POSTED 31/1/14


TOMB RAIDER: DEFINITIVE EDITION

Square Enix

Oh my, we had no idea that this would be so gruesome!

Actually we did, for we played the exact same game a year ago, and it became our runner-up for best of 2013.

So, what’s new? Umm, it looks bloody awesome in full HD remastered glory, that’s what’s new. Oh yeah, multiplayer DLC and arty stuff’s been chucked in too. It’s still criminal that no extra single player grooviness was released though, as that’s where this rebooted Tomb Raider really shines.

Taking numerous cues from Uncharted (adventurer, puzzles, weaponry), and a splodge of Far Cry 3 (open worldiness, hunting, upgrades), TR:DE doesn’t fritter time getting actiontastic. As the camera ducks and dives like it’s clutched by Lars Von Trier amidst a bouncy castle brawl, cutscenes seamlessly flow into gameplay and back. There’re oodles of ’em, sometimes with burdensome quick time events, but pacing rarely abates.

You’ll quickly feel for young Lara. She morphs from bimbo Bambi to rampant Rambo remarkably speedily – we probably would too if faced with the shit that’s lobbed at her. You’ll also soon realise that she’s a monster pyromaniac. Now Lara, put down that Zippo...

Her Rambotastic arsenal’s ever-evolving, from peashooteresque bow/arrow twinset through pistols, rifles and more, which you upgrade by collecting crap from random boxes and baddies you’ve corpsed up. Standard stuff, sure, but the cover system’s superb – unlike the difficulty, which ebbs and flows, often frustratingly as you suddenly confront every bloke to have ever donned khaki duds, grabbed a boomstick and extracted cheapies from hunting wascally women. You’d swear they’ve jammed a tracking device up your clacker.

If you played it last year then there’s little to recommend repurchasing (although we found another playthrough to be bulk fun). But if you’re all now-genned up and looking for a fabulously fantastic game, then TR:DE is an absolute must.

Unless, of course, you hate tombs...

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