The previous entry in the series was something of a oddball to me. Not only was it the first Tomb Raider game I had bought since Tomb Raider 2 was minty fresh but it was also (in my humble opinion) the finest game on the 360. Controls were tight, the story was good and the game never had a dull moment as you got rushed from exciting event to exciting events. Save for a boring final battle, I found it to be the perfect game.
Fast forwards a few years to Rise of the Tomb Raider. Or better yet; don't. Rise had potential to be something special. With Tomb Raider the developers made a point out of rebooting the franchise into something new and breathtaking and I imagine special care went into crafting every part of that experience. Rise on the other hand represents such a drop in quality that unless this nosedive can be corrected Lara Croft will be back wading through crap in two games.
The controls are sloppy, especially if you directly compare them with Tomb Raider, glitches are abundant as Lara fails to grab ledges or falls out of the world. At one point I got stuck (in the now-famous Research Base glitch) and had to restore an old save which cost me a whole day of playing. The very existence of this back-up save system points to the greater problem with Rise of the Tomb Raider: It's rushed.
You've seen it before. Dragon Age 2, Assassin's Creed, Battlefield 4. Games rushed out the door to make a buck before they're even finished. Rise of the Tomb Raider takes its place among these failures as yet another game kicked out the door far sooner than it had any right to be, and everything in the game suffers because of it.
Is Rise of the Tomb Raider a good game? Sure. Fans of the first should absolutely go back into the world of Lara. It's a decent experience but much like Dragon Age 2 or Metal Gear Solid 2 what you'll get is a watered down and toothless continuation of a ground-breaking game.
Buy this game used, do not reward the shady practice of rushing games out the door. And whatever you do: don't pay full price for this game. I didn't. If I had, I would have been incredibly pissed.
Here's to better things to come!