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[Blyss]

So, I almost never buy a game on release day, and I certainly never preorder, unless I have a LOT of faith in a title.  I preordered the new Tombraider.  My wife commented on the fact that I never do that, and then proceeded with, "It better be of the charts."  Her words, not mine.  I simply nodded, and agreed, seeing as how I'd just dropped $60 for the game, and another $60 for the controller that allowed for a $10 discount, and a downloadable character on xbox live.

I didn't actually play it until this weekend, because my wife wanted to watch while I played.  She used to do this regularly while I played the old TR games, and I played damn near all of them.

I will do my best not to spoil anything should anyone want to play this game clean.

1 - Less raiding than I expected, and a lot more combat than I remembered.  There's not much to expand on - I'm literally aware of one tomb that I have successfully 'raided' (because the game notified me that I had successfully 'raided the tomb') and that was and optional thing.  Yeah, as in, not forwarding the story.  That bothers me, though not so much that I don't like the game as a whole.

2 - Puzzles that don't seem to make sense, on the scale that I remember. - Does anyone remember the first TR where you had to bring bricks of lead to Midas' hand so they would turn to gold?  I do.  I also remember a Sword of Damocles trap, and various other things that had some basis in various myths and theologies. 

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Himiko is apparently real, but the fact is even her wiki page says that she's obscure.  So obscure that I've never heard of her, and I happen to be fairly (not immensely) knowledgeable about such things.

3 - My wife doesn't care for it, but I still like playing - she's not enjoying watching and helping me like she used to because frankly there's not much help you can give when I'm mowing down enemies by the hundreds.  The puzzles are there, but not nearly as many and nothing as complex as they used to be.  That's all.  Nothing else to say about it.

Summary - I don't hate the game, but I'm not in love with it either.  I don't feel like I wasted my $60 ($110 total) so that's a positive.  I knew it wasn't going to be the same TR, but maybe I didn't realize just HOW different it would be.  I'll report more when I've finished it.  Right now I'm about 12 hours in, and the ending doesn't seem too close yet.  I'm still having fun, but it's kind of strange to not be doing so much tomb raiding in a game that is still called Tombraider.

[Lupercal]

Interesting. This reboot was well needed, I think. I remember distinctly playing Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation on my Dreamcast Christmas 2000. That was the last great Tomb Raider game, in my opinion. I loved Tomb Raider II, missed a few titles (Chronicles notably) and rather disliked Legend - after some decent Prince of Persia games, Tomb Raider kind of fell off the map on the new consoles.

Sounds like without the puzzles this is worth a miss - is the story at all engrossing? I used to think the narratives in the TR games were pretty good. Mythical and edgy!

[Blyss]

The story does seem good so far.  I do want to know what happens next, so I guess that's a sign of a good narrative.  I don't want to be misleading, there IS tombraiding, but it almost seems to have been an afterthought.  I think they could do better, and if they do well enough to warrant a sequel, I think we'll be looking at Mass Effect 2 syndrome, in that the 2nd game will be a lot better than the first (my opinion, so take it for what it's worth). 

Please don't think that I'm viewing this game negatively, just that I'm still trying to form an opinion, and it's not overwhelmingly one way or the other yet, and I was expecting it to be all good.

[satsugaikaze]

I was really just under the impression that they were trying to prequelize her character and so for that character development to come into the fore they made the combat (the less cerebral aspect of Tomb Raider games) most prominent.

From what I saw of TotalBiscuit playing through it, it sounds like there are a fair few tombs around, just that they're all optional and the first couple of hours are quick-time events and on-rails narrative, which is an interesting design choice.

[Method of Madness]

I liked it, even if it was kind of an Uncharted clone (making it a clone of a clone of itself, sort of). It was pretty short, made me glad I borrowed instead of bought.

[blanktom]

See, I was waiting for a thread to pop up for this game, which I bought on release day, and thoroughly enjoyed!

I won't pour over it too much, but I liked the fact that the tomb raiding was a side aspect of the game. To be fair, even in the early games you didn't exactly spend the entire game raiding tombs...most of the story was just building toward one final push into a tomb.

I really enjoyed the story, I felt like there were twists and turns and at several points I thought I was almost at the end of the story then a new element would be revealed, but I never felt like it dragged. The environments were detailed and clever enough, especially the more open ones, and contained a fair bit of peril

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especially Shipwreck Beach, when you're heading out to the wreck of the Portugese or heading towards the endurance

.

