Both engaging and engrossing, Tomb Raider shines brightest as a coming of age story wrapped in an adventure.
Lara Croft is back, but it isn't the Lara you grew up with. Tomb Raider takes adventuring to a whole new level of accessibility and action as you make your way through a mysterious island that's bursting with numerous locations, filled with hidden dangers and deeply buried treasure. In the end, the same could probably be said of Lara herself.
Things start off mild enough for the crew of the Endurance, the large ship that features a varied array of skilled personnel. Like the Titanic before it, however, it isn't long before the craft's fate is sealed, and its occupants are scattered to the winds, each of their destinies in question for much of the game. So begins the journey of Lara Croft, to track down survivors, while braving the perils of a once forgotten island.
There is a single player and a multiplayer mode, though purists will probably ignore the multiplayer completely. It isn't terrible, but still feels like an unnecessary addition to what is essentially a single player experience. The addition of a multiplayer mode is an all too familiar one in gaming in recent memory and while it doesn't detract from the single player experience at all, it's still a little disappointing that they had to throw it in here.
The single player adventure is wholly immersive and engrossing, thanks to lots of dramatic events that unfold as you make your way through the various locales on the island. All the characters are interesting and have their own motives for coming along, none more interesting than Lara herself. Where the game really shines is in the fact that its really a coming of age story, wrapped in a tightly focused adventure. The Lara that you begin the game with is a far different person than the one you control as the game nears its climax and its nice to see this evolution towards the Lara that we all know.
What's also nice is that even though your ultimate goal is getting everyone safely off the island, there is a lot to do on said island. Beyond the exploring, you earn experience for every item you find, and enemy you kill. Base camps scattered about let you turn this experience into usable skills, and salvageable gear lets you upgrade various weapons.
Raiding tombs is just as fun and profitable as it was in previous games, however tombs have gotten noticeably smaller. Those of you expecting large, expansive halls and huge crypts may be a bit disappointed, as all of the tombs are more like two bedroom apartments. Its still worth your time to explore them, but they wont eat up your whole day.
For all its impressive single player aspects, the multiplayer comes down to the standard fare of earning experience through kills, leveling up and unlocking a variety of characters and weapons at predetermined levels. It's the same multiplayer we've seen for years in other games.
Controlling Lara is pretty intuitive, thanks to on the fly directional pad weapon swapping and dramatic timed button presses that ensure you grab hold of ledges overlooking hundred foot drops. Quicktime events that require split second timing are as annoying as ever, though.
The AI isn't bad either, and will effectively make use of and run between various forms of cover, both while taking shots at you and throwing explosives your way, which serve to damage you as well as expose you from whatever cover you're hiding behind. This makes the combat more of a dynamic run and gun affair, instead of a battle between opponents peeking out from behind cover.
Everything in Tomb Raider looks quite nice as well. You'll see the waves on the beach lap at the shore, as the tide crashes satisfyingly onto nearby rocks. Tiny fireflies in the forests blink into existence when night falls, and smoke rises from torches and into the sky. It's these little touches and more that go a long way towards adding to the feel of immersion.
The music does a good job setting the mood, some of the ambient tracks in the background, such as when you're inside a shrine, really help the immersion. Like most adventure games, there are a lot of dramatic moments as well, with the music fading into the background during the quieter times.
This is an excellent adventure that ultimately succeeds as a modern coming of age tale. With heaps of collectibles to uncover, a story that's worth experiencing and an island that's just begging to be explored, as a reboot, and as a game on its own, you could do a lot worse than Tomb Raider.