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Tomb Raider (2013)
I am a big Tomb Raider fan. Curiously enough, this is what makes it difficult for me to review this game. Let me say first that 'Tomb Raider (2013)' is a great game and an easy recommendation. As a game per se my vote is a 9/10, it is extremely fun to play. Despite having its fair share of flaws it is an immensely enjoyable ride. But - but: This is not a 'Tomb Raider' game, and 'Lara Croft' is not Lara Croft in this game. These are just labels tacked on.
The Good
- Great gameplay: Exploring, fighting, upgrading your avatar - all these are perfect.
- Fantastic level design, borrowing the 'hub' mechanics from no other title than 'Dark Souls'. After exploring different areas of the island, you always find ways back to earlier areas, interconnecting different parts and making it a real big whole world built in a very clever way.
- Interesting and engaging avatar. S.b. for more comments.
- Great objectives: Lara has to go through a series of challenging and constantly life-threatening chores, it is really a 'big adventure', just like the prologue says.
- Awesome soundtrack which even employs an instrument specifically built for this game.
Neutral
- Lots of explosions and over-the-top action sequences. It is a big spectacle, but don't expect any subtlety. Appreciating the aesthetics of Michael Bay definitely helps.
- Underwhelming ending and boss fight. Well, you can't have everything.
- Tomb raiding is moved to the background with 'optional' 'tomb' areas. This is the most blatant indicator for this game heavily borrowing from the 'Uncharted' franchise in the first place and then considering how to transmogrify the thing into a 'Tomb Raider' instalment.
The Bad
- Side characters and the antagonist a shallow cardboard pieces serving as mere placeholders for real characters. This is a big problem: Why should the player care about them? As 'Legend' and 'Underworld' already indicated, this game proves Crystal Dynamics is really not up to writing good characters.
- Crystal Dynamics cannibalizes the franchise with some badly written dialogue ("You're a Croft" and other items like these). Given that this is an origin story, it is rather out of place. Lara and the player are supposed to earn this rather than being told before actually doing anything. It's funny that this is as bad as the companion feature film (the 'Tomb Raider' atrocity with Alicia Vikander) which treats us to gems like "You are a real Tomb Raider". Phew.
- Bad dialogue between the companions in general: Nobody can give a straight answer. There is much quarreling when they should be interested in forming a survival community above all else. Story design isn't Crystal Dynamics strength, either, although it is not as bad as the characterization department.
My personal beef: 'Tomb Raider 2013' isn't 'Tomb Raider' anymore
- While the gameplay is great, there is no resemblance to former platforming and puzzle solving anymore.
- Lara gets a new biography, a different set of characteristics and a more realistic appearance. You may hail this as progress, I do not.
- This is a hard reboot that changes almost everything with respect to earlier instalments while keeping some elements to cash in on former accomplishments. In my opinion, this game would have been even better, if they had moved it out of the franchise and gave the protagonist a different name and biography.
- To me Crystal Dynamics' approach is an unpleasant rumination of how US-American developers think a heroine from the British aristocracy should look and act like. Core Design managed to make Lara Croft tough, cool and sympathetic while letting her do things that were often anything but lady-like. For me that was one of the biggest appeals - and now this is quite irrevocably lost.