Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition Review

Tomb Raider remains a very good game. It was one when it was released early last year, and with some next-gen polish it’s now an even better experience. If that’s all you needed to hear before rushing off to buy it, then do so with our blessing. For those that need more, onward we continue.

Crystal Dynamics’ reimagining of the Tomb Raider franchise actually doesn’t venture that far from the template introduced years ago. Combat, puzzles, platforming – it’s all here. The entertainment comes in the way it’s been presented. Aside from absolutely kicking the s**t out of Lara Croft from the moment it starts to the closing credits – which does help you connect to her as a character – it’s excellently placed and never falls into any sort of pattern. It constantly tries to keep you on your toes.

With the Definitive Edition, you’re getting all of that again, except this time it looks better than it did before on consoles (obviously). Those returning for another go-around may not be phenomenally blown away – it didn’t exactly look bad in 2013 – but it certainly competes with anything else we’ve seen on next-generation machines to this point. It is an exceptionally pretty game.

While all of these positives remain a huge plus, though, Tomb Raider still has plenty of flaws, the story being its biggest misstep. Incredibly obvious and packed full of cliches, you can’t help but cringe at some of the dialogue as people speak to each other as if they were reciting a GCSE play. The Last of Us would laugh Tomb Raider out of the playground.

Considering that the narrative doesn’t impact too much on what you’re actually doing, however – cutscenes aside – it’s really not that big of a deal. If you’ve never played Tomb Raider you should, and if you want to experience it once more and on your shiny next-gen console, then this is a worthy endeavour.

Version tested: PS4. Played for 4 hours. Finished the original.