I bought the game a while back (on Steam) and finally started playing it last week. So far, I'm really impressed with this game. It looks great, runs well on my PC, has lots of nice little touches (hiding UI, pause during cutscenes, pausing shows whatever frame you stopped on).

I'll admit I'm not very far into the game and can't judge it as a whole. But I was wondering if we'll see Tomb Raider show up as part of Game of the Year discussions, and in what potential categories. With all the other games released this year, I'm not expecting it'll be a competitor for, say, the top 5 spots in overall GOTY. But it seems like a really solid title from Q1 that might get brought up like "Oh yeah, I forgot about Tomb Raider, did that release this year?"

(And on a GOTY side note, I'd like to see all the GOTY nominees/winners in the various categories organized into a list, sometime after all the videos are out and winners decided. I know the fun of it is listening to the guys argue the merits of various games on the podcast, and watching the bits recorded for the videos. But it'd be useful to be able to refer back to GOTY lists without having to actually watch the videos. I know there's been a few times I was curious what games were on the staff Top 10 lists from previous years, but didn't have time to dig into the videos again.)

I hope so, the game was fantastic (with the exception of QTEs/ultra-linear sections).

As far as Giant Bomb goes, it doesn't seem like any of them dug it that much. I know Brad gave it a 4 but I don't think that means it makes his list for sure.

It's on my GOTY list right now and I keep thinking about moving it one spot up, above The Last of Us but that's probably just my reaction to seeing how overrated I find the Last of Us is by the community at large...

The combat in Tomb Raider was very good! I found it to be considerably better than the Uncharted games in that area. And it looks beautiful on PC. I also really liked what they did with Lara, she was one of the more badass characters in a game in a while. I think they nailed the John McClain "this person has been through a lot of shit" angle very well.

Unless they bring Patrick back in for the GOTY talks I doubt Laura will get much support

Edit: I was making a joke about how Patrick called Lara Laura for a whole podcast but people below me seem to be calling her Laura too so I thought I'd have to make it clear I'm joking.

I certainly loved it. I've been thinking about playing it again sometime soon.

One of the main reasons why I think people are overlooking how strong female characters have become this year. Lara, Ellie, and Elizabeth for the hat trick of awesome female roles in games.

I like the game a lot. Game was not perfect but I think their vision shown through. I wish it focused more on Laura's internal struggles and had a more focused surviving in the wild aspect.

I would hope not.

I enjoyed playing it, but when I started to consider putting it on my list, I had no idea why I thought it was anything other than average. The shooting is okay, but the platforming is very Uncharted-esque. None of the puzzle-y stuff from past games in the series is there, except in those stupid-easy mini tombs they added just to satisfy that requirement. Most of the characters are pretty bland and stereotypical, Lara-aside. As @beachthunder said above, all of the run-forward-while-things-explode-around-you and QTE segments got a little tiring. Finally, I found a lot of the inconsistencies of Lara's state of being injured (like that GIANT HOLE IN HER SIDE that gets ignored for a large chunk of the game) to really pull me out of the experience, especially for a game that tries so hard to make her struggles seem real (and otherwise succeeds).

It's a great start to a new series, but I don't know if I ever want to play it again. Trying to start another game of it just disappointed me. Maybe I would have gotten more into it after a few hours, but it kinda bummed me out.

The problem with Tomb Raider getting on the GOTY list is 2 fold, I don't think any of the crew thought it was anything other then just good (I think Patrick really liked it though). Secondly since the game was released in February I think it will be mostly forgotten when they start that discussion.

It's probably my favorite Triple A title of the year, so I'd like to see it get some love.

It's definitely on my list.

Depends who's having the discussion. I mean, you and I could discuss it if you want. I think that game is great! I just wish the story wasn't so stupid.

As for as Giant Bomb goes, the game came out so long ago that I've completely forgotten who played it and who liked it. It probably has a chance of taking the 7-10 spot on the GOTY list but I wouldn't anticipate it going much lower.

I don't see why it wouldn't be a top five overall game. This has been a year of mixed opinions and really only Bioshock comes to mind as something that was more positively received by the Giant Bomb staff as a whole. I guess they all really liked Gone Home as well.

