Recent reviews by The Angel of Darkness

Was OK

MY REVIEW OF THE RISE OF THE TOMB RAIDER GAME

Rise of the Tomb Raider is the one of the best action adventure games I played.


Open world is massive. There is sense of an adventure in every corner of the world.
Survival element is fun part of the game. You need to craft weapons and items to survive the wilderness. There are lots of predators that you need to look out for like bears, wolfs, leopards and cougars. Predators are hard to take down so you need to play tactically.
There are lots of different way you can approach a situation when you encounter enemies. This makes the game fun. Stealth is very good in this game compared to Tomb Raider 2013. AI is smart, when they discover the dead body they alert the other guys and they then start to search for you.

Environment sounds are great and Great voice acting by Camilla Luddington.
Lots of weapons and gears to choose from. You can be a Rambo with bow and arrows. There are different type of arrows to choose from like fire, poison and explosive arrows.
Graphics is awesome. This is one of the best looking games I've played.
Character animations and Facial Expressions are so life like that it is feel like you are watching a movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiYiddjc6cU&t=101s
Side missions and Optional tombs are very good. There are lots of optional challenge tombs in the game that make this game a true tomb raider experience. Puzzles in the tombs are very well balanced. They are not to hard but not so easy too. Challenges and collectibles give this game some replay ability. Lots of achievements which allows you to experience the game in different ways if you like to 100% the game. Story is very good. There are documents to find that allows you to dive in to the lore of the game further. DLCs are great. You can modify the experience of DLCs using cards. Optimization is great but to MAX it you need newer hardware.


Nothing I can find.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSNyfTvIW1c&t=147s
If you haven't played this game yet then you are missing a masterpiece. I give this game 10/10.

MY REVIEW OF THE SHADOW OF THE TOMB RAIDER GAME

In South America

The most significant difference that always characterised each Tomb Raider episode: the change of location. My preference is with the colder climate (this also means that this episode omits the Endurance mode) but it is always nice to see how a new location can affect gameplay. Areas with battle now allow Lara to go back into hiding by bathing in mud. An interesting concept - I particularly liked how she could move along the wall out of plain sight due to the overgrown flora.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NN7UCIAHsQ&t=17s

Trinity

The bad guys return and Lara now encounters a leader called Pedro Dominguez. It is nice to add a face to Trinity this time and Pedro actually knows more of Lara than she thinks. Cutscenes are amazing with the usual high-quality voice acting on everybody's part and there is increased focus on Lara's childhood and father this time. There are a couple of twists here an there - as usual later on a new form of enemy appears to make the story more exciting. This alone does not make the plot totally different so the creators decided to include more peril by choosing artifacts with great power. Let's just say that Lara's race against Trinity has time factored in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwljTbmEjvw&t=4s

Gameplay

You know how the developers add new elements even when it is not necessary. Gameplay in the previous two instalments was fast and dynamic enough. Still, there's new gear, of course. Overhang climbing is now possible with the use of special boots. I think this feature was unnecessary and thank god no puzzles were based on this. Grappling down from cliffs, however, is a nice new addition.

We find all sorts of materials - beside upgrading our weapons we can craft pieces of clothing. Upper and lower body pieces are available but we can also acquire full body outfits. These add bonuses so getting dressed before a fight we can decide if we intend to aim for a more stealthy approach or go full guns blazing by putting on something that gives Lara health regeneration. And, naturally, we can give Lara the "old" look by applying skins from previous games (this is a purely cosmetic choice here).

Other than these small changes or additional stuff gameplay mechanics remain the same. I liked the inclusion of air pockets during underwater sequences which made it possible to increase the time spent in such areas. Once again Lara can decipher various monuments (her language skills increase gradually) and there are tons of relics and letters to be found out there. You'll return to previous locations by using the camp system several times just to get that 100% completion.

Graphics appear to be enhanced once again; I cannot comment on the latest RTX technology but everything else looked stunning as usual. Two more small adjustments done to walkthroughs: there are difficulty settings we can choose from but they are broken down into various elements we can adjust separately. Additionally, there is a possibility to make immersion better by allowing the NPCs to use their native language instead of English.

Longevity

What else to say about Shadow of Tomb Raider? Another great entry in the series where there are more and much bigger tombs. The DLCs also focus on these extra challenges. The hub area we visit appears to be greater and there are many side missions to complete. It's worth investing time into these as getting the rewards will make Lara stronger. There is a New Game+ mode available with additional skills we can purchase only during this second walkthrough.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdEfROL2Wx8&t=340s
I had fun with the latest instalment. The puzzles were sometimes annoying (oh boy the one in the church was just awful!) but gave me a good challenge, nonetheless. Of all 3 episodes this one has the most interesting story and definitely the most satisfying end game boss battle.

Nice story based on Michel Ardan's voyages.
The game play is simple, but not always intuitive.
Some puzzle demand more thinking and intuitions then others.

Overall: 7.6 / 10

Voyage: Journey to the Moon is a title that deserved more popularity than it had gotten in my opinion. This is probably one of the reasons the game never received its sequel which is in my opinion a big shame, even although at the end of the game you are given a small teaser for it.

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Graphics: 7.5 / 10
- The game does look very beautiful from time to time, whilst other times it looks alright. There we're quite a decent amount of details put into certain parts of both the map and items. It is obvious the game was polished quite a lot considering its current state and the fact it first came out in 2005.

Story: 7.5 / 10
- Scary, fun and intriguing for the most part. Worst part of it was at the very start of the game where there were a few small loopholes as well as the fact that at one point you get into a "react or die" situation without any instructions, which is not that bad really, as the game allows you to lose a life in many different scenarios (including falling into an empty elevator shaft because you forgot to call the elevator first) but without any penalty. After death, you are not brought back to the menu or loaded in from the last save, but rather just a moment before fatal decision was made. However, game gets a lot better once you land on the moon.
On the way you learn about plant and alien life, as well as social organisation of the aliens, their language, writing and technology and their relations with the human kind. You may also reach earth by not doing everything there is to do, and thus skipping something or doing it a different way. I personally found the story to be quite short, peaking up to 6.8 hours on record from start to completion with all the time taken to solve the puzzles on the way but overall, I loved it.

Puzzles: 8 / 10
- I found puzzles not to be too hard, although they do have a small difficulty curve as you progress, meaning they get harder and harder. This is good because I believe the game would be enjoyable to both a casual gamer and those in for a quick challenge. It is obvious the puzzles are made by a human rather than an inhabitant of the moon and should demand an average logic skill to beat. They blend into the story perfectly as no puzzle is there just for the sake of its existence but rather, everything has a meaning. They are not repetitive either, so you should not feel bored during the game.

Sound: 7 / 10
- The strong point of the sound is definitely its soundtrack. Main menu music has a really pleasant and suitable vibe for the type of game. Voice acting is fine and so are other general sounds, although they are nothing to point your finger at.

Fun factor: 8 / 10
- Recommended!
- I had fun and recommend this game, especially if you want something more challenging then normal puzzle games.

Amazing game. Took ages to get all the achievements but finally got there in the end. Shame this game doesn't come with Trading Cards as they would have looked cool.

One of the best games I have ever played. Enjoyed every minute of it. Highly recommended

As good as the first 2 games in the series. 👍

Amazing. Worth every penny 👍

Finished the first game which was really good so thought I might aswell try the second and so far it's as good as the first. Looks like I know what I will be doing when I finish this one.

Good game. Highly recommended. 👍