Tomb Raider (2013)

Tomb Raider is a reboot of the long running Tomb Raider series. It was developed by Crystal Dynamics and published by Square Enix Europe. The online multiplayer was handled by Eidos Montreal. It was released worldwide on March 5, 2013 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows. On January 28, 2014, an enhanced version called Tomb Raider: The Definitive Edition was released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It included all the DLC as well as a few other bonuses.

Plot
Lara Croft is a young woman who wants to uncover the world's deepest secrets. One day, she along with her crew get shipwrecked and end up on a mysterious island off the coast of Japan. It turns out that they're not the only ones on the island. An evil cult called the Solarii attacks the group and captures Lara and her friends. Lara manages to escape but gets separated from the rest of the crew. Now she must rescue her friends from Mathias and the Solarii while also uncovering the island's darkest secrets.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) A great way to reboot the series, as this game explains Lara Croft's origins.
 * 2) Unlike the previous games that are mostly puzzle games, this entry shifts to something more along the lines of Uncharted with a 3D Metroidvania design with your course of action being essentially linear, with backtracking required to previously explored areas with newly attained gadgets and upgrades to access previously unreachable collectibles.
 * 3) Combat has been given a complete overhaul from earlier games in the series. Instead of the flamboyant and acrobatic approach to combat of older games, the game features a more traditional third person over the shoulder style of gun-play, as well as adding new features like the ability to stun enemies and perform executions. There is also more in the line of environmental combat, including destroying ledges and cover, which will force enemies to fall or expose them.
 * 4) Stealth has been reintroduced to the series for the first time since The Angel of Darkness, except it works really well since you can use the bushes to hide from enemies.
 * 5) As you progress Lara acquires a number of weapons. There are a total of 5 weapon types available with each weapon having specific strengths, and weaknesses. You can use weapon parts at Base Camps to upgrade each weapon to a more powerful weapon of that type.
 * 6) * Bows
 * 7) ** Makeshift Bow, Recurve Bow, Compound Bow, Competition Bow
 * 8) ** Arrow Types: Rope, Fire/Napalm, Explosive, Armour Piercing
 * 9) * Pistols
 * 10) ** Semi-Automatic Pistol, Tactical Pistol, Magnum Pistol
 * 11) * Automatics (Listed as Rifles)
 * 12) ** WWII Submachine Gun, Assault Rifle, Commando Rifle
 * 13) *** Grenade Launcher
 * 14) * Shotguns
 * 15) ** Trench Gun, Pump-Action Shotgun, Combat Shotgun
 * 16) * Melee
 * 17) ** Pry Axe, Reinforced Axe, Climbing Axe
 * 18) Salvage is introduced as a form of currency. It is used to purchase (craft) weapon modifications, which will not only augment the weapons stats, but will also alter it cosmetically. It's also pretty common as it can be found in crates, lock boxes, on dead enemies, and if the correct skill is acquired, dead animals.
 * 19) This game introduces an RPG-esque leveling system. When a sufficient amount of experience has been earned, a skill point will be gained which can be spent to buy (Master) a skill from one of three categories.
 * 20) * Survivor: passive skills that are mostly to do with traversal, exploration and looting.
 * 21) ** Animal Instincts: Survival Instincts allow you to see animals and food glow.
 * 22) ** Survivalist: Loot animal corpses and food caches for extra XP.
 * 23) ** Advanced Salvaging: Collect extra salvage from crates and other sources.
 * 24) ** Bone Collector: Collect salvage when looting animal corpses.
 * 25) ** Arrow Retrieval: Loot an enemy or animal killed with the bow to retrieve arrows.
 * 26) ** Scavenging: Loot an enemy corpse and receive extra ammunition.
 * 27) ** Climber's Agility: Reduces damage from high falls - also increases climbing speed.
 * 28) ** Orienteering: Collectibles glow with Survival Instincts.
 * 29) ** Cartography: Shows the locations of treasure maps and tomb entrances on the map.
 * 30) * Hunter: Increases Lara's skill with her ranged weapons.
 * 31) ** Steady Shot: Hold charged bow shots for double the time.
 * 32) ** Ammo Capacity: Increases total extra ammunition you can carry for all weapons.
 * 33) ** Heavy Lifter: Maximizes total extra ammunition you can carry for all weapons.
 * 34) ** Accomplished Killer: Earn extra XP with headshots, Finishing moves and stealth kills.
 * 35) ** Bow Expert: Melee while using the bow to finish stunned enemies with an arrow.
 * 36) ** Pistol Expert: Melee to finish stunned enemies with the pistol and earn bonus XP.
 * 37) ** Rifle Expert: Melee to finish stunned enemies with the rifle and earn bonus XP.
 * 38) ** Shotgun Expert: Melee to finish stunned enemies with the shotgun and earn bonus XP.
