Tomb Raider – Writer’s Raid

The logo for this project is created by The Well-Red Mage

Official website

The Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy are series that have a lot of loving fans. Now, besides the Legend of Zelda series, there is another series that had a strong presence in my childhood. As a child, I fell in love with the Indiana Jones franchise. I played the various Indiana Jones games until either the cartridge or the CD gave up. Now, I wanted more. Because of that lust for more, I discovered the Tomb Raider franchise. The first Tomb Raider game I ever played was Tomb Raider 5 – Chronicles. That was enough for me to decide to hunt down all Tomb Raider games and play them from start to finish. And I’m not the only one who enjoys Tomb Raider and let me prove that to you, I’m going to raider the various tombs this franchise throws at us together with some amazing befriended bloggers. I hope you are ready since various treasures of articles will await you in these tombs. Let’s. Get. Raiding.

1996 – Tomb Raider

Games With Coffee takes us through Lara’s adventure to help Natla.

Grab yourself a cup of coffee, since we are taking a journey through the good old first entry of Tomb Raider.

Together with Games With Coffee we take a nostalgic look to Tomb Raider and discover how it “holds up” today. Depending on who you ask of course.

The analysis of this game is extremely well done and made me remember various stories of the first time I played Tomb Raider. Seriously, give it a read! 

1997 – Tomb Raider II Featuring Lara Croft

ABXY Game Reviews is following Lara through her journey to find a Dragon’s dagger!

ABXY Game Reviews really wanted to play an old school Tomb Raider game. And I was looking for writers. A match made in heaven I think.

In heaven, that’s where the object Lara is after in her second adventure. A mythological Chinese dagger can came from the heavens that can turn mere mortals into dragons.

Did ABXY Game Reviews enjoy his journey through old school Tomb Raider or do fans of this game get blinded by nostalgia? You have to read this article to find out.

1998 – Tomb Raider III – The Adventures of Lara Croft

NekoJonez helps us find four artifacts.

I love telling this story. When I first played Tomb Raider III, I thought I was playing Tomb Raider IV. The reason for that, well, I explained that in my nostalgic look-back of Tomb Raider III.

I tried to avoid writing a review for this game and give some retrospective facts. But it was great fun playing through this game again for this project.

So please, feel free to give one of my entries in this project a read.

1999 – Tomb Raider IV – The Last Revelation

SarahsGameCollection is going to take us on a journey to raid the Egyptian tombs!

I discovered Sarah’s website through this project. And I haven’t regretted it at all. Her website is a joy to browse through and read.

Her unique writing style is something I love most about her website. While she writes, she adds personal comments like if she is telling a story to you and it’s great fun to read.

I think that this article came together quite well since it made me want to replay Tomb Raider IV for myself.

2000 – Tomb Raider V – Chronicles

TriformTrinity is taking us to Lara’s funeral…?

If you want to know if you should play Tomb Raider Chronicles, you shouldn’t look further. Triform Trinity wrote a short review of the game.

I wrote an article on this game last year, and it shows how people can differ in opinion.

Anyways, I  highly recommend you reading this article. It was a joy to work with TriformTrinity and reading his through his website is such a great and fun time. Since I can assure you that I always have a fun time when I visit his website.

 

2000 – Tomb Raider Level Editor

NekoJonez took a look at Tomb Raider fan’s levels.

I have to admit that I was planning to write an article about the level editor for Tomb Raider for quite a while.

To be honest, this game is one of the reasons why I organized this collaboration in the first place. Since it’s a creative platform that brings a community together. And this project is the perfect “excuse” to talk about something unique like this.

So, if you are curious about what the level editor can do, feel free to read it on my blog and I hope you like it.

2003 – Tomb Raider – Angel of Darkness

Sarah’s Game Collection is helping to solve this murder mystery…

If there is one Tomb Raider game I haven’t fully played it, it has to be Tomb Raider – Angel of Darkness.

I heard so many things about it. From it being a bad game to being a decent game. After reading the review that Sarah wrote for this game I got even more interested in finishing this game.

Now, I invite you to read along with me this amazing analysis of the final game that Core worked on in the series.

