Time to catch up with an old girlfriend...
Touted as a reboot and origin story, the Lara introduced to us in this game is only 21, a fresh-faced university graduate setting off on an expedition into the Dragon's Triangle (Japan's version of the Bermuda Triangle) to find the lost kingdom of Yamatai and any traces of Sun Queen Himiko, who allegedly ruled Japan thousands of years past. But when a savage storm wrecks Lara and the rest of the crew of the Endurance on the coast of an untamed island rich with history, they soon find themselves hunted by the island residents, and all they have to do is survive. And Lara in particular, will have to quickly develop the skills necessary to survive- and to become the tomb raider we all know and love.
Things have changed a lot since the days of the original series- Lara controls a lot like Nathan Drake from the Uncharted series (a series which has a lot of influence upon this new game), with smooth, responsive twin-stick movement- the days of having to take your time to line up jumps and grabs is a distant memory, and Lara can easily scale up ledges, the sides of run-down temple ruins and throw herself over huge gaps to make last-ditch grabs on distant platforms, as well as take zip-lines, scale up ropes, and many more moves. Even with the control overhaul, new Tomb Raider still has elements from the original series- exploration, puzzle solving, and combat, but there is plenty of more stuff added into the mix by Crystal Dynamics to bring the series back up to date.
Where the original games were largely linear fare, this new title has some elements of open world games to them- Yamatai is split up into a number of regions, some of which act as central hubs from where you can freely explore in order to search out new collectibles such as journals, GPS caches and relics that reveal more of the story behind the history of Yamatai and the tales of the people who have lived there over the centuries. You can't explore everywhere at once though- some areas are 'gear gated', in an idea taken from the Legend of Zelda and other series, where you can only access certain areas with the right equipment- such as the climbing ax to climb craggy cliffs, or the shotgun to blow through wooden barriers. This means if you want to get 100% completion you'll have to travel back into past areas in order to find all of the collectibles, all of which earn you experience points.
Yes, new Tomb Raider has a pseudo-RPG system in place as well. Completing objectives, finding collectibles, hunting down animals and killing enemies will all earn you experience, and after you've earned a certain amount you'll earn a skill point, which can then be spent at one of the camp fires dotted around the island which act as your save points. Skill points can be spent in three different categories, much like the recent Far Cry 3 did- Survivor gives you perks that increases how much salvage you can scavenge from crates and chests, lets you see animals easier, and lets you mark collectibles on the map, while the Hunter skills improves your ammo capacity, your accuracy with weapons, and the final Brawler tree upgrades your health and gives Lara a few close combat tricks, including throwing dirt into enemy's faces and unlocking some pretty brutal finishing moves when you reach the higher skills. As you progress through the game you'll gradually level Lara up into a survivalist who can deal with anything the island can throw at her. Combat wise, the makeshift longbow which Lara collects early on becomes her signature weapon- ammo is plentiful, it is a powerful stealth tool, and can be used for a variety of different purposes as you collect more gear and upgrades later on. You can also use more traditional weapons as well, including a pistol, shotgun and machine gun. Your armory can be upgraded using the salvage you find across the island or scavenge from dead animals (increasing things such as clip size, damage, reload speed and even alternate firing modes), and even upgrade them into new forms with the spare parts you find- turning the makeshift bow into a proper recurved bow for instance, and turning that old World War 2 machine gun you pick up into a proper AK-47 which can fire grenades as a secondary fire mode- therefore you'll constantly be updating your arsenal to tackle anything Yamatai can throw at you.
