Very recently, huge video game publisher Square Enix had announced that they would be taking a very heavy focus to mobile gaming moving forward, meaning that they’ll likely be bringing more mobile based titles to market in the future than they have before. This may not come as a shock to some as Square Enix has long been publishing games onto Android and iOS, but mostly with ports of older games peppered with a few new titles here and there. One of those new games which was announced as having a soft launch more than a month ago, and has now been officially released for the global market is Lara Croft: Relic Run.
As of today the game has just gone live globally, and as the name suggests you play as the ever popular Lara Croft from the well-known Tomb Raider franchise, who is on a mission to find her lost archeologist friend in Cambodia. The gameplay is endless runner to the very core, with a few exciting additions to the game to make it feel more like a Tomb Raider title, like some of Lara’s parkour movements, tapping to shoot enemies as you run, and riding on ATV’s at certain points in the game. You can even swap out your weaponry or upgrade to new outfits with their own unique attributes, and of course there are the presence of in-app purchases for gems or extra gold coins (which is what you collect during a run to buy new items or upgrades) although the game doesn’t seem to be pushy and continually hit you with requests to buy or grab deals on IAP’s.
Lara Croft: Relic Run is tied into Google Play Games so there are achievements and leaderboards to give the game some extra replay value. It also holds other exciting elements like boss fights, which are likely longer sessions during a run where you’ll face off against a stronger enemy with more health which you can attack using whatever weapon you have equipped. Visually, the game looks pretty good, and it plays really well. Throwing in the exciting Tomb Raider elements like finding relics and a tad bit of gunplay, this could be a popular title for Square Enix and a decent first step towards the mobile-focused approach they announced a couple of weeks ago. Now Square Enix just needs to launch Final Fantasy VII G Bike for the RPG fans, another endless runner game based on one of their popular franchises which has already been released in Japan on both Android and iOS.
