Our most recent is my first 20 minutes with The Last of Us, the latest from Naughty Dog and while I can certainly say I’m impressed, my full thoughts will be coming later this week. For now though check out the first steps of my journey into The Last of Us!

Theferrell here reporting about the latest epic journey from Monty Oum.  For those who do not know who he is, Monty’s the computer graphics genius responsible for Dead Fantasy and Red Vs. Blue,  and Haloid, the Halo/Metroid mashup (Here’s a little bathroom-iPad reading for you).  He is known for his insane battle sequences, great quality of animation, and as  being the person who singularly changed my mind about Riku’s skank-ification procedure done when Squeenix created Final Fantasy X-2.

Many fans were anxiously awaiting the latest episode of Dead Fantasy where Kairi was gonna open a can of hurt on Ryu Hayabasa and Momiji with wicked-awesome keyblades when work suddenly stopped.  I was greatly worried I would never see the next episode but my fears were confirmed when I realized that the reason why Dead Fantasy was canned was due to something much much bette- RWBY (Pronounced ‘Ruby’).

RWBY has everything any true geek would ask for.  Great action, awesome weaponry, and girls who kick butt.  How can this go wrong?!  It really doesn’t, and that’s easily seen in the four trailers Monty Oum has made for your viewing pleasure before the unveiling this July 5th at RTX in Austin, Texas.  Monty has teamed up with Rooster Teeth to launch this new venture. Let’s take a look shall we?

RWBY Red

The first trailer features Ruby, a young little-red-riding hood-esque character (Monty Oum claims LRRH was not the inspiration… but I think he’s lying) with a high-caliber gun-scythe named “Crescent Rose”.   Basically, we’re talking about a morphable scythe with a seriously huge rifle built into it.  It appears to morph into two different forms; Initially as a big A bolt action gun, which then turns into a gigantic scythe whose speed can be augmented by the big A bolt action gun.

The enemies are only Beowolves, basically werewolves, and she seems to slice through them with ease.  Some of my favorite moves are when she uses the recoil of the gun to propel herself towards enemies and into a spinning yoyo of death.  (Sorry, I’m a yoyo geek…)

There was no sign of voice acting for Ruby…. so whether or not there was any real story at this point is inconclusive.

RWBY White

This second trailer debuts Weiss Schnee, a very pale and talented singer.  She appears to be singing for a grand audience and reminiscences about a major battle against a gigantic knight with an equally gigantic sword.  Weiss appears to be more timid than Ruby due to physical cues, but appears to possess more natural speed and comparable strength.

Weiss is a magic user with the aid of her rapier named Myrtenaster.  Although it seems to be a lot smaller than Ruby’s gigantaur scythe, it is not a weapon to be toyed with.  The rapier has a revolver barrel like system for selecting magic.  There is a little controversy as to what the magic system is based on (elemental vs. status-based) so I’m going to give my synopsis of each magic.  Red is fire based magic which grants strength/defensive boosting power.  Blue is ice magic and allows Weiss to cast ice magic.  Yellow is thunder elemetal and increases agility.  Green is wind elemental and throws the knight into the air.  This allows her to use the final element, white, which I believe is holy for the final attack to defeat the knight.  Weiss also seems to have the ability to “quick step” and create magical platforms in mid-air for boosting and creating launch points for attacks.

And as before with Ruby, Weiss’ trailer is devoid of any real dialogue, so a story is still not clear.

RWBY Black

This third trailer features two characters.  We see Blake Belladona, a petite girl with a seductive ninja-maid outfit sitting atop a rock while her partner, Adam, tells her that it’s time to start their operation.  She is armed with  a “Variant Ballistic Chain Scythe” named Gambol Shrowd and appears to have more agility and overall knowledge of fighting as she battles multiple enemies at the same time and is able to deflect masses of bullets with her sword.  This is not to say that the other two are featherweights, but she is that much better.

Her chain scythe, in my opinion, is the coolest concept of a weapon.  While the gun-scythe is really shiny, the chain scythe has much more appeal to me because of my insane love for swinging poi.  She uses it as a sword, a semi-auto gun (kinda reminds me of an Uzi), and also has the ability to use the gun blasts to augment not only her speed but the speed of her weapon.  She is also able to extend the ribbon of the weapon and swing it around while shooting the gun to augment its power.  So yea, something swinging around on a string and shooting/slicing foes?  A win win for me.