I enjoyed the combat far more than any previous game, I liked that they kept the range of weapons small but with enough mods and upgrades to keep them interesting.

Lastly, I really felt like I wanted to get all the collectables, which I very rarely do in games. I think again this is a testament to the environments. I wanted to get the GPS caches because it meant more exploring, which was really fun.

Looks like I enjoyed it far more than most of you guys!

[Blyss]

@blanktom, I can't disagree with anything you said.  I've not formed a complete opinion yet, as I'm still playing.  As I understand it, this is exactly what was stated above, and that is a prequel game, wherein we get a lot of Lara's motivation and development.  I do like this game, and I like it well enough that I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt and probably purchase a second title, if in fact they are promising more in the line of tomb raiding, and that seems to be the case.

[Zingoleb]

i keep parsing this thread's title as tom braider

[Jimor]

Yeah, I bet Tom was pissed when he went to register his vanity domain.

Edit, heh, it probably happened to at least one person, too: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Tom/Braider

[Masterpiece]

Sorry, lets try this again.

I considered the new Tomb Raider a huge achievement.

I always envied the PS3 crowd for, what I felt was a better Tomb Raider, the Uncharted series. The levels were beautifully designed, the story lines compelling and well-written and the gameplay was fun, various and had a surprising amount of depth to it (I consider the second as the best of the Uncharted series).

Tomb Raider gave me all of the above, and so much more.

I really enjoyed the fact that this game really emphasizes exploration in the sense that it encourages you to find all the things (even allowing you to backtrack to previously visited areas). In my opinion, this adds well to the survivor/archaeologist image of Lara. It also adds quite a bit of play time to an already quite long game (of course, incomparable with the TR games of yore).

The combat in Tomb Raider is different, but it's where the franchise needed to go. The first Tomb Raider revolutionized 3rd person gaming... but then failed to improve on that achievement. If you consider other 3rd-person-action games, they all have some sort of free-aim shooting mechanic (Max Payne, Uncharted, etc), it makes sense for Tomb Raider to have the same. And the shooting in Tomb Raider is top-notch. The salvage mechanic means that you grow to really love your weapons, and adding a little bit of stealth means that outsmarting goons is incredibly satisfying. This is not a dumb shooter. In fact the AI scripting felt incredibly atmospheric, especially when enemies react to your actions ("she's hiding behind that pillar, flush her out!" - "damn she's a good shot!" - "where did she get that grenade launcher?"). Seeing the enemy react to the growth of your character is also immensely gratifying.

Story-wise, this game is very different. Gone is Lady Croft, and in her place is a younger, not quite there yet Lara, put in a situation that would push most people beyond their edge. I must say I do not agree with what you said about the Tomb Raiding, most of the older Tomb Raiders were not set in literal tombs to begin with (the only true Tomb Raider in that regard is The Last Revelation) and Lara visits quite a few Tombs in this game (especially if you consider that the entire island is a tomb, what with all the corpses lying around). But the game is not about Tomb Raiding, I'll give you that, it is about Laras literal ascent from the darkness, which also reverbs in some of the gameplay mechanics (such as gradually leveling up and getting stronger). I loved how different the approach to the story was, whereas Uncharted is obviously influenced by flicks like Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider seems to take its inspiration from the survival horror genre (indeed, Tomb Raider especially appears to be channelling the Descent, many scenes in the game make explicit references to the series). I loved watching Lara get more and more confident about herself and her strengths.

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One of my favourite scenes: Picking up the grenade launcher

All in all the story feels a lot more cohesive than any Tomb Raider that came before and also than the Uncharted games, as it feels so much more grounded.
 
Like I said, I was waiting a long time for a Tomb Raider that would match Uncharted 2. What I got in return was a much more personal experience that rocked Uncharted clear out the water. I loved playing this game so much, that it is the first game in which I collected 100 % of all the artifacts, challenges, maps, documents, etc... And I did all that twice! My only regret is not playing this game in hard difficulty first, not because it was particularly easy, but because I know my experience of the literal ascension would have been an even greater one. I love this game and will most definitely return.

edit: why the rants about missing puzzles? There are quite a few in this game (you obviously haven't been in the tombs) and imho they make a lot more sense than the old tr puzzles.

