleared the first three chapters, I think - up until the submarine in the jungle.  I continued from there, which meant a good few minutes of trying to work out which button did what, causing at least one hilarious death where I threw a grenade at my own feet.  Let's not mention that.