Lara Croft's latest removes the series' more memorable elements in favor of a gritty and captivating view on survival.
Tomb Raider's story begins with iconic video game heroine Lara Croft in a different kind of role. Instead of the brash bombshell that we've grown to know, this Lara is a fresh young archaeology upstart. After enlisting in her first research expedition on the Endurance vessel, Lara convinces her fellow crew members to deviate from the set path and explore the dangerous Dragon's Triangle region to find the rumored kingdom of Yamatai. Things get shaky when the ship enters a treacherous storm and the entire crew is separated and stranded on a mysterious island. Lara awakens on the island, and after a rather harrowing escape from a cave prison, discovers that the island isn't uninhabited after all. The story progresses, with Lara regrouping with friends, discovering new enemies, and learning more about the dangerous island she and her crewmates are trapped on. While the new Tomb Raider has its signature adventure vibe, the core theme is Lara's growth as a survivor. While she begins the story as an ambitious, but rather timid soul, the game shows Lara ultimately growing into someone who will do anything to survive. It's not as steady as in other similar games, but once Lara makes her first kill, you begin to see the motion clearly. The secondary characters are interesting and the setting offers for some intrigue, but Lara remains the star and it's her transition that makes Tomb Raider's story stand out from past games in the series.
This Tomb Raider is an interesting point in the long-running series. The original Tomb Raider and many of the series' later entries were pioneers in their genre, taking cues from action films like Indiana Jones while mixing in exploration and puzzle elements seen in games like the original Prince of Persia. These cues also caused Tomb Raider to be a major influence on a later, similar franchise, Naughty Dog's Uncharted series. Now, this 2013 reboot shows that the student has become the master; it's clear that Uncharted was a major influence on this Tomb Raider. This new Lara Croft adventure focuses on a number of extremely over-the-top action sequences, a la Uncharted, but unlike in Naughty Dog's hit franchise, these sequences don't possess the same amount of creativity. Lara will escape out of collapsing caves, scale giant radio towers and dash through burning temples, and while these are very well done, many of these ideas are reused far too often. This is mostly caused by a more limited scenery variety; the forests, cliffs, and caves are fine, but this isn't a world-traveling game, so there are no traintop firefights or jungle chases. Tomb Raider is at a disadvantage here, but for what it has, you will find plenty of harrowing encounters.
However, these encounters suffer from a painfully excessive amount of quick-time events. Many of these moments are of the typical "press X to not die" situation, where one missed button press can result in instant death. While these offer a sense of tension, it simply cannot be ignored that these are far too frequent. Having to redo a stage portion just because you missed a cheap button press is obnoxious, ruining the pacing of the gameplay. Quick-time events also appear in combat and are noticeably tough to get a hold of. It's easy to see why these would be implemented, as (once again) Uncharted has made them rather commonplace in the genre, but even that series had too many and Tomb Raider has even more. The quick-time events are so frequent that their negative impact on the game flow is absolutely impossible to ignore, throwing mud on the face of what would otherwise be an amazing action-adventure title.
Tomb Raider's combat takes more cues from Uncharted, offering cover-based combat and multiple weapons. The combat sequences are nothing too special; Lara can use weapons like a pistol, shotgun, or her trusty bow, with each weapon having different pros and cons in the heat of battle. The cover system is easy to learn and taking out a crowd of enemies can be pretty frantic. Dashing from cover to cover is intense and while the enemies aren't going to earn any Ph.D.'s, they will use some varied tactics like flushing Lara out with explosives or burning cover with flames. The introduction of melee techniques and stealth kills are great as well, but many of the combat situations can be solved with a solid headshot instead of a clever blend of tactics. It's a bit disappointing, but the combat in Tomb Raider is still pretty fun, through and through.