This trailer is very different because we have dialogue!  Blake and Adam seem to not see the world through the same eyes.  This is very visible when Adam wants to set charges to blow up the entire train.  Blake was worried about the civilian crew members and Adam seemed to have no regard for them.  This disagreement is what seems to lead to their parting ways at the end of the episode.  What this actually means is inconclusive at this point.

RWBY Yellow

Yellow has much more dialogue, and much more flair.  Yang Xiao Long is a blonde bombshell with a sweet bike, long golden hair, and a western-esque outfit.  She appears to be the most outspoken of the four and this is very visible within the first few minutes.  She walks into a nightclub that is playing awesome remixes of the prior RWBY themes and talks to someone named “Junior”.  While she has his gonads in her hands (literally) she demands to know where someone is.  Who this female is has not been determined as of yet but I speculate we will find out very soon.  At the end of the big fight with Junior and his cronies, Ruby makes an appearance and we find that she actually has a voice!  She saunters up and asks what Yang is doing.  Her story appears to be what the series maybe about, but that’s pure speculation.

Yang uses gauntlets as her main weapon and her fighting style resembles a “Monk” class if we are talking RPG-speak.   Her weapons named Ember Celica morph from wristlets she wears and pack a punch (literally).  Her fists, like others in the RWBY series, are augmented with shotgun rounds and these beauties are most impressive.  She uses them to take pot shots from afar, blast up close, and even trigger them while punching to deliver devastating blows to her foes.  She also uses them as a quick boost of speed.

One other interesting power she has is to go super-sayan on her opponents.  In two separate instances, she slams her fists together while glowing with energy.  I swore that Goku was going to come out of nowhere and do a Marvel vs. X-men tag team on everyone.  This burst of energy really delivers the final blows to her opponents.  What it really is… is uncertain.

Yang is also very agile herself as she is able to sidestep most attacks that are thrown her way.  She also appears to literally be the strongest of the four and the most cheerful.  I swear she smiles during the entire fight.  Her pre-fight mood is also very cherry and she has one sharp wit.  I’d have to say that Yellow is my favorite character so far.

So four trailers, four very diverse characters.  I really cannot wait to see a full episode.  Monty Oum has not failed to deliver epic fights with jaw dropping sequences and enough “Oh my gosh, that’s awesome!” moments to last for months.

Which character are you most anticipating to be the best to watch??

(Thanks goes to the RWBY wiki for filling in the factual blanks such as names of characters, weapons, etc.)

I think we all applauded the Brandon Routh Superman movie for what it tried to accomplish, but it still fell pretty flat. Even Kevin Spacey as Lex couldn’t save it from making The Man of Steel more boring than he rightly out to be with all the single-bound leaping and whatnot. So why will this outing be any different?

1. Zack Snyder

You can say what you want to about the Snyder’s laughably bad sucker punch, but the guy knows how to do action. In fact, I defy you to point out a single Snyder action scene and tell me you didn’t tense up at some point. He knows how to handle thrilling and if Clark Kent could use a dose of anything it’s more action than we saw in the last outing and Zack’s just the man for the job.

2. Christopher Nolan

I understand Mr. Nolan is a producer and not the director, but still, his influence even if not directly exerted has to be seen by Snyder. Plus, that certainly sets a tone (and expectation) for how Superman needs to be handled to be a success. He knows exactly what’s needed to translate the magic of comic books to the silver screen by giving those tales a solid grounding in reality that prevents his visions from becoming hokey knockoffs of the stories we revere.

3. Golden Age America Feel Without Being Hokey

The last Superman movie tried to capture the feel American spirit (Superman is an American creation after all) but it came off feeling forced and insincere. The entire movie had a golden sheen about it and only briefly mentioned was the iconic line ‘Truth, Justice, and…’ ahem, ‘all that stuff’. That line always irked me because neutering one of the most iconic lines from one of America’s most revered creations in the name of political correctness was completely deplorable.

This time around, though, I think you’ll find a healthy dose of American past time thrown in without being blatant, displayed primarily in the iconography of the cinematography and not by bastardizing the catchphrase of one of America’s earliest heroes.

4. A Villain That’s Terrifying

Again, Kevin Spacey did the best he could as Lex Luthor last time and for that he should be commended for playing a classic villain with enough bravado to make him fun.  But unfortunately he just wasn’t very scary or threatening for Superman which left the whole film feeling anticlimactic.

