The New Direction of Tomb Raider

I say "new direction" loosely, because the two points I'm about to bring up aren't necessarily how the franchise is going to move forward. Rather, it's how I view the current and previous DLC offerings Eidos has released for Tomb Raider: Underworld.

Beneath the Ashes was the first bit of DLC, and it was basically a level from the game, in both scope and gameplay. If you've played any of the recent Tomb Raider games, then you'll know what to expect. It didn't really bring anything new to the table, but I enjoyed it a lot, and even played through it a few times. Now this is where Lara's Shadow comes in.

Lara's Shadow is the latest release, and wow - it totally changes the dynamics of Tomb Raider. For once, I actually enjoyed the combat. So far, combat has been the one glaring weak point in the revamped series, since all it requires is circle strafing and holding down the right trigger. Not so in Lara's Shadow. Since you're playing as Lara's doppelganger, her abilities are quite a significant upgrade in every sense. She has special moves that stagger even the biggest enemies Underworld pitted against you, and firing weapons receives a much needed boost. These abilities are: a super punch capable of breaking enemies into pieces, a jump kick that serves to knock down any enemies in its range, and a slow-motion weapon firing mode that lets you pump about three times more bullets into your target than normal. All these are very, very welcome, and fun to play around with. Add to all of this the super-human platforming, and it almost feels like a totally different game.

Now, on to my two points:

1) I think DLC like these are totally the way to go from now on. Keep releasing DLC with similar-sized content, and give the next full Lara game at least three years of development. In the meantime, if Eidos were to release these episodes about four times a year (roughly every three months), people like me could get my Tomb Raider fix, while still knowing a brand-new adventure was in the works.

2) Experiment more with new gameplay. Lara's Shadow is an excellent first step, and by breathing new life into an already solid formula, Eidos has piqued my interest even moreso than it already was (it was really, really high).

These are the two things I hope Eidos focuses on, instead of releasing a better-looking game that largely does the same thing the last two did. Sure, there were improvements made in Underworld, and yes, I thought the game was awesome. But now, after getting a glimpse of what could happen, I simply can't see them doing the same old shit again and again. If they do, I'll probably still enjoy the game, but the obviousness of a missed opportunity won't be far back in my mind. Another thing I should mention is the pricing. At least for the first two DLC installments, the price tag is $10.00. I think cutting that in half would be about right, but at the same time, I didn't have any reservations getting either one. Lara's Shadow, in particular, gave me my money's worth. If they want to keep the current price, Eidos should look at extending the levels by about a third. Still, what's there is good enough, and I'm not really complaining. Here's to hoping Eidos is reading this and appreciates my analysis enough to hire me as a consultant.