Tomb Raider

Graphics: The graphics are beautiful, especially on the PS4 and Xbox One. Sometimes, you will just stop and look around.

Story: The story is somewhat cliché, but the way it is told is so confident and emotional, you won't even notice.

Gameplay: The game-play, from climbing and exploring, to intense combat, is all very solid. The excellent cover system works perfectly, with a nice "leaning" feature that lets you peak out and fire with any weapon, and then quickly take cover again.

Weapon upgrades: Did you just die for the tenth time at the same place? Just go back to a base camp and increase your rifle damage. They'll never know what hit them. The Weapon upgrades are very well done. There's about ten to fifteen for each weapon.

Skill points: When you gain enough experience points, you'll get a skill point. There's three skill branches, and many skills to make the game-play easier and more interesting.

Quick time events: normally, I like quick time events, but there's a point where it becomes ridiculous. Tomb Raider just needs to dial it back a little.

Verdict: Tomb Raider is a fantastic game, one of the best ever made.

Lara Croft - Optional Tomb Raider

Tomb Raider is an interesting little gem. You see, like most people around the PS1 era, I grew up with Tomb Raider. I loved those games, with their interesting stories about Mythological Artifacts and Raptors, their fun, fluid combat system. And I also loved the character of Lara Croft who was a wise-cracking English treasure hunter with (in the original PS1 game) triangular breasts. This new instalment in the Tomb Raider franchise is a far cry from what the original games were and is almost in no way connected apart from by it's name. And whilst I have my problems with that and other issues, I generally think this is a solid game.

First of all, this is a Prequel to the original Tomb Raider and shows her origins of how she 'because a treasure hunter'. However, it doesn't really feel like that. Because of the very strong willed but generally well humoured Lara Croft I grew up with all the gritty stabbing, shooting by tough grizzly men and the stabbing and shooting from Mother Nature who is your worst enemy in this game, it really makes this game feel incredibly out of place in the rest of the franchise. And yes, whilst I realise this is a REBOOT, it still should have some feel of the originals. The puzzles are gone, and the platforming is really stripped down to scaling pre determined walls and traversing via rope one anchor point to another. And before I move on I must go back to Mother Nature. In this game, the entire freaking island is trying to kill you, whether it be from conveniently placed sticks and spikes or the ground beneath you collapsing, Mother Nature is out to get you. And never in any video game ever I seen the main character been abused as much as in this game. Whether it be from being stabbed through the side with a stake, stabbing yourself with a burning arrow, being crushed by a rock or getting a wooden spike driven through your neck, you are going to have a lot of moments in this game where you cringe from the sheer brutality.

And with all that it makes the game seem rather realistic, however this vision of Realism is shattered by two major things. Firstly you have the RIDICULOUS amount of people that Lara kills during this game. She has slaughtered THOUSANDS of people by the end of the game and she crys about killing a deer and goes "Oh God" when she shoots another human being and that is about it. At least in Far Cry 3 at the end Jason Brody acknowledges the copious amount of blood he has spilt and has vowed to never do it again. In her she says nothing and continues on with her life, leading me to believe that she is a Psychopath and a Masochist. And the second thing that breaks the tone of realism is the fact that they decide to KEEP the mythological side of the Tomb Raider series and add in the Island from Lost and ghostly Samurai, because why not?

However, as much as I've been complaining about this game it is genuinely a fantastic experience. The combat is fun and satisfying and following the current trend of Bow and Arrow wielding heroes you get to use one. Several in fact, and they are very satisfying and later have multiple uses. The story is interesting and really puts you in the shoes of Lara and makes you care for her. You feel every blow she takes, every hit she deals and it is rather exciting. It's interesting to see her struggle play out and to help her through these horrendous situations. The sound design is brilliant, whether it is the whistle of the wind or the loud bang of firing a shotgun. The visuals are stunning and has many varied areas to explore, including the Tombs. And here is the thing about this game. It is CALLED Tomb Raider. You'd expect to raid some tombs in it. And you can, and they are all rather unique and contain interesting puzzles. But they are ALL optional. They should have just called this game "Lara Croft presents - Optional Tomb Raiding".

There is also a Multiplayer mode which is interesting at first glance, with it's Versatile maps with Ziplines and Climbing points, but when you get down to it, it is rather generic and won't keep you playing for very much longer. It feels very tagged on and would have been better left out entirely.

In all seriousness however, this game is fantastic. Yes, it has it's problems, some can be overlooked, others cannot, like it's disgusting use of QTE's, but it is a very unique journey with an unfortunately lack lustre and sequel bait ending. However, this is one of those games that really shouldn't be overlooked.

"Dark and gritty reboot" is a hot buzz term right now. When it works, you end up with something like Daniel Craig as James Bond or Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. When it doesn't, you get lackluster remakes of better classics. The new "Tomb Raider" is the video game equivalent of one of the former. This applies to more than just character and story. In the same way you think James Bond will never quip again at the start of "Casino Royale" or it takes Bruce Wayne an hour to dawn the batsuit in "Batman Begins", this reboot is almost unrecognizable as a Tomb Raider game at first, but eventually turns out to be exactly what the franchise needed to feel contemporary and relevant.

