As loved as they are, I can safely say I genuinely hate the original three Tomb Raider games (sorry!); I played the remastered versions and completed 1, 2 and most of 3 before I couldn't take a single second more of Lara rolling dice after each input on whether she'll actually listen or not, that and the kayak nearly put me in a coma from rage!

That said, somehow, I adore this game! I was not expecting to have so much fun, lol. With the exception of sometimes not grabbing ropes, looking the wrong way when climbing or rarely jumping the wrong way, the controls are a complete breath of fresh air, as almost everything actually works correctly, I think this is the first Tomb Raider game that's fully playable, and actually fun.

Before I start! I had to add the trl.exe file to the "data execution prevention" in the advanced settings on Windows 10 to get it to run, so you might need to as well!

The levels are tight, fluid and nicely designed visually. You'll do a lot of platforming of course, which, again, is responsive. The platforming was interesting and satisfying, without having to worry about whether Lara would listen to your inputs or not, I was really able to embrace and enjoy exploring for the first time in this series so far. Some of the locations had me smiling as I was looking around due to the design.

There's a lot of secrets hidden around, so usually if you can see somewhere off the path that's accessible, it's worth a look! The secrets (called rewards here) control most of the unlockables such as costumes, extras and also a few upgrades. If you miss any rewards, you can replay the levels later, and can save your progress as soon as you find the ones you need instead of having to complete the level to keep the rewards, it's really accessible in that respect; great replay value. There are one or two secrets that I can admit I never would have found on my own if I'd live to 200, but you'll be able to find most of them if you're careful.

You have more combat here too, quite basic but harmless, very 2006 of course. There's various guns to find and most are useful and combat is entertaining, you do have a few tricks you can do but I didn't really use them. I did have some smaller issues here, there's a few leopards in the game which are just annoying and take too much damage, but they're very rare, and the lock-on function was supposed to work with an input, but it just did it automatically, and the input was unresponsive, it didn't affect the game.

With the exception of one, all the boss fights were engaging to play and figure out!

Puzzles are here and well designed; you have smaller platforming puzzles and your larger, set piece puzzles. A couple were very tricky but I was ultimately able to do all but one of them without a guide (the England level's ending, which ironically is my favourite level).

Finally, you have some vehicle sections, but they're mostly on-rails; you get to control the speed, your weapon, the horizontal position and it works; the music kicked ass too!

The storyline is pretty typical but also interesting, it tied in nicely to the level design and structure as it progresses, what helps is you have your friends and colleagues Zip and Alister on the radio along with you almost the entire way, and I really enjoyed the chemistry they had, a credit to the writing and great voice acting.
I have to say Lara's voice is just beautiful! I adore the way the voice actress (Keeley Hawes) delivers Lara's lines; all of Lara's previous actresses were great too, but I think this version is my favourite; never less than charming or a joy to listen to. At the end of the final boss fight, she absolutely kills that delivery; so badass! The one thing the original trilogy did right was Lara's character and that's carried on here, she's an icon for a reason!

A few downsides here however, perhaps it was too short; it took me 26h to complete the game 100%, so that's going back to get all of the collectables and completing the time trials for each level (I don't even usually 100% games but I was having too much fun). The levels being as streamlined as they are, do lend themselves well to the time trails, but again she does sometimes not grab the ropes which can piss you off, but this is such an improvement from before.

There are errors; like I said I had to add the trl.exe file to "data execution prevention" in the advanced system settings on Windows 10 to get it to run at all! Once I had done that I had no issues with the performance however.
Graphically there are a fair few errors too; I experienced some of the faces having a cracking effect. There's also a "Next Generation Content" option which is glitchy, apparently on the Kazakhstan level it can cause crashing so I turned it off. This option also makes it really hard to see underwater, lol.

Oh, and there's a couple of unlockable costumes that you can't actually use in the levels, only around Croft Manor, which makes them pretty useless and not actually unlocked! It would have been funny to use on certain levels and cutscenes! Otherwise there are some fantastic costumes, and some others you'll ask yourself why anybody would want that.

Overall, I just can't really fault the game much at all; I really enjoyed it. It's issues are small and it's the Tomb Raider game I always wanted, it's entertaining, comforting, slick, challenging in the right way, a fun vibe all the way through, I was not expecting it but I really do recommend it!

8/10

Played this back on ps3, was very fun. Is still fun with controller.

Childhood and favourite Tomb Raider game.