Does almost everything right......but fails to excite! Review of the campaign. Spoiler free!!
The only other tomb raider game i have played is Underworld. So i m really not in a position to compare it to the classics. But how does it stack up to today's standards.
STORY: This is touted to be lara croft's origin story and how she became the bad ass we all know. The game focuses on her trials and struggles on the savage island of yamatai where she is forced to face cultists, wolves and later on samurais. The story is well paced. There is always a motivation to push forward for what comes next even though there aren't any surprises here. The cut scenes are well choreographed. From the time Lara takes her first kill to the last bullet she fires the transformation to a survivor is apparent.
However there a few gripes that might spoil it early on. There is a huge disconnect b/w the game play and the cut scenes. Lara kills with reckless abandon and without mercy while she is all emotional in the cut scenes. That can be explained in a lot of ways but i wish CD could have given her more time to develop rather than shoot from the start. It kind of diminishes her emotional appeal when you are watching a poignant scene after smashing dozens of men with a pick axe! Other than lara's transformations the rest of the story elements aren't that great!
GAMEPLAY: A bit weak at first but gets better as you progress and get better upgrades. No dual pistols though which would have been awesome! The bow and arrow is a good weapon and it's always a treat to land a headshot with it. The gun fights are exciting but a bit easy and the enemies are intelligent and don't serve as just cannon fodder. There are a couple of QTE events which are fine as the game gives you enough time to prepare for them. A few puzzles here and there nothing too complicated. Uncharted fans will feel right at home. Melee sequences are satisfyingly brutal.
GRAPHICS: Beautiful. Not as good as uncharted but environments have a lot of variety and are filled with details. Water and snow effects are great as well.
EXPLORATION: There are additional tombs to explore if you want to just for trophy if nothing else. However i would recommend searching for lost documents. They really give an in sight into the island's history. You can kill animals for extra points complete various challenges, collect relics,gps caches if you wanna take a break from the shooting.
The reason this game didn't strike all the right chords with me was that it felt ....mundane. Yeah sure a lot crazy stuff happens but if you are an uncharted as i am you can see them coming from a mile away. And uncharted still does it better.
I would still recommend tomb raider as it is a strong game which hits almost all the check boxes of today's games.
Haven't tried multi-player yet but probably won't.