#BEST SHADOW OF THE TOMB RAIDER IMAGE MOVIE#

Instead, the artifacts that increase your language skills end up being just another meaningless in-game pick-up-a percentage to be tracked on your menu screen. A better version of this game might have built that mechanic into your interactions, with NPCs giving Lara more trust or resources after she makes an earnest effort to engage with their culture. It’s especially strange because Shadow, like the games before it, makes Lara learning new languages a key part of the game. It seems like a great idea-until you turn it on and realize that Lara is still speaking to everybody in crisply accented English, creating the bizarre spectacle of two characters having a lengthy back-and-forth in two totally different languages. Take the game’s “immersive mode,” which makes it so all the indigenous non-playable characters speak in their native language. Sure, the stakes are pretty high, but is there anything that justifies this level of sadism?Ī lot of Shadow ends up feeling like this: Big ideas that were either imperfectly conceived or incompletely executed. When I wrapped a rope around an enemy soldier’s neck and hung him from a tree branch-leaving him gasping for air until he finally, mercifully died-I felt a discomfort that the game clearly didn’t intend. But there’s something about the viciousness of Lara’s toolset that rankles a little, too. It’s definitely fun, on a purely visceral level, to lurk underwater until a bad guy walks by, then drag him under and drown him while his oblivious allies have their backs turned. Scott: It’s very weird! And look, I’m human. Maybe because you have some problems with tonally inconsistent stories about the plunder of indigenous peoples? Or are you a little tired of white-savior narratives? Do you tend to be annoyed by stories that just give lip service to criticizing said narratives but ultimately end up being pretty chill with them? Why wouldn't this game work for you, Scott? Joshua Rivera, GQ contributor: I don't know, Scott. So, Josh: Why isn’t this game working for me? In other words: I should be the prime audience for Shadow of the Tomb Raider, the third video game in the new franchise.

#BEST SHADOW OF THE TOMB RAIDER IMAGE MOVIE#

I even liked the Alicia Vikander–starring movie reboot that came out last March. I loved its sequel, Rise of the Tomb Raider, which took Lara Croft to Siberia for some open-world shenanigans (and, if you ask me, ran laps around Uncharted 4). I liked the 2013 video-game reboot, which played like a kind of survivalist Uncharted.

Scott Meslow, GQ culture critic: I’m comfortable calling myself a fan of the Tomb Raider franchise.

Best shadow of the tomb raider image