Tomb Raider PS3 Review

Lara Croft is back! Tomb Raider PS3 review

Move over Nathan Drake! Lara Croft is back, and she’s never looked better.

Tomb Raider is one of the most iconic sagas in the last 20 years of video gaming. From 1996 and the first adventure in the self-titled Tomb Raider debuting on PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and PC, a sequel quickly followed - Tomb Raider 2 in 1997. The third instalment - Tomb Raider 3 - saw Lara cement herself among the video gaming greats. Furthermore, there have been several sequels since the original trilogy, with all staying true to the franchises' ideology that began 17 years ago.

The focus of the Tomb Raider adventures is puzzle solving, combating an array of dangerous animals, collecting artefacts and dealing with mythical creatures. The series has always been intelligent; not a mindless action-adventure that you merely button-mash your way through. As a result, it takes skill, careful planning, and dedication to achieve completion. Consequently, many games have tried implementing this kind of psyche in their own projects, but Tomb Raider has always stood out from the crowd. This is why it has become one of the most successful video game franchises today, with the original Tomb Raider contributing to the sale of over 100 million PlayStation One consoles.

This Tomb Raider grips you from the first moment you begin the tale of a young aspiring archaeologist, turned hardened survivor. Battling her way through the mysterious wonders of a remote island in the Dragon’s Triangle, Lara Croft must grow up fast as she tries to find her missing colleagues after their ship Endurance is destroyed in a quite brilliant opening spectacle.

After watching this enthralling opening sequence, you’re quickly thrown into action. Tied up, alone, and confused, Lara finds herself hanging upside down in a cave and must act quickly to free herself before she meets the same fate as the skeletons and rotting corpses that scatter beneath her.

The first exchanges of the game see you learn the basic controls through several quick time events while escaping the cave and the clutches of the islands crazed locals. If you execute these commands in time you’re on your way to freedom, fail to perform them quickly enough, and you’re treated to various grisly deaths; such as a large boulder smashing Lara’s skull to a pulp.

Once free from the cave, a survival tutorial begins which requires you to search for a bow and hunt to gather food as rain lashes down in tandem with the sound of thunder blasting through the speakers. Indeed, all the atmospherics throughout the game are utterly stunning, with Lara reacting seamlessly to her surroundings. Little touches such as interacting with walls and trees as she runs past them help to deliver a tremendous sense of realism. As a result, it feels as though this universe is alive and could throw anything at you with each step you take.

Setting up base camps plays a pivotal role throughout the game as this is where you save your progress, unlock skill points, and upgrade your weapons. For the most part, you acquire skill points through gaining experience, and upgrades are found through salvaging, all of which becomes kinda self-explanatory as the weapons and skills tutorials are easy to follow.

Additionally, the menus allow you to view each base camp you have unlocked, see undiscovered collectables and view general statistics. There are plenty of tombs to explore, requiring you to complete puzzles and challenges to acquire their treasures. Pleasingly, each tomb is unique and has its own characteristics, with none of them feeling like carbon copies of one another.

One thing that Tomb Raider undoubtedly trumps Uncharted on is the combat. The cover system looks natural and not clunky though this feature is automatic and doesn't require you to hold a button down. When there's danger, Lara reacts naturally to it, keeping her head down which allows you to take cover and fight your way through. There is also plenty of opportunities to sneak behind enemies for a silent take-down which treats you to some gruesome deaths. When aiming your bow or gun, firing it at the enemy AI is responsive and works well across the entire game. Unloading your weapons is easy, and I like how Lara is able to retrieve arrows from her victims, (a skill that you can unlock early in the game). Furthermore, the AI is intelligent enough to give you a decent challenge throughout all difficulty levels.

Though the draw of Tomb Raider is in the single-player campaign, there is a multiplayer mode to keep you busy once you complete the main story. Although the online options are fun, they are unspectacular and won’t hold your attention for long. Consequently, this is the only downfall of the game, but it’s not enough to ruin the overall experience that Tomb Raider serves up.

If you fancy a break from the central story or from raiding tombs, you can involve yourself with a variety of challenges. Notably, these include stealing eggs, lighting statues and shooting lanterns down. None of the mini-challenges are vital in the overall story of the game, but you can go back to each base camp to view and complete them if you wish which adds longevity to the Tomb Raider experience.

Graphics / Audio


Only a few hours into the story, you'll find yourself guiding Lara down streams, jumping across rooftops and navigating through a mass of trees and foliage with a parachute. All of these set-pieces look sleek and intertwine with the cut-scenes beautifully. Indeed, the Uncharted series set a benchmark for its cutscene integration, but Tomb Raider certainly rivals it.

Though graphically superb, Tomb Raider is also excellently voice-acted. In Particular, Camilla Luddington does a sterling job as Lara, as do all the cast throughout the game. The audio effects are spectacular, especially during storms with the thunder sounding crisp and powerful. The musical score merges perfectly to the cinematography, and the set-pieces are some of the best I've ever seen in video gaming. 

The verdict

Overall, Tomb Raider has memorable characters, gorgeous visuals and an intriguing story making it is a serious contender for game of the year. The story will keep you engaged for around eight hours, though, if you wish, you can scour the map for treasures and collectables which adds to the longevity.

Back In 1996, the first Tomb Raider played an essential role in PlayStation One sales worldwide. Now in 2013, will this Tomb Raider help the Xbox and PS3 bid a grand farewell as the next-generation looms?

Lara has never looked this good.

Score 9 / 10