Nireta
28-05-07, 17:33
Many of us have played the Anniversary demo and have been amazed, devastated or perhaps feel indifferent. I’m in the amazed category and have played through it enough times to know every nook and cranny. But today I did something I enjoyed even more than playing it myself and that was introducing the demo to my father. See, I’m only a second-generation raider. It was my father who bought and played the first game while I was happily watching him and today I was able to introduce the old generation fan to the new generation game.
He had asked me where he could find the demo at the day of the release and today he came to me rather reluctantly it seemed and asked me; “How do I make her dive down underwater?” This was the question that started my little guided tour through the re-imagined Lost Valley.
I snuck down to his computer and fixed a few things first. Turning off the help icons, since personally I think that makes it too easy for him, and changing the combat mode to Advanced Toggle since that’s the setting I think is easiest to use. Unfortunately he caught me red handed but allowed me to start a new game to show him the controls. After disposing the poor wolves at the start I dove into the water and answered his first question. After that I climbed out and did a few flips just for fun, which made my father gape in awe. “Wait! Wait! How’d you do that? You can’t do that can you?” After this he forced me off the chair to grab control over Lara himself.
He did a few shaky flips and jumps after I had shown him how it was done and then promptly went on with the journey. I found that he’d gotten quite far on his own earlier, all the way to the second cog. But as soon as he’d picked it up and shot the bats that appeared I had to hold his hand. With a few hints and nudges I helped him find the shotgun (I was so very proud of him) and then we went back to the start where he completely ignored the second set of wolves and started climbing up to the cogs.
From there he found the way almost by himself. He was thinking out loud though so that I could confirm that whatever he was going to do would not kill him off and he almost thought I had tricked him when he dropped down on the wooden ledge that shakes a bit when you land on it. That was tremendously funny. The next interesting thing that happened was the pole balancing.
Unlike us mega-fans over here he has not seen a single trailer or read any of the previews and reviews that are out there and he had no idea that Lara had this new move. He was completely at loss when we came to the bear room, after disposing the bear of course, and I simply told him to climb up the ledges and jump toward the top of the first pole. For the second time during the tour he was awestruck and almost managed to make Lara lose her balance. When he’d reached solid ground again he exclaimed “What a chick!” in pure amazement. It was rather amusing.
The next part before the valley itself went without any problems except when he managed to drop poor Lara into the abyss during the slide-jump-grab edge part. He was immediately struck by the bad vibrations in the tunnel leading to the valley and muttered a silent “Uh-oh” and them jumped a bit as the floor broke underneath him. He handled the raptors rather well even though he’d accidentally chosen the hardest difficulty at the beginning. He was only eaten once.
Then came the big boss and I could almost see him tense up. “Okay, so how am I supposed to handle this guy?” I simply told him that he’d see and then I had a good laugh when the demo abruptly ended. He was rather disappointed with the length afterwards but I think he liked it. I told him to try and find the secrets next time through but somehow I doubt he’ll play it again. He’s not as crazy as I am.
Thus ended my tour and the old fan and new game parted ways for now and I think that they actually took a liking to each other. When the full game arrives however, he will have to wait until I've finished it. Then I will have great fun holding his hand and guiding him through the re-imagining of the game he played all those years ago.
I hope we all enjoy it when it does come and I hope those of you who are playing it already are enjoying it. Cheers to Crystal Dynamics who finally seem to have understood what Tomb Raider is all about.
He had asked me where he could find the demo at the day of the release and today he came to me rather reluctantly it seemed and asked me; “How do I make her dive down underwater?” This was the question that started my little guided tour through the re-imagined Lost Valley.
I snuck down to his computer and fixed a few things first. Turning off the help icons, since personally I think that makes it too easy for him, and changing the combat mode to Advanced Toggle since that’s the setting I think is easiest to use. Unfortunately he caught me red handed but allowed me to start a new game to show him the controls. After disposing the poor wolves at the start I dove into the water and answered his first question. After that I climbed out and did a few flips just for fun, which made my father gape in awe. “Wait! Wait! How’d you do that? You can’t do that can you?” After this he forced me off the chair to grab control over Lara himself.
He did a few shaky flips and jumps after I had shown him how it was done and then promptly went on with the journey. I found that he’d gotten quite far on his own earlier, all the way to the second cog. But as soon as he’d picked it up and shot the bats that appeared I had to hold his hand. With a few hints and nudges I helped him find the shotgun (I was so very proud of him) and then we went back to the start where he completely ignored the second set of wolves and started climbing up to the cogs.
From there he found the way almost by himself. He was thinking out loud though so that I could confirm that whatever he was going to do would not kill him off and he almost thought I had tricked him when he dropped down on the wooden ledge that shakes a bit when you land on it. That was tremendously funny. The next interesting thing that happened was the pole balancing.
Unlike us mega-fans over here he has not seen a single trailer or read any of the previews and reviews that are out there and he had no idea that Lara had this new move. He was completely at loss when we came to the bear room, after disposing the bear of course, and I simply told him to climb up the ledges and jump toward the top of the first pole. For the second time during the tour he was awestruck and almost managed to make Lara lose her balance. When he’d reached solid ground again he exclaimed “What a chick!” in pure amazement. It was rather amusing.
The next part before the valley itself went without any problems except when he managed to drop poor Lara into the abyss during the slide-jump-grab edge part. He was immediately struck by the bad vibrations in the tunnel leading to the valley and muttered a silent “Uh-oh” and them jumped a bit as the floor broke underneath him. He handled the raptors rather well even though he’d accidentally chosen the hardest difficulty at the beginning. He was only eaten once.
Then came the big boss and I could almost see him tense up. “Okay, so how am I supposed to handle this guy?” I simply told him that he’d see and then I had a good laugh when the demo abruptly ended. He was rather disappointed with the length afterwards but I think he liked it. I told him to try and find the secrets next time through but somehow I doubt he’ll play it again. He’s not as crazy as I am.
Thus ended my tour and the old fan and new game parted ways for now and I think that they actually took a liking to each other. When the full game arrives however, he will have to wait until I've finished it. Then I will have great fun holding his hand and guiding him through the re-imagining of the game he played all those years ago.
I hope we all enjoy it when it does come and I hope those of you who are playing it already are enjoying it. Cheers to Crystal Dynamics who finally seem to have understood what Tomb Raider is all about.