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8.4

Generally favorable reviews- based on 5047 Ratings

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  1. Dec 8, 2013
    4
    First off, I know this game is designed to be played on the console, but I decided to get Tomb Raider on the PC just to check out the awesome graphics. And so it's true, the graphics in this game is absolutely AMAZING!! It's so demanding that I can't believe I had to scale back the shadow quality to 'normal' and use fxaa even when running it with my AMD HD7990. That aside, we all know aFirst off, I know this game is designed to be played on the console, but I decided to get Tomb Raider on the PC just to check out the awesome graphics. And so it's true, the graphics in this game is absolutely AMAZING!! It's so demanding that I can't believe I had to scale back the shadow quality to 'normal' and use fxaa even when running it with my AMD HD7990. That aside, we all know a game is not just about the graphics. So how does Tomb Raider play out in its gameplay aspect? Well, its actually what you would expect: a very linear and highly scripted gameplay that lacks overall creativity and innovation. It's simply jumping, climbing, laughable combat mechanic, quick time events, and if you're too lazy to figure out where to go, just hit 'q' and it'll show you what to do. It's rinse and repeat. Combined with a lacklustre storyline featuring a younger, less hot and not so badass Lara Croft, this game will easily make you bored of it after the first two hours. Sorry Lara, you know I put up with you for so long, but this is it I think I just fell out of love. It's 5 out of 10.!! Expand
  2. Apr 3, 2013
    4
    I was having fun in this game, it's pretty solid, but I ran into a serious bug that prevented me from further playing the game. At one point in the game, I went the wrong way and explored an area I was suppose to explore later in the game. As a result, my game is now all bugged up and the quest will no longer progress. It's really sad, I was looking forward to finishing this game.
  3. Mar 7, 2013
    4
    Having never played any Tomb Raider games before I went into this with an open mind ready to see what the fuss was about. Sadly it was anything but 8/10 worthy. The start of the game is just about the only reason this game scored a 4 from me, as it really kicked off to great satisfaction. At the start it really feels like Lara is completely down and out and quite literally fighting for herHaving never played any Tomb Raider games before I went into this with an open mind ready to see what the fuss was about. Sadly it was anything but 8/10 worthy. The start of the game is just about the only reason this game scored a 4 from me, as it really kicked off to great satisfaction. At the start it really feels like Lara is completely down and out and quite literally fighting for her life. Things like having to search for food and shivering until the fire was complete was extremely nice touches. Then it just started to go downhill, and it didn't stop. I came into the game expecting a Action/Adventure/Puzzle/Platformer and what I got was a ACTION focused, semi-adventure with minor Platforming elements and a couple of crappy puzzles. The story was interesting but sadly the writing team completely ruined any intrigue the story had. Poorly timed cutscene interaction combined with strings of conversations which felt like they came straight out of 'Short story writing for dummies', ultimately made for boring character interaction and a few chuckles at strange conversation flow. Characters were extremely cliched but thankfully so few of them get any sort of development that you don't have to cringe to much at watching them become fully evolved walking Cliches. Lara's development is less 'Girl to Hardened Survivor' and more, 'Is this girl stupid, why would she ever want to go on an exploration ever again?' There was extremely few puzzles and they were all ridiculously easy. Tombs where the puzzles were, however, extremely gorgeous and it's probably worth going inside for a look but then not even bothering to do the puzzle. Platforming was there but extremely watered down. There was a moment where I was jumping around little rocky cliffs and I found a way to reach the ground, however upon landing on the ground from a tiny jump I died. I had hit a 'DeadZone', which frankly is a disgusting thing to have in a game and it really made me think twice before bothering to try any interesting platforming for the rest of the game because there was probably not going to be anything there or a deadzone. However I did continue trying and every platform stage is very 'hand-holdy', you never really get a chance to just jump around, you always have to use your tools