Tomb Raider (2013)

I first played Tomb Raider on an Xbox 360 when it launched. I don't remember if I ever reached 100% completion, but I came pretty close and hadn't touched the game ever since. Recently, though, I decided to replay it after getting the urge to go through the entire Survivor Trilogy. While I really enjoyed revisiting it, Tomb Raider is definitely a product of its time. The game is visually stunning, with gorgeous environments and an impressive variety of locations considering everything takes place on a single island south of Japan. The soundtrack is solid, featuring a few callbacks to classic Tomb Raider themes, and Lara's development is fun to watch, even if the whole "A SURVIVOR IS BORN" tagline feels cheesy as hell in retrospect. The story is decent enough. It's generic and packed with dumb clichés and awkward dialogue, but the cast is likable, which makes it a shame you don't get to spend much time with most of them. Lara's constant suffering also becomes unintentionally hilarious after a while. Every obstacle somehow turns into the absolute worst-case scenario. If there's a ledge, it'll collapse. If there's a bridge, it'll break. If there's a waterfall, she'll fall through it. It's so relentless that what starts as effective storytelling eventually becomes predictable and comical. The gameplay is where most of my complaints lie. There are far too many annoying QTEs, which is funny because they're mostly concentrated in the first third of the game, and they practically disappear for hours before randomly showing up again when you least expect them. The platforming is enjoyable, but there are way too many moments where jumps fail to register, Lara refuses to grab a ledge, or simply won't use her climbing axe to catch herself on the hard rock surfaces. The combat hasn't aged particularly well either. The gunplay feels janky and, even on the hardest difficulty, the game is incredibly easy. Also, the shotgun is one of the worst I've ever used in a video game, right up there with Doom 3's. The optional content is easily the worst part of the game. Not a single piece of side content feels worthwhile. The optional tombs are especially disappointing, considering they're literally the namesake of the franchise. Every one of them is literally just a single room where you solve one simple elevator or physics puzzle to reach a chest containing a treasure map that reveals the locations of relics, documents, and GPS caches. That's it. It's worthless. Even with all those issues, however, I still had a great time revisiting Tomb Raider. It's a fun game, all things considered. The funniest part, in retrospect, is how things came full circle: after years of people joking that Uncharted was just "Dude Raider," Crystal Dynamics made a Tomb Raider that clearly copied from Naughty Dog's formula. And yet, despite that, the reboot's gameplay structure ultimately ended up feeling closer to Uncharted 4 and The Lost Legacy than to the original trilogy it was inspired by. I ended up getting 100% completion, and I don't regret it, even if the journey was underwhelming at times. 7.5/10

Despite its age, the game is still very much relevant and I really enjoyed my time with it.

I played this franchise in the opposite order, so I basically started with the newest game and worked my way back to the oldest. I expected this one to be my least favorite, but lord I was so wrong.. There's just something about this game that stands out more than the others T_T lara i lovee u , you came a long way