[Blyss]

Hmm.  How best to sum up?

I don't want to in any way discount your opinion on the game. (@masterpiece)  I simply was not as overwhelmed with greatness as you were I guess.  I like the game, and I think they paved the way for a better game (to be read: more to my liking) in a second installment, and I believe that was the point of this game, now that I have finally finished it.

I've never played any of the Uncharted games, and therefore have no basis for comparison.  That said, I don't compare TR to those games at all, only to the older games, and I played almost all of them.  In the interest of complete accuracy, no you were not always in a tomb in the old games, and I don't think I ever said that was the case, but perhaps I insinuated.  However, you were doing more tomb raideresque activities, and that was HOW YOU FORWARDED the story.  I can't emphasize that enough. 

There was combat in the old games as well.  I'm not knocking the game for having combat.  But as you mentioned, the island is a tomb because of all the dead bodies...  including the hundreds that I added to the pile.  That's a lot of people dead, and could just as easily have been some other danger than people with guns.  Again, they chose that route, and I played it, and I don't hate the combat itself.  I just wish there'd been more of a focus on 'LARA HAS TO SURVIVE' and it not having to do with hundreds of guys with guns - maybe mix it up and have crazy animals that are part of the island's indigenous population - I don't know.  But yeah, mowing down bad guys with my bow or my machine gun or my pistol, is something I'd expect in a Rambo game, not Tombraider.

NOW - because I don't completely disagree with you, there were some things that they did so RIGHT that I actually got a shiver down my spine because, FUCK YEAH! that was awesome!  The example that you gave under the spoiler cover is an excellent one.  THAT WAS PERFECT! 

Having finished the game now, I do have a different opinion than I did when I started, because they did lighten up on the combat at one point, and it did become more about exploration again, and that was what I was looking for, so this is more of a whole picture kind of game, and I have no problem with that at all.  At the end, I was glad I'd bought the game, I'm not disappointed, and I look forward to the next one.

To be fair, though, I think I was expecting this one to be what they claim is coming in the next installment.  That's all.

[ackblom12]

This is on my list of games to play, and I am quite excited to play it, but from what I gather it suffers heavily from the common video game issue of "character is written one way, you play the character another". This is a problem that many games I love have, and I'm kind of eager for the industry to figure out how to avoid this. Sometimes this just involves hiring proper writers, but as a medium I think it's gonna be kind of tough to get over.

[Valdís]

This is on my list of games to play, and I am quite excited to play it, but from what I gather it suffers heavily from the common video game issue of "character is written one way, you play the character another". This is a problem that many games I love have, and I'm kind of eager for the industry to figure out how to avoid this.

This statement reminds me of MrBtongue:

[ackblom12]

Yeah, that's a good video for the subject. Another big example would be GTA IV I think. Niko is written as a man looking for redemption, tired of the senseless violence of his lifestyle and his place within it, he regularly talks about how he is full of grief for the lives lost and how he will never do it again... and then you're forced to kill several dozen people, both innocents and enemies, so that you can finish the story mission.

Edit: And that, combined with some gameplay things I didn't like afterwards, is why Vice City will always be the best GTA.

[Masterpiece]

Yeah, that's a good video for the subject. Another big example would be GTA IV I think. Niko is written as a man looking for redemption, tired of the senseless violence of his lifestyle and his place within it, he regularly talks about how he is full of grief for the lives lost and how he will never do it again... and then you're forced to kill several dozen people, both innocents and enemies, so that you can finish the story mission.

Yet the story ends with Niko obviously failing to achieve his goal of escaping his violent past and considering if he is in fact still sane. I don't really think your example is justified, but I definitely see your point.

About the exploring thing that @blyss mentioned: I don't think it's possible to re-create the exploring aspect present in old Tomb Raiders in newer games because that exploring aspect was very much linked to the fact that Lara Croft simply did not control very well. An example I can think of is this: How did you cross a gap? Walk towards the edge, do one skip backwards, run towards the gap, jump, and grab the opposite ledge. Seeing as this whole process is extremely streamlined to the point of being an afterthought (nowadays you just jump in a general direction, and maybe press the pickaxe button), the whole navigation and exploration has a whole different aspect in this game.