and because of this just about any place you'd reach by platforming was extremely spelled out and the game practically guided you in bright yellow. The Graphics weren't anything to be overly proud of, if anything a bit below average for a 2013 AAA title (Probably slightly worse then Deus Ex Human Revolution and a little better then Mass Effect 3). Artstyle was probably akin to Mass Effect 3, very sort of standard video game, slightly cartoony realism. The opening Cinematic was fairly meh, not even close to the quality of the Openings to say; Deus Ex: HR, Witcher 2 etc. Cutscenes were well done but the Camera got a little funky from time to time and of course QTE (Quick Time Events) were just rife throughout which really detracted from them. On that matter the QTE's were a massive annoyance, having to use them for something as simple as a 'Stealth Kill' was just absurd, and then having to use them in practically every aspect of the game was just over the top. My final point, and this is where I'll sum up as well, is that simply it's sad when you play a game labeled as a; Action/Adventure/Platformer and the most polished and fun part of the game is the standard boring 'Call of Duty' style shooting elements. Based off how the game started I was expecting Alot of Adventure, Alot of Platforming and a bit of Action and then about 25% of the way through it just started to deteriorate rapidly and turned into a full on Action game with some basic Platforming. The final 50-60% of the game just felt like I was running from one scripted shooting encounter to the next, it didn't even feel like an adventure. It feels like they've tried to do what alot of Video Games lately are doing and attract the Call of Duty/Battlefield market. Which clearly has worked for them considering all the rave reviews from the same people who praise those lame shooters, but for someone like me who hasn't experienced a proper good Action/Adventure/Platformer since Donkey Kong 64, I was once again extremely let down. Expand
  4. Mar 7, 2013
    4
    Tomb Raider (the reboot) is less of a game and more of a movie. First lets get the pro's out of the way:
    -The game is visually appealing. The atmosphere is set perfectly for each moment of the game.
    -Lara, the player's character, is well developed throughout the story of the 'game'. -Voice acting is good. Thats it for everything good about this game. Now for the con's: -Even though
    Tomb Raider (the reboot) is less of a game and more of a movie. First lets get the pro's out of the way:
    -The game is visually appealing. The atmosphere is set perfectly for each moment of the game.
    -Lara, the player's character, is well developed throughout the story of the 'game'.
    -Voice acting is good.
    Thats it for everything good about this game. Now for the con's:
    -Even though Lara is a great character, almost every other character is boring and 2-dimensional. You don't feel any connection with any of them.
    -Way too many cut scenes! Especially at the beginning of the game. Also, there are some sections which severely restrict the player's control. This isn't fun.
    -The dreaded quick-time event. There are also too many of them, and they appear when you least think. You never know if it will be a cut scene, or a random quick-time event. They aren't built into the combat system very well either. The only time I ever died was to this atrocity of a gameplay mechanic. Also, did I mention they aren't fun?
    -The so-called "platforming" is ridiculously easy. This is the one area they could have went crazy with, but they decided to play it safe and make it so easy even a toddler could beat it.
    -Hand-holding gameplay. Are you lost? Just use your 'survival instincts' to point you the direction you need to go. You seriously don't even need this because the areas are smaller than they look, and the game is mostly linear. You miss all your shots on the wolf pack thats about to eat you alive? Don't worry, we will toss some QTEs your way so you don't die right away. Regenerating health? Check. Frequent checkpoints? Check. Lackluster AI? Check.
    -Simplistic puzzle elements. Once in while, you get puzzles. Needless to say, most of them require little to no thinking on your part. There usually only a few elements to the puzzle, and even if you get stuck, you can use your 'survival instincts' to help you point out the elements.
    -Music is forgettable. I don't think I need to explain this further.
    -Story is average.
    -Lack of varied weaponry. You got your bow, pistol, and shotgun. Thats it, unless you want to count the axe that you use to pry open doors among other things.
    -Multiplayer mode... I don't even want to get into this. Tomb Raider has always been a single player game.

