Interactive Friction: Tomb Raider (2013): Episode 10: As Good As It Gets
In this episode, we are relevant and topical for the first 5 minutes.Many of the comments we make in this episode form the groundwork for suggestions and observations made in following episodes. Aside from that, most of it stand pretty well on it's own, and...
Interactive Friction: Tomb Raider (2013): Episode 9: Going Hollywood
This is the point where Tomb Raider starts to utilize more of the tropes from standard Hollywood action movies.The game has an interesting, yet appropriate and subtle, tone shift either at around this point or slightly before it. In the very beginning, Tomb Raider takes...
Interactive Friction: Tomb Raider (2013): Episode 8: The Mark of a Good Seaman
In this episode, we begin to talk a bit more about the side characters in the game.This is also our first experiment with doing some slight editing of the footage. Mostly, we cut segments of combat, or of loading screens, where nothing interesting was happening...
Interactive Friction: Tomb Raider (2013): Episode 7: Uncomfortable Deaths
In this episode, Sam and I talk about some of the more uncomfortable parts of the game.As I said in the episode, Tomb Raider (2013) makes most of Lara's deaths look much more brutal than we're used to seeing in video games. The ones we...
Interactive Friction: Tomb Raider (2013): Episode 6: “I Hate Tombs” – Lara Croft, Tomb Raider
In this episode, we discuss the puzzle design.Puzzle design in video games is very difficult to get right. In the ideal world, each individual puzzle room will show you everything you'll need to know in order to understand how to solve the puzzle. Because every...
Interactive Friction: Tomb Raider (2013): Episode 5: National Ubisoft Tower Climbing Day
In this episode, we climb the only tower that exists in this entire game. Despite that, I still take a potshot at Ubisoft and their goddamn towers.We spent a fair amount of time talking about the scene where Lara sits while the pilot of the...
Interactive Friction: Tomb Raider (2013): Episode 4: No One Shops At Radioshack…
In this episode, we remember Radioshack for a brief moment, further reminding ourselves of its irrelevancy. It's so irrelevant, that Chrome's built-in spell check thinks it's a typo.For the record, Tomb Raider is the very first game I've ever played that used automatic cover. Personally,...
Interactive Friction: Tomb Raider (2013): Episode 3: Dressed For The Occasion
In this episode, we talk about playing pretty dress-up with video game protagonists.It is a nice touch that Roth is the one who duel-wields pistols instead of Lara. Roth is the one who taught Lara everything she knows about fighting. He's the grizzled veteran who's...
Interactive Friction: Tomb Raider (2013): Episode 2: The Titular Archaeologist
First off, this episode was supposed to be posted yesterday, but both Sam and myself completely forgot to do so. For that, I would like to apologize to you guys who are watching us.Early on in what can be generously referred to as my game...
Interactive Friction: Tomb Raider (2013): Episode 1: Here We Go Again
Welcome everyone, to the new season of Interactive Friction. After talking about it so much during the Far Cry 3 season, we decided to go into more detail by covered the 2013 reboot of Tomb Raider.I know it's strange to spend so much time discussing...