Lara Croft is back (again), but how does the new adventure stack up?
When 2013's reboot of Tomb Raider received mostly positive reviews, and that game's sequel Rise Of The Tomb Raider did equally well back in 2015, it has been clear that we have been slowly but surely getting back to the Lara Croft we knew and loved from the original games.
Now that Shadow Of The Tomb Raider is about to arrive, it appears that we are on the cusp of that character being fully realised, but is the game itself any good?
According to Gamespace, "Shadow of the Tomb Raider is the best game in this trilogy and was well worth the wait. I've been trying to hold myself back with gushing about all the things so I don't spoil it for everyone, but seriously this game is a masterpiece. Yes, there are some things which bothered me while playing but overall the experience was magnificent and should not be missed."
Similarly, Digital Trends offer the following summary:
"Exciting from the title screen to the closing credits, Shadow of the Tomb Raider is a tremendous thrill ride. It’s the definitive final chapter for story threads we’ve been following since 2013’s game, but also leaves the door open for more adventures in the future. We’ve got our fingers crossed that this isn’t Lara’s last hurrah. It doesn’t matter where she travels. Lara is going to be involved in some precarious predicaments, and we want to be there with her."
Not everyone was as glowingly positive about the game though, as Shacknews reckoned that "As a final blowoff to the Trinity saga, I couldn't help but walk away feeling that the resolution to the story and to Lara Croft's character could have been so much better. But in terms of a pure Tomb Raider game, Shadow of the Tomb Raider is everything a bold explorer could ask for, giving players a vast jungle to explore and daring them to master it."
Meanwhile, the Telegraph were quite negative about it, saying that "As a Tomb Raider game, as a coherent game in general, and as a narrative experience, Shadow of the Tomb Raider is a startling fall from grace. A severe disappointment in a series that was previously going strong, and a sign that this version of Lara Croft might need to retire."
At the time of writing, the game has 78% on Metacritic, compared to the 87% of the first rebooted Tomb Raider, and the 88% that Rise Of The Tomb Raider received.
The story itself is set two months after the events of Rise Of The Tomb Raider, and it follows Lara Croft as she ventures through Mesoamerica and South America to the legendary city Paititi, battling the paramilitary organization Trinity and racing to stop a Mayan apocalypse she has unleashed.
Shadow Of The Tomb Raider arrives on PS4, Xbox One and PC on Friday 14 September.
Clip via Tomb Raider