Exploration and puzzles have become a cornerstone in Tomb Raider's gameplay legacy, but this reboot tones down both of those considerably. While Lara's repertoire of exploration skills like climbing and jumping are good and relatively important all around, you won't find too many reasons to go off the beaten bath (unless you're after some rather insignificant pickups). The puzzles are damn near ignored outside of the very few hidden Tombs, which offer rewards like maps, treasure or hidden items. These Tombs usually require some thought not only to complete, but also to find, but compared to other more puzzle-centric adventure games, they aren't nearly as challenging. Many involve simple uses of weights or switches and aren't very rewarding at the end of the day. It's a shame, because the element of puzzle-solving has been an important factor in the Tomb Raider formula as late as Tomb Raider Legend was years ago. This neglect is discouraging and doesn't make Tomb Raider as interesting a game as it should have been.
The replay value in Tomb Raider stems from the rather large number of side quests. You can find hidden GPS caches, relics, or secondary objectives like burning faction flags, but many of these are so rooted in completionism that you can't help but feel a bit bored after searching for the thirtieth GPS cache. You can earn XP from completing these objectives, which can be spent on new upgrades and techniques. While the idea of earning new abilities is great, these moves are not in any way required, or in some cases, barely useful at all. Lara can hunt animals (which is nowhere near as important as the trailers suggested) or upgrade weapons with salvage or custom parts. These are fine additions, but don't do much to broaden the gameplay. It's about as intricate and inventive as checking off items on your grocery list at the supermarket. The multiplayer is absolutely forgettable, suffering from bleak servers and an inexcusably low amount of creativity. You're better off saving your online time playing something else. Tomb Raider has a lot to do once the campaign is over, but none of it feels essential or even distracting enough to be worth revisiting.
In contrast to the Hollywood flash and flair of past Tomb Raider games like Tomb Raider Legend and Tomb Raider Underworld, this Tomb Raider is a gritty and dark adventure into the realms of survival instinct. No better example is the graphics. Lara's struggle to survive is illustrated in an almost cringe-worthy fashion, as many of the situations she must go through can result in her dying in extremely gruesome ways (like being impaled in the throat on a branch in a river rapid or being smashed against a rock in a beach undertow). Even when she's not being killed, Lara goes through some very painful situations. One in particular has her treating a wound by burning it with a hot utensil, resulting in a scene that isn't just difficult to watch, but it also goes on for way too long (a couple minutes, in fact). While it's clear that these scenes are used to illustrate the struggle and pain of trying to survive in harsh conditions, they feel excessive, almost like they are only there because the developers wanted them to. Aside from these moments, Tomb Raider's aesthetic is a fine change of pace both from past Tomb Raider games and other games in the genre like Uncharted. It's not about sensational, cinematic flair anymore; this Tomb Raider is all about realism, but in a dark and gritty way.
The voice acting is very well done, with Camilla Luddington taking up the role of Lara. Her performance is shockingly convincing, with Lara's progression toward being a true survivor being demonstrated with varied mood and constant gusto. The writing is convincing and charismatic enough for every character, but the shift in tone from Lara's role specifically is what makes the overall voice acting so captivating. The musical themes are subtle and don't do too much to revolutionize the presentation, but the excellent sound effects are rough and rugged in the right ways. The sound design captures the tone perfectly, offering a compelling performance from the voice cast and some excellent audio effects that make a strong mark.
Tomb Raider's reboot deviates a bit too far from what made the series so memorable, but by introducing a potent and interesting tone for its iconic lead, it still manages to be stand out as a great move forward for the long-running series. From its great combat to its nail-bitingly intense setpieces, Tomb Raider modernizes the series into something far beyond what the recent incarnations have set. Lara's character has evolved; it'll be tough to see another Tomb Raider game without thinking of this reboot. However, a lack of compelling side-quests, a horribly high amount of quick-time events and a squandering of the puzzle and exploration elements we've grown to associate with Tomb Raider all make this reboot only a good game, when it really could've been something more. With the vision of Lara Croft now reshaped into this new installment of the Tomb Raider series, there really is no turning back for the franchise. The Tomb Raider reboot is a successful re-imagining of the story of one of gaming's most memorable female characters; it's not Lara's best, but you'd be hard-pressed to find another action-adventure game with this much blood, sweat and tears to spill in 2013.