Tomb Raider - Review

Platform(s) available for: PC, Xbox 360, PS3
Version reviewed: Tomb Raider (PC)
Genre: 3rd-person action/adventure
Time to finish: 14 Hours
Trailer link: Click Here

  I have confession to make. I've never played a Tomb Raider game. I guess the overly-sexualized character of Lara Croft never interested me. With this recently released reboot of the series however, Square Enix and developer Crystal Dynamics are seeking to bring in new people to the series. Tomb Raider is a completely fresh take on the series, one that not only tells Lara Croft's origin story, but thoroughly redefines who she is as a character. Lara Croft has been a gaming icon for a long time. While her appeal would seem to be limited to men, she has had numerous games and movies and games made about her. Taking this into account, it was a risky move to try and redefine a character that was already so popular. So did Crystal Dynamics succeed? Let's find out.


 Tomb Raider begins with a dramatic CG intro depicting Lara and her crew mates undergoing a terrify storm before becoming shipwrecked on the Japanese island of Yamatai. The sequences following the crash are downright brutal, and the amount of detail in the opening scenes is jaw-dropping. The Lara Croft depicted in the opening scenes is a terrified and lost young woman, not the stylish and unflappable explorer of ages past. The sheer number of painful events she goes through during the story, along with the great voice work done by Camilla Luddington really brings Lara's character to life. Following the crash, it is shortly explained the Lara and her crew were searching for Yamatai prior to the crash. According to some documents she had been studying, a lost island called Yamatai was guarded by a goddess named Himiko. As the story unfolds, she finds herself in constant peril trying to survive the onslaught of a strange cult that's trying to resurrect Himiko.

Lara Croft - Not her brightest moment.

  While I found the entire plot setup to be a tad cliche, the amount of detail put into the setting and characters really made the story feel alive in a way that very few games have achieved. Lara in particular undergoes some great character development. I had heard some complaints prior to playing Tomb Raider that derided her transition from scared girl to cold-blooded killer. After some consideration I find this to be totally wrong. Lara is simply doing what she needs to do to survive. She shows a great deal of regret toward her actions, and in several scenes she even begs the enemy to stop shooting. If this was done more than a few times throughout the game it would feel silly. After all, who would expect them to stop after all the atrocities they've committed? By the end of game, it feels like Lara has come a long way from how she was in the beginning. She has suffered losses, faced difficult challenges, and handled them all in a believable fashion. This new Lara is by far the most interesting and well developed female characters in any game right now. I hope that early success of the game leads to more sequels. I would love to see how Crystal Dynamics follows this one up.

  As an action game, Tomb Raider pulls out all the stops. It has some of the best set-pieces I've ever seen in a game. It also frequently outdoes the Uncharted series, a series that Tomb Raider takes most of it's cues from. The glorious actions scenes do come with a few small caveats however. Most notable is the fact that the over-the-top action scenes are completely at odds with the believable characters and narrative that are told in the story. It wasn't a major problem for me, but it might be for some people. If you're looking for believable gameplay to match the story then be warned! However if you're a fan of the crazy action seen in the Uncharted series, then you will find it here in spades. The pacing in Tomb Raider is also pitch-perfect. Having played as many games as I have, it's exceedingly rare to find a game that nails the pacing so well. Too many games have slow segments, boring sidequests, meaningless filler, or the one place that you never seem to leave (I'm looking at you, castle segment in Resident Evil 4). On the contrary, from beginning to end Tomb Raider is delicious thrill ride that you'll have trouble putting down.

Reach! REAACCCHHH!

  Even the most exciting of games can be dull without gameplay, and fortunately this is another thing in which Tomb Raider excels at. It probably seems weird to compare Tomb Raider to the Assassin's Creed franchise, but it feels apt somehow. While both series have stealth elements, only one of them manages to get it right. Strange, it's not Assassin's Creed that I'm talking about. No, it's Tomb Raider. The game developers were clever here. Instead of making the stealth elements feel clumsy or forced, the feel like a natural extension of not only the game, but also Lara's character. When guards are present, Lara will automatically stay low while running, she'll even duck behind walls and cover as need without any input from the player. When you draw your weapon from behind cover she'll automatically lean around cover to get you the right firing angle. A lot of games that emphasize stealth can't seem to get this right. In Assassin's Creed you lack a way to use stealth at all, and your only means of "stealth" is simply walking slowly up behind a guy to kill him. Yeah... "stealth". In other games you have a button that you use to enter and leave stealth mode. Why couldn't more games do it like Tomb Raider? It feels some much more natural.

