First Review out.

Haven't heard of GameMaster before, so not sure how valid this is. However I am still excited for this game, and this just makes me even more excited. http://www.justpushstart.com/2013/02/tomb-raider-receives-its-first-review/ Also Square is lifting the embargo a week early, hope all is positive.

Looked at the cover. "World Exclusive Review!" Man, I'd be pretty bummed when they have the cover so hype-driven and it ended up getting like a 6/10 or something. Anyways, I'm pretty pumped for this gosh dang game, man.

GamesMaster are (were?) a pretty big UK magazine, they even had a TV show at one point. I'm not sure how reliable any "world exclusive" reviews are though.

The game does seem to be genuinely pretty solid. My only worry is that it's going to end up being a complete clone of Uncharted, abandoning any kind of puzzle solving or exploration in favour of the combat.

I have a feeling this could become a surprise hit, especially the PC version. 2013's Sleeping Dogs equivalent mayhaps...

GamesMaster recieved a really crappy slanderous attack from Kotaku when they got the first review of Batman Arkham Asylum and scored it incredibly highly and Kotaku wrote an article "lololololol were they paid? Durrrrrrrrrrrrr". Sure, they pay for exclusive coverage but in retrospect that was a stupid question to ask in the case of Batman.

I used to read GamesMaster, I bought it for 10 years. Magazines are pointless now though.

I am expecting pretty big things from this game! I will be genuinely surprised if it doesn't do well.

I don't think you can just say it was stupid simply because Batman turned out great (just playing devil's advocate here as I'm not going to track down the kotaku article). I think a little skepticism is healthy when a publication is bragging about exclusive reviews.

@mildmolasses: Skepticism is a very good thing, but early or exclusive reviews for print publications are not anything new or special. That is their only chance to survive and they've been doing it for some time. Also, I feel like I can say it is stupid. They should have more evidence or any at all. I just remember being really annoyed at the time by the random speculation.

The best thing I took out of that is it has a good game length which I was worried about.

Well, I'm excited to see how this goes, especially what Brad thinks of it. At least I think Brad is reviewing it. I have a nostalgic love for Tomb Raider and hope Crystal Dynamics can pull this off.

Hopefully they reboot it again next year

Some dude at IGN apparently likes it a whole lot: https://twitter.com/agentbizzle/status/305554468601204736

No, but with all the shady business with UK publications that Jeff mentioned on Tumblr makes me skeptical. Apparently under the table deals are a lot more common with European publications (not that this specific one is).

I don't want to speculate about the quality of the game based on this, but I hope it fulfils its potential. I also wonder, are Square lifting the embargo a week early, or was it always set for a week before the game launch? Pulling back an embargo date would seem like a weird move as surely it would mess up the schedules of games publications and leave them scrambling to finish things a week earlier than they otherwise would have needed to.

He will probably say something similar in a couple of months about another game. That said, I do hope Tomb Raider comes out alright.

Eurogamers review: http://www.edge-online.com/review/tomb-raider-review-2/

Kind of another review where the actual text doesnt seem to fit the score. You can tell the reviewer did like it but you have to get through quite a lot of complaining.

IGN has given it a 9.1. I'm intrigued.

The game felt like it had potential when it was revealed last year (?) and the only Tomb Raider game I've gotten into so far is the PSN/XBLA game. Anyway, I'm not complaining about more quality games like Uncharted. But, I'll wait for user impressions of the game first and/or price drops.

Huh. I expected it to be a completely acceptable Uncharted clone, good production values but a little iterative, your typical 4/5 game. "Best game of the generation" is... a compelling thing to hear.

Gametrailers gave it a 8.5

Kotaku gave it a thumbs up as well. Looks like I'll be picking this one up on the PC.

8.5 from gamespot, too, giving especially high praise to both the combat and exploration within the single-player, and Lara's character arc. Yep, as expected, it's looking like it's a really great game. So far it looks to be universally liked by the critics.

Reviews seem pretty good so far, mostly 8's and 9's flying around. Now waiting for that GB review...

Surprise hit? It's part of a pretty popular franchise after all... I'd be surprised if it would't be quite the hit ^^

Polygon gave it a 9 across the board.

It's the exploration that I'm most excited about really. The whole idea of exploring stuff on the side and having a home base is really exciting.

