Tomb Raider The Definitive Edition

Tomb Raider

Definitive Edition

A Crystal Dynamics/Square Enix production

Version reviewed PS4

Well next gen....lets see what you have got!

Yes its the Tomb Raider release of last year scrubbed and polished to its very shiny best.

They have taken what was a very good looking game anyway and added extra sparkles in an attempt to show what some more graphical grunt and higher processing power in the latest console generation can bring.

The game itself is a bit of a reboot of the TR franchise done in a similar way to a lot of the classic movie reboots we have seen over the last 5 years in as much as it goes back to the beginning of our heroines life of adventure.
I remember buying the very first Lara Croft game and enjoying it immensely and after several good and not so good sequels over the years I was looking forward to seeing how this new start would pan out.


The whole thing starts out with a long cut scene that sets up the story. Lara and her crew are aboard a ship heading to find a mystical Sun Queens Temple. (Yes I know she is always heading to find some mystical temple but that's what she does!).
The ship hits a violent storm and all sorts of chaos abounds culminating with her being washed up on a island. Now as intros go this is actually quite spectacular. The eye candy visuals are wonderful and you get a sense of real drama as the movie unfolds. This is followed by you having to do some actions and the whole thing draws you into the title brilliantly.

This pattern of doing stuff followed by cut scene followed by drama and quick time eventing repeats itself throughout the whole game and whilst in lots of titles the inplay cut scenes end up annoying and interfering, here that does not happen and they add to the storyline and tie the whole progression together.

You have a style of gaming then which is a combination of freedom of sandbox with a series of set plays to guide you from the start to the finale.

Lara looks amazing in the cut scenes and the next gen visuals are very apparent, but in the actual game its much less obvious you are playing anything other than what we have been doing for the past 5 years. The atmosphere and style of this reminded me so much of the Unchartered Drake series and that is a compliment to both titles really.

So back to the story. Having landed on the island Lara must get back to her team and then find out what mysterious happenings are afoot with a view to rescuing everyone and finding a way home. The island itself is broken down into separate areas and you must use the obligatory jumps and QTEs and tools to manoeuvre your way through each section and on to the next. Scattered throughout each level are various relics and maps and other standard fare collectibles and a campfire which ends up being a nice take on the save game place. You can use these camp fires to upgrade your abilities and weapons and to fast travel to other camp fires you have come across. This last point enables you to revisit sections otherwise cut off when you end up doing the sweep for items missed later on.

Combat is pretty easy as you have decent guns and a bow for silent headshots and such like. You can also open up old tombs and loot them for a treasure map to show up things you may have missed.

The difference between your normal sandbox style is the addition of several puzzles which need to be solved in order to progress. These range for learning how to leap over things or jump onto other things, but all seem to involve the same 4 or 5 things to do. So once you have learnt that its going to be a switch pulling get a thing burning or swinging and then leap to another thing into your brain, then they all are relatively easy to do. I am at the final part of the game now and have done all of the puzzley bits and have not referred to a guide at all.

The upgrade paths mentioned allow for your items to do more and more special features which in turn lets you get to parts of maps that you might not have been able to reach earlier on.


One feature not mentioned so far is using Lara's instincts. By pressing the left shoulder button you go into one of those pseudos slowtime black and white but with important bits highlighted mode. This lets you see where you need to be going and also to locate collectibles etc. Its a nice feature but the sound effect associated with it starts to grate on you after a while and ultimately I found it to be more annoying than helpful. The collectibles are not that straight forward to see or find though and so you will find yourself using this Instinct mode more and more. I would prefer less collectibles and more obvious ones rather than the way it is presented here, but its not a deal breaker.

On the PS4 version apparently there are voice commands to help with weapon switch etc, but I found this just did not work for me.
More worryingly the game frequently went into pause mode which for the life of me I could not understand why. Maybe there is a voice command to pause and maybe the game picks up some of its own audio and interprets this as that command? Not sure, but it did happen quite a lot. Its not too intrusive as you just button press to resume, but its certainly a glitch for me.

Ach/Trophies are rather thin on the ground but the eventually start to pop as you complete certain tasks. Some are missable and sadly lots are on the multiplayer part. I really don't see the need for mp on this game. The fact that its already dead rather backs that thought up. Still if you have a friend with the title most can be grinded out, but personally its an add on that's actually a subtraction.


So overall what do I think?

Well its certainly beautiful in places but not so much as your jaw is constantly dropping. The cut scenes are an indicator of what is to come with this new power and that excites me. Her hair is probably the stand out thing for me and if that's whats capable then in a few years the devs are going to be really treating us to amazing effects.
The storyline is good but rather predictable but its still very enjoyable.
The sounds and soundbytes are very impressive and add to the overall experience which I would liken to you being the character in a film more than a game.

There are some plot holes and parts where you just think that the puzzle is there for puzzles sake, particularly with the one in the lift later on. (In real life you would just prize open the door at the bottom rather than all the hassle of what you actually do).
Also Lara is not the animals best friend. Killing 243 deer, 76 hogs and 3974 other lovely creatures cos she is a little bit pekish was a bit OTT!