2006 – Tomb Raider Legend

Liana takes us on the legendary journey for a sword.

In this retrospective collaboration project, I always give freedom to the writers. This resulted in Liana writing an amazing piece where she analyzed the game very deeply.

Not only that, she talks about the history and development of this game. And she even took a deeper look at who Lara Croft actually is.

I can highly recommend that you give this article by Liana a read. And if you are interested in more of her work, you can also visit her YouTube channel, which I HIGHLY recommend as well.

And allow me to slip some personal advertisement in as well since I reviewed this game last year myself.

2007 – Tomb Raider – Anniversary

Games with Coffee takes us, again, on Lara’s adventure to help Natla…

Now, I hope your coffee didn’t go cold since we are going to take a look at the remake of Tomb Raider I.

Games with Coffee brings you a very in-depth review and look at this game. He played it on Steam. I played this game on my PC as well and I have to agree with a lot he said in the article.

This game was one of the games that really drew me into the whole Tomb Raider franchise and it hasn’t let go since.

2008 – Tomb Raider Underworld

Liana takes us on a journey through the underworld.

Now, Liana takes a look at Tomb Raider Underworld in a very interesting way. You won’t find a review of the game in this article but a very interesting in-depth analysis of the game’s story.

Reading the article was extremely interesting. It helped me to connect some dots I didn’t even realize that there were before.

She also analyses Lara’s character and how it all fits in the lore of the series. Seriously, what are you waiting for? Go read Liana’s article!

2010 – Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light

LaterLevels is going to battle for the light.

After I finished Tomb Raider Underworld, I was waiting on the next entry in the Tomb Raider series. To my surprise, we had to wait 5 years on a new entry in the main series.

Yet, during this wait, we got Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. A game that’s on my endless backlog list.

When I talked to Kim from LaterLevels and asked her if she wanted to be part of the Tomb Raider project, she suggested playing this game on stream together with her other half. She didn’t stream this game but the other spin-off. More on that later.

Now, what did she think of this game? You can read it in Kim’s article. Enjoy!

2013 – Tomb Raider

OverThinkerY takes us to a Japanese island…

“A famous explorer once said, that the extraordinary is in what we do, not who we are. I’d finally set out to make my mark; to find adventure. But instead adventure found me. In our darkest moments, when life flashes before us, we find something; Something that keeps us going. Something that pushes us.”

That was one of the best quotes out the reboot of Tomb Raider in 2013. In this article, my good friend OverThinkerY took a look at the game. His analysis is great and I loved reading his article. I think you will enjoy it as well.

Also, this game has a special place for me on my blog since it’s the first game I reviewed since I started my English blog in 2013. You can read it here.

2014 – Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris

LaterLevels takes us on a journey through the Temple of Osiris.

So, Kim didn’t know that there were two spin-off games. When I told that to Kim, she didn’t hesitate for a second and decided that she wanted to also write about the 2nd spin-off game.

Kim did a stream of this game together with her other half. You can watch Twitch.TV archive in case you missed it: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/310930370

But I also highly recommend to check out her review of this game. Since I loved reading it.

2015 – Lara Croft: GO! & Lara Croft Relic Run

TriformTrinity puzzles his way through various tombs…

…and runs for relics.

Now, in this Writer’s Raid, we also took a look at two Lara Croft mobile games. These are Lara Croft Go and Lara Croft Relic Run. Honestly, I have played a bit of Lara Croft GO myself, but I haven’t played a lot of Lara Croft Relic Run.

So, if you are curious if these games are something for you and worth buying on your Android or iOS device, I think you will enjoy these two articles that TriformTrinity wrote. Have a great read!

2015 – Rise of the Tomb Raider

OverThinkerY looks at Lara’s rise in Lara Croft.

Of course, had Tomb Raider (2013) to end with a cliff hanger. So, the story could continue in Rise of the Tomb Raider.

OverThinkerY takes a great look at the game and gives his own honest opinion on it. (And I gave mine a few years ago)

Something I really liked in OverThinkerY’s article is that he compared this game to what he likes in other games. And he played this game with the DLC included. So, give it a read, I can highly recommend it.

