Lara is back but can she knock Drake off his perch.
Story
The story starts Lara and her friends along the Endurance when all of a sudden the ship get's hit by a lightening storm and the crew are seperated and stranded on an island call Yamatai. Lara has to find her crew and get off the island but it won't be easy, As Lara finds other survivors on the island they seem to have found one of the crew to be able to awaken the Sun Queen. Your job is to stop that from happening.
Gameplay
Tomb Raider games of the past have revolved heavily on puzzles and whilst there are some in the game they aren't to difficult to figure out. You shall be doing alot of climbing and also alot of shooting. How is the shooting well much better than in previous games and while there is a cover system sometimes it doesn't always keep you alive. You can also use certain obstacles like gas tanks to take down a certain amount of enemies. Also you get a cool new ability known as Survival Instincts which help you locate things such as animals,enemies and key items as well.
As you defeat enemies you will gain experience which will give you chance to learn new abilities and they can be very handy from being able to use a melee weapon or being able to get more Salvage to spend on upgrading your guns. For example for bullets,more damage and even what it can do in terms of shooting, What is also good is you don't get these weapons from the get go you get them as you progress they story and other valuable items like rope to be able to create ziplines,pull enemies of ledges or make certain ledges fall.
LIke say Uncharted it does have some set pieces and they don't dissapoint one bit. Also Tomb Raider gives you optional Tombs to play. The map will tell you if you are near one of them you don't have to do them but it's worth it for the reward. There are also plenty of stuff to collect like GP Caches,Relics and Documents and even some optional challenges which unlock when you start it.
Tomb Raider though does have some flaws though such as well the multiplayer is extremely lackluster and it is so predictable as well. None of the modes feel exciting and to be honest the game really didn't need it.Another is sometimes certain Quick Time Events can surprise you sometimes but it's not to frequent.
Presentation
The game as a whole looks fantastic the island though is the big winner it's massive with lots of cool scenery. Lara Crofts character is excellently because you feel for her character in this game and the emotions and determination as well because this is before she became the Lara Croft whom we all know in the older games. So you really seem to want Lara succeed. Whilst Lara Croft does a very good job the rest of the cast feel a bit one dimension and lack any real personality and emotion.
Lastability
About 12 to 15 hours of the main campaign you might want to check the multiplayer out but it won't keep you hooked but their is replay value in the single player like trying to do all the challenges and get all the collectibles and there's always that incentive to play it on a harder difficultly setting.
Overall Opinion
Tomb Raider is an amazing reboot of a franchise that desperately needed to change. With an excellent single player,lots of collectibles and some fast paced action plus being a very young Lara Croft what more do you need. Whilst it has it's flaws it certainly is a game that revives the franchise and gives it a bright future.
Overall Score 9.0