Though packs of wolves and other wild animals occupy the island, your main opponents are the large band of island scavengers formed from countless shipwrecked crews and who aren't too friendly with visitors. The opening sequences- where Lara escapes from a dark underground cave lair strewn with skulls and other horrific imagery being chased by some crazy troglodyte killer, and later has to fight back among burning temple ruins as they hunt down her fellow crew members- shows just how dangerous these guys are, and reinforces that Lara has to fight back if she wants to survive. The scavengers come at you in many forms, including those with bows, those who toss Molotov cocktails (and dynamite) at you, and those who come straight at you with machetes, so you really have to quickly adapt to changing battlefields, scrambling around in the dirt to avoid gunfire and arrows and take cover. Unlike many other games, Lara actually takes cover automatically when you get close to something that could be used as cover, and you can normally scramble away in time to avoid most attacks. You can use the environment to your advantage- such as blowing up the old standby of explosive barrels or shattering oil lanterns over heads- and use stealth tactics- sneaking up behind an unsuspecting enemy gives you the chance to snap their necks or plant a climbing ax through the top of their skull, while your bow acts as a lethal silent tool for long-range head shots, or shooting arrows into walls to distract enemies while you pick the others off. As times passes you'll encounter more specialized forms of scavenger and other enemy types that'll force you to adapt your tactics further.
For the main part, the combat has a brutal, unforgiving feel about it- these guys are capable of some pretty horrible things, so you can't show mercy. The manner in which you can dispatch them only enforces that- smashing a rock into their face as a finisher, planting the spike of your climbing ax through the top of their skull, driving one of your arrows into their neck and tearing it out with some difficulty as they choke on their own blood- even blowing their head off with a point-blank shotgun blast. Set them on fire and they thrash and roll about, screaming horrifically as the fire consumes their clothes and flesh, adding a somewhat unsettling background noise to combat. Sure, Lara has killed plenty in her prior games, but it's never been this intimate or gritty.
Aside from the satisfying combat, there is a strong exploration element to the new Tomb Raider- as mentioned previously, some areas act as hubs, whereby you can only access later areas when you acquire the necessary equipment, and you have to do so if you want to 100% everything. Finding relics lets Lara fill you in on its general history, while the documents written by a number of characters (including members of the Endurance crew, one of the island scavengers and a Japanese Minister from centuries past) help to fill in the history of Yamatai and fleshes out some of the side characters, so there is a further benefit to seeking them out rather than just gaining experience. And among everything else there are the Tombs- self-contained puzzle rooms which challenge Lara to get from one end to another, and some of these will genuinely make you stop and think as you examine your environment- much like some of the massive puzzle rooms from the previous games. As well as earning huge exp and salvage rewards from completing them, you can also find treasure maps which can fill in your in-game map with the locations of other collectibles- further helping you in your quest to 100% everything. The one low point about the Tombs is that there aren't enough of them in the game- even just playing through the game the first time, I managed to complete all of them without trying.
The puzzle-solving has also evolved somewhat, even if none of it quite matches the sheer size and scale of the some of the immense puzzle rooms from the classic games. Many puzzles revolve around elemental effects- using fire to burn away wooden objects from your path or set off pockets of explosive gas, or using the wind to move certain rickety platforms into reach of far-away ledges- or using your gear in certain ways, such as using your rope arrows to pull heavy objects into the right position or fire arrows to ignite and burn away distant flammable material. There's also the odd timed puzzle where you need to activate the necessary materials in the right order and run for it, though for the most part the game's puzzles are fairly simple to understand, save the odd challenging situation that makes you sit back and ponder the solution. Lara can use her survival instincts mode to help with puzzles too- with a press of L2, the screen turns black and white and highlights anything that you can interact with in some way, from puzzle elements to collectibles and animals to hunt. It can feel a little cheaty, but as it doesn't explicitly show you how to solve a particular puzzle it means you still have to do the heavy lifting yourself. And on top of all this, the Uncharted nods are there in the form of some grand set pieces, such as sliding down a dirt slope on your ass as the flaming wreckage from a crashed rescue plane tumbles down behind you, or guiding her down some rapids, avoiding piles of (very) sharp driftwood and blowing through wooden barriers using your shotgun in slow motion. Of course it looks familiar, but for the most part you have near full control during these sections, and they serve as an exciting crescendo to some of the more subtle periods of the game.
