In keeping with the reboot rulebook, Tomb Raider aims to offer a more realistic interpretation of the series’ gameplay, which was starting to feel as ancient as the tombs themselves hahaX1000. Essentially this “more realistic” take comes in the form of covering Lara Croft in cuts and bruises and asking a voice actor to record a few hundred versions of a pained grunt, whilst keeping a very similar jump/climb/shoot loop of the older games. This isn’t necessarily a problem, as the gameplay can be very fun, particularly in the perhaps-too-small puzzle boxes that are the tombs themselves, and the combat feels loose and aggressive in a pretty fun way. The problem is that it’s all a little repetitive, and not served by a poorly written and deeply uninteresting story which stands a little too close to center stage throughout the quite long single-player mode of the game. The game looks very nice (the “Definitive Edition” basically means slightly better lighting, models, hair and animation, but no real content inclusions), and the exploration aspects and moments of the combat are very enjoyable, but it’s a little too plain and a little too straightforward to really impress. Oh, and there is a multiplayer mode which is virtually unpopulated at this point and does not seem particularly interesting even if it were.
