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Tomb Raider (2013) review
by Barton Lynch

«Sit back and relax»
«Beaten more than once»

Other reviews16

11 years later, and this game is still amazing.

Tomb Raider was the first game I completed (100%) on my Xbox One in 2015. It was a pretty good experience, and I've beaten it multiple times after the first playthrough. This time, I played it in 4K Ultrawide, and holy shit, this game is already cinematic, but with more FOV and letterbox, it gets flawless. The action sequences, destruction, and cutscenes just got to another level. If you can play it on an ultrawide monitor/TV, you should definitely give it a chance.

The story is good, and so are the graphics, but I keep coming back because of two reasons: Gameplay and atmospheric scenarios. I love the island, and killing enemies feels so damn good - even on a controller, which is a good complement coming from a former Competitive FPS PC player. That happens because this game can be challenging sometimes, which requires good aim to get headshots, arsenal understanding, and fluent movement to not get flanked. Otherwise, at higher difficulties, one miss can result in you being killed.

I'm excited to replay Rise of The Tomb Raider now.
«Time-tested»
«Beaten more than once»
underated
«Underrated»
I honestly liked Tomb Raider more than I thought it would. I came in here expecting a poor man's Uncharted clone. After finishing the game I am left with wanting more. It is very similar to the Uncharted games, albeit it does do unique things to distinguish itself from the former. Most notably the somewhat more open level design. It is still very linear but you are sometimes faced with larger "hub-like" areas and optional tombs (which are just a single puzzle) which are largely missing from the Uncharted games.

Let's move away from the Uncharted comparisons and speak on what the game does. Gameplay is split between traversal and combat. For traversal, all you do is wander down often linear paths with minor platforming challenges and easy puzzles. Combat has two approaches, stealth and guns blazing. Both of these styles of combat are marred by very poor AI. AI are often comically oblivious in stealth and during a gunfight, enemies will often exit cover and walk in a straight line towards your position. Gun-play is also nothing to write home about and stealth is way too shallow to even bother with. Even with all these complaints, I still enjoyed my time during battles. They were like junk food, fun but nothing special.

I'm not sure if this is an apt comparison, but the story gave me heavy Indiana Jones vibes which I like a lot. The story was an enjoyable action filled romp. Although the beginning of the game makes you expect something more gritty but then turns into something more akin to Uncharted (I'm sorry for bringing it up again). I'm not very good at critiquing narratives as I am easily pleased, so I will leave off saying that I simply enjoyed the story.

Lastly, my technical experience was fairly good. The game ran amazingly but had issues with the UI. Certain UI elements that flashed on screen when going near an interactable or trying to grab ammo that you are full on are cut off at the top left of the screen. Thankfully nothing essential was cut off but it was still annoying nonetheless. Also, voice audio and sound fx audio were combined in settings for some reason. Music was not thankfully, but sometimes sound fx drowned out dialogue which is somewhat remedied by subtitles. Other than those issues, the game ran extremely well with no noticeable frame drops or crashes.

tl;dr Tomb Raider is definitely worth playing because of its fun narrative and enjoyable albeit easy gameplay.
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Given that the game is about a decade old now, the graphics, effects, sound mechanics, and overall gameplay are simply stunning. The cinematics and cut scenes are great, the story isn't terrible either. However I expected more challenging ending.
«Blew my mind»
I love this Lara Croft, excited to see whats next for her after the trilogy (hopefully duel wielding)
This is probably my favorite game from the new trilogy, I absolutely loved the mechanics, the feeling of the game, but the spotlight goes to this version of Lara Croft who we watch grow as a character, from an explorer to a survivor, doing whatever she needs to do. 
8/10
«Can’t stop playing»
«Liked before it became a hit»
I'd wanted this game for a really long time. I'd play the demo for the sequel and loved climbing and using a bow and arrow and solving puzzles connected to ancient relics. I loved the idea of an Uncharted style game where it was just about crawling and climbing around catacombs and caves and just the general raiding of tombs. I was excited to play a game where the action was the backseat to the adventure and exploration in a modern setting. However, I realized immediately that this wasn't going to be that game and I was fine with that. I was actually interested in the idea of a survival game with tomb raiding where you'd have to hunt and live off the island until you could get rescued. And I enjoyed it right up until you pick up a gun and then the game becomes a full out shooter. It's just basically constant explosions and such a streamlined nature to the gameplay that makes it feel like the camera is pushing you forcibly down a path of gunfire with invisible bumpers leading to the next chapter of the mediocre storyline with the facade of an open world. Such a disappointing game. I want a game like this without mass murder, it's such a chore to get through and the tomb raiding is essentially entirely optional. 
I’ve voiced my opinion on this series. I thinks it’s fine but nothing better than fine. I think this is the weakest of the series. I just didn’t enjoy my time with it that much.

Final Score: B
Great story great graphics great  I've been a   fan of the tomb raider series for years I really like the story of Lara I like the location but I thought the shooting physics were to touchy for my taste but overall a great game.
«Liked before it became a hit»
«Constantly dying and enjoy it»
Not my cup of tea but not a bad game by any means. I was able to get about an hour and a half of genuine enjoyment before putting it down. You can get it on sale on Steam super cheap so it won't hurt to try it out if you haven't.