For this review I will not be referring to the 2013 game, simply because while I did play it, I haven't played it for a long while, I'll be looking at this remaster as it is on it's own.
What should be apparent from the taster picture is that this Tomb Raider is a radical departure from the older games, on one hand, if you like the older games, this is bad, but on the other hand, let's see how well this very different take on Tomb Raider does. If I had to describe what this game feels like, it's like if Uncharted, The Last of Us and Far Cry 3 all went splat and produced a Tomb Raider game. I'll start with the story, and what I liked and didn't like, this is a dark game in terms of narrative, a lot of fucked up things happen to Lara throughout her adventure, and what I like about this is it allows for the game to tell a very emotional and dramatic story, more on that later. The residents of the island are insane, and the game holds nothing back in letting you know this, unfortunately this does get a little old, the 5th or 6th time you crawl through a tunnel filled with mutilated bodies or come across a human sacrifice or mass grave it stops being shocking, which is also to say this game has some really fucked up imagery, and there are definitely moments that unsettle even me, one of which is really early on in the game, definitely not for those with weak stomachs. This is also a very violent game, gunfights are vicious, blood splatters everywhere, environments crumble under heavy fire, and blood, dust and various other substances cover the screen, an effect which probably sounds annoying, but is actually really cool, and it really adds to the brutal and unforgiving setting of the island. Normally you'd be annoyed when you die in a game, but in Tomb Raider sometimes I wasn't, I was too busy being in awe at the gruesome as hell death animations. The story of Tomb Raider starts small, but escalates as Lara learns more about the island, the game actually has a really slow first hour or so, and while it's not bad, it is my least favourite section of the game along with the final mission, more on that later too. But thankfully that slow opening pays off, no spoilers here, but it's a rough scene that is a really important scene for Lara, I think given the nature of the scene love might be the wrong word, but I love the scene. In fact there are a few scenes that I love, another involves Lara, a helicopter and a lighter, that's all I'll say. Lara becomes a protagonist you really care about, she doesn't start as a badass bow wielding hero, but the hardships she endures and the journey she goes on is something you can really get behind. Unfortunately her friends are far less interesting, and each one is ultimately someone you've seen before in either a movie or a game, the same can be said of the game's villain, who is ultimately not a very memorable character, only once did I really feel for Lara when one of her friends died, and that is unfortunate. Also, as the narrative unfolded, it started going a bit nuts, I did like the story, it's just I think the supernatural element of the story was a bit too bizarre, to the point of being out of place. Overall though I didn't think the supernatural element brought the game's story down, I'm more disappointed by the flat side characters, but this still a fun story will have you interested from beginning to end, and it has a brilliant main in Lara.
Graphically this game is amazing, environments often look beautiful, weather effects are amazing, the effect I mentioned earlier with particles hitting the screen looks amazing, minus all the gruesome imagery it really is a pretty game to look at. This is by far the most action heavy game in the Tomb Raider series, good thing then that the combat for the most part is fun. In this game Lara has 5 weapons, a pistol, good for medium range, a rifle, good for medium range and large numbers with unlockable grenade launcher for extra firepower, a shotgun, good for close quarters, an ice pick, good for gruesome finishing moves and silent takedowns, and my favourite, the bow. All of these weapons can be upgraded using scrap you find throughout the island to make them more powerful, more accurate, etc, and you can learn skills that allow you to retrieve fired arrows, carry more ammo, so on and so on. Slowly you will grow in strength as you upgrade your guns and unlock more skills, that said, in my play through, I did suffer a lot of really quick deaths. The game has a pretty decent stealth system, that is by far the most fun way to take on the baddies, you can sneak around, whacking guys with your ice pick or taking them out quietly with the bow, but when you're spotted the enemies have a habit of A all knowing where you are immediately and B never losing sight of you, there was one instance where I was spotted in a dense forest level at night, and I ran around the trees trying to lose them, and yet they still never lost me, I was able to kill them that time, but there are times when you're spotted and you die before you even know what happened, these don't really become noticeable until near the end, but it just feels cheap. Fortunately when you're not stopped the bow is really fun to use, it's not my favourite videogame bow, but it's up there, the other guns all function just fine, and the shooting and for that matter climbing in general has a very Uncharted feel to it. something cool about 1 gun, the shotgun, is you can use it to explore the environment, blowing through obstructions to clear paths, though this isn't really utilized anywhere else apart from the bow, and in both cases not a lot. There are various little secrets you can find throughout the island, and at first some of them were unreachable, but as you acquire new gear you can go back and find them, but the gear you needed was usually either on hand or just around the corner, so these secrets were never really hard to reach. Especially the ones I cared about, the tombs; scattered throughout the island are several hidden tombs that you can find and raid for goodies, these were fun, and I kind of wish either there were more of them, or they were more important, however I really had fun with the tombs. Really the only thing wrong with the gameplay aside from some cheap feeling deaths is that the last few missions are a bit weak, it's just wave after wave of bad guys sometimes and it gets tiresome at a point, the game kind of has a final boss, but it's not a very challenging for inventive fight, it feels more like a weak mini boss than an actual boss fight, and the build up to it is just loads of smaller enemies, it felt like the last level of Uncharted, but more drawn out, and with many more enemies. Finally, on the subject of Uncharted, several times in the game, Lara will get caught up in these massive setpieces, and they are incredible, these moments really are marvel to watch as literally the world collapses around you and you must quickly navigate your way out, it's amazing that she A ends up in so many of them and B survives all of them, but they are just too cool to not like.
I have my issues with Tomb Raider, it's got a weak line up of side characters, some of the action gets tiresome, sometimes the game can just be cheap, but there are things here that I adore, Lara as a character is fantastic, the bow is fun, the tombs are awesome, and there are some heart in mouth moments both with story moments and enormous setpieces, I don't think it's the masterpiece so many people claim it is, but I still think it's an amazing game that is worth a try for sure.
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