 * 39) * Brawler: Increases Lara's proficiency, in melee combat, and maximum health.
 * 40) ** Pain Tolerance: Take more damage before dying.
 * 41) ** Dirty Tricks: Can throw dirt in enemies' eyes to blind them briefly.
 * 42) ** Axe Strikes: Melee twice to stun enemies in close range with two swift axe strikes.
 * 43) ** Axe Expert: Finish stunned enemies with the axe.
 * 44) ** Dodge Counter: Can counter enemies by stunning them with an arrow to the knee.
 * 45) ** Dodge Kill: Can dodge and then melee to kill enemies without helmets.
 * 46) ** Dodge Kill Mastery: Same as before but with almost any enemy.
 * 47) Great story.
 * 48) Amazing looking visuals, especially since the developers pushed the PS3 and Xbox 360 to the limits.
 * 49) Good voice acting especially Camilla Luddington as the new voice of Lara Croft whose performance fits that of a younger, more inexperienced Lara.
 * 50) Amazing soundtrack.
 * 51) Puzzles now take two forms, physics and elemental based, such as using fire to burn objects to clear obstacles, or using weight such as weighted cans or even Lara's own body weight, to weigh down objects to pass through them.
 * 52) Very cool action sequences such as the part when Lara is escaping a Solarii fortress getting destroyed.
 * 53) Reading the documents is cool since you get to read about the island's past.
 * 54) The AI uses a specific kind of programming that's used in other games like F.E.A.R. making them pretty smart and engaging. Enemies try to stay in cover during gunfights, will retreat to cover if Lara shoots at them when they're out in the open, use molotovs, fire arrows, and dynamite to force her out of cover, either run to different cover or use their shield if Lara uses grenades, and detonate exploding barrels if the player is stupid enough to go near them.
 * 55) The action scenes feel like an unrelenting rollercoaster ride.
 * 56) This was the darkest and edgiest Tomb Raider game at the time.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) While the game has been mostly well-received, a lot of long-term series fans are extremely upset about its extreme emphasis on action at the expense of the puzzles which made the previous games so popular in the first place.
 * 2) Enemies can respawn in previously explored areas.
 * 3) The game isn't all that difficult for a number of reasons.
 * 4) *A new feature to the series "Survival Instinct". When activated, items of importance will glow, helping out stuck players. The problem is that it makes the game too easy since you can solve the puzzles with it.
 * 5) *While the game puts emphasis on Lara being a survivor you don't have to worry about managing resources since the game gives plenty.
 * 6) There is an attempted rape scene where a cultist tries to have his way with Lara. Executive producer Ron Rosenberg explained that the scene was meant to portray Lara as such that the player would want to "protect" her. This led to backlash and the studio backpedaled on the statement.
 * 7) The final battle against Mathias is just a Quick Time Event.
 * 8) Cliché Storm: There's very little of the story players won't see coming, especially when it comes to the fate of many of the characters, and you're likely to figure out what exactly is going on on the island before Lara does. Of course the game uses these tropes as tools, and the story plays out like a check list of The Hero's Journey that works very well for the whole origin story aspects of the game.
 * 9) The game can come across as misandrists since every man but one dies and every woman lives. However, the backstory makes it clear that the cult of the island doesn't recruit women into their ranks. You'll find that all of the "shrines" set up by the cultists utilize strung up women who are not nearly decomposed enough to imply they're anything but recent victims. However while there are plenty of female corpses, no actual female characters are killed on screen. Except Himiko.
 * 10) The multiplayer is very generic and out of place as it seems to be copying Uncharted's multiplayer.
 * 11) The graphics of the PC version is weaker than the PS4/XBone version, though not by much.
 * 12) The game is rather short, clocking in about 3-5 hours.
 * 13) While the AI is smart, melee weapon enemies who don't have shields will run towards Lara, unprotected, even when she has a machine gun out. Of course, those guys might just be suicidal, with the time they've spent on the island.
 * 14) Bond Villain Stupidity:
 * 15) * At one point the Solarii manage to capture Lara and don't kill her. Presumably they want to sacrifice her, or think it too cruel to kill a woman while she's defenseless.
 * 16) * Himiko's storms twice remove either enemies or obstacles from Lara's path.
 * 17) Lara has a bad habit of forgetting she has weapons she can use besides her Bow, leading to some situations that could have easily been avoided with the use of something semi/fully automatic.
