Once upon a time when a big-budget blockbuster-caliber film were due to release in theaters a game developer would be assigned the task of making a video game based on that feature film. This is how some of the worst video games of all-time have came into existence (such as the infamous E.T.) as well as some of the biggest surprise success stories of the game being better than the film (X-Men Origins: Wolverine comes to mind). But that practice isn’t seen very often anymore.
Instead, recent years have shown that studios are moving towards a “VR experience tie-in” model instead. Movies like Justice League, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Coco, Beauty and the Beast, and several others have all gotten VR tie-in experiences with varying degrees of success. The latest to join that growing list is the upcoming Tomb Raider reboot film.
The new film, starring Alicia Vikander, is loosely based on Square Enix’s rebooted Tomb Raider game series that takes a much grittier look at the up and coming life of Lara Croft. When Rise of the Tomb Raider released for PS4 back in 2016 that game had a brief (albeit quite good) VR mode attached to it on PSVR, but it was mostly just a tease.
Here we have Tomb Raider VR: Lara’s Escape instead, which is an original piece of content for the Gear VR in the Oculus Home store that pits you in a first-person escape-room style setting in which you must explore an ancient tomb using your flashlight and then climb out of the depths with your climbing axe. Once again it’s painfully short, but at least the production values aren’t terrible (especially given the mobile-based Gear VR platform).
Let us know what you think down in the comments below!