Not this time. With creepy-as-hell Michael Shannon playing Zod , viewers are all but guaranteed a brutal confrontation as a bona fide Kryptonian starts to hunt down the Man of Steel. I can’t even explain how excited I am about this aspect of the film alone as I’m expecting Shannon to deliver an utterly memorable performance as the militant Kryptonian.

5. Russell Crowe

I have a love/hate relationship with Mr. Crowe. On the one hand he’s an incredible actor and I appreciate that. On the other he’s one of those actors whose personal lives reak of such douchey behavior it begins affecting how I interpret his onscreen performances. I know, I’m not under the scrutiny of Hollywood’s A-listers and I’m sure it’s stressful having every facet of your life dissected by the press, but Russell has always struck me an oscar-fiend of horrifying pretention.  Not quite Sean Penn levels but certainly trying his damndest.

That being said, his performances are iron clad and while it’s nice to see Russell doing something nowhere near oscar-worthy (because of the politics, not my feelings about the source material) is most welcome and I’m sure it’ll lend the kind of legitimacy to The Man of Steel that all-stars like Morgan Freeman did to Nolan’s holy trilogy.

7.   Hans Zimmer is Scoring

Hans knows perfectly how to accent a film’s ups and downs musically. Here, watch me prove it to you; Just watch the below video on his process for developing the infamous Joker note from The Dark Knight.

So there ya have it, a quick list of 7 reasons I think this new take on Superman is going to turn out just dandy. But what about you, hmm? Do you have high hopes for The Man of Steel or do you think it’ll miss the mark?

Xbox One

• Fancy new Kinect
• $499.99
• Lots of cool games
• Rapes consumers with anti-used game stance by requiring internet connection for games which must be verified once every 24-hours
• Improved multimedia capabilities

PS4

• $399.99
• Lots of cool games
• Took a friendly stance toward used games by adhering to the same standards as last generation
• Improved multimedia capabilities
• Region-Free

You’re probably noticing a pretty stark difference up there so let’s go ahead and dive right in.

Sony’s No Savior

Make no mistake Sony is just as greedy as Microsoft and wants exactly the same thing- they were just smarter in their approach and let Microsoft take the PR hit while paving the way for a pure digital distribution, DRM-laden model.

We’ve been on this road for a while and the prospect of a purely digital distribution model or at least one that ensures ALL of the monies go to the console makers and publishers has been the big prize up for grabs,but only now is that reality taking form. The original Xbox dipped its toe in the digital distribution pool with its included hard drive and this generation saw us wading full and happy through its waters with the acceptance of USB hard drives as a storage medium for those purchases but the next generation was to be the full on plunge into the deep end. Except rather than follow through with the promise of ‘me too’ Sony was content to watch Microsoft flail around when it wasn’t ready yet. That’s exactly what we saw happen yesterday at Sony’s press conference.

Sony doesn’t care about you or your position on ownership, but it will use your position on these issues to its short-term tactical advantage by playing the ‘we care about gamers’ card in supporting used game sales and offering their system at a lower price. It’s a big gag and Sony’s played it brilliantly.

Gamers will side with Sony almost implicitly to show their objections to big bad Microsoft. Retailers- especially independent operations, will rally behind Sony for not disrupting their business model of a game that can be sold re-sold a thousand times if needed.The holiday shopper/non-gamer consumer is going to see the new Sony console is also that latest game thingy but this one costs $100 less and if Sony wants to drive another nail into Microsoft’s coffin this generation, it’ll include (ironically) a digital-code prominently placed on the box and in materials that offers a free game along with purchase. The Super Mario Bros. pack-in for a new generation that laments the loss of such inclusions.

So in one deft move Sony captured the hearts of retailers, hardcore gamers, and casual consumers who know only the weirdos they’re shopping for can be satiated for 100 less greenbacks.

Sony isn’t some beacon of hope for the game ownership movement, they’re just too sissy to take the leap themselves and are content to stand accusingly over Microsoft’s would-be corpse hoping consumers can’t see through the facade.

MICROSOFT NEEDS A HISTORY LESSON

When the PS3 launched for $599 8 years ago we all scoffed and Sony just about became the laughing stock of the entire industry. People flocked to Microsoft with its already established Xbox Live platform and attractive price point in droves. What a difference 8 years and an over-inflated ego makes.

Microsoft not only seriously asks for $500, but also wants to smash an entire second-hand industry and create a confusing DRM system in which they’re coy about the details.

