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Tomb Raider (also action adventures in general)

JarlFrank

I like Thief THIS much
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So I'm currently playing through the Tomb Raider series. Started with the new ones, Anniversary and Underworld were p. good, Legend was okay but too fucking short. Solid games overall, but they got nothing on the classics, which I'm going through now, starting with 4.

Damn, TR4 is great. Some of the puzzles actually require some thought and there's some rather difficult platforming involved (sometimes to the point of frustration FUCKING ROPE JUMPING PART AT THE BEGINNING OF CATACOMBS LEVEL, FUCKING HELL :x ).
I love how the levels in TR4 are interconnected and you need items from one level to use in the next. They feel more like large dungeon complexes than isolated levels, which is great. The levels themselves are also pretty well-designed, usually with multiple chambers arranged around some centre chamber and clues for the riddle of one room hidden in another and awesome stuff like that.

:love: :love: :love:

So, my question is, are there any other games similar to Tomb Raider? Basically I'm looking for action adventures where you explore dungeons and where puzzles and traps are the focus of the gameplay instead of combat. I know there are two Indiana Jones games that are Tomb Raider clones and they're supposed to be pretty good, and Rune, while more combat-focused than TR, also had some good platforming and the occasional puzzle.

Once I've played through all the TR games, I'll probably go and try out the fan missions since there seems to be a pretty active community making fan levels for TR5, similar to what the Thief fans are doing with T2.
 
Self-Ejected

Excidium

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I remember a The Mummy game that was vaguely like tomb raider on the playstation. But there's nothing as good as the TR series, though.

Good times, locking the butler inside the freezer.
 

abnaxus

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I don't like the new TR games since they practically play themselves. Well, at least Anniversary has a "classic" mode.

Anyway:

Prince of Persia 3D

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time

Drakan: Order of the Flame

Heavy Metal: FAKK 2

American McGee's Alice

Heretic 2
 

SoupNazi

Guest
Montezuma Returns, or some such game, had a similar feel to Tomb Raider, except it was in First Person. I remember loving it when it came out, though admittedly I don't remember much of it, other than a lot of rope climbing and swinging.


Oh right, this:
http://www.abandonia.com/games/456/Montezuma
 

Vaarna_Aarne

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Soul Reaver motherfuckers. Raziel always kicked Lara's ass and still does with that game.

Not only does Soul Reaver have really good level and puzzle design (almost all boss-fights are puzzles) with a shitload of optional exploration to do (there are two entire full-size areas that you can miss if you just push forward, and almost all areas are full of secrets), but it's also got the standard fantastic writing, setting and voice-acting of Legacy of Kain series. It was also in the time LoK produced a game that was also genre gameplay top gun (Blood Omen being a fantastic Zelda-type and all that, and Soul Reaver 2 being slightly worse than Soul Reaver but still great).

Go play it, now. The PSN re-release is pretty good, though it does suffer from slowdowns more than the original version.
 

GarfunkeL

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What a co-incidence. I'm currentöly replaying all TR games too!

If you have a PS3, the Drake adventure games are pretty decent. Played the two of them through with a group of friends - controller changed hands when Drake got killed, add beer to the mix and it was pretty fun. But both are quite similar to the new TR games in that they are slick, simple and the puzzles aren't very difficult at all. Uncharted - Drake's somethingsomething, is the name.
 

spekkio

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Vaarna_Aarne said:
Soul Reaver motherfuckers. Raziel always kicked Lara's ass and still does with that game.
:bro:

Too bad that the story of the series jumped the shark at some point.
And don't try to convince me with this "LOL - it makes perfect sense, you just don't get it" stuff - that's bullshit and you know it.
But BO1 and SR1 are great.

@ Tomb Raider

I've played 1-4 when they were released and hated 4 for some reason.
Gameplay is indeed more varied than in first 3 games but TR4 lacks the atmosphere of a proper TR game (ronery exploration, varied locations, etc.)

Tried Legends and Anniversary but didn't like them - controls are too awkward for such TR oldfag like myself.

I've replayed 1 (PSX) and 2 (PC) in recent years and had fun. TR3 is on my 'play soon' list.

If you have any problems with these games on current systems try this page (universal patch):

http://www.tombraiderchronicles.com/tr1/fixes.html
 
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Uncharted - Drake Kills Them Negroes. But yeah, even though it had a lot of things to hate it was fun in that exact one-controller co-op with beer way. Actually we have played Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 in that way as well. Just seems like playing on a console without friends and beer is a waste of time.
 

Vaarna_Aarne

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spekkio said:
Vaarna_Aarne said:
Soul Reaver motherfuckers. Raziel always kicked Lara's ass and still does with that game.
:bro:

Too bad that the story of the series jumped the shark at some point.
And don't try to convince me with this "LOL - it makes perfect sense, you just don't get it" stuff - that's bullshit and you know it.
But BO1 and SR1 are great.
Stop the liez and start the truthz, the story makes perfect sense and in retrospect you do see everything revealed at the end Soul Reaver.
 

