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As Ambassadors, we had the opportunity to have two viewings of the demo. The first was directed and played by Karl, and it was the standard 30-minute viewing that the press had. The second was sort of an extended view, played by Brian, and that showed us some exploration, specifically in the first hunting area. Photos, videos, and audio recordings were strictly prohibited while the demo was being played.
We unfortunately did not get to play the demo ourselves, so I can't comment on how Lara handles, what was a QTE versus a cinematic, etc. From what I could tell, cinematic sequences do blend in almost seamlessly with QTEs and actual gameplay. I tried to sneak a few glances at Karl's and Brian's hands to get a general idea of when they were interacting and when they weren't, but that only tells so much.
I have a very long, in-depth review that's about half-way done, which I'll share at a later date for those who want the full experience catalogued.
In the meantime, here's a summary of the notes I took:
LARA & OTHER CHARACTERS
Sam (Lara's friend), Mathias (Sam's abductor), Dr. Whitman (a part of Lara's crew), and Reyes (another member of Lara's crew) are specifically named.
A few other members of the crew were present, but I didn't catch their name.
We never saw Roth.
Dr. Whitman seems to be operating under his own motives; he is super interested in the history and culture of the island, and he very willingly gives Lara up when they're surrounded.
Lara makes a kind of bitter mention of her father to Whitman.
Lara does swear. She also groans and continues to talk to herself when she's alone. Sometimes she's giving the player verbal cues.
GENERAL GAMEPLAY & OBSERVATIONS
Cinematics, QTEs, and actual gameplay are pretty seamlessly intertwined. It was hard to tell sometimes which was which.
Most of what we saw focused on traversing, combat/hunting with the bow and arrow, a little exploration, what I think were QTEs (like Lara lighting her fire), and some stealth at the very end.
Lara does walk around and chat with a fellow crew member, Dr. Whitman, in a way similar to Sully following Nathan around in Uncharted.
Objectives for new missions, XP notifications, and new locations found are the only things that popped up on the screen. Otherwise, there's no HUD-type matter: no health bar, d-pad inventory, weapon/ammo list, etc.
Lara's movements in the demo ranged from stealth to careful walking to running/jogging.
She does still wade through water when appropriate.
Brian showed us a little how you can navigate while she's mid-air in a jump. It looks as simple as controlling her normally.
Graphics did look a little unrefined, although I'm not too picky about that since they have plenty of time to polish the game.
The colors in the locations were pretty desaturated, even areas with more sunlight.
EXPLORATION & PUZZLES
Early in the demo, the paths appear to be pretty linear: natural obstructions, like trees, rocks, and the fact that she's pretty much traversing across a narrow cliff keep restrict Lara's movements.
Other areas, like the hunting "arena," there's more freedom in paths to take and items to discover.
Animals don't respawn or interact with the environment in a calculated way; each time you visit an area, the animals react in a different way.
Different artifacts, collectibles, and documents can be found in different areas. Some are completely unrelated to the story and act as an incentive for the "completionist" while others provide more insight to the island and its inhabitants.
Brian mentioned an emphasis on "fun, dynamic traversal."
"White ledges" do appear, even on cliffs that are grassy and green.
Karl talked about "visual cues" to navigate the different areas and know when to interact with certain items; for instance, white cloth will be flammable, and although you will have a map, you can use clues in the landscape to advance.
Both Brian and Karl took us through the puzzles with ease, but that's expected in a demo. I'm not sure I can really give an accurate impression of their difficulty. They do have various elements, like needing a skill upgrade, finding specific items, and physical mechanics.
HEALTH & COMBAT/HUNTING
We never saw Lara die, but information regarding her death physics can be found in my interview with Karl a few posts back.
Sometimes the screen got a sort of motion-blur effect when Lara was hit; I'm not sure if that denotes injury or if it was intended to add to the experience, like the water droplets.
Although Lara says she's hungry, prompting the player to hunt, there's no Sims-esque hunger meter or immediate health benefit; it all goes to XP.
The bow and arrow crosshair reminded me a little off archery in Wii Sports. Unlike with a gun, there is a little delay while Lara pulls the bow tight.
She does have the capability of making evasive rolls.
XP & UPGRADES
XP is used to purchase survival skills, such an arrow retrieval, to increase Lara's skill set through out the game.
XP is collected from hunting and gutting animals, including deer and wolves. You can also unlock a skill that lets Lara pick fruits from different plants.
Survival skill menu is access at camps; the menu looked a little awkward, but both Brian and Karl moved through it very quickly.
