A great beginning and a great reboot of a well-established character. The combat and movement is sharp and feels good to run through and the story is intriguing enough to keep it moving forward. While the game has some jank and some bugs on modern systems, causing a few issues, this is a solid game.
Gameplay:
The gameplay is the main focus in this game and a focus on movement. Lara feels excellent to control and move around, with a variety of movement techniques you use throughout the game. The gunplay is solid, and the enemies not being bullet sponges even on hard difficulty means that it always keeps you moving. There are a lot of destructible environments that you can use to your advantage and disadvantage and it all blends together. I think the biggest issue is that the game is extremely easy with generous checkpoints and a lack of difficult in combat, along with resource collection. You never really need to worry about ammo and the handgun is so good you'll be using that through most of the game. There aren't many weapons, but I don't think you really needed many more. I think a couple of AOE options would've been nice however and some guns felt less balanced than the other, like the grenade launcher or the shotgun. I think the exploration is good, and I like how levels loop in on themselves with new open areas, but the collectibles aren't very satisfying most of the time, and the same with wildlife hunting.
Story:
Tomb Raider starts us off with an untested Lara Croft, which is a new direction for the series. We can see her develop and fight as she goes through the island, barely surviving a lot of ridiculously cool set events. This is 'Lara's Bad Day' for sure. It is actually almost comical, but it works to keep things interesting and varied. The supporting characters are very stereotypical in their roles, but the do enough to keep things moving. It doesn't bog you down, but it is slightly more than just being there for the sake of being there. I think everyone being a little one-note minus Lara is a small complaint, but not enought to hinder the experience.
Extras:
The graphics have aged somewhat well with really good lighting and animations, as well as character faces, but there is some parts in the game that look off. I think also there is a lot of exploration areas where everywhere else the objects would not have been climbable, but here they are. It creates a bit of a confusing trek when going through some spots. I will say, the game also really needs an update for modern systems. I had to downpatch and cap my framerate to get the game working properly, and I also had a hard crash that lost me a LOT of exploration progress, making me run through two full areas again to collect everything for the challenge. Overall though I really enjoyed my time with the game, and I'm excited to play the rest of the series.
Gameplay:
The gameplay is the main focus in this game and a focus on movement. Lara feels excellent to control and move around, with a variety of movement techniques you use throughout the game. The gunplay is solid, and the enemies not being bullet sponges even on hard difficulty means that it always keeps you moving. There are a lot of destructible environments that you can use to your advantage and disadvantage and it all blends together. I think the biggest issue is that the game is extremely easy with generous checkpoints and a lack of difficult in combat, along with resource collection. You never really need to worry about ammo and the handgun is so good you'll be using that through most of the game. There aren't many weapons, but I don't think you really needed many more. I think a couple of AOE options would've been nice however and some guns felt less balanced than the other, like the grenade launcher or the shotgun. I think the exploration is good, and I like how levels loop in on themselves with new open areas, but the collectibles aren't very satisfying most of the time, and the same with wildlife hunting.
Story:
Tomb Raider starts us off with an untested Lara Croft, which is a new direction for the series. We can see her develop and fight as she goes through the island, barely surviving a lot of ridiculously cool set events. This is 'Lara's Bad Day' for sure. It is actually almost comical, but it works to keep things interesting and varied. The supporting characters are very stereotypical in their roles, but the do enough to keep things moving. It doesn't bog you down, but it is slightly more than just being there for the sake of being there. I think everyone being a little one-note minus Lara is a small complaint, but not enought to hinder the experience.
Extras:
The graphics have aged somewhat well with really good lighting and animations, as well as character faces, but there is some parts in the game that look off. I think also there is a lot of exploration areas where everywhere else the objects would not have been climbable, but here they are. It creates a bit of a confusing trek when going through some spots. I will say, the game also really needs an update for modern systems. I had to downpatch and cap my framerate to get the game working properly, and I also had a hard crash that lost me a LOT of exploration progress, making me run through two full areas again to collect everything for the challenge. Overall though I really enjoyed my time with the game, and I'm excited to play the rest of the series.