I bought the game Saturday, and completed it after some 11 hours of gaming, with only a few breaks for food and such
So what is it like?
It's unlike anything I have ever played before. The graphics are absolutely stunning, especially when you get to one of the many vista points in the game. I especially liked the view from the rooftop of the Nepalese hotel and from the Tibetan mountain-village. On top of that, even the smallest item is very nicely detailed, and although you have huge levels and so detailed graphics, there is only one loading spot in the game; when you start it. The rest of the hard loading is done during the cinematics. This would normally annoy the hell out of me, because this means you cannot skip the cinematics, but in this game you don't WANT to skip them
It's very cool gameplay wise, especially since almost all of the surroundings can be used to your advantage. Many points in the game requires you to search the surroundings for ways to get past obstacles. This can be climbing buildings next to the one you actually want to get into, jump between buildings and much more. The game is very puzzle-driven, but the hardest puzzles of the game is often just to find your way past an obstacle. The goal of the game is to find Shambhala (also known as Shangri-La), to prevent a bad guy from becoming immortal by drinking of the resin-water underneath the city. Since you will be discovering and solving mysteries of an ancient civilisation, the puzzles to get into the city are way too easy. Without revealing too much, I can say that there are only two big puzzles, and both of them are very obvious when you check your travellers journal. For future titles, I would like for there to be more big puzzles, and I would like them to be harder. You should have lots of puzzles that require you to find clues in your journal, without the journal giving you the answers straight away.
The only thing I didn't like about the game was the yeti's. I hate it when there are monsters in games that are invincible