It essentially comes down to level design, and what you want to achieve with it. I can distinguish two "types" of basic level pattern in this game, and a few more that combine those elements. But the two basic ones are the arena type level, where you're basically in a room fighting enemies, and there's the traversal type level, where you're trying to get from A to B. I consider the puzzle areas as arenas where your enemy is the environment. The areas where everything behind you breaks down and blows up is a traversal level with action. Examples for these kind of levels are in the spoiler.

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Arena level: Himikos throne room in the burning stronghold.
Traversal level: Ascending the Ziggurat tower at the end.

In the old Tomb Raiders, this pattern exists as well - however combat and traversal did not have to be so differentiated because the combat mechanics were so much simpler back then (example: TR2s Tibetian Monastery is a huge arena and traversal level, because of the sheer scale of the level and the amount of enemies that appear everywhere). In todays 3rd person shooters, cover is an important part of the combat, there is no auto-aim and enemies are much more sophisticated. Levels have to be designed with combat in mind. The Tomb Raider Legend series (including Anniversary and Underworld) did not do a good job in improving combat, and in my opinion, the auto aim is to blame. I think the new Tomb Raider has to be applauded to the fact that they managed to create sophisticated combat areas that still include a lot of elements for traversal and exploration. The best example for these are the hubs. Sure there's very linear affairs in TR and levels that focus solely on combat. But the hubs are a huge step towards bringing these two play-styles together. And the game does emphasize traversal and exploration, even after combat: You're motivated to search bodies of fallen enemies for salvage and the areas for hidden relics/documents for xp, because if you don't, chances are you're gonna have a hard time in the later parts of the game.

My focus is drifting, so I'll get to the point I'm trying to make: The island of TR is in my humble opinion an environment that invites exploration. There's so many stuff packed everywhere, and it does take quite a while to get all of it. I'm not saying that exploration is the only vital part in the game, combat sure is a huge part of it, but I think these two are meshed together quite beautifully.

And also, do yourself a favour and watch some Uncharted walkthroughs. They are an example of being a completely linear affair.

[Masterpiece]

Maybe I'm beating a dead horse, point I'm trying to make is that I'm incredibly happy with how this game turned up to be, especially considering that Underworld was such a let down and I had not expected anything at all from this game. But Tomb Raider is just wonderful.

[Method of Madness]

Edit: And that, combined with some gameplay things I didn't like afterwards, is why Vice City will always be the best GTA.

While I don't agree that VC is the best GTA, I do agree that it's the most honest (he's just as violent as any of the other protagonists, but neither Tommy Vercetti nor the game ever pretend that he isn't a horrible person doing horrible things for selfish reasons).

[Blyss]

It feels like maybe what I'm saying is being taken as argumentative.  I'm not trying to prove anyone wrong here.

I think Tombraider is a good game.  I guess the difference is, I was expecting it to be a great game, and while some think so, I'm not necessarily one of them.

Maybe that will clarify things.

Oh, and while I haven't played Uncharted, I am certainly aware of it, and its linear nature.  Again, I don't compare the two.

[Welu]

This is on my list of games to play, and I am quite excited to play it, but from what I gather it suffers heavily from the common video game issue of "character is written one way, you play the character another". This is a problem that many games I love have, and I'm kind of eager for the industry to figure out how to avoid this. Sometimes this just involves hiring proper writers, but as a medium I think it's gonna be kind of tough to get over.

This is what has put me off the game. I did not like the whole thing a while back about how the player will want to "protect" Lara. There was more to it but I've talked about it a lot before. I know doing that is getting stuck on one thing without knowing much else of the game but sometimes something annoys me so much I admit, I can't see past it. Although I also get the impression it's more blocking my view than I refuse to look past it since I want to try and enjoy the game but it's a big pink elephant that keeps jumping in front of my other thoughts.
Damn principles.

[Method of Madness]

This is what has put me off the game. I did not like the whole thing a while back about how the player will want to "protect" Lara.

Wait, what? When was this?

[de_la_Nae]

I am interested in this conversation, but I have to know: Is it actually Tombraider this time? I thought it was always Tomb Raider. Did I misunderstand?

[Method of Madness]

It's definitely still two words.

[Welu]

Here's a couple articles summing up some feelings but they all roughly say the same stuff in slightly different ways.

http://kotaku.com/5917400/youll-want-to-protect-the-new-less-curvy-lara-croft

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-06-13-lara-croft-attempted-rape-will-make-tomb-raider-players-want-to-protect-her

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-06-13-tomb-raider-studio-addresses-lara-controversy

[Method of Madness]

It looks like that was an executive being stupid more than any indication about the game itself.