  The other obvious comparison to Assassin's creed would be the large amount of climbing and jumping that you do. In Assassin's Creed, a poorly timed jump would mean a painful fall too your death, and the game would often grant you that despite your best efforts at aiming your jump properly. On the other side we have Tomb Raider, a game that has superb parkour-esque gameplay. Suffice it to say, the only time I've ever missed a jump in Tomb Raider was do to some fault of my own, not the games'. This is once again, how it should be, but few games have such a solid implementation of it. I'm probably comparing apples to oranges by comparing Assassin's Creed to Tomb Raider, but sometimes we need an example of how bad some games handle certain elements compared to others.

It wouldn't be Tomb Raider without tombs right?

  One thing that surprised me during my 14 hours with the game, was just how little combat there was during the game. While there are a fair number of enemy encounters in the game, it felt light compared to the amount of exploring that you do. While you are given a considerable number of ways to dispatch baddies, I found myself using the bow for every encounter. Nothing satisfies quite like a stealth kill, and the bow gives you plenty of opportunities. Luckily though, Tomb Raider does encourage a wide variety of play styles, with 4 different weapons and 3 different skill trees to explore during your playthrough. All 4 of the weapons are also upgradeable via salvage that you collect throughout your adventure. In addition, there are also quite a few non-combat weapon upgrades that you'll receive thought the game. These upgrades help you to access new areas and give the game a somewhat Metroidvania style feel to it. Though I said that the game was light on combat, there should still be enough to satisfy those seeking a good firefight. But the exploration is really the meat-and-bones of the experience.

Now that I've touched on all the important parts, let me discuss the final game qualities.

Gameplay - 10

  Coming in to this game, I had rather low expectations, but needless to say I was blown away. Every part of this game works together flawlessly. The QTE's in the game may bother some people, but they're few and far between. The rest of the game is a beautifully designed action adventure, full of adrenaline and thrills. They really couldn't have done the game more right.

Sound - 9

  The sound work in Tomb Raider was great. The variety of sounds effects really enliven the game in ways that graphics just can't. The sound is extremely varied and the bell-like music cue when gather items harkened back to the much loved Fatal Fame series. The voice work in here is also very good. I just adored Lara and Sam's role in the game, they voiced their characters perfectly. I did deduct a point here for some shoddy voice work from the side characters. In particular, the notes scattered throughout the island were supposed to sound like they were voiced by Japanese actors, however as a Japanophile, their accents sounded very fake. This is a mere detail though, and it won't bother 99% of the people the play this game. For the rest though, I'd recommend a good pair of headphones for your playthrough, Tomb Raider is quite an auditory tour de force.

Music - 7

  There's not really a whole to say in this category. This was hardly the best music that I've heard in a game, but it fit well enough. I guess you could say that it's your standard action movie fare. I did appreciate some of the tribal sounding themes, it helped make the setting more distinct. To reiterate, the music wasn't bad in Tomb Raider, it just wasn't memorable.

Graphics/art - 9.5

  Barring a few hiccups that I experienced during the few weeks after it's release (nVidia users got the shaft), this gam looks amazing. In my opinion, this is THE best looking game on PC right now. With a good GPU and the graphics turned up to ultimate, the game just shines. No uncanny valley characters, no blurry textures, no low poly models or crappy shadowing. Every in this game looks great. Lara herself looks like she was ripped out of some graphic demo, especially with TressFX turned on, which gives her some amazing looking hair. The developers clearly were paying attention to detail here. Every time that Lara gets injured, cut, or scratched, her character model is updated to reflect this. The island of Yamatai also looks amazing, and thanks to a little plot related trickery, sports a diverse ecosystem. There is also so much environmental variety, while still blending in the usually game related components. (grab-able ledges, ropes etc.) If you buy this game, I'd highly recommend getting the PC version just for the amazing visuals, and if you do, you'll be treated to the best graphics that the PC has to offer.

Length/replay-value - 7

  Tomb Raider isn't the longest game, as is typical of most AAA games these days, but what it does during those hours is what makes it special. By eliminating the filler, we're left with an extremely well paced game that shines from beginning to end. There is also incentive to play after the credits roll, as the island opens up to you, letting you have free reign to explore and find any tombs that you may have missed. Despite the score I gave it in this category, I would change a thing about Tomb Raider, it's just perfect as is.

Final Score - 9.8

  Tomb Raider isn't just one of the best games in its genre, it's one of the best games period. Wether your looking for a good story, or just enjoy action movies, I really feel like there's something here for everyone to enjoy. This truly feels to me like the kind of game that you can recommend to just about anyone, and it's a shining example to other developers on how to blend exposition with exploration with hurting either. If you're even remotely interested in Tomb Raider then this game is a must-buy. If you've never played a Tomb Raider game, then the ball is in your court, this game was made for you.