Tomb Raider offers the best Lara Croft experience yet with a riveting story, excellent pacing and polished graphics.
The game starts off with Lara and her crew looking for a lost civilization on board the Endurance ship. Of course things go astray and their ship ends up crashed on a mysterious island with a violent cult worshipping a long lost Sun Queen. What is apparent at the very start is Crystal Dynamics isn't afraid to put Lara through hell. The M rating is earned in spades when Lara dies, often in a bloody and brutal manner. This can be uncomfortable at times, often reminding me of the brutal deaths seen in the Dead Space series.
In past Tomb Raider games the highlights were the exploration while the combat took backseat. Not any more. It's obvious Crystal Dynamics worked hard to create a fun and satisfying combat system. The best weapon is by far the bow, kills rarely felt this satisfying. Lara can also perform some pretty brutal melee kills through "dodge counters" that are quick time events. I never got tired of fire fights like other games, each one was exciting and if I did die the check points are fair and fast.
The game offers the Dead Space "beacon" feature. Holding LB will trigger Survival vision that highlights important objects like collectables, climbable walls and a beacon for the final destination. This is good for puzzles if you're stuck, or looking for the way to continue. I also have to commend the voice actors for Lara and the rest of the cast, who give out very impressive performances.
It's hard to believe this game is running on hardware that is closing in on the 8 year mark. Obviously it looks better on a high end PC, but playing on 360 was something in itself. I stopped several times to admire the amazing world they created. With these high level of detail in character models and the world it really makes you feel like you are on the island with Lara. Seeing Lara go through this hell and emerge as the hero we know her as today is a beautiful thing to see in more ways than one.
The island holds many secrets, including optional tombs to explore. These are usually off the beaten path and involve puzzles and platforming. There is also a wealth of collectables to find, adding some back story and some cool relics to hunt. The island is seperated into hubs, where you can fast travel from camp to camp. Backtracking is key if you want to collect everything as you will come across stuff you can't access without the right equipment. Luckily the fast travel is set up to make this a painless experience.
I'll just say the single player is one of the best experiences you will have this year. It is perfectly paced with great combat, graphics and level design. The puzzles are never frustrating and I felt pretty clever when I solved some of them. Lara's transformation is amazing to see, as she starts with doubt and fear and ends with confidence and strength. Such characters are hardly ever written this great, let alone a female character. Most of the other cast aren't as well written, but the story is good enough to hold up even if there could of been a little more character development for her crew or her enemies. This is a small gripe and not one to detract much from the experience.
What can take away from this great experience is the completely average multiplayer. I could only stand to play for a couple hours, it's just really really average. Often it is only 4 on 4 or 3 on 3 and you spend much of the time looking for your enemies. When you do die it takes way too long to respawn making deaths even more frustrating. The 4 modes offered are nothing new and the load outs, guns, and maps are nothing to write home about. The fact you have to be level 60 to unlock Lara is beyond stupid.
No body is going to play multiplayer after their achievements are done, and that's fine. This game is meant to be played in the campaign, and that campaign is one of the finest you will play this year. Lara is the reigning Queen of Action Adventure and I can't wait to see what next generation holds for the Tomb Raider franchise.