Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition Review

I still remember the very first Tomb Raider game that I played on my PlayStation; I couldn’t get enough of it. It was one of the most advanced games of its time back then and it still provides fans with hours of entertainment today. The definitive edition is a revamped edition of Tomb Raider for the next gen consoles; it’s the same story with the only extras being a few new Kinect features and all of the DLC that was released for the game is now included. However what DLC was released probably wasn’t really worth going out of your way to purchase because the majority of it was for Tomb Raider’s multiplayer modes, which in all honesty wasn’t that great, so there isn’t anything really special about the definitive edition apart from better graphics. That being said the new graphics which have been enhanced to match those on PC are out of this world; I mean I’ve seen strippers with faker looking boobs than the ones the developers have bestowed upon the wonderful Lara Croft.

That being said this game isn’t all about Lara’s boobies, although I’m pretty sure she is most guy’s idea of being the perfect girl, I mean she even looks good covered in mud and blood, a feat not many women can pull off. No the game is in fact about so much more than the female anatomy; it’s all about action, puzzle solving and raiding tombs which is great because it makes for a great game, possibly one of the best in the Tomb Raider series, and of its genre. But I do dearly miss the one thing that brought great joy to me on the old games where you would begin the game by walking around your manor house to get a feeling for the controls and also to lock your waiter in the freezer, oh yes, they were the days.

Anyway I guess it’s time I concentrate more on this game than reminiscing about the days of old; as many of you will know who played this game on the previous generation consoles, the story follows Lara’s first big adventure in search of the lost kingdom of the Yamatai. Following her gut instincts Lara convinces her fellow crew and the captain to head for the Dragon’s Triangle off the east coast of Japan, an area known to be treacherous for even the most seasoned explorers. While heading in that direction they get caught up in a ghastly storm that tears the ship in two and leaves everyone shipwrecked on the island. Right away Lara finds herself in danger as she is captured by what seems to be a native of the island, and using her basic instincts and puzzle solving ability has to escape to meet up with any surviving members of her team. But once free it is soon clear that although the lost kingdom may be found, they weren’t the first ones to find it, and there is a battle for survival on Lara’s hands.

Like I’ve already mentioned the main reasoning for the definitive edition was to show off what the next-gen consoles are truly capable of graphics wise, and I think the developers became a little obsessed when it came to parts of the game design, especially Lara. You can see each strand of hair on her head, you can see the cracks in the dry mud on her face and you would swear at times that this is a real person. The detail in the environments is remarkable too; everything from trees, to rivers and ancient buildings to animals roaming the land, everything is made to look as realistic as possible and it is scary how lifelike some of the images can be. This also made for better gameplay because movements and actions looked to run smoother and more lifelike. But what more would you expect with the power that these new next-gen consoles possess. Many would argue that this was already available on PC, and that is the better gaming platform because of it, but despite the high cost of the Xbox One (which is about to see its first price drop) and the PS4 a top end gaming PC or laptop would be twice the price, so I still stand by consoles being a better platform for gaming.

The other new additions to the definitive edition as mentioned above were the DLC which only adds a few new attachments and upgrades to weapons and an additional tomb for single player mode; there are also numerous add-ons for multiplayer that offer more maps and such but again I was really not impressed by this at all. The main new addition though is the new Kinect features that are available, which although there are few do make the game a little more fun. The first of which is the voice recognition which allows you to open your map by simply saying “Show Map” and by saying weapons it will switch weapon for you as well. Really handy for those of you who struggle to move your thumb to the buttons near your analogue stick, but still a nice little feature none the less. However if there are loud noises in the background it will pick this noise up, in fact it even picks up noise from the game; this is more a fault of the Kinect itself though, and usually just lead to a red microphone appearing in the top left of the screen to say it didn’t hear what was said. It also doesn’t help when you have family members deliberately shouting out commands to wind you up because it interrupts the gameplay.

There are also certain situations where you will be climbing along ledges and the camera will change to a cinematic style, now for the normal person to change the view you’d just use the analogue stick, but if you have the Kinect or the PlayStation equivalent, then you can lean to your left or right to move the camera. Again it isn’t something that is really necessary but it is another nice little feature that makes you feel more involved in the game, like you’re actually hanging on that ledge or climbing that cliff. You will also come across artefacts and relics on your adventures, and this is where the final Kinect feature comes into play; you are able to grab the items by holding your hand up to the camera and clenching your fist. You can then rotate the object and zoom in and out on it as well. It’s another nice little touch, but again something that isn’t really an integral part of the game. It would’ve been nicer to see something like using your bow by making the actions in front of the camera or something to that effect which you would do a lot more in the game and would make it feel worthwhile.

So overall is the game worth rebuying just to play because of better graphics? Well if you really care about that then yes it is because it does look like a whole new game, but really if you had common sense you probably wouldn’t. Don’t get me wrong, the game truly is an amazing one, and shows why Tomb Raider always has and always will be one of the best games of its kind. The new features, although they are few and limited to what they can do, are a nice new touch to the original game and have added a little something extra although I think more could have been done with the Kinect and PlayStation equivalent. But that aside this game really is a must buy if you haven’t already got it.

Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.