AT Reviews: Tomb Raider

The name "Tomb Raider" brings two things to mind. The first is the series protagonist and the original female protagonist Lara Croft. The second is the series itself. When the original game daubed in the 90s it was a big deal, partially because it was a 3D action adventure with the ability to traverse the world as gamer's had only ever dreamed of before that, but mostly because Lara was a hot lady.

After around fifteen years of sequels the series finally burned out. The gaming scene had grown up and was no longer dominated by teenage boys who would buy a game just to plays as sexy lady. Now with a much more even market of mostly adult men and women the series was forced to reassess what people wanted. What they came up with was a reboot to the series with a younger and much more realistic Lara Croft.

The story follows Lara on her very first adventure. It opens with her getting shipwrecked on an island inhabited by a crazy bunch of gun toting cultists that want to kill her and everyone she is with. Being Lara Croft she manages to escape and save the day but not unscathed.

Early on in the story Lara is scared and frantic but as the story progresses she becomes more and more determined to survive, giving birth to a character much more like the Lara we knew previously. This is growth is most apparent when she is forced to kill for the first time and is obviously disturbed by the experience but then pulls herself together to help her friends. This depth is slightly tarnished by the next scene when she thoughtlessly kills waves of attacking cultists. The story is still much better off with it, but it just could have been done better.

The gameplay is mostly comprised of lite platforming and puzzle solving with cover based shooting sections. The world is fairly linear but the areas are large and interconnected with lots of collectibles scattered about to encourage exploration. Some sections are returned to in the story but though previously not accessible passages with equipment that is unlocked later in the story. The landscape is usually interesting to explore even if backtracking due to the new routes being opened. The biggest problem with the world is that its mostly devoid of tombs for raiding. The few tomb like areas in the game are all part of the story, which isn't a bad thing necessarily, but they are rather linear. The puzzles are fun, very short, diversions. A few of the puzzles are genuinely well designed and give a nice sense of accomplishment upon completion. But most will take less than a minute to solve and serve as little more than something to mess up platforming on. Spread out between each story moment and puzzle area there are cultists who seem very determined to kill Lara and will probably accomplish that goal numerous times throughout the game. The combat is fairly enjoyable with a few weapon options that will keep Lara feeling powerful despite the vast hordes of enemies that are somehow all living on this island.

Tomb Raider is a worth successor to the original and bares the name well. Despite a miss step here and there it does a great job of fleshing out Lara as a character and giving her depth, beyond being a sexy lady. The world is large but not so large that its a bother to back track if needed and the story is intense and brutal. If you played Tomb Raider in the past you should play this game, And if you haven't played Tomb Raider before you should play this game.