Rise of the Tomb Raider is another example of the bland, big budget game. While the combat can occasionally be a little too loose, the climbing and exploration gameplay is engaging and the set pieces are exciting, if perhaps too empty of actual interactivity. The story is sincere, but completely wooden and uninteresting, though it manages to drive the game along adequately. The extra collectibles are almost entirely meaningless (save for the quite interesting Hidden Tombs, which each provide a unique puzzle involving some sort of system of pulleys or some such ancient technology type thing), but for some reason are irresistible as distracting wastes of time for Lara to run around the world gathering up. There's nothing overtly terrible about the game, and it looks fantastic, but it never manages to feel particularly creative. What's there is fun enough, but you won't be missing out on anything by skipping this one.
