Tomb Raider is a traditionally unique adventure/action game combined with combat, suspense and exploration. This game is a prequel to the long running Tomb Raider franchise gaming series showing a back story of British archaeologist Lara Croft who just finished college and on her first voyage along with her companions. Lara Croft is looking for an ancient Japanese deity. It lead her and her crew on an island off of the coast of Japan located in the Dragon Triangle. A cursed island where so many explorers disappear due to boat accidents and plane crashes from sudden natural disasters. On their way there, they end up in a boat crash and the crew ended up being separated. Lara now alone must us her skills being taught to her on how to survive on the island.
This prequel game focuses on Lara evolving into a survivor and the greatest archaeologist of all time. The game is an open world where you can explore the area, collecting archaeological relics, documents, and resources like ammo and arrows. Lara hasn’t got her signature twin handguns at that point, instead, she carries a handgun and her trusty bow and arrow. The weapon can be good for stealth attacks from long range and can choke a victim out with the longbow. She can light up her arrow and shoot it at certain places and her foes, lighting them up on fire. She can use an arrow as a rope and pull a wooden shelter down and also use the rope arrow to climb across hard to reach places. Lara going Rambo-esque looks cool, and at the same time the game is not driving too much away from the game’s franchise roots from focusing on Lara, the archaeologist and not just the survivor. Whenever she kills an enemy she feels more shook up instead of always being cool about it and have something tough to say after disposing her victim. Other new features in the game that Lara can do is that she uses her pick axe to crank open or to unlock doors and to climb mountains.
The game’s CG looks great. The game’s graphics looked very realistic like you are watching a movie. The acting was done very excellent. The gameplay looks innovative. The game has a cutscene minigame where you key in the corresponding control symbols displayed on the screen executing crucial timing in disposing your foe. Lara Croft can do a wall climb to reach hard to reach places. Whenever Lara is going into caves and other dark places she uses a torch to light her way (before she ever used her signature flares). Lara also uses a device that can help her zip line up a rope which looks very cool. She has quite athletic skills. The only flaw of the game is the targeting. I find it hard at times to see if you are on target or not in order to make the shot count when using any weapon with confidence. The shotgun targeting looks good since the target is big, but the rest of the weapons you use, unfortunately, has a smaller target. It could be me, sitting far away from the TV while playing. Lara can use or trusty pick axe as a weapon if she is at close range with her enemy to hack him down in combat or in stealth to sneak up on him and attack. Another feature for Lara is that she could use her survival instincts to seek out her destination, solving complicated puzzles or to find certain enemies, pretty much like the other games of Assassin’s Creed while using eagle vision to locate your target. The game’s checkpoint features campfires. If Lara goes to a campfire, you can upgrade your various skill levels and upgrade your weapons. The game is not a long one, so it can be a disappointment for those who expect a lengthy game to play like reading a novel. It doesn’t matter to me much if the game is lengthy or short, lasting a week as long if there is a great deal of gaming quality.
Tomb Raider’s Definitive Collection has some really good featured content, it has artwork, character models, including video featurettes on the making of the video game and game trailers. Tomb Raider is a great prequel game for long-time, loyal Tomb Raider fans. Even if you are experiencing playing Lara Croft for the first time, it is worth a game to play and purchase.