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Tomb Raider 2013

It’s been a while since Lara Croft graced our consoles and too be honest the last instalments weren’t all that great, just rehashes of the old stuff.

Now though all is forgiven; this latest Tomb Raider gives Lara a complete rebirth. Those that didn’t get to enjoy Lara in the beginning can now begin to enjoy this style of game heroine. If you do remember the first Lara then now is the time to forget it again, in this it’s back to mastering skills from archery to close combat –in this game, Lara’s arsenal ranges from a bow, rifle, shotgun and of course a pistol (just one though, not the famous double pistols).

Lara and crew have crash landed on a mystery island and despite everything someone or the island itself really doesn’t want to let you off. I won’t spoilt the surprise by letting you know which one of these it is, or even if it’s something else entirely, but I can guarantee that you will have a tough time trying.

This game is both action packed and calm and serene, there’s moments where you’re fighting twenty odd enemies in one go, they just keep coming at you, then there’s moments where you’re simply confusing yourself trying to solve a puzzle. However all the time you are searching for treasures, maps, salvage, camp sites, GPS locations and more.

The more salvage you collect (which is found in crates etc around the island) the more you can upgrade your weapons – which you really need to do in order to challenge some of the enemies. In fact in one part you have to kill a really big dude in order to get an upgrade, which then allows you to access areas you haven’t done before.

That’s another big part of this game, there’s hidden chambers and locations, there’s optional areas to do (you have to find them first though). This I really liked, because even after the story mode is finished there’s still loads for you to go back to do, if you want to finish the game 100%.

The graphics and game play are fantastic; the scenery across some of the locations is epic, the beach scenes for instance and more. There’s even some hidden trophies, one for you is kill a crab while on the beach and earn the ‘crab cakes’ trophy.

It’s certainly several hours to complete the storyline, a good few evenings were spent playing it in my house and I had it on average difficulty, I’m sure on hard there’d be just too many men at some points. Then if you want to go back and find all the treasures, locations, tombs, relics and more then there’s many more.

As Lara, you lose friends and kill many ‘island survivors’ on this journey but overall you’ll enjoy every minute of doing it. Well done team! A huge tick in the box – LARA CROFT IS BACK!

Tune back in later in the month for a review of Tomb Raider multiplayer!

GamesBooth Rating - 10/10