After some very rocky ups and downs in the past, Lara returns to win
What needs to be said first: the graphics. It's amazing. And you'll notice that right away, when Lara takes a dip in the ocean. Absolutely amazing: how the colors, beacons of light and shadows play together. Obviously, some graphics card will be required to run all that smoothly, but believe me, it's worth it. Following locations are jaw-dropping, too: Coastal Thailand is absolutely beautiful.
I only played until the very first moments of the second location in Thailand, so I can't really say much about the plot overall, but so far, it's not disappointing. What made, in my opinion, Tomb Raider so annoying in the past were the constant cheap thrills: dogs, enemies or other nasties jumping at you from around the corner. Today, this is all gone, and you can actually enjoy the game without jumping on your chair, and at the same time, the game is far from being boring. In older titles, you knew that once you saw a big statue, you knew you're going to have to fight it in 5 minutes. Gone, gone, gone. It's refreshing.
Which brings me to my final point: difficulty level. I think it's so hard to please the customer when it comes to that, because obviously each person has different skills and different difficulty expectations. For me, the difficulty level was absolutely right. The game finds a perfect spot between being obvious and challenging: the routes you have to take around the locations are hidden, but not too well, which makes you feel like you really are making the best of everything that's surrounding you.
All in all, I played literally every Tomb Raider game and I have to say, this one is probably the most enjoyable one. Lara keeps on getting new moves and skills, and what a pleasure it is to use them. I absolutely recommend it, it's worth not only your money, but also your attention.