14 DAY TRIAL // Crystal Dynamics, the studio behind the upcoming Tomb Raider reboot, has shared its thoughts on the obvious similarities between the upcoming game and Naughty Dog’s successful Uncharted series, highlighting some of the many differences that set apart the heroes of the two franchises - Lara Croft and Nathan Drake.
Tomb Raider games established the action adventure genre many years ago but, since then, Naughty Dog’s Uncahrted series has set the benchmark by offering cinematic adventures with top-notch visuals and great storytelling.
With the upcoming reboot of the Tomb Raider series, developer Crystal Dynamics has shown that Lara Croft, albeit a newer and younger version, can still give Uncharted a run for its money.
During a recent video, the studio’s head, Darrell Gallagher, has talked about the similarities and the differences between the two franchises.
"Well, naturally, they're action-adventure, OK, so there's going to be some comparison. I don't think we can get away with that," he said.
"And there are certain things the Uncharted series has done, which is borrowed heavily from Tomb Raiders [of] old. So, again, there's gonna be some crossover. That said, I think when we show the game as a whole-when you get to experience it, start to finish-we believe there's a lot of differences between the two."
According to Gallagher, these differences range from the two heroes, Lara and Nathan, to the tone and mood of the story, as well as actual gameplay.
"In terms of the gameplay, we have a resourcefulness to Lara, right, that you start seeing in some of the demos we've given, which I think is again a different thing to Uncharted. Also, our game structure. I think we have some wider areas. I think our hubs, which we've not necessarily shown yet. I think they're a really big differentiator. Our ability to re-traverse. The ability system on the island. Hunting. The ability to go and take deer and other animals on the island."
As you can see, while recent footage of the Tomb Raider reboot looks similar to the Uncharted games, the actual title will deliver a much more nuanced experience.
Tomb Raider is out on March 5, for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.