One element of her survival skills essentially acts like the RAD mode of her binoculars in Legend: it highlights items that Lara can interact with in orange, and it desaturates the rest of the environment to further emphasize whatever item is glowing. I guess it may be useful for more casual gamers or if the puzzles are super, super tough, but it's a feature that I had no interest in.
MATURE CONTENT
With all the commotion about the alleged rape, I just want to reiterate this: what we see with Mr. Creepy is as bad as it gets. If you fail the QTE, Lara dies. She does not get raped, nor will she ever.
There is swearing in the game. Her attacker drops the f-bomb, and Lara slips out the s-word in a few instances. I didn't find the language gratuitous at all; I think it was contextually appropriate.
Lara killing the deer and wolves are relatively tame in terms of gore. The kind of watered-down blood splashes appear on the camera, but that's about the extent of it.
When Lara shoots her attacker in the face, we see a very graphic close-up of his disfigured face and listen to him gargle his blood in his last breath.
Obviously there are some things I think could be adjusted; I actually wasn't that wowed by the graphics either, and I did notice that even in sunnier areas, the landscape had a grayness to it. Granted, a lot of the gameplay was during and following a thunderstorm, and there's still plenty of time for polishing.
When we first watched the demo, it did come across as very linear, but the second extended viewing better displayed the exploration aspects in my opinion. Of course there are very specific paths laid out in some areas, but I felt a greater sense of openness and opportunity in others. I don't mind the blending of cinematics, QTEs, and "true" gameplay, but not being able to play it for myself makes it difficult for me to give a full opinion in that regard.
The atmosphere was excellent. In one part when you're making Lara go down a dark shaft with nothing but a torch, I was immediately reminded of Tomb Raider II and taking the shaft down to the T-Rex. And even though the scene with Lara trapped and the wolves attacking her looks fairly easy gameplay-wise, the way the wolves pop out definitely made me jump a few times.
I like the survival skill aspect for the most part, but the mode that basically lays everything out for you seems to be catering to the... less patient gamers of today. I'm interested in seeing how her upgrades can affect the game the more you play it.
I really don't like Dr. Whitman.
He tells Lara to do whatever their attackers ask--That was almost creepier to me than the guy touching her inappropriately.
Overall, I was very impressed. I think I mentioned before: I left the viewing both times with goosebumps. It was emotionally provocative, but (contrary to some news reports), I didn't feel like Lara was weak or needed to be protected. I could definitely see her development into a bad ass, even early on.
As Ambassadors, we had the opportunity to have two viewings of the demo. The first was directed and played by Karl, and it was the standard 30-minute viewing that the press had. The second was sort of an extended view, played by Brian, and that showed us some exploration, specifically in the first hunting area. Photos, videos, and audio recordings were strictly prohibited while the demo was being played.
We unfortunately did not get to play the demo ourselves, so I can't comment on how Lara handles, what was a QTE versus a cinematic, etc. From what I could tell, cinematic sequences do blend in almost seamlessly with QTEs and actual gameplay. I tried to sneak a few glances at Karl's and Brian's hands to get a general idea of when they were interacting and when they weren't, but that only tells so much.
I have a very long, in-depth review that's about half-way done, which I'll share at a later date for those who want the full experience catalogued.
In the meantime, here's a summary of the notes I took:
LARA & OTHER CHARACTERS
Sam (Lara's friend), Mathias (Sam's abductor), Dr. Whitman (a part of Lara's crew), and Reyes (another member of Lara's crew) are specifically named.
A few other members of the crew were present, but I didn't catch their name.
We never saw Roth.
Dr. Whitman seems to be operating under his own motives; he is super interested in the history and culture of the island, and he very willingly gives Lara up when they're surrounded.
Lara makes a kind of bitter mention of her father to Whitman.
Lara does swear. She also groans and continues to talk to herself when she's alone. Sometimes she's giving the player verbal cues.
GENERAL GAMEPLAY & OBSERVATIONS
Cinematics, QTEs, and actual gameplay are pretty seamlessly intertwined. It was hard to tell sometimes which was which.
Most of what we saw focused on traversing, combat/hunting with the bow and arrow, a little exploration, what I think were QTEs (like Lara lighting her fire), and some stealth at the very end.
Lara does walk around and chat with a fellow crew member, Dr. Whitman, in a way similar to Sully following Nathan around in Uncharted.
Objectives for new missions, XP notifications, and new locations found are the only things that popped up on the screen. Otherwise, there's no HUD-type matter: no health bar, d-pad inventory, weapon/ammo list, etc.
Lara's movements in the demo ranged from stealth to careful walking to running/jogging.
She does still wade through water when appropriate.
Brian showed us a little how you can navigate while she's mid-air in a jump. It looks as simple as controlling her normally.