Boiling it down to its bare essentials:

Sony stuck with what works, is familiar, and made it cheaper while Microsoft tried to force us into the digital era with murky details and an attempt to pass the buck on software restrictions to developers. That was one of the more fatal flaws of the move. Microsoft wanted the benefits but not the blame and you can’t have it both ways- you’re either spearheading a new distribution initiative or you’e just ‘providing the means’ for publishers to take that leap but you can’t have it both ways.

OFF THE SOAPBOX, WHAT ABOUT THE GAMES?

Out of everything I’ve seen there are a few titles that I’m excited about so let’s take a look at them now.

Infamous, Second Son

This game looks amazing not just for the gameplay or fancy particle effects (which were on display ad nauseum) but also for the sheer range of emotion and the unlikely hero. It’s pretty reassuring to have a new kind of hero that’s younger and less experienced than your typical hardened and battle-worn protagonist.
Watch Dogs

I don’t feel like we got to see a ton of new footage from Watch Dogs but I’m still pumped for this. There just isn’t enough techno-espionage going around and in a world where Google Glass is rapidly coming to fruition and NSA scandals abound it’s fun territory to explore. Throw in some gorgeous graphics and a down ‘n dirty fight system that adds a new level of brutality to the oft-beautifully choreographed combat systems we’re used to and this new IP could have a lot of potential.

Destiny

While there still haven’t been a wealth of details, the fact that Bungie’s insistent on creating a lush, persistent sci-fi world for its next shooter intrigues me. So often we hear about WoW as a shooter but we’ve never really scene a solid one come to fruition. Will Destiny fit the bill? It’s too early to tell but Bungie’s an awfully competent developer with a lot of talent.

Final Fantasy XV

In a departure for the series, this action roleplaying game is shaping up to be one incredibly big in scope. Graphically it’s on par with the presentation we found in Advent Children and with a solid story this’ll be a title to keep an eye on for series faithfuls or newcomers looking to transition to the FF universe. I’m intrigued, to say the least.

Wrap-Up

It’s going to be an interesting fight. Nintendo seems to be limping along right now but they’ll certainly be in a better position than Microsoft if they can garner more developer support and a stronger lineup for the Wii-U this holiday season.

Microsoft will of course sell a bajillion but the most ‘hardcore’ among us will approach the system with more hesitation and reluctance than ever before and alienating your core audience is never a good thing.

Sony just might charge back into the spotlight through its meticulous ability to mask its intent and cower behind the bold moves of Microsoft but we’ll have to see.

It’s a tough time for game and console makers as they try to figure out how best to approach the historically entrenched gamer audience.

Who are you throwing in with this generation?

Parking in the Short North can still be ghoulish but after only a couple of laps we founda spot a half block away from Big Fun.  It’s fairly nondescript, sandwiched between 2 more shops just down from the Short North Tavern. Once we arrived we were immediately greeted through the storefront glass by an over-sized plush Yoda and a vampire stand-up that was a dead ringer for Bella Lugosi.  AS soon as you step in that smell hits you hard- that refreshing scent of merchandise that’s out of time but immediately familiar and welcoming.  High ceilings with crown molding and spotlights showcase a variety of toys and collectibles from ages ago all the way up through today.  Big Fun is well laid out with 2 rows that allow you to see everything there is almost immediately and creaky wooden floors.

It’s a bizarre confluence of timeframes seeing Attack of the 50 ft. Woman posters alongside NES cartridges that wouldn’t debut for another 30 years. Tin lunchboxes hang neatly on the walls, precisely arranged. A wall holds a variety of yesteryear’s most entertaining novelties including an over-sized whoopie cushion, fake poo, and the like. Rounding one end (and nearest the register) a brightly lit glass case is filled with what I swear is every GI Joe ever made, mirrored by another housing row after row of Star Wars memorabilia including an original Jaba the Hutt Action Playset.

There are requisite novelties that I’m sure help keep business moving with an  respectable collection of Dr. Who swag and another video game section featuring less old school cartridge porn and more nostalgic nods in the form of energy drinks and pac-man keychains. But the real star is the selection of retro toys that you absolutely cannot find anywhere else and the more-than-affordable pricing. It’s extremely cool to behold.

It’s also very well kept and clean. Toys that look like they by all rights should be dusty aren’t at all and reflect the love and care put into their preservation by the owners. One of which, Jason, talked to me for a few minutes about how originally they were based out of Cleveland and had been waiting for a spot to open up in this area. After months of trying to find a good location one finally became available and the rest is history. Well, history in the making, really. The store is just getting started but is already thriving thanks to local events like Gallery Hop.