But taking everything into consideration, it has given me 4 or 5 long nights of highly enjoyable gaming and surely that's what is most important in any title.

A strong 8/10 for me and a fine pointer to the future for next gen games.

Good review mate. I should have a copy of this arriving today for the bone, never played it on 360 so I'm looking forward to checking out.

nice work mate i have to play on the 360 actually looking forward to it after reading this   

Nice review mate.

Nice review!

Still don't know whether to buy it on the cheap when on 360 or wait until I get the Xbox One though.... :/

Excellent review mate, I really enjoyed this on the 360 can't really justify springing for the next gen version having finished it already though. The pause bug is indeed a glitch caused by the game picking up its own audio   I've read about it in some other reviews, for multi format folks it's worth noting that performance is much better on ps4 In depth analysis here if you can't be bothered reading through all that the bottom line is that it looks great on both but ps4 has roughly double the frame rate

Good review of a good game
Thanks for stepping up mate

Ba5sett wrote: ps4 has roughly double the frame rate

That's a bit of a difference!  

its a decent title and I am glad you liked the review

Its definitely worth the purchase if you have a next gen machine

I am pleased that I guessed right about its audio causing the pausing!

A bit of an oversight there then lol


But apart from its odd bits here and there I genuinely enjoyed it and was looking forward to getting back to it each night
Its not a short title either so there are plenty of hours for your money

I really hope they take the franchise on to a sequel

I've been seriously considering buying the Xbone version of this.

Well I finished it tonight and it had a great finale to finish off a cracking title. Managed to get all the collects too and beat all the tomb puzzles without any guide or pointers
I would suggest enjoying this game without referring to any web sites for help as solving the stuff and working out how to get around an obstacle is a fun part of this game

I have missed only 4 of the sp ach/trophy stuff playing through and I may well play it once again to bag those.

Certainly the best next gen title I have tried so far


Oh and I turned off the voice command thing and it did not pause at all so that confirms my suspicions. I also turned off the speaker in the controller as I kept hearing an echo until I realised it was coming from my hands lol

Ok so i picked this up this morning, and it is graphically very good indeed. I think i'm really going to enjoy playing this. Especially since the last Tomb Raider game i played was on PS1 a very long time ago.

glad you were inspired to grab it matey

you should really enjoy it

I would play it through without worrying about the collects at start

when you get to the last campfire near the end of the game it will tell you that you are at the point of no return. Use that as the time to fast travel back through the areas and do your mop up. This will unlock everything you need.

Its great because you can just enjoy the game without worrying about the ach

enjoy the ride fella and that opening sequence is epic

I had been thinking of picking it up before your review matey. But it certainly tipped me. And yes i'm planning on playing through with no guides, cheers for the tip about the mop up too.

I think the opening sequence is possibly one of the best i've seen, and although i can't compare it to the 360 version, the Bone does a sterling job with the visuals and cutscenes.

Edit: finished the main story now, and really enjoyed it. Currently mopping up the collectables and a couple of the weapon/kill cheevos. Looks like i'll be playing through it again though as I've missed an achievement for talking to all the characters.

And i guess the multiplayer is gonna need boosting, for my first Bone completion.

Awesome Review Dude been looking for something to tide me over before Thief and after reading that i think iv found my game

I'm thinking about getting this at some point. I nearly got it on the 360 when I brought it for the comp, but thought I would wait a while for it on the one. Shoulda like a good game and I look forward to it when I can get it

Good review fella!

I didn't realise the controller had a speaker in.

minkey_monkey wrote:I didn't realise the controller had a speaker in.

You realise Big E reviewed this on PS4 right?

The PS4 controller has a speaker in it.

KENT HAMMER wrote:

minkey_monkey wrote:I didn't realise the controller had a speaker in.

You realise Big E reviewed this on PS4 right?

The PS4 controller has a speaker in it.

Haha no... Opps lmao! I'm such a tard, will teach me to read things more carefully. In my defense I was scoffing at the time!

I was thinking of buying this but put it off. Shopto have it for around £37. After reading this I have ordered it. A little late to the show but well done Everton very nice.   

Lighthouseman wrote:I was thinking of buying this but put it off. Shopto have it for around £37. After reading this I have ordered it. A little late to the show but well done Everton very nice.   

If i'd known mate, you could have borrowed mine. But since your getting a copy now, we can always boost the multiplayer cheevs.

Its ok mate very kind. Be nice to do some co-op stuff with somebody. There is not a great deal of it going on round here.

Lighthouseman wrote:Its ok mate very kind. Be nice to do some co-op stuff with somebody. There is not a great deal of it going on round here.

No worries mate, just send me a message/invite anytime you see me online.

we should do some more borza coooop

Everton wrote:we should do some more borza coooop

Well having now completed all the story based cheevos. I'd be up for some Forza boosting tonight if either of you are about?

I am tricky , give you a shout .