Tomb Raider – The Indecisive Eejit

Apparently time also flies when you’re not having fun too!

This last two weeks in work have been unbelievably stressful. I really need a day off, but two courses and a new boss next week mean it’s not going to happen. I’m actually worn out, despite the fact that after purchasing new pillows I’m sleeping slightly better.

That said, there are good things about being so busy. I’m hardly smoking these days mainly because I never leave my desk. I can’t tell you if I feel any better for it, but I know that when I reach a certain time scale withdrawal rage kicks in. The second thing is time, it flies.

I’m putting in 9 hour days, but they pass in the blink of an eye, sadly the mountain of post it notes is threatening to consume me if I don’t manage to make my way through them. I used to be quite organised… before I started this job. I need to get back to that and start using my to do book again, I can’t be arsed with the 20 million paper scraps!

It’s looking highly likely that this will be another weekend of working, that stresses me out too because I have jobs to do for both myself and other people, but there are just not enough hours in the day. Thankfully I have Steve’s radio show to look forward to on Saturday night.

I finally started playing Tomb Raider and I’m enjoying it immensely. I’ve had it since Christmas but just haven’t had the time to play. The only downfall is it’s giving me motion sickness which means I can only play for 30 – 60 minutes in one go. That’s ok though, because I usually only have that amount of time spare between getting everything done and going to bed anyway.

Thanks to all my new followers, you’re all more than welcome. I have a new goal, I’d like to reach a thousand before 2020, I’m keeping a realistic time scale here, I don’t need any additional stress, or disappointment for that matter :)

Well that’s about it for today, my train journey is almost over meaning it’s time for job number two, management of the Ships.

Enjoy your day and till next time eejits :)

So before I start let me say I am not a games reviewer, I never have been and I never will be, what I can tell you is that I love the new Tomb Raider so much I could just jump up and down for joy….well I would have in the days pre knee surgery. Not now.

I’d read the reviews and seen the trailers on the XBox and to be honest I was sort of meh about the whole thing. Yes the graphics looked amazing but I wasn’t to sold on the gameplay. I sort of figured I’d have a go sometime but I wasn’t going to rush out and buy it.

Tomb Raider, the original, was the game that got me hooked on the PSone. Up until that point I had a Sega Master System and the most addictive game in the world was Alex the Kidd in Miracle World. Then one night while at my friends house he showed me this game and said I’m stuck want to see if you can get any further and that was me hooked! He lent me the console for the Christmas holidays. No one saw me for days other than the short breaks I took to grab some food. I have only ever taken leave from work for two games, this was one of them and the other was Final Fantasy VII. Granted some of the puzzles drove me almost insane, but for that time the graphics were awesome, the music haunting and the gameplay addictive.

Since then the games that have held my attention have been few and far between. I’ve enjoyed games but not to the point where you get restless until you sit down and pick up the controller.

I was lucky enough to pick up a copy of the new Tomb Raider, so I anxiously installed it to hard drive and pressed play.

Awesome graphics. I love FMV scenes, especially where it’s almost hard to tell what is real and what’s not. I guess I was hooked from the starting scenes.

It’s a completely different experience to any other TR game, but that’s just my opinion. It has the same feel about it and you know that’s what you are playing, but it’s in a different class.

I have to say, I was worried as my weapon mastery skills are not the best, for example here’s how Battlefield 3 usually goes…..Spawn, stand up, get shot, die. Respawn, stand up, get shot, die, and so it goes on. After a few attempts I fell in love with the bow and arrow and it is currently my weapon of choice, however the others do come in handy as well. I’ve become quite adept at headshots, and my list of achievements is growing. What can I say I am a shameless achievement whore!!

The puzzles are challenging but not frustratingly so. The challenges are puzzling but not frustratingly so.

There is plenty of terrain to explore and there were a couple of times when I actually Oooo’d an Aaahhh’d at the landscapes, something I had not done since playing ICO.

There were also a couple of places where there was a little twist of unexpected gameplay, where I whooped in delight and wondered why I have never seen this in any game before.

I’ve almost completed the game. I’m on the run up to the final level, however I still have plenty to explore and find, as I have uncompleted challenges, unfound treasures and missing GPS caches, but instead of thinking oh crap I can’t be bothered doing all this again, I can’t wait. I have a desire to totally complete the game. Whether the desire becomes a reality remains to be seen.

My recommendation! Give it a try, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.