Tomb Raider GOTY

This is the only game I've ever preordered in my life. I was so hyped for this TR reboot, in a full island to explore, full of puzzles to solve and incredibly realistic graphics and animations. Well... the did deliver in that last part at least. The game holds your hand waaaay to much for my taste. Most notably for me was when you have to walk through a small bridge made of a single branch... there is a cutscene and all to emphasize how dangerous it is... It's not!! you cannot die there!! You can stand on that branch forever, Lara won't fall. Even if you try to fall, you won't. The only difficult section I found was the parachute section. That's it. There is a single puzzle at the very beginning that you must solve in order to progress. It's decent enough for being the first one. Makes you think you will encounter more (and harder) puzzles down the road.. you won't, from then on, every puzzle is optional, and your reward will be just experience points, which is disappointing to say the least. Oh and don't stand still for too long, or Lara will think you are an idiot and tell you the solution. The game is for the most part a third person shooter, because hey, is not what old TR fans want, but it's what the average Joe wants so... prepare to shoot A LOT, and don't worry about ammo, it grows on trees in this island. Like I said, it was a let down in many ways, but I still enjoyed. The story is interesting enough. Most areas, specially towards the end, are large enough that you do get a good feeling of exploration, and the graphics are damn gorgeous. Plus, it's the first TR game in a long time to not treat Lara as a femme fatale so kudos for that. It's a fun game, just not really a Tomb Raider game, and I was so happy to see it in GOG that I had to buy it right away

Naughty Dog took the predating Tomb Raider and increased the action/adventure ratio by reducing the denominator to the max: platforming (almost autojump), exploration (virtually on rails), puzzles (we don’t have that, sorry). At the same time, they brought in Gears of War cover system, scripted waves of enemies, frantic explosions and narrowly escapes. Allow me some sensationalistm: Tomb Raider (2013) is a sort of plagiarism of plagiarism. It is Square Enix retribution against Naughty Dog. Well, almost. Fortunately, TR 2013 is less cinematic than Drake’s saga: less movie, more game, that's a good thing in my book. There is also more open-world here than in Uncharted: hubs where you end up after completing the levels nearby, up to the point where you embark on THE QUEST that finally takes you to the next hub. The illusion of the game being one continuous long level is well-achieved with this technique. The story here is darker, though. They want to make you see Lara’s suffering: she is beaten, pierced with sharp thing, lacerated. We see her transformation from a naive young explorer into a killing machine. The specific story told here: the island and what’s happening there, its final boss, the secondary characters, everything is completely secondary. Regrettably, the games tries to take itself too seriously, to move you with dramatic pauses and shrieks of pain that cringe because the characters, not even Lara, are not credibly portrayed. All that being said, the game is entertaining, but one unavoidable thought constantly crosses my mind while playing it, that I’d rather take my old PSX out of the cupboard and relive that first Tomb Raider experience, the one with the fantasy monsters, creative disjointed levels, lever and block puzzles, tight clockwork-precise platforming and that artifact-seeking badass Lara exploring and killing whatever opposition she found in her way just for the sake of it. Reusing old beloved IP names is a double-edged sword.

I'll just give you pros and cons because game has a lot of both: Pros: - Art direction is pretty good - Some impressive locations - The world is somewhat open and there is plenty of stuff to look for that encourages backtracking - Gameplay isn't bad and controls are fine - Optional tombs feels more like TR - The pacing is nicely balanced - Story does have some interesting elements Cons: - You have like 4 weapons in this game - Most enemies are generic badguys - ...and they come in waves and its so boring - A lot of the game is just linear corridors - Writing sucks and dialogues are boring - Music is forgettable - Its not really survival even if it tries to look like it - Crafting is boring Somewhere in between: - Its not a very colorful game, its usually pretty grayish, might be pro or con I guess - Its basically standard AAA recipe - many elements from modern games pieces together so if you looking for something closer to original TR experiences... you wont really find it here

Finally this game is here! Its a great tomb raider game that runs well and is fun to play and looks amazing. Here is hoping that we get the two sequels to this game soon! :D