without finally getting the ax. I guess Lara is more of a survivor than we could even guess.

After the breakthrough success and sequel after sequel that could never live up to the

original the series was on life support. Eventually boiling down to just giving people the opportunity

to stare at Lara’s behind for a couple hours. The series was given to a new studio, Crystal

Dynamics, to fix the problem. Well, they didn’t just fix then problems, they turned the series

completely around and gave Tomb Raider the breath of life that so many fan boys has wanted

to give Lara for years.

Having seen games life Prince of Persia be what Tomb Raider should have been, they went

back to the drawing board and took Lara back to her roots, exploring tombs and making it

easy to control Lara as you do so. No longer does Lara control like a tank, where you have

to turn her to the direction you want and press forward. Now you control completely

in a 3D world like every other game and it makes a world of difference. How could they

not figure this out that this is how Lara needs to control before they made Angel of

Darkness? That was a big waste of my life. It is a small change but it makes the game

just so much more accessible, now that you don’t have to fight with Lara to make her

do what you want. Although some of you might like that? Lara is also given a grappling

hook that is used throughout the game. She can use it to swing to ledges or to move objects

to solve puzzles. It’s great to have one thing for all this instead of having to constantly

be changing items.

The combat has also seems some major changes. Instead of blasting away with you handguns

and hoping you are hitting the enemy, you can lock on to the target while you jump around

avoiding bullets. You can even get close and perform a bullet-time kill and although this

has been done a million times since Max Payne, it is still satisfying to do. The combat is

easy, and I mean Jersey Shore Girls easy. But I never played Tomb Raider for the combat,

I want to explore tombs.

Also added to this game is a real story for the first time. Where before they would give

you a basic back story then release you into a tomb, this time there is a real sense of

meaning to every location you go to and leaves you wanting more as you learn about Lara’s

past. That brings up a side point. They really toned down Lara in this game which is nice

in my opinion but probably upset a lot of fan boys out there. They made her look more

like a really person instead of a 15 year olds fantasy. This makes the game very more

realistic and plausible and that brings you into the game more than any other Tomb Raider.

The game returns Tomb Raider to what it should be, that is the freedom to explore tombs and

fight bad guy while feeling in complete control and with great visuals. I remember how much

fun the original Tomb Raider was and being let down with each sequel. This game finally

allows me to relive those memories of the original and be looking forward for the next

game in the series not because I hope things get fixed but rather because I just want to

play more.