Tomb Raider (2013) is the long awaited reboot and the fifth installment of the Tomb Raider franchise developed by Crystal Dynamics and published Square Enix initially released worldwide on March 05, 2013 on current-gen consoles: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. With a pending GOTY edition (current gen) and Next-gen only version called Tomb Raider: Definite edition exclusively for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 set to be released on January 28, 2014.

For those who are not familiar with Tomb Raider, Tomb Raider is simply a game series that features the iconic girl named Lara Croft in shorts kicking butts and raiding tombs for rare artifacts. Whose appearances have changed over the years. But in all seriousness The Tomb Raider (reboot) features a young and innocent Lara Croft. Becoming a survivor experiencing the emotion of fear, courage, lost, and hope during her adventure. Having an expedition gone wrong leaving Lara and her endurance crew stranded on an island where its inhabitants are a group of psychos. Without trying to spoil too much of this excellent 14 hour, an additional 18 hours to achieve SP 100% single player story component. For those who haven’t played through it yet, Tomb Raider (2013) is certainly a masterpiece story.

Ah well Tomb Raider presents itself very well with its varied environments and level designs that plays well with the mood of the story. Encouraging you to push onwards through the ancient Japanese ruins wasteland cluttered with crashed planes, ship wrecks and architects from the old world wars. But where Tomb raider truly shines is in the story in cut scenes characters come to life with excellent Mo-cap and voice acting pine pointing every emotion of Lara and the survivors throughout its. Tomb Raider isn't really eye candy like we expect from other games, but it did a pretty good setting up a dark ancient tone the setup the game story nicely.

In terms of replay ability Tomb Raider doesn't quite fit the category of as a very repayable game, but lacks quite a bit. You can probably get everything done in one play through. If you’re expecting some big open world sand box once you complete the main story, you’ll surely be disappointed. Almost no enemies will spawn and will be left with an empty world. Allowing you to freely travel back to places to pick up missed collectibles and solve tomb puzzle. Replaying the story is an option but since the game revolves around solving puzzles and obstacles ‘Wow’ wares off and becomes predictable after one or two plays through.

The tacked on Multiplayer is pretty much dead at this point on PC. It didn't last long enough to get all the multiplayer achievements. Glad you can still grind a couple of them in private matches with a friend. Therefore the multiplayer DLCs are worthless at this point. While there could have been an opportunity for more replay value in single player. But it’s no doubts a missed opportunity here probably due to the development of the pointless multiplayer component. Which could have been better resources spent into the single player development that would have benefited the game's longevity.

Game play wise Tomb Raider neither good nor bad, it’s certainly isn't anything groundbreaking. There is some enjoyment to be had with the arsenal available you start off with a simple melee weapon moving up to, pistols, bow, shotguns, assault rifles, and grenade launcher. The bow and melee were probably the most satisfying either doing stealth take downs or getting kills from long distance use the bow, hitting an enemy with an arrow and watching them fall from a ledge to their death is on the most memorable. Though combat can get pretty predictable while progressing the campaign, AIs aren't the brightest bunch either all they do is scream and try to overwhelm you by charging in large forces, other times they try to flank, throw cocktails, or corner you with a shield. Which all becomes well too predictable after the first encounter.

Overall Tomb Raider (2013) reboot is a good game with an excellent single player story to be experienced with lots of potential. But with its shortcomings and lack of replay value would make one reconsider buying Tomb raider at its full price. Maybe if it’s on sale for $14.99 or less I would totally recommend putting your survival skills to the test and give Tomb raider (2013) a try. Otherwise there is the definite edition for next gen consoles.

Verdict 7.9/10
Good:

• Excellent Story.
• Eye candy cut scenes.
• Somewhat interesting puzzles.
• Good Archery Combat.

Bad:

• Predictable AIs.
• Meh tacked on multiplayer.
• No New Game Plus.
• Dead multiplayer matchmaking.
• Not enough replay ability.

Tags:Action adventure, Game Review, PC Games, Playstation, PS3, Tomb Raider, Xbox, xbox 360