Well I mean because there hasn't been a lot of positive buzz surrounding the game is all. What with all of the torture porn accusations early on, people getting antsy about that thug feeling up Lara's leg, and not to mention the whole ''you'll want to protect Lara'' debacle. I think it's great to hear that Lara as a character has actually so far been one of the most consistently praised aspects about the game.

I hope so, looks like it had alot of potential. Didn't realise it was out so soon though.

Uncharted was labeled as Gears of Tomb Raider when it was unveiled so I wouldn't say Tomb Raider is "ripping it off".

@bourbon_warrior: Considering Tomb Raider is probably a direct inspiration for the first Uncharted game it gets a little convoluted in saying who ripped who off first.

@warlordpayne: Brian Altano is just not some dude. BRAP BRAP

@yummylee:

Yeah, but those things are mostly opinions and viewpoints surrounding the feel of the game, not actual technical issues or broken game mechanics. I think once people got over their prejudices and actually play the game they'll enjoy it :) And I'm not even a Tomb Raider fan...

For sure.

Uncharted is one of my favorite series of games for that very reason.

It seems there is a lot to like about this game from the reviews I've seen. The worst things I've read about the game do not seem especially damning.

That's what I said, which isn't a bad thing in games, if people wouldn't rip off other peoples ideas the only shooter we would be playing is Doom 24, from watching the IGN video it has me really happy that there seems to be alot of puzzles, something that the 2nd and 3rd Uncharted lacked, plus it has an open world to explore as well, sounds like my cup of tea.

I'm actually surprised that it turned out as good as the reviews make it out to be. I liked the first demos but there was a video I saw maybe one or two weeks ago where it looked like a pretty standard third person shooter (from what I understand the arc of her going from scared student to a killing machine is still one of the problems) but if it doensn't hold the game back too much then great. Going to pick this one up after all.

Oh god, the beginning of that Gametrailers review.

"I set out to find adventure, but instead... ADVENTURE FOUND ME"

The general gist seems to be that it looks fantastic and the gameplay and puzzles are mostly pretty good but there is a lot of incongruity between her character and her actions, much like the Uncharted series.

I think I am going to give this a go, I just hope it doesn't get too rapey, and I hope all that moaning and groaning Lara does plus the comments about wanting to protect her aren't indicative of her character. From the reviews I have read it seems kind of mixed with each reviewer finding issue with it depending on their senstivities which, I think, means that it is likely to piss me off a bit. The Eurogamer review seems particually scathing around this issue.

Seems to be getting excellent reviews. Really happy it turned out good, I may just have to pick this one up.

An adventure game as good as Uncharted without Nathan Drake in it - about damn time!

I am really excited to play this

"Lara endlessly loots corpses for ammo, but never thinks to nick a jumper. Even when it's actually snowing."

"If you can stop hacking people to death for five minutes, we'll get along fine."

Sentences from the Eurogamer review.

I guess the mass slaughtering of enemies was unavoidable when designing a new more emotional/realistic Tomb Raider experience.

Either way I'm happy it didn't get bad reviews. 8=GREAT on most sites.

The IGN and Eurogamer review was written by a female gamer, that's pretty cool if you ask me.

Edit: The Gamespot review too.

I hope this game is good. I used to play Tomb Raider I and II when I was a kid, good times!

Gamespot's review was also written by a woman and was extremely positive. I guess we can stop those bullshit "ew, moans of pain" comments now, since actual women seem to be fine with it.

http://www.gamespot.com/tomb-raider/reviews/tomb-raider-review-6404378/?page=1

Yay. I was hoping for this to be good. It's my most hyped game for this year.

@Funkydupe I hope there will be positive articles about that. After all the negative attention it seems only fair.

Went ahead and grabbed this on Greenmangaming for $36, looks like it'll be well worth it.

:o I was really expecting this to be a complete stinker. It really does seem like they're squandering the potential of the game by making it so action-heavy though.

All the other Tomb Raider games that Crystal Dynamics made were good I don't see why this one wouldn't be. I had pre-ordered this the second they put it on Steam.

@beachthunder: Yes! That's one of the main issues with it from what I've gathered. I wonder why they felt they had to make it so similar to Uncharted in that regard. A game can be interesting, involve exploration and survival aspects and still be exciting even though you're not fighting constantly; it can even make the fights you do engage in more memorable. Here we can read that she's basically killing hordes of enemies on her own; a really steep start for the first game in a more 'realistic' reboot of Tomb Raider.

From the beginning I was optimistic about this Game and it looks like it will be a good game. But the final question "How good?" can only be answered if I play it myself :D