Graphically, Tomb Raider is probably one of the best looking games of recent times (aside from the odd low-res texture on forest undergrowth) with some highly detailed character models (Lara gets covered in blood, dirt and some other nasty substances more than once and goes through an absolute battering during her time on Yamatai) and a large range of environments, from overgrown forests, crumbling temple ruins from the ancient Chinese period, overgrown World War 2 bunkers and bases, snow-capped mountainous terrain, and underground lairs that could easily have been pulled from horror movie The Descent. As well as that, Tomb Raider features some great elemental effects too, from fire that gradually spreads and burns away flammable materials within reach (even if they just burn away to nothing within the space of a few seconds somewhat unrealistically), water which cascades down rock walls and froths inside tidal caves, and fierce winds that buffets at wooden shutters and tears about fragile bridges and masonry with impunity.
There's some strong sound design in Tomb Raider too, even if some of the voices used by characters tend to fall back onto regional stereotypes- such as Captain Roth's rough Yorkshire accent and his friend Grim's Glasgow tones- though Lara remains the star attraction. Early on she constantly reassures herself, constantly comments on her surroundings, and you can feel the fear and uncertainty in her voice, which later develops as she becomes more confident in dealing with the dangers of Yamatai. And that's not all- when she's hurt she vocalizes her pain, when she treats a serious stomach wound later on with a heated arrow head she screams in agony- when her friends are in danger she makes it clear to her enemies that she won't be stopped so easily. Camilla Luddington's vocal performance as Lara deserves huge kudos. There is some effective music tracks in Tomb Raider too, ranging from subtle, spine-tingling tracks as Lara slowly picks her way through dark forests as lightning flashes above or through underground caves strewn with bones and other human remains, to more dramatic tracks as Lara engages in combat with the scavengers, fends off wolf attacks, or runs for her life.
Tomb Raider's story is another one of its strong suits, closely following Lara's development from a scared graduate into a seasoned adventurer as she fights to survive Yamatai. Though she clearly doesn't feel worthy of the name Croft, she has no choice but to fight and survive, even if it means killing. The first life she takes nearly breaks Lara, but she picks herself and carries on, becoming more and more comfortable with the killing- even if it's a bit of a sharp contrast going from having a mini breakdown to taking down dozens of enemies with ease. Unlike other video game characters, the events of the story affect Lara, even if she doesn't outright talk about it- she just has to keep going, no matter what and she barely has time to consider the implications of what she is taking part in. Since Lara's such a well-realized character it's a shame then that most of the other characters don't develop much beyond what you read in the odd document.
And Tomb Raider features an online multiplayer as well, which to be perfectly honest doesn't hit the highs the single player portion does. It features the kind of structure so beloved of a lot of online multiplayers now- a level up system, customizable load outs than you can alter using the salvage earned by killing enemies and looting boxes and so forth- but it has a few of its own ideas. Environmental interaction is a big focus in a lot of the maps- you can set up a number of traps for your opponents such as rope snares that leave them dangling upside down or lightning rods which can attract lethal bolts of lightning towards anyone who walks by, or causing rock slides and other dangers to sweep away unsuspecting enemies. These can be on a much larger scale too, such as calling in a sandstorm which reduces visibility or activating a submarine self-destruct system that cuts the match short. Some of the game modes on show as well display a slant towards teamwork, such as one mode where the survivors have to activate some radio transmitters while the scavengers try to stop them, or another where they have to retrieve med packs, and the scavengers can only finish them off with a melee finisher. It reminds a little of Uncharted multiplayer, but the Playstation 3 version (at least) has some really horrendous lag if you have all eight players in a lobby, and half the time it's hard to find a game with enough people in to begin with.
Although the multiplayer is sub-par, the single player portion of Tomb Raider has more than enough to recommend it- sublime gameplay, great looks, satisfying combat, exploration and more all combines to create perhaps Lara's greatest adventure since the original Playstation entries. Even despite the odd grumble, such as some low-res textures and the odd tricky QTE event, it's safe to say that Lara Croft is back. Even if you don't consider yourself a fan of the series, you still need to check this out. And for those of you who are, there's been no better excuse to catch up with an old friend.