The heavy reliance on quick time events in Tomb Raider‘s E3 demo isn’t a good example of the game’s gameplay and “emotional impact.”
Crystal Dynamic’s upcoming Tomb Raider has a lot of Lara Croft fans excited about her upcoming adventure. The game was on display at E3 and came away with mixed previews: On one hand, the story and general atmosphere generated a lot of praise, but many journalists expressed concern at how gameplay seemed to mainly consist of quick time events. However, the studio is promising that such events are not its “primary tool” when it comes to gameplay.
Even The Escapist’s own Susan Arendt was pretty impressed with what she saw last month, but wrote in her preview, “We didn’t get to see much combat beyond button-slamming quick time events, though Lara was armed with a bow for this portion of the game.”
Meanwhile, Crystal Dynamics creative director Noah Hughes recognized concerns about the gameplay content and did some damage control in a recent interview with Gamespot:
“Quick-time sequences is something we will leverage in the game.
“One of the things which is absolutely important to us is to deliver an intense and cinematic experience. At very specific times, we feel we can do that best – while still delivering challenging gameplay – in a quick-time type event.
“Having said that, it really isn’t the primary tool we use to deliver drama in the game.”
Hughes also promised that “emotional impact” will be a key component of the game. As a result, the quick time events in the E3 demo are only a “small sweep” of the game’s overall experience.
