I review many games, and this one I say: "Go for it!"
Let me mention the aspects I found odd. The realism of Lara Craft is somewhat real and highly unreal. She's real in the sense that she looks like a sweet, innocent woman from the start, but since when giving a woman or man a bow makes them into a killing machine that can hack/shoot his/her way through hundreds of enemies? I do not fall for it, but it made the game fun nevertheless.
It is just that Lara, to me, from the word go did not seem like a fighter but just an interested explorer.
The other aspect that I found unrealistic was the amount of knocks and injuries she pulled through. She rolled down stoney hills (like at least 10 times), she flew into a tree, she landed on a sharp object that split her gut at the start, she falls off wooden structures and hits the ground hard, she was punched around, she gets burnt by fire arrows and much more, trust me.
I dont even think Prophets NanoSuit in Crysis could take the same amount of knocks that Lara took on her Island adventure.
For certain, if I fell and rolled down a steep hill full of sharp rocks and stones and hit the floor hard, I would probably struggle to get back up. And if I fell onto a sharp metal shard sticking out the ground I would probably roll around in agony and not endure a whole mountainous climbing adventure ahead of me, nevertheless a delicate looking Lara managed this well.
The other aspect that I found odd was the environment. The visuals are stunning but the environments look very much like a playground/obstacle course with foofie slides and ropes connecting everywhere to everywhere. Maybe other people found this odd too.
The good is very good, visuals are slick, climbing is fun, and environmental actions are great (for example when you climb the side of a wooden structure and bits and pieces rip off because of winds and narrowly miss hitting you).
Characters are great, I liked Jonah the Maori from New Zealand who wears a rugby top and all, hes a large man, I think the developers found inspiration from the famous rugby player Jonah Lomu and modeled him after Lomu.
The story is interesting and I found I was immersed in it quite well, exploring was fun and finding out the past of the island was great too (for example when the Japanese camped there during WW2 but were murdered by an unkown enemy of which you will find out.
The settings looked great, like when you venture through a shantytown below a temple/monastery. You feel the impact of the settings, the rainy/stormy atmosphere looked and felt great.
Bottom-Line:
Tomb Raider is a true adventure, story is great and combat is slick. If your a true gamer, I would say try it out!