Tomb Raider vs Bioshock Infinite vs Dead Space 3 vs Crysis 3

[Steve]

I have all four of the games on your list, but have only gotten to play two of them so far: Tomb Raider and Dead Space 3. Both are excellent games.

Tomb Raider is the only Tomb Raider game I've ever played so I had no real pre-conceived notions going into it. As a huge fan of Uncharted I thought it looked like a lot of fun. I loved the game play and personally I never thought it got repetitive. Considering the entire game takes place on one island, I thought they did an excellent job with varying the environments from level to level. The combat mechanics work well and you can tell a difference as you upgrade your weapons and develop new skills throughout the game. As noted, there's no level select, but you can revisit previously played areas using the fast travel option to look for collectibles you might have missed the first time through. The biggest negative to the game IMO is the lack of a New Game + option. If you want to start a second playthough, you have to start from scratch as there's no way to keep your weapon and skill upgrades from the previous playthrough. Where I felt this game lacked a little bit in relation to the Uncharted series is that it did not make me really care about the other characters in your party like Uncharted made you care about Elena, Sully, and Chloe.

Dead Space 3 is also an excellent game IMO, but I feel you would be missing out on this one not having played the previous two installments. However, toward the end of this game I was starting to feel things were getting a bit repetitive. Not terrible, but I was starting to feel it somewhat. It's also my opinion that if you play this game then you should also download and play the Awakened DLC (which is not free). IMO it's the ending to the game that should have been included on the disc from the beginning. This game takes place in two main environments: the first is moving back and forth between a few various space ships that are part of a decaying fleet. I would estimate that close to half the game takes place in space. The game then moves to the planet where you get a nice change of environment. You will NOT have an AI companion if you are not playing co-op. You will encounter the other characters from time to time in cut scenes but then everyone splits up to go do their own thing.

I'm currently playing God of War: Ascension, but when I finish it I will be moving to Bioshock Infinite. The first two games in the series were awesome IMO, and based on the ratings it sounds like this one will be too. Normally I would never suggest someone play games out of order, but since this game is technically a prequel of sorts I doubt it will be that big of a deal.

I've only played the first Crysis. I thought it was alright. I got it as a free download since I pre-ordered Crysis 3. I took a chance on this entire series. I bought the second one pre-owned, but haven't gotten to it yet. The first one did not make me want to jump immediately into the second one. I'm glad to hear you liked it better than the first. Parts two and three of Crysis will be lower on my list of backlogged games to get to. Of all the games on the list I would definitely put this one at the bottom. Throughout the entire first game I couldn't shake the feeling that they were trying to compete with Halo here, but fell a bit short. Just my two cents of course.

Long story short I would say flip a coin between Tomb Raider and Bioshock Infinite. If you had played Dead Space one and two it might be a different story, but you haven't. Or if you want to save some cash, buy the original Bioshock on the cheap and enjoy.