Tomb Raider review:

With Tomb Raider (2012) Square Enix is taking Lara Croft back to her roots in what can best be described as a brutal initiation story

Tomb Raider 2012 is a title that pretty much any young adolescant teen can remember, not least for Lara's polygon-filled figure but for its hideously addictive puzzles blended into cinematic set-pieces that saw our heroine travel the globe.

Since those first few years the brand has sky-rocketed into the stratosphre of becoming a household name senonemous with gaming, in fact Lara Croft has regularly topped many a list as the best videogame character of all time.

Square Enix, then, is under a pair bit of pressure, not least because it's taken a whole new direction but also because in some ways, it actually had no choice but to do exactly that.

While the last few Tomb Raider titles have been good, they've never really reached the standards set by the early titles, only better by the likes ofUncharted, which turned up and proved that not only was treasure hunting still 'cool' but that it could also be a hell of a lot more cinematic.

Tomb Raider: Plot

You'll be glad to hear this new direction is not one that blindly stumbles through cliches by reimagining the present, instead Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics have taken the bold move of heading back into the past, this time telling a coming-of-age story with a 21-year old Lara Croft struggling to find her place in the world.

Unfortunately any 'what shall I do with my life?' questions are firmly removed from her vocabulary as she finds herself shipwrecked on an island with little or no training and significantly injured.

From here on Tomb Raider is quite simply a relentless, desparate, primal battle for survival that finds you moulding this timid but headstrong character into the hot pants-wearing treasure hunter that we know today.

Without giving too much of the plot away this is very much a 'in it for the long haul' kinda story, there's no quick fixes and no way of avoiding how to learn to use a knife all the while battling to save your friends and escape from the island.

Tomb Raider: Characters

At present the only two main characters we know of are Conrad Roth and Lara Croft herself. Conrad Roth is the captain of the doomed ship and also happens to be a personal friend of Lara's father, he's very much the mentor of the game and can sometimes be your only link to other allies over a walkie talkie.

Tomb Raider: Gameplay

 

 

There's no denying it, Tomb Raider has bitten the Uncharted bug, this doesn't turn out to be a bad thing but it can seem a little off putting at first.

Luckily in the demo we played it becomes apparant fairly quickly that any such influence is limited to the use of cinematic camera angles and the occassionally staggering set piece which involves assisted involvement from you.

This is where the similarities end however for while Uncharted will often coax you through its levels Tomb Raider does everything in its power to make you feel as uneasy and as naive as the character you're playing.

The HUD is non-existant, aside from prompt icons and the ability to temporarily show your objective the screen real estate has been entirely devoted to the harsh jungle that we found ourselves traversing.

Each level is a bubble, an open world landscape that can be explored, with a base camp as your HQ you can hunt, explore and upgrade using a experience points system that allows you to increase your abilities, from shooting to creating objects from junk.

It's a neat and inventive way of showing her transition from novice to pro and the few upgrades we saw really affect how Lara interacts with the world.

This leads us to the character herself. While we only saw one level, the 20mins of gameplay we did experience hammered it home that this really is a character that will not help you, she's as unsure of the world as you and so as a team you have to try and bring her home.

While we only experienced hunting with a bow and arrow and a small amount of shooting it looks to be a very slick offering adopting the same 'difficult to aim' tactics that many third-person games employ (Max Payne 3 we're looking at you).

Tomb Raider: Verdict

Tomb Raider has fantastic potential, with superb graphics and a storyline that feels emotional and engaging it's now up to Square Enix and Cystal Dynamics to tweak and tinker until the balance between plot, puzzles and action is perfect.