Tomb Raider Review

Tomb Raider - 2013 [Publisher: Square Enix, Developer: Crystal Dynamics]

I remember playing the original game on my PlayStation 1 in the late nineties and for its time it was probably one of the best games you could ever play on the console. Back in the day, man that makes me feel old saying that, every child had the same games. You played Rayman, Spyro the Dragon and Crash Bandicoot and those games were your life, well except from when you were out in the real world which was most of the time. In my family Tomb Raider was a game that was played solely by my parents, me and my sister would play Spyro the Dragon whilst they would have a go at trying to swim through countless flooded tombs to flick a switch to unlock the next level or fight off hordes of snarling wolves and those annoying little bats. When I finally got my hands on the game I couldn't put it down and made it my mission to complete it. I failed. I seem to remember being stuck in a pink room with floors which crumbled beneath you to send the unfortunate Lara Croft plummeting onto some rather nasty looking spikes. I think she's still trapped in that room somewhere on my old memory card.

Now despite being stuck at what I don't even think was anyone near the end of the game, I absolutely loved Tomb Raider and when I heard they were doing a reboot of the series ... I was a little uneasy. Reboots don't always settle well with me, sometimes it feels lazy in that the writers or producers can no longer think of anything to do with the story they have already built up so decide to simply scrap it all and go from the beginning, kind of like a middle finger to the fans who have been part of the journey from the very beginning. A reboot of Tomb Raider however is probably one of the best choices that Square Enix could have made. Whilst Lara Croft was kick-ass and seen as the equal of other female bad-asses such as Ellen Ripley and Sarah Connor she never really had a personality. All you knew was that she was a Tomb Raider ... and English. Now there's nothing wrong with that, back in the day [there's that old feeling again] games weren't really made for a gripping and awesome story, with some exceptions. The likes of Spyro and Rayman had little character development and that was fine. You were given your character and told what you had to do, that was all. In todays day and age however games have taken on a new form. Whilst they still are first and foremost a means of entertainment, the writers behind them have increasingly begun to turn them into an art form where they are quickly rivalling films for their storylines and emotional punch. We've got to the stage now where the stories of video games are scrutinized and if you cannot connect to the character you are playing then it's not worth playing the game. Now I'm not saying I agree with that but its true and the simple fact is that the Lara Croft we all knew and loved from the late 90s would not be able to make an impact in today’s market. She would be seen as two dimensional and quickly forgotten about. Unthinkable for such a powerhouse in the gaming industry. Cue Tomb Raider 2013!

When I saw the first trailer for Tomb Raider I was blown away. First off the character design of Lara Croft is immensely superior to the original Lara Croft. Now yes all us boys would laugh and smirk at the different views we could get of Lara by making the camera zoom in by standing in a corner or swimming upwards but she never seemed real and even if she had some deep character development, I doubt we would be able to get over her frankly over the top appearance. The new Lara however is a huge improvement. Now without trying to sound like a creepy gamer the new Lara is a rather good looking lass but at the same time you could see her actually existing in the real world. She isn't some pin-up for geeks to drool over anymore, she's a normal girl that you connect with and one that you can care about. Along with the new character design of Lara she also comes with a brand new voice and it is of the highest quality. A brilliant performance by Camilla Luddington [Grey's Anatomy, William and Kate] brings life to the character and displays a vast array of emotions in her voice that allow us to believe in the character and care about her deeply. I don't think they could have really gotten anyone better to voice Lara than her and she deserves an enormous amount of praise for her work. On the subject of the voice acting the rest of the cast are solid as well without any of the over the top performances that are usually delivered in many video games like this such as a maniacal villain, though he is still a rather nasty man. The fellow members of the Endurance Crew are played well by their respective voice actors though when playing through the game I found I didn't become as attached to many of the characters as I am sure the game would have like me to. Without giving away any spoilers when certain characters died I could see Lara was upset but I only felt a tinge of sadness for perhaps one of the deaths. Given the fact that this is an origin story for Lara however I can look past all this and simply enjoy the character that this game was made for.

