Tomb Raider Reviews
If you're a huge fan of last-gen's Tomb Raider reboot, you should probably pick this up. The same goes if you have yet to play it. If, like me, you played Tomb Raider the first time round and enjoyed it, there's not really enough here to justify another, full price purchase, however. This is for superfans and newcomers only – casual veterans need not apply. Now, where did I put my waterproof face cream?
This is a fantastic game, but for anyone who previously played it on last year's consoles, this version could go amiss. For everyone else with a next gen console wanting to take it for a spin whilst waiting for some true next-gen games, Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition will thoroughly entertain and leave you an instant fan of this re-booted series.
Even ignoring its gussied-up next-gen clothes, the game's strengths outshine its weaknesses as an experience, though its flaws outside of the visual realm remain impossible to ignore.
Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition really is the best looking version of the game, managing to surpass even the PC version.
I was absolutely wowed by this game the first time I played it through because I was paying so much attention to the cut scenes and redesigned Lara Croft was a joy to behold. The Definitive Edition adds a few neat little features like alternative costumes and a comic book describing the events before the game, and I can't remember that being in the original game release. But having had a year to sit and consider the game's broader meaning, the second time around the game's flaws are all the more apparent.
Tomb Raider is a terrific game, and the Definitive Edition is a gorgeous looking version of it. It's the same game it was in 2013, though, with no further improvements justifying its "definitive" status.
As an action-adventure game, Tomb Raider needs to have you spend eight to ten hours shooting people in the face. That the developer at least tries to address this dissonance in earnest is perhaps commendable—so few games strive to account for the expected incongruities that even the ambition distinguishes the effort. And yet their attempt makes their failure more pronounced.
The different gameplay elements that comprise Tomb Raider are very well done, and they are a lot of fun. During the TPS parts, Tomb Raider is competent. During the survival horror parts, Tomb Raider is competent. During the survival crafting parts, Tomb Raider is competent. This doesn't leave the whole package as competent, though. Even if someone used the best noodles possible, the best chocolate syrup, a lavish Lamborghini steering wheel, and a $900 pair of shoes, a lasagne made out of these ingredients wouldn't be very good—even if all the different parts are high quality. Tomb Raider needed someone to stand up and tell the marketing department that disparate gameplay elements weren't going to be shoehorned in simply to increase sales by 0.025%. Lara Croft does a wonderful job of redeeming Tomb Raider, and is the only reason it's playable, but it's only marginally more fleshed out than the myriad of mini-game collections found for the Kinect and Move.