Cara and I also couldn’t help but take advantage of an old school photo booth at the rear of the store which, unlike today’s machines took an agonizing 5 minutes to process our photos.  In all seriousness though little pleasantries like this litter the entire store from an original TMNT toy crate (curiously loaded with Barbie dolls) to a Mars Attacks! head hoisted ominously above the exit sign.

So what wares did I make off with personally? For starters a hardcover Doc Savage book for my Dad (just in time for Father’s Day) and a copy of the Three Stooges for NES which, while not the best game of the era, was one that held some sentimental value for me and I was thrilled to find a copy in such good shape.

If your’e in the area you’ve no reason not to check out Big Fun and if you’re not in the area, it’s worth making a special trip. Afterall, in addition to the joy of a nostalgic romp through some of the most memorable collectibles from through the ages it’s also situated in one of the most booming areas of Columbus. And you’re sure to have…ok, I’m not gonna say it but you get the idea-Just go check out Big Fun immediately!

My good friends in Bonded By Blood did the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle theme on their debut album, Feed The Beast. That song was done really well and made me feel like a kid again watching the cartoon and shamelessly doing the turtles signature moves.  Still though, the biggest way I’ve seen the two mediums fuse is in any movie Iron man has been in seeing as how they always work in an AC/DC song, which has been very fitting considering Tony’s personality.

Another more personable way I watched comics enter the world of music was recently when I first saw Otep live on their Seduce and Destroy tour. The guitar player was wearing a Bane mask and the bass player was wearing a bag that referenced the Scarecrow from Nolan’s Batman trilogy. Diving back into the actual pages of comise,  in Venom #34 of the current ongoing series, they mentioned the Apex Predator which is the new single of Otep’s latest album, Hydra.

But, with every good thing there’s always something done wrong to make you second guess the two ever meeting. In this case when I heard of a song called She Gave Her Heart to Deadpool by Emmure I flipped. A song about my favorite character! Except,  it had nothing to do with him when I read the lyrics, which was pretty disappointing.  Car Bomb also did a song called The Sentinel, which, while a good song, had nothing to do with mutant hunting robots (which may have been reaching for me).

Still though, I like to think that the majority of these two mediums meeting somewhere in the middle has been a good thing. I especially liked when Manowar refrenced some gods like Odin Thor and Loki in a few songs or when Crimson Armada performed Juggernaut. I would just like to see a band do exclusively songs about comics. Most bands have some sort of theme, so why not? If I did I would call it Marvelous Immortals focusing each song on a certain character or theme that had to do with Marvel and come out in costume. With as long as comics have been around how hugely they’ve entered pop culture as their foray into film has broadened, the possibilities are limitless.

Make sure you check out some of the above bands but what would you like to see happen between your favorite heroes and your favorite bands?

It’s Better Than the Sum of its Parts

One of the most off-putting things about Doctor Who for me was the production values. It just had an odd look to it and that kept me from being interested. But, if you can look past that there’s a lot of solid storytelling here and it’s basically a sci-fi wonderland for those that are interested in such things. I’ve seen shows with better acting, special effects, and writing, but there’s something about how Dr. Who brings all of these things together that makes it so special, and the more I watch the more engrossed I’ve become.

It’s a Geek’s Dream

I’m serious. Even after a single (guided) episode viewing, Dr. Who is a delightful hodge-podge of geek appeal that demands your love. It’s the ultimate embodiment of geek aspirations. Your only job as the Doctor is to travel through time and space with a companion engaging and thwarting alien life forms who wish to harm the universe. Oh, and you have a variety of gadgets at your disposal like sonic screwdrivers and psychic paper which allows you to basically social engineer your way into anywhere all whilst taking merry jabs at those around you because you already know what happens in the future. Not too shabby.

My Favorite Doctor Will be David Tennant

I’m not comfortable choosing a favorite just yet as I’m still working my way through the series but something tells me Mr. Tennant is going to be it. Something about that crazy-ass look in his eyes that never goes away makes me kind of scared not to choose him as my favorite. Although I do like Matt Smith as well from what I’ve seen but he seems more cuddly teddy bear doctor than Tennant’s ‘I’ll murder you if you don’t love me’ kind of doctor. Maybe I’m just nuts but I bet a lot of Whovians out there agree.