The story of Tomb Raider begins aboard the Endurance where an archaeological expedition led by Conrad Roth and a team of others, including our hero Lara, is setting out to find the mythical ancient Kingdom of Yamatai, located somewhere around the islands of Japan. Lara believes, rightly as we soon learn, that the Kingdom of Yamatai is located somewhere within the Dragon's Triangle, an area south of Japan which is rife with violent and mysterious storms which have claimed many victims in the past. Despite resistance from the so called expert Dr. Whitman, Lara is able to convince Roth and the rest of the crew to head into the Dragon's Triangle where the trouble really begins. A violent storm hits the Endurance and the wreck is washed up on the shore of a mysterious island where Lara becomes separated from the rest of the crew and begins her journey almost immediately into becoming the ultimate badass [yes that's Aliens quote I had to throw in somewhere] that we knew and loved from the original game. During her ordeal she will come across familiar foes [those damn wolves], the dangerous inhabitants of the island who were once survivors from other wrecks but also the age old members of the Storm Guard, silent warriors and guardians of Queen Himiko, eternal ruler of the Yamatai Kingdom and the supposed source of the mysterious storms.

First things first the story of the new Tomb Raider game is absolutely top notch. When playing a game I usually try to spread it out over a couple of days, maybe even a week. I dislike gamers who rush through their games and even try and complete it on the day that they buy it and therefore I try and prolong the experience as much as I can. Did I do the same with Tomb Raider? No. Well I tried but I was so engrossed into the story and the character of Lara that I had to continue playing it as much as I could, completing it in a matter of days [which is a short time for me]. At points in the game I was thinking that maybe I've reached a conclusion in the story only for something else to happen in the plot that made the game seem to go on and on. Now that may seem like a bad thing, there are many times in a film or a game where it just seems dragged out to make it last a little longer whilst not doing anything for the story or plot. This is not what happens in Tomb Raider. At no point did I find myself bored at any point during this roller coaster of an adventure story and I never felt that there was anything that seemed out of place or just added in to waste time. Everything you did in the game was of importance to developing the character of Lara and developing the story. It all just flowed nicely and for that we have to give a big thanks to the writer, Rhianna Pratchett. Not only has she managed to weave an amazing origins story but she has also redefined the character Lara, making her into a character that we as the gamer care about throughout the many traumatic and dangerous events she has thrust upon her and create a believable origins for the character. We feel for Lara when she is confronted by all the horrors that the island of Yamatai can throw at her and we feel elated and proud when we manage to overcome them with her. For me climbing the radio tower to send out an SOS signal was probably the defining moment that made Lara into who she was with a real feeling of accomplishment when you climb to the very top of the tower, a mammoth task that I doubt I could achieve. I'd give it a go but I'd be terrified no doubt. Her first kill however is the single most important event that happens to Lara during her time in the Dragon's Triangle.

In previous games we have been used to seeing Lara dispatching enemy after enemy without much difficulty and we never really questioned it. In this reboot we are introduced to a novice Lara who has obviously never killed anyone and when she is confronted face to face by someone who means serious harm to her, she is forced to take a life for the first time. The scene is done perfectly with Lara at first shocked by what she has done before collapsing and almost retching at the sight of the body and the knowledge that she has killed another human being. Its powerful stuff and we really feel for Lara in that moment as we see what this island has forced her to become in order to survive. My only criticism about this segment is the fact that the transition from scared and frightened girl who is almost sick at the fact she has killed a person to someone who is very soon dispatching enemy after enemy with brutal efficiency. It is rather jarring the first moment you play it and does detract from the emotions the game was trying to convey. Lara however does say after being told by Roth over the radio that that can't have been easy to which she replies 'it was scary just how easy it was'. I think this goes some way to easing the transition but still it can be rather hard to swallow the speed in which she changes. However it does not pull me out of the story at all. Given the situation that Lara is put in I am sure most of us would like to think that we would do anything to survive, in fact the human race are the great survivors and it is amazing what we can manage individually when our lives are threatened, so I do understand how Lara can become the survivor that she is. Doing what she needs to survive and save her friends.