    tl;dr version:
    Overall, this game is just too generic. It looks pretty, but thats about it. I am disappointed in how it turned out.
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  5. Mar 8, 2013
    4
    This game about a shooting, oceans of blood and Lara's falling. No adventure and challenging puzzles. This is not a Tomb Raider it's regular shooter with old famous name beyond which there is nothing.
  6. Mar 17, 2013
    4
    I have been a tomb raider fan for a long time. I have liked the majority of them and this is the worst tomb raider I have ever played. The music terrible, the fast travel is a bad idea in tomb raider, it's so un original. Where is the sweetness that made tomb raider so great? Where's the linear play, going from level to level, finding artifacts and stuff like that. This game is just likeI have been a tomb raider fan for a long time. I have liked the majority of them and this is the worst tomb raider I have ever played. The music terrible, the fast travel is a bad idea in tomb raider, it's so un original. Where is the sweetness that made tomb raider so great? Where's the linear play, going from level to level, finding artifacts and stuff like that. This game is just like any other game I have played recently. It's got stupid achievements and the loot system is ripped off from FC3. This game is an embarrassment to the tomb raider franchise and the only reason this game got rated high is because things have changed. Well, there's one thing that hasn't changed. Expand
  7. Apr 22, 2013
    4
    Tomb Raider [2013] is an interactive visual novel about a girl with gravity defying hair who ends up stranded on an island in the South Pacific after an accident. During her quest to survive she will be injured one way or another about every 5 minutes or even killed if she does not correctly executes a quick time event.
  8. May 30, 2013
    4
    It would have been a very good game, but:
    -Quick-time events are just too frequent, and they are actually the only cause of player death.
    -AI is very poor -Game dynamics looks similar to far cry 3 but levels are very small. It just looses the magic -The main character (Lara) whines could really get annoying (as long as you are not a kind of maniac) -Why is so hard for Lara to die if
    It would have been a very good game, but:
    -Quick-time events are just too frequent, and they are actually the only cause of player death.
    -AI is very poor
    -Game dynamics looks similar to far cry 3 but levels are very small. It just looses the magic
    -The main character (Lara) whines could really get annoying (as long as you are not a kind of maniac)
    -Why is so hard for Lara to die if a wolf stabs her throat, but so easy if I struck the wrong button during a QTE??
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  9. Jun 8, 2013
    4
    You are looking for a skill-based pc game? Don't stop here. There is very little game to be found. Pressing forward, tapping repeatedly on the keys flashing on the screen and participating in a string of quick-time events are the extend of the Tomb Raider reboot.
    Looking for a nice story, good graphics and excellent presentation? Not bothered by lowest-common denominator console-style
    You are looking for a skill-based pc game? Don't stop here. There is very little game to be found. Pressing forward, tapping repeatedly on the keys flashing on the screen and participating in a string of quick-time events are the extend of the Tomb Raider reboot.
    Looking for a nice story, good graphics and excellent presentation? Not bothered by lowest-common denominator console-style mechanics? You might be satisfied by this production.
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  10. Jun 17, 2013
    4
    For a game with so much hype surrounding character portrayal the supporting cast is weak. Sassy black chick serves as the critical voice to all the Lara’s concerns over the islands supernatural qualities. Cute Chinese girl functions as a plot device by being kidnapped like that guy who always disappears in The Hangover films. Large framed and even larger hearted Hawaiian guy keepsFor a game with so much hype surrounding character portrayal the supporting cast is weak. Sassy black chick serves as the critical voice to all the Lara’s concerns over the islands supernatural qualities. Cute Chinese girl functions as a plot device by being kidnapped like that guy who always disappears in The Hangover films. Large framed and even larger hearted Hawaiian guy keeps everyone’s spirits up while the island’s indigenous shower them all with fire based projectiles. The supporting cast is a too wide and nobody gets enough screen time or engaging dialogue to make a real presence, the main protagonist included. Lara isn’t well fleshed out either. She displays brief turmoil following her first kill, but she soon goes on to find new and outlandish ways to expose the inner craniums of hundreds more men without showing any further remorse or having the excuse of being drugged up to the eye balls like Far Cry 3’s Jason Brody. The writers attempt to book end the narrative with mournful references to her dead dad, but everything in between reads like the script of your average cookie cutter action flick.

