Lara Croft is back!
Single Player
Story/Characters- Lara in the past has never really had much of a story. The story was just a back drop for the developers to send Lara around the world hunting down treasures and exploring different environments. This was extremely fun and challenging because the puzzles at times weren't easy to figure out. In the new Tomb Raider the biggest change is story and Lara Croft as a character. She is young and new to the whole idea of adventure. Lara gets trapped on an island and the player gets to watch as she survives the harsh environment and how this changes her. During the course of the game Lara grows, shows emotions, develops back story and learns about the island. The story is fantastic compared to the previous games. Lara is finally a character instead of an object, and learning about the island and its inhabitants is really interesting. It keeps the player engaged and wanting to know more about whats going on. The story is fleshed out through amazing cut scenes with great voice acting and writing. Journal entries found throughout the island which gives even more back story. After completing the game the player really feels as that Lara is a new person and without spoiling anything, the squeal should be really interesting. Finally after the game is finished players can go back and explore the island to find all the tombs, journals, relics and other goodies.
Visuals/Sound-I wanna get this out of the way and say this game has an unreal visual design. The environments are extremely detailed and Lara's animations are realistic and fluid. The art design is also outstanding and the island is diverse with WW2 bunkers/structures, tribal huts, Japanese architecture, and current shacks build from wood and pieces of ships and planes. Its very diverse with great detail and feels as if generations have lived and survived on the island. The sound design is also impressive the way Lara walks, talks, and interacts with the environment. The guns sound powerful, and the music sets the mood perfectly.
Combat/Action- Like in past entries, this game is focused on environmental puzzles, scaling walls, and figuring out how to get from point A to point B. This is a true adventure game at its core and raiding tombs for treasure is still here. The biggest upgrade is the combat which is very refreshing to the series. Combat was never a major focus at all in previous games. Most of the time you got to kill a few animals, or people that got in your way with a shotgun or Lara's famous duel pistols. Combat is more emphasized in this game. Instead of her staple duel pistols Lara's go to weapon is her Bow which is incredibly fun to use. Along the way she gets more weapons like pistols, shot guns, and assault rifles. Crystal Dynamics has also introduced the ability to upgrade Lara's weapons with "salvage" which can be found throughout the island. Lara also has the ablitiy to upgrade skills, in 3 different trees that help her loot more salvage, killing moves, and upgrade melee combat. Yes that's right shes got finishing moves. When Lara isn't exploring or stealthily killing an enemy shes escaping a burning building, scaling a rusty tower, parachuting through a forest, getting washed down rivers all great set pieces. Combat and action is well paced and balanced with story/characters and exploration.
Downsides/Improvements- First major downside is the lack of puzzle difficulty in Tombs and environment. Theirs 7 something tombs to explore but only require a simple puzzle to solve them. To me this is disappointing just because in previous installments puzzles were so much better. I hope they can improve this for the next game. Environmental puzzles throughout the game aren't overally difficult as well. They don't really make you stop and think the same way they did in the past. For a series to be focused so much on puzzles its annoying to see this take more of a back seat in terms of difficulty. Next is the lack of side-character development. I understand that this is Lara's story which makes sense however her crew isn't as interesting besides Roth which is kinda like Lara's god father. Crystal Dynamics tries to make them interesting but compared to Sully and the characters in the Uncharted series which is a close comparison they just don't add up. Id really like to see better characters besides Lara in the next game.
Multiplayer
Yes their is mutli player in a tomb raider game. Is it good? well lets just say its a hit and miss. Personally I was turned off by the fact of ever having muliplayer in a game that's focused on single player but it came with the game. If players don't wanna play it then don't, if they do then fine. Unfortunately because its part of the package it needs to be reviewed and because it cant even hold a candle to the single play it effects the score. MP to start is decently fun and has its moments. The best part is you get to use the Bow to shoot people in the face. For me this is still fun and the highlight about MP. Overall though its very generic and lacks variety. Theirs only 4 game modes, TDM, Free-for-all, and a different form of capture the flag and a rip off of uncharteds treasure collecting mode. Weapons vary between both sides but is unbalanced. I don't understand why one side gets this kind of pistol and the other cant get the same one. It doesn't make sense and makes it unbalanced. For each weapon theirs perks but every weapon has the same 3 types of perks (add more damage, more ammo or faster reload) for each custom class players can pick 2 perks which are the same generic ones we have seen since Call of Duty 4. Players level to 60 unlock guns and new characters. The visuals for characters is so much lower then the single player with stiffer animations, and lower visual design. On top of that most guns sound the exact same making it hard to tell who has what gun. The only upside is that environments have traps, with interactive elements like climbing jumping ext. and are neatly designed despite some bad spawn points. The MP has alot of potential and reminds me of uncharted MP which is fun. Crystal needs to decide for the next game to improve MP or not even have it because its very lack-luster
Overall Tomb Raider is an amazing experience. The single player captures Lara perfectly as a character and the series is on the right path. With a few minor changes focusing more on puzzles and tombs the game can only get better. Combat is improved and more fun then ever. The game is visually appealing with a compelling story that captures the essence of Tomb Raider. The MP has its fun moments however is bland and needs major improvements. I gave Tomb Raider a 9/10 because Crystal Dynamics does an outstanding job rebooting the series despite small downsides and lack-luster MP bring the whole package down. This is a single player experience that shouldn't be missed. Lara Croft is back, and looking even better!