2018 – Shadow Of The Tomb Raider

NekoJonez is going to take us on Lara’s latest journey.

While we were planning this project, the newest Tomb Raider game got released. To be honest, I claimed this game right away. I wanted to play this game anyways and I felt that it was a perfect way to close this collaboration.

So, what did I think of Lara’s latest adventure? If you want to know that, you’ll have to read my article on Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

And then this was the loot

I knew in advance that the group of writers for this project was going to be very different compared to my previous projects. I want to thank all the writers who helped me in this project, some even replayed games which didn’t age too well.

I hope you enjoyed reading this collaboration between me and these lovely bloggers: Games With Coffee, ABXY Game Reviews, Sarah’s Game Collection, Liana Kerzner, TriformTrinity, LaterLevels, and OverThinkerY.

Do check these people out! They are all amazing people and I have to thank all of them to make this become a reality. Besides The Legend of Zelda, Tomb Raider is one of the biggest series from my childhood and reading all these different pieces made me remember why I love the series.

I have to admit that the games didn’t age all too well so it was quite interesting to see what everybody thought about the games they played.

I hope you enjoyed reading through these articles and enjoyed exploring the websites that made this unique project come to life. Feel free to be a Tomb Raider and explore these websites since they are all great sites that I can highly recommend.

If you want to read more articles like these, last year I did a similar project like this on the Zelda series. Also, my friend the Well-Red Mage did something similar to the Final Fantasy series. So, thank you for reading this article and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed creating it. I hope to be able to welcome you in another article but until then, have a great rest of your day and take care!

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NekoJonez wins awards – Sunshine Blogger Award

Today on 2nd April 2018, World Autism Day, I want to present the newest award I got for my blog. It’s another community award, the Sunshine Blogger Award. I received this award from Aivanther over at TheDialyRager. Thank you so much for this! I’m flattered by the fact that I got another community award on top of all the flattering words that are being said about me. Like in this article by Sheikah Plate about “To Thine Own Self Be True.“. In any case, I think we should focus on the award too. So, it’s answering and asking questions time. 

The Rules of the award

• Thank the blogger who nominated you and link back to their blog.
• Answer the 10 questions the blogger asked you.
• Nominate 10 new blogs to receive the award and write them 10 new questions.
• List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo in your post and/or on your blog.

Questions to answer

What is your name?

NekoJonez, that’s the easy answer. If you want my real name, it’s Pieterjan. But, if you can’t pronounce it, I prefer that you say “Jonez” to me.

The “n” is said like the “n” in pencil. It isn’t said like the “m” in mother. That’s one of the biggest mistakes. Also, the “a” is long. The “a” is spoken like in Halo. Longer A.

What is your quest?

My personal quest is to enjoy life as much as I can. To be amazed and to experience everything I want to experience. But mostly it’s to entertain and support people I care about.

My quest on my blog is to educate and tell my story in the vast world of video games. A story about a casual retro game collector who enjoys playing casual games and games forgotten by the masses. Also, it’s to have fun with my blogging friends from over the world.

What is the airspeed of an unladen swallow?

As fast as its body is allowing it to go!

Dysentery or Cholera?

For real? Talking about “pick your poison.” But, thanks to modern medicine, I don’t care that much since it can both be cured.

Why do you blog?

I don’t know where I told this story before, but let me start from the beginning. I’m part of a pretty small direct family. My parents, 2 uncles, 4 aunts, 2 cousins, my grandparents from my mother’s side and my sister. Oh, and my pet cat Sparta.

But since most of us work in education or in the social sector, our network of family friends is huge. Also, if you go look into my actual family, I have family living in the Netherlands.

So, at family parties, I have to explain the same question all over again. What I was up to and things like that. I was so tired of that question 8 years ago, I started to blog about my life in Dutch and share it with friends and family. Here and there I wrote gaming articles and they actually took off.

Due to certain circumstances, I decided to delete my Dutch blog and take 6 months off blogging. This all happened in 2013. Yet, in May of 2013; I started to really miss being able to write about games. Since it’s my passion after all.