Luzur

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i never liked any of those jump and shit games, except for Die by the Sword.

i remember a dude back in school when Tomb Raider was brand new that installed the game on all the school computers and sat screaming about how hot she looked and how cool this game was with its brand new graphics like up the ass and what.

totally ruined for the rest of us when they closed up the computer rooms for a week to clean that shit out of the HD's and punish us.
 

Unkillable Cat

LEST WE FORGET
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Codex 2014 Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy
There's a Thief 2 FM that tries to imitate Tomb Raider.

Only succeeds by being an Egyptian themed level with some simple puzzles and some mummies to dodge/dispatch.

Sadly I can't remember what it was called, but it's not really that fun anyway.
 

J1M

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spekkio said:
Vaarna_Aarne said:
Soul Reaver motherfuckers. Raziel always kicked Lara's ass and still does with that game.
:bro:

Too bad that the story of the series jumped the shark at some point.
And don't try to convince me with this "LOL - it makes perfect sense, you just don't get it" stuff - that's bullshit and you know it.
But BO1 and SR1 are great.

@ Tomb Raider

I've played 1-4 when they were released and hated 4 for some reason.
Gameplay is indeed more varied than in first 3 games but TR4 lacks the atmosphere of a proper TR game (ronery exploration, varied locations, etc.)

Tried Legends and Anniversary but didn't like them - controls are too awkward for such TR oldfag like myself.

I've replayed 1 (PSX) and 2 (PC) in recent years and had fun. TR3 is on my 'play soon' list.

If you have any problems with these games on current systems try this page (universal patch):

http://www.tombraiderchronicles.com/tr1/fixes.html
Obviously Blood Omen 2 was terrible, but Defiance did an amazing job of tying together and wrapping up 5 games heavily invested in time travel.
 

J1M

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Spellcaster said:
You're lucky if you don't like it, because this genre is not that decently served, so to speak. 'Platforming and puzzle' games are quite rare if you move away from the obvious Tomb Raider/Prince of Persia field.

They're poor on the puzzles side, but take a look on the Little Big Adventure games (Relentless and Twinsen's Odyssey). Also, if you don't mind 2D, both Oddworlds (Oddysee and Exoddus) are a must. All these 4 games are excellent and will make you busy for quite some time. I haven't played LoK so I don't know about that one.

Edit: usually I don't give a damn if someone is recommending current gen console games - perhaps they're even tolerable. But Uncharted is one of the worst things that this already horrible gen has to offer, avoid it like the plague. IIRC Jarl, you don't like cutscenes and non-interactive sequences, right? Well, this game is a gigantic cutscene. You won't find a review of this game that doesn't use the word "cinematic". That says a lot.
It's a genre that has been and remains far better served than turn-based games or party-based RPGs.
 

JarlFrank

I like Thief THIS much
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Thanks for the suggestions my Codex bros. :love:

I think I'll try out the Prince of Persia games, and the Legacy of Kain series (only played Blood Omen 2, and that was long ago; I remember to have enjoyed it mostly).

Might also check out some of the others that have been suggested, like Drakan and Heavy Metal FAKK2 (which I also played looong ago and still have around on CD somewhere). That first person Montezuma game also looks interesting.

Spellcaster said:
IIRC Jarl, you don't like cutscenes and non-interactive sequences, right? Well, this game is a gigantic cutscene. You won't find a review of this game that doesn't use the word "cinematic". That says a lot.

Sounds horrible. As far as I know, it's only been released for PS2, and I don't have one anyway. But yeah, I don't really like overly long cutscenes too much, especially if the game is full of them and it interrupts the gameplay. I play games to... well... play games.
 
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Of course not, otherwise I would post something else than the videos I said I watched. Why do you make such stupid questions, villain? Do you get off on being stupid? You may think you're clever, but you're really not.

AoW1_Heroes_80x100_Human_LeaderMale03.jpg
 

JarlFrank

I like Thief THIS much
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I played Enclave about two years ago. It was fun for a while, but not too great. It's more similar to Blade of Darkness than Tomb Raider, but with much less awesome combat. Wasn't impressed, really, it's a very mediocre game.
 

Twinkle

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You can try the original Jedi Knight game and its expansion, though they are primarily action games. The last three levels in the expansion are pretty tombraiderish in a sense that you have to explore an ancient sith temple with a complex maze layout, where beasties are dangerous and largely immune to force powers and there are quite a few puzzles to solve, mainly linked to utilizing your special abilities. Also, absolutely brilliant final boss fight.
 

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