Graphics did look a little unrefined, although I'm not too picky about that since they have plenty of time to polish the game.
The colors in the locations were pretty desaturated, even areas with more sunlight.
EXPLORATION & PUZZLES
Early in the demo, the paths appear to be pretty linear: natural obstructions, like trees, rocks, and the fact that she's pretty much traversing across a narrow cliff keep restrict Lara's movements.
Other areas, like the hunting "arena," there's more freedom in paths to take and items to discover.
Animals don't respawn or interact with the environment in a calculated way; each time you visit an area, the animals react in a different way.
Different artifacts, collectibles, and documents can be found in different areas. Some are completely unrelated to the story and act as an incentive for the "completionist" while others provide more insight to the island and its inhabitants.
Brian mentioned an emphasis on "fun, dynamic traversal."
"White ledges" do appear, even on cliffs that are grassy and green.
Karl talked about "visual cues" to navigate the different areas and know when to interact with certain items; for instance, white cloth will be flammable, and although you will have a map, you can use clues in the landscape to advance.
Both Brian and Karl took us through the puzzles with ease, but that's expected in a demo. I'm not sure I can really give an accurate impression of their difficulty. They do have various elements, like needing a skill upgrade, finding specific items, and physical mechanics.
HEALTH & COMBAT/HUNTING
We never saw Lara die, but information regarding her death physics can be found in my interview with Karl a few posts back.
Sometimes the screen got a sort of motion-blur effect when Lara was hit; I'm not sure if that denotes injury or if it was intended to add to the experience, like the water droplets.
Although Lara says she's hungry, prompting the player to hunt, there's no Sims-esque hunger meter or immediate health benefit; it all goes to XP.
The bow and arrow crosshair reminded me a little off archery in Wii Sports. Unlike with a gun, there is a little delay while Lara pulls the bow tight.
She does have the capability of making evasive rolls.
XP & UPGRADES
XP is used to purchase survival skills, such an arrow retrieval, to increase Lara's skill set through out the game.
XP is collected from hunting and gutting animals, including deer and wolves. You can also unlock a skill that lets Lara pick fruits from different plants.
Survival skill menu is access at camps; the menu looked a little awkward, but both Brian and Karl moved through it very quickly.
One element of her survival skills essentially acts like the RAD mode of her binoculars in Legend: it highlights items that Lara can interact with in orange, and it desaturates the rest of the environment to further emphasize whatever item is glowing. I guess it may be useful for more casual gamers or if the puzzles are super, super tough, but it's a feature that I had no interest in.
MATURE CONTENT
With all the commotion about the alleged rape, I just want to reiterate this: what we see with Mr. Creepy is as bad as it gets. If you fail the QTE, Lara dies. She does not get raped, nor will she ever.
There is swearing in the game. Her attacker drops the f-bomb, and Lara slips out the s-word in a few instances. I didn't find the language gratuitous at all; I think it was contextually appropriate.
Lara killing the deer and wolves are relatively tame in terms of gore. The kind of watered-down blood splashes appear on the camera, but that's about the extent of it.
When Lara shoots her attacker in the face, we see a very graphic close-up of his disfigured face and listen to him gargle his blood in his last breath.
Obviously there are some things I think could be adjusted; I actually wasn't that wowed by the graphics either, and I did notice that even in sunnier areas, the landscape had a grayness to it. Granted, a lot of the gameplay was during and following a thunderstorm, and there's still plenty of time for polishing.
When we first watched the demo, it did come across as very linear, but the second extended viewing better displayed the exploration aspects in my opinion. Of course there are very specific paths laid out in some areas, but I felt a greater sense of openness and opportunity in others. I don't mind the blending of cinematics, QTEs, and "true" gameplay, but not being able to play it for myself makes it difficult for me to give a full opinion in that regard.
The atmosphere was excellent. In one part when you're making Lara go down a dark shaft with nothing but a torch, I was immediately reminded of Tomb Raider II and taking the shaft down to the T-Rex. And even though the scene with Lara trapped and the wolves attacking her looks fairly easy gameplay-wise, the way the wolves pop out definitely made me jump a few times.
I like the survival skill aspect for the most part, but the mode that basically lays everything out for you seems to be catering to the... less patient gamers of today. I'm interested in seeing how her upgrades can affect the game the more you play it.
I really don't like Dr. Whitman.
He tells Lara to do whatever their attackers ask--That was almost creepier to me than the guy touching her inappropriately.Overall, I was very impressed. I think I mentioned before: I left the viewing both times with goosebumps. It was emotionally provocative, but (contrary to some news reports), I didn't feel like Lara was weak or needed to be protected. I could definitely see her development into a bad ass, even early on.
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