Doctor Who is Bipolar

Not literally, but Zeke pointed out to me that it was one of those shows that could make you laugh and cry in the same episode. At first I thought he was nuts as I’d just watched an episode with a bunch of creepy-ass children rocking gas masks, but after digging a bit deeper into the series it’s absolutely true. For all the head-scratching newcomers are doing about sonic screwdrivers and daleks, rest assured there’s a lot more substance here than just sci-fi standbys.

So am I ready to hit my local Hot Topic and buy a sonic screwdriver? No, not quite yet, but if what I’ve seen so far is any indication, it shouldn’t be too long before I start cruising the Doctor Who gear at think geek and start bugging all of you who already know how great it is about how much I’ve enjoyed it.

Any additional advice for a would-be Whovian?

6. The Amphibian from The Host

When doctors dumped numerous bottles of  formaldehyde down a drain that lead into a river, a common fish mutated into this bizarre and monstrous being. A cross between a fish and a tadpole, it has two big legs, two short Tyrannosaurus Rex-like arms, and a huge mouth.  While not the biggest monster, it’s one of the meanest.

5. Giant troll from Troll Hunter.

First off, Troll Hunter is a great movie and I recommend it to anyone. There are many  large trolls throughout the movie, but the one I’m talking about in particular is at the end. This monster is truly a giant-over the size of a skyscraper, in fact. You really sense this troll’s immensity when Hans (ahem, the troll hunter) is battling this monster using a UV spotlight attached to a Jeep.

4. The Giant from The Mist

What do you get when you cross Cthulhu  and a whale? This thing. Most likely the biggest monster on the list, I can’t even give you the scale of this gargantuan beast. I’m pretty sure Godzilla would come up to at least one of the kneecaps on this beast. Although massive in the film, it’s as gentle as a whale, just walking by the onlookers who are utterly shocked.

3. Dragonzord  from PowerRangers

What kid didn’t love the green ranger growing up? Beside being the evil ranger, he had the coolest zord and he had the best way to call to it. After blowing into his dragon flute, it rises out of the ocean with its missiles launchers in its fingertips and its drill tail.  It totally beats Megazord .

2. Clover from Cloverfield

1. Godzilla

This is a massive departure for the series in terms of tone and presentation and even gameplay in a way. Tomb Raider (uh, 9? Maybe?) starts off with a Lara Croft who is not at all the badass from earlier titles. She’s young, unsure of herself, and super green when it comes to the business of tomb raiding. On a mission to locate the lost kingdom of Yamatai, Lara’s joined by her friend, Samantha Nishimura along with a team of other like-minded explorers to make the find. After getting shipwrecked during a violent storm and being left to (initially) fend for herself on a not-so-deserted island, sh*t gets real fast.

Right from jump street Lara’s put through a pretty hellish ordeal and gets more banged up in 5 minutes than most video game characters do in the whole of their adventure. It’s pretty sadistic, actually and even a little unnerving to see a fledgling Lara Croft suffer so many indignities, but it’s also important as it sets the tone undeniably well. It’s dark, violent, and at the same time refreshing. The scattered audio logs and journals also add to the scope of the narrative with full voice acting and a deeper dive into this new Tomb Raider’s mythos.

It’s not just the story and presentation that’s working though, the gameplay is a solid retool of the series mechanics. Lara’s less impervious adventurer and more scrappy survivalist, scavenging a tattered old bow and hunting her way through the jungle, surviving on wild game and setting up campfires between destinations. That’s not to say there isn’t any acrobatic feats- it feels a lot like a Prince of Persia game in that regard, with Lara effortlessly clambering from one ledge to the next when the need arises. And using a bow hasn’t been this much fun since Skyrim. that’s not to say you only have a bow at your disposal, but its quiet nature often makes it the most desirable choice for picking off a range of enemies in the jungle

In addition to the main storyline, there are also a variety of side quests that manifest as hidden bonus tombs. It’s as if Crystal Dynamics has recognized that action seems to be more favored this generation than puzzle solving but flat-out refused to abandon the roots of the franchise. You can barrel on through the main quest which has little puzzle solving beyond some head-scratching platforming challenges if you wish, guns blazing or sneaking through the foliage. OR the completionist has a variety of more puzzle-focused areas to explore with these bonus tombs popping up along the main path. They’re hidden, but if you’re keeping your eyes peeled you should find them no problem.

I began playing Tomb Raider at 9:30 one evening. Before I knew it I stared bleary-eyed at my phone to see it was nearly 3 in the morning and I hadn’t let up for a second. Look for the video review later on but my initial impressions are that this cinematic, grungy, re-imagined Lara is exactly what the aging series needed.