    A lot of the narrative’s credibility has been tied to the portraying of Lara in a vulnerable light, but this doesn’t instantly make for thoughtful characterizing. If someone rewrote Mansfield Park and recast Fanny Price as a busty gun toting whore I doubt it’d be met with such appraisal, or perhaps it would; Pride and Prejudice and Zombies did alright, but I digress. While we’re talking literature, it’s worth mentioning that Tomb Raider attempts to embellish it’s narrative with collectable diaries and documents la Bioshock, but they don’t embellish it so much as contain every scrap of what could have made this story interesting. Additionally they’re so monotonously voiced and lengthy that players are like to harvest them for xp and swiftly move on. In further regard to the vulnerability aspect of Lara, it’s a tone that fails to resonate when she’s brushing off twenty foot drops every few seconds like some sort of human bouncy ball.

    Average writing aside game play isn‘t particularly jaw dropping, not to say that it‘s altogether poor as it functions fluidly, but remains uninspired. The box art is tag lined “A survivor is born” although survival elements are sparse. An opening tutorial has Lara murder and cook Bambi for nourishment. Later a heavily injured Lara has to abandon aggressive modes of combat, instead making use of throw able objects, bow kills and takedowns. However such scenarios were gimmicky and fleeting when instead they could have been more intricate and permanent features.

    More often or not oppurtunities to employ stealth are scripted and conclude with forced fire fights in which players need to hunker down in the same spot to pick off foes from behind cover. You can’t give a player the option to approach combat in their way for so long only to snatch it away. That’s like being invited to a dinner party where the first two courses are comprised of lobster and caviar, but turns out that desserts a massive un-optional sandwich.

    A.I isn’t too intelligent, take out one enemy by yanking him with rope and arrow from a platform and his buddy two feet away will assume they’ve went for a spontaneous paraglide session. Enemies endlessly gravitate towards flammable barrels like they were full of winning lottery tickets and the island’s rigged with more explosives than a Wile. E. Coyote cartoon so combat soon becomes pretty, but stale.

    Environments make impressive use of vertical spaces, but routes for dispatching enemies are persistently linear. Camera angles are occasionally an issue in woodland areas resulting in the player’s view being obscured by more shrubbery than if they were being tea bagged by a tree beard from Lord of the Rings. Woefully enemies can make better use of the vertical spaces than the player during combat and anytime the opportunity to perform impressive manoeuvres arises the game has the nasty habit of cutting to a cinematic or QTE, alarmed that the players satisfaction levels may be spiking.

    Out with combat, tomb raiding is optional activity and when the ’tombs’, read ‘small caves’, are encountered they’re usually preceded by long needless crawls towards an area containing remarkably simple puzzles. The purpose of these is supposedly to give the player a long look at Lara’s arse so there goes you feminist angle.

    The undeniably present lack of free will displayed in the game’s set pieces leads to the theory that it may have been Crystal Dynamic’s wish to produce a Tomb Raider movie. The abundant use of slow motion, cut-aways and the way the screen goes film noir when Lara takes damage would certainly suggest so. This in mind here’s the alternative to buying the game. Watch one of the old Angelina Jolie films with controller in hand and press the trigger every time Lara wastes some guy.
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  11. Sep 20, 2013
    4
    Is a good Action game. But is a bad Tombe raider game It's juste an other AAA game shooter with too many ads finaly for a generic bad story, a generic Shooter, a generic Game.

    Disappointed
  12. Jul 19, 2014
    4
    About as much of a gaming experience as the original Dragons Lair for Amiga. Mostly a bunch of quick time events is used to let you do things and the camera is locked. Seems like they really rather wanted to make another Tomb Raider movie, but were forced to make a "game".
  13. Dec 13, 2014
    4
    Visually stunning and great concept that fell through on execution. The characters are flat, the control and camera angles are pretty poor. It's not so much as you're playing a game as trying to navigate through a poorly designed mini game in between cut scenes.
  14. Aug 2, 2015
    4
    My overall opinion: Beautiful and fun but borderline stupid. No masterpiece.

    Inspired by the positive reviews, and having enjoyed previous Tomb Raider games, I have to say I was expecting more than what I got. This game has been hyped to no end and the reason critics believe it to be a genuine masterpiece is beyond me. Well my only theory is that many players view it like a playable
    My overall opinion: Beautiful and fun but borderline stupid. No masterpiece.