So what do we have so far? Storyline? Excellent. Voice Acting? Superb. Am I forgetting anything? Oh yes the game play itself. In the original Tomb Raider game the actual raiding of tombs itself was never straight forward. At times you were frustrated at how Lara struggled to grab a hold of ledges and proved difficult to control when performing jumps and leaps. Combat was never a strong point of the game either with you simply firing wildly with your dual pistols in the hope of seeing a bit of red blood to indicate you managed to hit something. The new Tomb Raider changes all this and makes combat very fun indeed. Everything about it seems to flow well with the dynamic cover system allowing Lara to crouch automatically and hide behind a wall that is much lower than herself, making sure she is perfectly hidden behind it. The cover system also allows Lara to lean around corners to fire from cover when aiming meaning you can quickly snap back into cover by simply releasing the aim button instead of having to press something else which allows for smooth and enjoyable fire fights and sneaking about. When first playing the game I was a little bit disappointed to find that there were no dual pistols for you to use, a weapon that is as important to Lara as the bullwhip is to Indiana Jones. I quickly forgot about them however when I was introduced to the bow and arrow that Lara receives early in the game, a weapon which goes on to become probably the most important weapon she will use on the island. You receive a pistol, rifle and shotgun later in the game but I found that I was using the bow and arrow more often than not. It's powerful and more importantly silent and there is nothing more satisfying by picking off a number of enemies one by one with an arrow to the face [no knee jokes here]. To compliment the weaponry available, Lara is able to improve her weaponry at areas called camps where salvage collected throughout the game such as by looting bodies or opening crates allow Lara to improve her weapons by increasing damage and ammo capacity. During the course of the game Lara finds weapon parts that allow her to upgrade her weapons even further such as improving her Type 100 IJA machine gun into an AK-47 Assault Rifle. The improvements to the bow were my favourite with the ability to strengthen the strings to allow for more power and a faster reload whilst receiving a composite bow later in the game makes it even more deadly. At camps Lara can also improve her own skills which are divided into three categories; survivor, hunter and brawler. Lara can gain skills such as receiving more loot from dead animals and enemies, being able to climb faster and also improvements to her close combat which even allow her to kill an enemy with an arrow before firing the very same arrow at another enemy. I love the idea of upgrading her skills but they don't really allow for any specialisation. By the end of the game you'll have most likely upgraded everything becoming a master of all trades. It isn't like Deus Ex: Human Revolution where you are committed to one or two branches of improvements that will define your game play experience, rather you must choose what you think will be the best skill to learn at the time as you will eventually master them all by the end of the game. The camps also allow for you to fast travel back to areas on the island where you might have missed one or two of the many collectibles that are littered around the island. I found the documents in particular irresistible to try and find and made it my mission to collect as many of them as I could as it added a whole new layer to the history of the island. The addition of an Axis/Nazi expedition to the island were my favourite documents to find as we all know that Nazi's make any adventure story that much cooler, yes I'm talking about you Indiana Jones. The documents written by the crew of the Endurance were also very cool to find and fleshed out their characters a lot more, especially for the ones who didn't receive as much screen time as the others. The inclusion of optional tombs was also another cool part of the game which whilst not adding to the story, helped give you information on where to find other artefacts in the area that you might have missed. The puzzles are also fun and at times a little too easy, the only one I had trouble with was the sunken bunker, it was a real face palm moment when I realised how easy it actually was. I think though it is a very good part of the game and I’d love to see it developed a bit more if there are any sequels [which I hope there is].

Finally the design of the environments and the score deserve special mention. At times I found myself looking in every single nook and cranny of every room for the amazing amounts of detail that have been put in by the developers who have clearly put a lot of love into their work and it shows. The island is brought alive by the different environments you find yourself in, the cable car sequence and the shipwreck beach especially breathtaking. I also loved being able to see the different wrecks around the island which included Imperial Japanese planes and trucks dotted around the landscape alongside much older vessels which clearly showed how long this island had been the cause of so many disasters at sea. The score was also very impressive with cues that really made you feel as if Lara was growing into the strong women we know; again the scene with Lara climbing the communication tower is a perfect example of the score conveying the enormity of the task she is undertaking for the rest of her crew. In fact that is probably my single most loved moment of the game. Everything about the climbing of the communications tower is perfect to me.

So what do I make of the reboot of Tomb Raider? If you can't tell already tell from my review I think it is bloody fantastic and is up there with one of the best games I have ever played, in fact I will say it is the best game I have ever played [sorry Batman Arkham City]. Everything about it keeps you playing and the biggest criticism I have about the game is that it had to end. The story and characters have inspired me to write my own short stories and I think that is the greatest legacy a game can have. That it makes people interested in wanting to carry on the story and hungry for more just goes to show the effect the story and the character Lara has had on people. Lara has been turned from a two dimensional character that we didn't really care about in the old games to one who has become someone we can relate to and really care for. Now I'm not saying I go out to die in certain games but in Tomb Raider I tried my utmost to never let Lara die. For one the death scenes were particularly brutal and I had no wish to ever having to see Lara go through them but also because I genuinely cared for her and wanted to keep her safe at all costs, to help her survive.  I hope that this reboot can turn into a long running franchise for the series and not just a standalone origins tale that will link in with past games. The developers, writer and voice actors have created such a wonderful and deep game that deserves to be carried on. The only problem is how are they going to top it?

Tomb Raider - 10/10