Having never played any of the Tomb Raider Games previous to this (I know, I know) I went into this game headfirst and with an open mind. Having read numerous previews, many of which comparing it to such games as Prince of Persia, I have to say that this view is completely justified.

Controlling Lara is a doddle, her movement responsive and the animations fantastic. She is now no longer confined to a grid based movement system the previous games were based on, and can move in full three dimensions. Lara has a fantastic array of acrobatic moves, such as shimmying across ledges, swinging on ropes and swan diving off cliffs, all of which will make your stomach do somersaults as she leaps from ledge to ledge. Lara also avoids traps and solves puzzles in her archaeological trips, many of which take real amounts of time to work out, but are never frustrating. These are always a fantastic addition to the levels.

The graphics are some of the best I’ve seen from a last gen/next gen conversion, with the improvement actually noticeable between consoles. Graphical sheen is evident in places such as the lighting, with sunlight peering through cracks in the ancient tombs and the water, which is actually fully reflective, reflecting Lara herself perfectly. And no. No you cannot see up her shorts.

However, there are a few places in which the game falls down. One of these is the combat, which, like many 3rd Person Adventure games is based on a lock-on system, which often locks onto the wrong enemy, leaving Lara firing at a distant enemy while a closer one shoots her to pieces. This makes the combat bland and irritating, and is merely a stopgap between adventuring sections.

Another fault with the game is the longevity. There are only about 8 proper levels, none of which you will be interested in playing through more that 2 or 3 times. The entire game only takes about 9 or 10 hours to get though, and that’s being generous. While there are lots of items to unlock, these are mostly costumes and concept art and don’t require much effort to get them.

Overall, the game shines in so many places, its worth a play through, or at least a rent. I’m sure for fans of the series it will be a more than adequate return to form for our heroine. And while there are evident flaws in this game, its easy to forget them for just one more swan dive off that
10-storey cliff...