    Inspired by the positive reviews, and having enjoyed previous Tomb Raider games, I have to say I was expecting more than what I got. This game has been hyped to no end and the reason critics believe it to be a genuine masterpiece is beyond me. Well my only theory is that many players view it like a playable film: they are content having beautiful graphics explode in their face while they hold "forwards" and occasionally tap a button to remind them they are playing... Yes I get it: it's catchy, it's even fun at times, but it quite evidently lacks what makes a game a masterpiece.

    So to be fair: yes the graphics are beautiful, the map is cool, the playability is good, there are many creative gameplay elements, exploration is fun, and I found some parts of the story cool... So yes there are some excellent sides to it, but that is what made this game frustrating: they didn't go all the way to make a smart game. The game is actually pretty stupid:
    - The story has a cool basis (stranded on a perverse Island with an unexplainable curse), but it develops really stupidly: obvious plot holes, cliché characters, awful quotes, 2 dimensional character development, "twists" you expected from the start... It's like they were not authorised to actually make the story interesting, because they might loose the "dumb" segment of their audience.. I personally cringed through most of the cut scenes. Given they centred the game around the story, it's a real shame they stayed so superficial about it. There was real potential!
    - Most of the game switches between easy platforming, item collecting (all you have to do is use your "survival instincts" vision and inspect every corner), and sometimes impossibly hard gun fights. Some of it is fun, but after a while you start feeling like "meh I got the point". Weapon improvement helps give a sense of progress, but I found it in no way revolutionary. Once again it felt slightly dumb: there was only one real puzzle in the whole game. Any genuinely hard passage (i.e. gun fights) was overcome by grinding. Sadly all the excellent features of the game are overshadowed by obvious lacks: it tries to hard to be cool, and not enough to be creative.

    So I personally felt let down, but I can see many people don't mind it as much. I feel people who are serious about platformers might feel like this episode focused too much on making a polished game and forgot to give it a soul (which is ironic given the story).
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  15. Aug 4, 2022
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Copied from my review on steam.

    TL;DR This is a joyless prequel/reboot of a great franchise, with a weaker version of titular main character.

    Whereas the gameplay itself is fun, the story takes itself far too seriously. It is a less fun and less inspired than that of the OG Tomb Raider series. For one Lara neither looks, nor acts like classic Lara. OG Lara killed few people even if they had her ones dead to rights often opting to knock them out and leave them while she continued her investigation of the artifacts at hand. This Lara is killing people left and right and when she isn't she is being brutally killed as if several members of the dev team had snuff and gore fetishes. OG Lara killed dinosaurs, zombie centaurs and mummies in the first one. It had this sense of fun and goofy adventure to it while the visuals in Anniversary provided interesting designs and an interesting story about a grand supernatural mystery.

