Between the releases of Mortal Kombat 1 and Spider-Man 2, I wanted to play an older game that I remembered enjoying so I decided to replay the reboot of Tomb Raider. Now that I have paused playing the other games, I have completed my playthrough of this game and here is my review for it. The premise of the game sees a young Lara Croft and the rest of her crew stranded on an island that has some mysterious challenges for survival.
Characters Camilla Luddington takes over the iconic role of Lara Croft and she does a fantastic job in this game. She delivers her lines well and I felt like she was realistic in the role, she is new to the majority of this stuff but has enough training to make it believable that she can stand up to the opposition. I cared about Lara and this is easily the most brutal depiction of the character ever, it isn't sexualised and treats her as this survivor that this whole game is building her up to be.
Unfortunately, the rest of the characters don't fair so well. There is a big crew that arrives with Lara on the island but none of them are particularly interesting. The best the game does is Sam who is Lara's best friend and Roth who is her mentor but these aren't that great and it makes some emotional moments fall flat. The rest of the crew are super generic and I didn't care about any of them even though the game clearly wants me too.
The villains are also poor. It is just some random group of mercenaries led by a guy who offers very little to the character. They do introduce some different villains towards the end of the game but don't really explain them very well and leave it too late to introduce them.
Story Despite the lacklustre characters, I actually really liked the story that was told here. It depicts this young woman trying to survive on this island by using just her wits and weapons she can get a hold of. Lara's personal journey really works here and the actual story does a great job of telling this origin story for the character we all know and love.
Side Content The side content is a mixed bag. Even though this game is called Tomb Raider, the actual Tomb's are a side content and they are pretty well done. These activities made me think about how to complete them and it feels more like a traditional Tomb Raider game which is nice to see. However, there is some side content that feels like window dressing and underdeveloped. For example, there is hunting in this game, but it isn't actually its own thing and is way worse then a game such as Red Dead Redemption 2. The collectibles are also pretty dull and didn't really incentivise me to collect them.
Gameplay This game is really fun with its gameplay. You start with a bow and arrow and as the game progresses you collect more weapons and tools to use to help Lara. The movement and platforming is really fun and traversing this massive island was a joy. But I did feel some of the gameplay was a little janky and hard to use, especially with the gunplay. I do wonder if they did that to link with Lara's quality which does make some sense but it was a little annoying. Also the final boss battle felt way too easy and like they rushed the ending which was a big shame.
Graphics The graphics for the game are fantastic. The character models looks great and the island as a whole is really fun to travel across and never get bored of. It is a really nice looking and sounding game that clearly has a load of hard work put into it.
Overall Overall, Tomb Raider is a good game. It does a really good job of building up the character of Lara Croft and despite some miscues I had a good time playing it. It is probably really cheap now so I would recommend giving it a go if you have the time.
Rating - 7/10.
Characters Camilla Luddington takes over the iconic role of Lara Croft and she does a fantastic job in this game. She delivers her lines well and I felt like she was realistic in the role, she is new to the majority of this stuff but has enough training to make it believable that she can stand up to the opposition. I cared about Lara and this is easily the most brutal depiction of the character ever, it isn't sexualised and treats her as this survivor that this whole game is building her up to be.
Unfortunately, the rest of the characters don't fair so well. There is a big crew that arrives with Lara on the island but none of them are particularly interesting. The best the game does is Sam who is Lara's best friend and Roth who is her mentor but these aren't that great and it makes some emotional moments fall flat. The rest of the crew are super generic and I didn't care about any of them even though the game clearly wants me too.
The villains are also poor. It is just some random group of mercenaries led by a guy who offers very little to the character. They do introduce some different villains towards the end of the game but don't really explain them very well and leave it too late to introduce them.
Story Despite the lacklustre characters, I actually really liked the story that was told here. It depicts this young woman trying to survive on this island by using just her wits and weapons she can get a hold of. Lara's personal journey really works here and the actual story does a great job of telling this origin story for the character we all know and love.
Side Content The side content is a mixed bag. Even though this game is called Tomb Raider, the actual Tomb's are a side content and they are pretty well done. These activities made me think about how to complete them and it feels more like a traditional Tomb Raider game which is nice to see. However, there is some side content that feels like window dressing and underdeveloped. For example, there is hunting in this game, but it isn't actually its own thing and is way worse then a game such as Red Dead Redemption 2. The collectibles are also pretty dull and didn't really incentivise me to collect them.
Gameplay This game is really fun with its gameplay. You start with a bow and arrow and as the game progresses you collect more weapons and tools to use to help Lara. The movement and platforming is really fun and traversing this massive island was a joy. But I did feel some of the gameplay was a little janky and hard to use, especially with the gunplay. I do wonder if they did that to link with Lara's quality which does make some sense but it was a little annoying. Also the final boss battle felt way too easy and like they rushed the ending which was a big shame.
Graphics The graphics for the game are fantastic. The character models looks great and the island as a whole is really fun to travel across and never get bored of. It is a really nice looking and sounding game that clearly has a load of hard work put into it.
Overall Overall, Tomb Raider is a good game. It does a really good job of building up the character of Lara Croft and despite some miscues I had a good time playing it. It is probably really cheap now so I would recommend giving it a go if you have the time.
Rating - 7/10.