Reintroduced as human rather than iconic, clad in a practical pair of cargo pants instead of short shorts, Lara is a meek research assistant for a conceited reality TV archaeologist. Part of a crew including her mentor Captain Roth and her best friend Samantha, Lara barely gets up the nerve to offer her opinion on how to find a mythical island. Her advice leaves her team shipwrecked on the island they were searching for.

Tomb Raider games have usually consisted mainly of elaborate jumping puzzles and platforming sequences. While Lara's still able to jump and climb better than most to traverse the island, with platforming becoming more prevalent in the later stages of the game, gameplay places more emphasis on exploration and combat. While many will find parallels with the Uncharted games, which owe much of their inspiration to the Tomb Raider series, I found a lot in common with the Batman Arkham games. While not truly open world, with transitions between areas being accessed and blocked off through cut scenes, the island consists of several large hub areas, connected by fast travel camps that allow Lara to teleport from one campfire to another. While the plot itself is pretty linear, there are several side missions available in each area, including collecting relics (which Lara can examine L.A. Noire style) and GPS caches, hunting game for XP, and exploring various tombs. Some areas are blocked off while Lara collects and upgrades gear.

Lara's methods are far more lethal than Batman's. While the game has been advertised as turning Lara into a survivor, keeping her sheltered from the elements and hunting to keep from starving only play a role in the earliest missions. Soon, it turns from Lara surviving the elements to a more combat based type of survival. An army formed from other shipwreck victims controls the island. Lara starts with a torch and a bow and arrow, but can eventually collect and upgrade other weapons. Her arsenal's small but effective: one pistol, one shotgun, and one machine gun. While I never found much motivation to switch from the default weapon in previous games in the series, each of these has its advantages at different ranges, though the bow remains Lara's most reliable weapon, allowing Lara to pick off enemies with headshots, silently and from a distance. Lara also has access to a climbing axe, allowing her to pull off close-range stealth kills and melee attacks.

The most engaging part of this reboot is Lara Croft's character arc, taking Lara from trembling in terror and crying at each kill to the point she is hyper-confident and enemies are terrified of her. Reading about the transition from shipwreck victim to tomb raider is one thing. Experiencing it is another. This is partially thanks to a great voice acting/motion capture performance from Camilla Luddington (if you don't like her voice for Lara at first, wait until you hear her analysis of a tomb or an artifact), and partially to the gameplay itself. As more XP and salvage (in-game currency) is collected and Lara's skills and equipment are upgraded, the player feels more confident navigating the environment and battling heavily-armed foes. While failure can result in some pretty brutal death scenes for Lara, she can gain the ability to pull off some satisfyingly brutal finishes herself. Supporting characters are also well done, with back stories and motivations explored through both cut scenes and documents scattered throughout the island, rather than caricatures or plot devices as in previous games.

The highlights of the game, for me, were the optional side quests in which Lara gets to actually do some tomb raiding. The player makes their way to the center of a tomb, solves a puzzle, collects the treasure, and gets out. These are the moments that feel the most like classic Tomb Raider games.

With heavier emphasis placed on combat than platforming, the multiplayer component seems more appropriate now. Players chose an avatar for each faction, Lara's friends and the island's crueler inhabitants, and alternate sides between rounds of shooting. Refreshingly, players can do almost anything they can in single player in multiplayer, include climbing and jumping across the maps, detonating explosives, avoiding traps, and making stealth kills with the climbing axe. While not as good as many other multiplayer modes out there, it's a decent chunk of extra content.

With excellent graphics and some great set pieces that feel lifted right out of a modern action movie, complete with explosions and flying debris, this reboot is a totally new Tomb Raider with a great new direction for the series. I can't recommend it enough. Long time Lara Croft fans will find new things to love about the character, and newcomers have a perfect jumping-on point here.

Pros:

• Lara Croft is a great protagonist
• Origin story is handled and told very well
• Diverse gameplay
• Cool cinematic action set pieces
• Great graphics, voice acting, and animation
• Good variety of weapons
• Great puzzles

Cons:

• Gameplay can be abit clunky
• Underdeveloped side characters
• Forgettable main villian

Verdict: A solid alternative to the Uncharted games, Tomb Raider is a good adventure game that sets a great origin story for Lara Croft.

8/10

Greetings from Lithuania.

Now i wasn't a fan of previous games, although i liked them, and beat couple of first ones on PS. But this game got me on hook from the first amazing trailer i saw. Gritty, realistic with some wonderful cinematic trick's - i was waiting for it. And it didn't disappointed me to say at least. What a fantastic game this is. I have walked about 30% or so but i can honestly say - this is an amazing and exciting gaming experience. Lara was never more sexy and vulnerable and interesting before. Evereyting works in this game. From awesome graphics to wonderful game play, from hidden tombs to gory and brutal fights - it's just awesome. Play this game, this is probably the best game you'l play this year, and if you do, this is going to be one exceptional year in VG world.