    Going more into Lara herself, OG was a badass, took no ♥♥♥♥ and kept a cool head that showing that she was in charge of the situation even when giant monsters are involved. There is danger for her however she is competent and capable, but is still fun often being flirty in certain situations when appropriate. When someone does die, be it an innocent caught in the cross fire or someone trying to kill her she treats it with the weight it deserves. She is what people should think of when they talk about a strong female character. New Lara is so weak willed and acts so different at times often like a sociopath throughout the reboot series. At the beginning of the third one she starts the apocalypse and kills countless civilians and is joking with a friend the next day showing the series has an inconsistent tone throughout. At times it looks like she is about to cry or off herself to get out of the situation at hand. She is all over the place.
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  16. Feb 14, 2023
    4
    Its a decent shooter, dot. The advantages of the game end here. People love the hurricane action in Tomb Raider, but guess what? 8 hours of explosions everywhere, climbing everywhere, long cutscenes with a poor cliche predictable story (+point to the game for brutal elements). I'd say there is too much action that its tiring. Also the action is not convincing because of a repeating tricksIts a decent shooter, dot. The advantages of the game end here. People love the hurricane action in Tomb Raider, but guess what? 8 hours of explosions everywhere, climbing everywhere, long cutscenes with a poor cliche predictable story (+point to the game for brutal elements). I'd say there is too much action that its tiring. Also the action is not convincing because of a repeating tricks as explosions, destructions, etc. It stops impress you after 2 hours. Lara Croft itself is a boring character, she's just a typical movie hero "I wanna save everyone, everything is my fault". She doesn't have self-awareness of what she's gone through and doesn't give a sh**, then goes on an every mission alone, getting cracks, bites, beartraps, all types of injuries, and goes on, while any other character gets injury and can't go on, sending you further. The atmosphere is nothing special, cursed island, bad weather all the time, wild insane people attacking everyone, its getting boring after an hour but it lasts the whole game. Appreciate the 3d platformer mechanics - its always pleasing to be able climbe everywhere you want. Bad thing that there is no "run" button in the game and no endurance upgrades. Upgrades are kinda lame too and there's not a lot. About weapons: not enough riffle ammo always, a lot of shotgun ammo, but shotgun sucks - pistol better. Expand
  17. Sep 19, 2022
    4
    The controls sometimes feels stupid. Upgrades feels nothing and really bad story. Only jumping and running action scenes and music made me feel good
  18. Jul 24, 2013
    3
    Graphically it is very well done and the story-line is quite good. Character development is somewhat juvenile, but not in any meaningful way. The combat mechanics of the game and its controls are fairly easy to learn (Notable exception: QTE's) and they blend with the story-line well enough.

    However, all of the positives mentioned above are eliminated by the inept, frustrating,
    Graphically it is very well done and the story-line is quite good. Character development is somewhat juvenile, but not in any meaningful way. The combat mechanics of the game and its controls are fairly easy to learn (Notable exception: QTE's) and they blend with the story-line well enough.

    However, all of the positives mentioned above are eliminated by the inept, frustrating, clumsy-beyond-belief and unplayable QTE's (Quick Timer Events). These absurd and enjoyment-ruining inserts bespeak a laziness and lack of confidence on the part of Square Enix/Eidos in their product. I believe they feel the need to "increase the challenge" of the game by inserting this ridiculous and unnecessary interactive cut scene construct into most combat sequences. Accomplished Game developers rely on a working difficulty progression, set by the player at the game's onset. I played this game (first time through) on EASY difficulty and was not able to get by the Wolf Fight in the Wolf Lair.