So, in May of 2013, I published my first English review of Tomb Raider. Now, I started my 5th year on this blog but in reality, I have been writing blogs for 8 years. Nowadays, I mostly write about video games because I know most of that subject and I just enjoy writing about it.

It’s a great way to share experiences and stories. It’s an amazing way to talk about the games I played and to keep a sort of public diary about the games I have played and when.

What game made you wish you had brain bleach?

In terms of a good game, A Hat In Time. I wish I could experience that game all over again without any memories about it.

In terms of bad games, well, the games on this list say enough. In that article, I talk about the 10 worst games I have played since then.

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

That’s a trick question! In which game do you mean? I think you can find her in a bedroom with Waldo.

Bulbasaur, Charmander or Squirtle?

Well, for some reason I nearly always go with the grass types in Pokémon starters. Sometimes with the fire one and very rarely with the water one. And one random NPC dialogue from Pokémon Diamond and Pearl keeps sticking in my head.

In there, they say the people who choose grass Pokémon are calm and laid back people. I honestly think that I’m that kind of person.

Worst game you have actually completed?

I rarely complete games. I even have trouble beating games, to be honest. My collection spans over 2,000 titles and I keep expanding it. Each free moment of my time, I try to get a game or two closer to the beaten or completion status.

So, if I have to talk about the worst game I have actually beaten; I think I have to refer to the brain bleach question. I have beaten on some of the games on that list…

What’s your guilty pleasure game?

I don’t feel guilty at all playing games. There are some games not meant for my demographic, sure. Okay, there are some games in my collection I got from my sister like some Barbie, Winx Club, and other “girl” games.

But, I honestly enjoyed some of them. Heck, I have reviewed one of the games back in 2014; Barbie Secret Agent for the GBA. As long as a game is fun to play, why would it matter if I’m the target demographic or not?

Look, there isn’t a game I feel guilty playing. If a game interests me, I play it. If you limit yourself in “oh this game is about some girl/boy show and I’m of the opposite gender so it’s going to be boring…” – thoughts, you are missing out! As a boy, I have played games that I enjoyed quite a lot which are meant for girls. And I can say with 100% certainty, that my sister can say the same things about the games where the player base is more male. Like she enjoys playing Age of Empires.

I adore when I can play a game in a genre or style I haven’t experienced a lot since that way I get introduced to a new style of games and more types of games to look out for to add to my collection. 🙂

My ten winners

1. Sheikah Plate – I really need to try one of your recipes!
2. Triform Trinity – My dude, my man! You deserve this one.
3. Games With Coffee  – I drink mine with milk and sometimes sugar!
4. Aluna – We should do another stream one day, brother!
5. Reaper Interactive –  Love your stuff mate!
6. Power Bomb Attack – I want to be on the podcast as a guest one day? May I?
7. AdventureRules – When will be the 2018 Blogger Blitz event?
8. LightingEllen – Let’s snow punch those blogging thieves together!
9. Falcon Game Reviews – I wish I had more time to read your awesome stuff
10. Anjim Plays & KillerRobotics – For your continued support my man.

Okay, I kinda cheated and put 11 on my list. In addition to that, I took 10 other people I really enjoy that weren’t on the list from Aivanther. A few of good blogging friends are on there!

So, now you need my ten questions I guess. Here we go:

1. Explain as poorly as you can how either Minecraft or Pokémon works.
2. Explain a game cryptically and let your readers guess which game or game series it is.
3. Do you sell games you have completed/beaten or do you keep them in a collection?
4. Which game/genre does interest you quite a lot but you are unable to get into the actual game/genre?
5. Do you think it’s possible that there will be every an amazing video game movie?
6. Would you ever consider blogging full time as a job?
7. I haven’t gotten a Switch yet! Quickly, recommend me a game.
8. If you had to choose between Sony, PC or Nintendo platforms and emulation DIDN’T exist, which platform would you choose and why?
9. What is the platform you grew up on and tell us some fond memories?
10. Tell here a random story you want to share with your readers.

Anyways, that’s everything for today! Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thanks again to Aivanther to give me this award! It means a lot to me to get my work recognized. I hope that the upcoming articles are going to entertain everybody! I hope to be able to welcome you in another blog but until then, take care and have a great rest of your day!

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