[Welu]

There's still the scene in the game itself which definitely has an attempted rape thing going on. I'm also not a fan of the art director's comments.

"Her skin is still bare on the arms and there are going to be rips and tears on her clothes, but it won't be about being revealing. It's a way of saying that through these tough situations, there is a beauty and vulnerability coming through. I think that is sexy in its own way."

[ackblom12]

To be quite frank, developers are unintentionally creepy a hell of a lot and the less they talk about certain topics in their own games, the better. It's a perfectly valid reason to avoid a game.

[maxusy3k]

I've seen a LOT of commentary that basically says all the press around that scene and those comments was completely overblown once the scene is viewed in context with the rest of the game.

Here's a review which addresses it specifically but as a warning I can't remember now if it contains spoilers or no.

[Masterpiece]

I guess what all those publications are trying to say to some extent is that the player will feel a lot more connected to the character of the new Lara Croft than the one we were presented before. Gone is the over the top super athlete Lady Croft and in her place is quite a fragile character that IMHO the player can associate with.
And I take offense to that whole "you'll want to protect her" bullcrap too, with the camera angles and stuff and the increased sense of intimacy between camera and character, I felt like I was part of the crew, trying to get out of there.

[de_la_Nae]

To be quite frank, developers are unintentionally creepy a hell of a lot and the less they talk about certain topics in their own games, the better. It's a perfectly valid reason to avoid a game.

^

[Method of Madness]

I agree with the first sentence but not the second.

[ackblom12]

Pray tell, what is a valid reason for someone to avoid any media of their choosing?

Personally, I would definitely say that a companies marketing and PR concerning their product making you uncomfortable (or irritated) is a perfectly valid reason.

[Method of Madness]

I would think that a valid reason is the medium itself. That is, if you've heard from people/sources you trust that the game itself is objectionable, then sure. But I don't think the company saying something would be enough on its own to make me avoid it (although it may make me hesitate to support it financially).

[Welu]

It is not simply what the company has said, although it certainly puts me off. The content of the game's story and how they seem to be portraying the character. I also believe I get to decide what is objectionable and valid to me.

I will just straight say the rape/assault as a plot device really cheapens Lara Croft for me. I don't like the plot device in general and have other issues with it but specific to this game, I can understand wanting to humanise her, wanting to show a younger, less developed side. Although I really preferred it when I thought, "This is an awesome person doing something just because they can and it's fun and awesome." I can aspire to that and really escape into it because I want to be that. Not the same when she's a cornered animal who has no choice but to fight back. Now that I've typed it out, it actually sounds like a really boring, generic origin.
I admit I haven't learned more about the story though or how much she is portrayed as already knowing or capable of doing.
I also don't buy and play a game to go along with the hero. Whether it's in the form of "protecting" them or being their "helper", I want to feel like I am the hero. Like I said, playing games is a form of escapism and that I find it easier to escape into her former portrayed role.

Compare to Jill Valentine in Resident Evil. It's a similar trapped who has to fight back story on paper. First though she's a police officer and member of a special operatives force with a skill set. The role you're playing is that of a skilled person who already has the capabilities to fight against the opposing force.
Note: I haven't played any Resident Evil after 4. 

I'll bow out of this thread now. I'll happily discuss this more in a dedicated thread about whatever the hell is it I'm talking about. However I don't want to further derail the people who want to discuss the game itself. 

[Masterpiece]

I've got a feeling that I should bow out as well, because I keep repeating myself and I'm obviously not being objective, because I want to reply Y U no liek this gaem?! to each and every one of your answers, which isn't fair to anyone.

[Method of Madness]

Welu, when I said I didn't find it valid, I meant valid for me, I would never speak for someone else. So if you find it a valid reason to ignore a game, then that's fine. As for the "vulnerable" part, I didn't think they went over the top with it. She starts off an incredibly brilliant and enthusiastic archaeologist who gets in over her head when they all run into some truly terrible people on the island. They're all in over their head. I didn't see her being scared at first as me wanting to protect her, I saw it as me being drawn into the world and trying to overcome it. To accept the fact that it's kill or be killed and do something about it. Then again, the game does have

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a couple dudes outright dying to save her. But the fact that she saves several other people could just mean that she's better at it than they are, since it doesn't kill her. Also, she only has a problem after killing for the first time in her life, after that she gets really good at it.

