Good thing Lara's pants are already brown.
Let me get the disappointments and complaints out of the way. None of these are game-breakers, but it would have made the game better had they been fixed during development. First, the developers seem to be concerned about showing too much gore in some places, but there are two or three locations in the game that are just plain disturbing in terms of gore. The melee finishers that Lara does could have been a lot more satisfying if they were more realistic. Having your enemy's head remain in tact after an under-chin shotgun blast is very disappointing. It was as if they could not make up their minds about showing the nasty stuff or not. Let face it guys, this is the age of the internet and The Walking Dead. You're not going to show us anything that we haven't seen before.
The second disappointment was the leveling system. I guess it's meant to add replay value, but I don't think there is a point in giving a character tons of skill-point skills that don't get unlocked by the end of the game. Even if you do take the time to unlock all of them, the game is finished before you have time to enjoy them properly. Solutions to this may be to make longer games, give more xp, or don't have so many skills available.
I'll lump 'lack of sprint' and 'limited camera options' in the same paragraph, since I found both of these mechanics equally annoying (I used the 360 controller). Perhaps I missed something (given that 'sprint' is shown in the button option menu), but if the option is there then it is not straight forward and should have been.
An adjustable camera is standard, and there really is no excuse for not having more options in this department.
The things that I loved, I really loved. First, the graphics. Spectacular. The bouncy hair option could have been done better, but the normal was just fine. A very immersive and disturbing world, and it was fun seeing places and artifacts from different periods all in the same place. Well done.
Secondly, the combat was great. Hopefully TR games that follow this one will keep Lara this merciless and vicious to her enemies. Also, thanks for not making us have to search for a pistol silencer. I hate having to do that in games with a stealth mechanic. However, I think we could have done with a little less shotgun-shell boxes.
The enemy AI was great. Loved it. Grenades and dynamite kept me moving and the mix of enemy types kept me thinking.
The controls were the best I've experienced in a TR game. Historically they've been, well, odd, but the last few installments in the series have steadily improved.
The voice acting was great. However, there were time when Lara's accent seemed to come and go.
Lastly, the game length was just about right. I guess it could have been longer but I enjoyed it, and the ending was satisfying.
Really, if the camera had been better I would have given this a 9.5 easy.
Great story. Amazing work CD, keep it up.