Lara's return to grace...
Then why would I give it a 7.5? Well... it's not Tomb Raider! Before I go on, I confess that I am not a Tomb Raider fan. I didn't play the earlier games except TR1 to some extent, and Legend brought me back to TR. I probably would have given this game a higher score if I had not been Tomb Raider: Anniversary at the same time.
It's very hard for me to not compare TRL to TRA. To me, TRL is a dumbed down TR... with lots of fun things to do... but the spirit of TR... the remote desolate hidden tombs, the isolation, one puzzle after the other isn't quite there.
The puzzles (and in fact, the game on the whole) is quite simple. Except a couple of puzzles which in my opinion had absolutely no semblence of logic (How the **** am I supposed to know that in order to advance after finding a long buried secret, I have to ring a bell to advance!)
A lot of people have talked about camera issues... but I don't think that's really a problem. The audio and the story are top notch as well. And I also think that the Lara of TRL is the prettiest of all Laras. All in all a great game... I just wish it was Tomb Raider.
But looking at it logically, I believe that dumbing down was neccesary from a business standpoint... Eidos need to attract more people to the franchisee... and with TRA returning to the roots of what TR is all about.. it would be interesting to see what the next game dishes out.