[Cire27]

(click to show/hide)

Also, she only has a problem after killing for the first time in her life, after that she gets really good at it.

This bugged me about Far Cry 3 too.

[Method of Madness]

Right! I enjoyed both enough to beat, but they were both absurd how fast they went from "holy shit I've killed someone" to everyone on the island talking about how deadly they were, getting teams of mercs to go after them (which of course is still not enough, as the protagonist easily kills all of them).

[de_la_Nae]

I like to think of it as the Nicholas Cage effect a la The Rock.

Clarification edit: not that he ever gets *really* good at it like these examples.

[Method of Madness]

I still need to see that.

[LTK]

Here's a report on some concept pieces for this game.

[GarandMarine]

Well seems the over all impression is favorable... and my vision's coming in fairly well now...  I think I might walk to the nearest Redbox and see if I can rent it for a look see.

[ackblom12]

Oh yeah, renting. I kind of forgot about the existence of such things. I should check to see if there's a local redbox.

[Blyss]

It's definitely worth a rental.  I'm certainly not upset that I paid for it, and have it to play again. 

But yeah - give it a look see even if only for a night.

[de_la_Nae]

As much as I get on GameStop's case (because after having friends work for and hearing about all sorts of 'fun' little policies), I am glad that there are good after-prime-market solutions. Redbox filled a nice little niche that appeared when rental places all over started dying. Indiana has a chain called Family Video that seems to be going strong that I do some business with, and there's a GameStop competitor company that sells and rents as well. Makes contemplating purchases a whole lot easier. I sort of despise most games that cost more than about $15 without getting to give them a demo run first.

[Gregorio]

As much as I get on GameStop's case (because after having friends work for and hearing about all sorts of 'fun' little policies), I am glad that there are good after-prime-market solutions. Redbox filled a nice little niche that appeared when rental places all over started dying. Indiana has a chain called Family Video that seems to be going strong that I do some business with, and there's a GameStop competitor company that sells and rents as well. Makes contemplating purchases a whole lot easier. I sort of despise most games that cost more than about $15 without getting to give them a demo run first.

Yeah, it's typically renting and LPs that convince me to buy full versions of games. Here in State College, PA, we have a little store called Gamer's Arena run by a friendly, knowledgeable staff, and they have dollar-a-day rentals and reasonable prices.

Tomb Raider, when it's not crashing for me (downloading NVidia's patch for it now), is a lot of "fun." It's always tense, and characters seem well-written and motivated.

[LTK]

This article on Tomb Raider is really touching. The author does a really good job of relativising the violence against Lara with the story about survival.

I really want to play this game now.

[Method of Madness]

Damn. I played it on easy, so that's probably why I never saw that scene (but I did go to Youtube and found it and...damn). One of the best video game related...no, one of the best articles I've ever read.

[Masterpiece]

I regretted playing it on normal and not on hard mode. I would have had such a better time playing it on hard from the start.

[Masterpiece]

That being said, I'm now halfway through my third hard playthrough, and I'm planning to 100 % that one, just like I did my previous three walkthroughs.

[satsugaikaze]

Woop woop finished my first playthrough, 22 hours with 76% completion. I'm slow, sue me.

I really, really like almost everything about this game, from the fluidity of the animation to the character development. I don't think it would have been nearly half the game it was if it wasn't for how smooth and intuitive the platforming was. The quick-time events bugged me at a lot of places but they were minor and never really disrupted the flow for me (although I could imagine it doing so for other players less clued-in on the QTE-heavy sequences of the game). Lara's contextual death scenes are also quite unsettling for me, which is wierd because I normally brush off death scenes in horror media all the time.

They dramatically up the ante on the supernatural angle towards the end of the game which is a tiny bit jarring but for me not a deal-breaker, but it's a nice thematic shout-out to the supernatural elements from the previous games. Otherwise it's a very well-grounded action game and for me a shining example of what reboots should be like. Definitely a personal GOTY contender.

I will just say one thing though; holy hell Lara wear something with sleeves. Her body looks absolutely mangled by the end of the game. The only other character I've ever seen that many scars on was Vash the Stampede.