    I play games for enjoyment, first, last and all in between. Square Enix/Eidos has ruined my enjoyment by including this disastrous QTE insert into what could have been a fairly enjoyable game.. I rated the game at 3, in an act of generosity for the inclusion of those aspects mentioned in my opening remarks. Had I rated this game on enjoyment alone, I would have justly given a "0".
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  19. Mar 18, 2015
    3
    Terrible game and this is NOT a Tomb Raider! It has nothing to do with the tomb raider gameplay and is a kill fest with hordes of enemies. I think tomb raider lore is Dead :(
  20. Jul 31, 2013
    3
    Pathetic, Tomb Raider is the most overpolished piece of in the history gaming, and anyone who enjoys this game is either a woman hater or graphics fanatic.
  21. Aug 8, 2013
    3
    Huge letdown for me. There is absolutely no psychological exploration of Lara in this game, as was so loudly promised. What you get is a cliché snivelling little girl, constantly wailing while butchering through dozens of mercenaries with absolutely no progression in emotional intensity whatsoever. Lara's is shocked after her first kill and the next moment she just cuts to pieces a hundredHuge letdown for me. There is absolutely no psychological exploration of Lara in this game, as was so loudly promised. What you get is a cliché snivelling little girl, constantly wailing while butchering through dozens of mercenaries with absolutely no progression in emotional intensity whatsoever. Lara's is shocked after her first kill and the next moment she just cuts to pieces a hundred men without regrets (wut?). Some areas are well designed but the whole experience just feels like a long, tedious corridor filled with an unnecessary large number of ennemies (as well as scenaristically unconceivably great). The QTE moments are a pain, you never really know when you are in control of the character or just expected to press a single key. The skills seem to have been implemented at the last minute since they have absolutely no impact on the gameplay. Graphics are strange, oscillating between really really cheap (models of some flags and plants which are just planes with a png botched on it) to sometimes impressive (the interiors are a success) but they never really convey depth. There always seems to be a problem of depth of field, the backgrounds being sometimes a little better than plain pictures on a skybox. The narrative thread is just boring, the decisions of Lara are just pulled out of thin air and I sort of lost interest halfway through the game. All in all, play it if you're an absolute fan of the series but don't expect a huge background and revelations, nor an intense storytelling or interesting gameplay, the artistic direction is kind of nice though and is the only thing worth saving in this game. Expand
  22. Mar 9, 2013
    3
    I really wanted to like this game and for a while I also really tried. The graphics are very nice and the story is ok, but the gameplay is so far from "Tomb Raider" it's appalling. There are some puzzles but none requres too much brainwork and even so the hardest ones seems to be entirely optional as well. Half of the game plays like a semi-interactive movie where you sometimes have toI really wanted to like this game and for a while I also really tried. The graphics are very nice and the story is ok, but the gameplay is so far from "Tomb Raider" it's appalling. There are some puzzles but none requres too much brainwork and even so the hardest ones seems to be entirely optional as well. Half of the game plays like a semi-interactive movie where you sometimes have to press a button or waggle the stick in order to not see Lara impaled for the nth time, and the other half, the combat sequences, she turns into Rambo's more violent little sister. There are some emotional cutscenes as well that tries to make us see her as the frightened little girl that she wasn't even close to being the moment before and make us feel sorry for her. Sadly though I mostly feel sorry that she's in the hands of Crystal Dynamics. Expand
  23. Mar 10, 2013
    3
    The QTE's outnumber the actual puzzles, the controls and camera are clunky way too often that is, when you do actually have control (the game's ai will modify your trajectory so no precision is needed). The combat is repetitive, headshots basically line themselves up and you can dodge the ai's attacks damn near blindfolded. The gore is over the top and the plot feels shaky. Overall itThe QTE's outnumber the actual puzzles, the controls and camera are clunky way too often that is, when you do actually have control (the game's ai will modify your trajectory so no precision is needed). The combat is repetitive, headshots basically line themselves up and you can dodge the ai's attacks damn near blindfolded. The gore is over the top and the plot feels shaky. Overall it feels less like a genuine exploration platformer and more like one of the old FMV games on the original Playstation in the mid to late 90's. What we need is a Tomb Raider that goes back to the series roots that is, actual *Tomb Raiding* large expansive tombs, small and confined tombs, traps that try to kill you at every turn and require actual dexterity to evade, and jumps that require forethought, practice and flawless execution in order to progress. This game is not that, it's basically snuff-porn for people who like their victims filthy and drenched in gore. Expand
  24. May 22, 2013
    3
    Shoddy Game-play, just a third person shooter with Heaps of QTE's and Cut-scenes.
    Funny, just coming out of playing Dark souls and then going through this crap. I'm happy Square didn't meet their sales target.
    Horrible puzzles and a cliché supernatural island cult blab.
    I remember the puzzles in the original tomb raider being challenging this ain't got nothing on the originals.
  25. May 10, 2013
    3
    Visuals pretty, especially with 3D glasses. Just like a movie... but that's all this game is.

    The "puzzles" are trivial linear only-one-path cakewalks and are entirely optional. Combat is trivial rinse-repeat with Lara insanely overpowered on Normal (didn't bother turning it up, I just wanted the game to end), and practically unlimited ammo. This franchise continues to go down with
    Visuals pretty, especially with 3D glasses. Just like a movie... but that's all this game is.

    The "puzzles" are trivial linear only-one-path cakewalks and are entirely optional. Combat is trivial rinse-repeat with Lara insanely overpowered on Normal (didn't bother turning it up, I just wanted the game to end), and practically unlimited ammo.

    This franchise continues to go down with each version.
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  26. May 18, 2013
    3
    I can't believe this is the new Lara i mean she hate tombs,The story is nothing to do with tombs.The old Lara persona was way better,story was better king arthur,mystic tombs,This game should be called the "Lost Island" or something similar.
  27. Jun 8, 2013
    3
    I just don't get WHY the hell TR 2013 keeps getting 9/10, 10/10 and 5 star ratings. You only ever do 3 things in the game: 1) shoot at human enemies with low AI all the time, 2) watch QTEs, 3) watch how the devs injure Lara more and more. The funniest thing is people call this 'the best TR to date'. Oh please.