 * 18) * Even worse is the times she doesn't use anything, and simply watches helplessly as things occur before her that she could have easily helped to prevent such as when the rescue plane pilot is killed. Another example occurs towards the end of the game: when she decides to storm the palace to save Sam and defeat Himiko, she has a perfect shot at Whitman and Mathias, who are taking Sam to the ritual. She seems to forget that she has a silent bow and up to two guns with silencers attached. Could have saved her a lot of trouble.
 * 19) * Another happens just before getting the grenade launcher. Laura opts to try to turn the boss's mounted turret against him but is unable to move it fast enough which gives him time to tackle it and knock her to the ground, she could have saved herself the trouble if she just used any of her other much quicker weapons.
 * 20) * At the Geothermal Caverns campsite, Lara mentions that the rescue helicopter isn't safe to board, and she reminds herself to warn the others. When she meets the others, she doesn't tell them about the plane. It's only when the entire place is falling apart that she remembers- too late, as the helicopter gets shot down, directly leading to Roth's death.
 * 21) There a number of game-breaking bugs.
 * 22) * The PC version shipped with a bug where Press X to Not Die prompts do not appear on screen.
 * 23) * Upon entering the Cliffside Bunker, after the first big fight against mooks, there is a door in the far corner of the room that is supposed to open to allow Lara to proceed. There's a bug where the door only opens partially, not enough for Lara to go through the doorway, leaving her trapped in the room. Fortunately, reloading the most recent checkpoint can properly open the door.
 * 24) * Another can occur with the ascender not working properly when you use it to reenter Endurance. It's random, and reloading the checkpoint does not correct it. The only way around is to exploit another glitch.
 * 25) * The DLC tomb "Tomb of the Lost Adventurer" requires burning down three out of four wooden supports a crashed plane is resting on. Burning down all four (which most players will inevitably do simply to see what happens) results in the path up the plane to the treasure chest becoming impossible to traverse. Reloading the last checkpoint usually fixes this.
 * 26) * The Chasm Shrine has a known graphics/texture bug with the puzzle room right after the camp site that makes it impossible to proceed. Considering that this location is part of the game's last 5% of remaining play time, bugging out so close to the finish line is seriously aggravating, but thankfully, fast-travelling away and returning should be enough to restore the room's proper textures.
 * 27) * If you collected absolutely everything there is to collect before tackling the Final Battle, which equals 98% completion, the game may fail to register the final document that is acquired automatically during the epilogue cutscene, leaving you unable to reach 100% completion.
 * 28) Pretty much everyone (except for Lara, obviously) act like complete idiots.
 * 29) * Everyone (except Lara) for some reason trusts Whitman at the beach. It's not that it's his word against Lara's about collaborating with Mathias. He outright admits in front of everyone that he cooperated with the Solarii in the palace to save his own neck.
 * 30) * Whitman himself has several stupid moments but the biggest one results in his painful death at the hands of the Stormguard. He calmly walks towards two armored undead Samurai and tries to strike up a conversation. Whilst they approach him with swords drawn. Mathias had deceived him into thinking that the Stormguard would let them pass willingly but he really didn't need to walk right up to them to introduce himself!
 * 31) * Alex in a massive case of Love Makes You Stupid. The guy goes alone to retrieve tools from the wreck of Endurance with psychotic cultists with a hair-trigger about just to impress the girl he's crushing on. All it probably did was pile on Lara's pre-existent survivor's guilt.
 * 32) Critical Research Failure:
 * 33) * At the start of the game, Lara winds up impaled on a piece of rebar and immediately pulls it out. In reality, she would begin to lose way more blood and possibly do horrible amounts of internal damage. That's not counting the potential infections that would occur if a wound like that were dirtied.
 * 34) * Also near the start Reyes attempts to free Lara from a bear trap via shooting it, even though all that would do is risk shooting Lara in the leg. Then Jonah proceeds with brute-forcing the spring mechanism, instead of disarming it. And then Lara doesn't even have a limp, while by all logic trap like that should shatter her ankle.

Reception
Tomb Raider received universal acclaim from critics and gamers alike. A lot of people said that this game is a great origin story to Lara. However, some were bummed out about the Tomb Raiding not being the main focus. Tomb Raider went on to receive numerous awards.

Trivia

 * 1) On the PS4 version of Tomb Raider: The Definitive Edition, in the Final Hours behind the scenes videos, the Xbox 360 is blurred out in order to avoid copyright.