    Old legends say Tomb Raider franchise once had actual tombs in it (I know, I
    I just don't get WHY the hell TR 2013 keeps getting 9/10, 10/10 and 5 star ratings. You only ever do 3 things in the game: 1) shoot at human enemies with low AI all the time, 2) watch QTEs, 3) watch how the devs injure Lara more and more. The funniest thing is people call this 'the best TR to date'. Oh please.

    Old legends say Tomb Raider franchise once had actual tombs in it (I know, I know, sounds unbelievable, doesn't it? Blows your mind away, yeah?). You won't find them here. I swear even Angel of Darkness had more of those. Hell, you won't find any traps at all, no rolling boulders, no spikes, no Shiva statues suddenly waking up... This game is literally try-hard Uncharted on the island from Lost. The only good points are graphics and sound, but then again, there's no code optimisation whatsoever. Who needs it, right?

    Whatever happened to good taste?
    Expand
  28. Jun 18, 2013
    3
    Alright so out of 10, 1 being crap, 5 being average, 10 being the best thing ever since air became breathable, I'd give this game a 3 because in my opinion it is below average. The game advertised itself as a survival adventure kind of a game but in reality, there was very little surviving and the adventure was so linear it gave the player this feeling like the game was playing the playerAlright so out of 10, 1 being crap, 5 being average, 10 being the best thing ever since air became breathable, I'd give this game a 3 because in my opinion it is below average. The game advertised itself as a survival adventure kind of a game but in reality, there was very little surviving and the adventure was so linear it gave the player this feeling like the game was playing the player instead. I'll admit that I found the bow and arrow system kind of cool at first, but then I started to use guns and realized how incredibly overpowered they are. Everything about this game has been done before in other video games in better ways. If you compared this game with Batman: Arkham City, Hitman: Absolution, or even Dead Space 2, you will find that these games are superior to Tomb Raider in all aspects of a game. The length of the game is also total crap. The puzzles are too few and way too easy and the main story line didn't offer much of a challenge (Even on the highest difficulty). Also, the fast travel system sucks because I find it highly inconvenient that I have to climb all the way back to where I started to find one collectible at the end of the map I had missed earlier. All in all, I am disappointed with my purchase of Tomb Raider and I consider it a waste of time for people who wish to pursue quality gaming experiences. Expand
  29. Aug 3, 2013
    3
    Ok, i will write it in latin... It's stupid, but cyrillic isn't work...

    Eto bylo prosto uzhasno. Nachalo bylo takim mnogoobeschayuschim, no final... Otlichnaya istoriya skatilas' v nabor kakih-to klishe.. iz tihoy nezametno probirayuscheysy Lary sdelali Rembo..
  30. Aug 17, 2013
    3
    Way too many QTEs, No real game play mechanic and not in anyway affiliated with the original games makes Tomb raider just an generic cover shooter. The game tries to make it open world but fails at it horribly. The story is a linear piece of crap which throws a cut scene at you every 5 mins. And its not about puzzle solving or anything.
Metascore
86

Generally favorable reviews - based on 18 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 18
  2. Negative: 0 out of 18
  1. PC Master (Greece)
    Jun 10, 2013
    92
    The new incarnation of the iconic Lara Craft might very well be one of the best games out there right now. [April 2013]
  2. PC PowerPlay
    Mar 30, 2013
    90
    Everything you could want from an archeological adventure, except having to press six keys to mantle. [Apr 2013, p.80]
  3. Mar 19, 2013
    80
    While not every promising idea Tomb Raider has is pulled off successfully, it nevertheless turns in a tense and memorable ride that combines modern game design with its forebears’ adventurous spirit in some exciting ways. Some of its missteps may well come at the cost of your enjoyment, but most can’t hope to hurt the adventure in the long run. Although it never fully finds its identity, this is a game and a story worth seeing through.