It might come up in a category or two but if it makes the top ten list I'd be pretty surprised. Whenever the staff talked about it there were quite a few complaints to go along with whatever praise they had for it.

To be honest, I keep forgetting that it's a 2013 game. For some reason, I keep mentally associating its release with last year.

Naw. Game was pretty fun but wasn't exceptional at all. It was a well executed uncharted ones, but not as good as real ones.

I'm curious how they are going to discuss GOTY. I suppose Patrick and Alex can be Skype'd in (I think Alex did not participate in anything but the final top ten last year), but I wonder if Drew will be present. He always had a personal top ten, but he never was in the actual talks. I don't even know if he's played most of the "key" games, because he sort of just plays whatever he wants since he's in production.

Nope, which is a shame

it's possible, but I think it's going into that whole Last of Us comparison so it might just get out voted from that. What works really well with Tomb Raider is the whole dodging movement and connection combat, how you can double tap and she scurries onto a platform. It's the best examples of just tactile controls.

...... but then again it's also the best examples of Ludonarrative Dissonance, where I feel this is more like Mad Max in Road Warrior because the friends she's protecting are no more silly then the glorious white people as they fight off the invading horde (no body cared about them everyone loved wolf boy instead). But hey, it's the ONLY Tomb Raider I finished, the entire series was a mess they get a B for effort.

Remember when Jeff keeps says "Where are all the B games?" Tomb Raider is one of them.

well, it has exceptionally good third person controls and animations (a big deal for me), and intoxicating environments to walk around in (also a big plus), so it's riding high on my list, a lot higher than i expected, but i'm content to ignore the story in games, which the bomb crew is not, so maybe that will hold it back some.

but man, if Brothers had the subtlety of control and interaction with the environment that this game has, what a game that would be.

I really liked it. It will probably be mentioned, but nothing more.

It's starting to look like Super Mario 3D World might be a pretty realistic winner. How crazy is that?

Tomb Raider could have been in game of the year if it had come out later in the year

Same thing also for Ni no Kuni great JRPG but only Brad and Vinny were in the quick look

and there is Metro Last Light that game is very good

well there is also zelda and luigis mansion very good games

I will be curios to see Vinny's top 10 there we could get suprises

Maybe? I know Alex recently played through it and liked it a fair bit. For what it's worth it would probably make my top 10 list this year, at least when it comes to the big budget stuff.

I thought it was an excellent game, surpassing even Uncharted in the way it handled many gameplay elements, but I'm not sure if it's a Game OF THE YEAR sorta title. Certainly the best action-platformer in a while.

Yes, I think it will be in the discussion but whether or not it makes it to the final 5 is another matter. Games get forgotten and the feelings one had playing them grow cloudy by comparison to newer games. For example, who is still taking about Bioshock Infinite? Grand Theft Auto 5, Last of Us, Need for Speed Rivals...these are all fresh, while games from the start of the year are a distant memory.

I though it was pretty good, but not worth a mention on the top 10 given the quality of some of the games that came out this year. I enjoyed the gameplay and structure quite a bit but the story and the characterisation of Lara was banal and uninteresting to me. I don't think there's been a game that I've enjoyed quite as much yet will happily be dismissive about in a while.

My worth as a person is dependent on them viewing this game highly.

Lorna Cruft?

Tomb Raider is a better playing game than any of the Uncharted games, but the narrative elements and cinematic qualities don't come anywhere close. If games like GTA, The Last of Us, and Bioshock Infinite hadn't come out this year Tomb Raider would probably be on my short list, but with those games in the mix the best I view it is somewhere in my 4-7 spots.

I can only speak for myself, but I feel like too much time was spent making it a pretty game instead of an interesting game. I dont have any grand ideas but there Isnt a ton to the experience other than an insane amount of polished animations that I spent a lot of time looking at while not dying very much. The game eases the difficulty for constant cinematic angles and ultimately that made it a bit of a boring experience for me. Devs have proven they can do pretty but once ive seen the trick it doesn't sell me anymore.

No, bet you lots of money on it too.

I think Zelda is a better bet to finish very high and possibly win.

Great game, but a few too many niggles with it bring it down. With a better story and few issues ironed out it would definitely be on my list.

Its a pretty damn good game. Yes, there are issues with the Narrative dissonance however as a whole package its a pretty damn impressive game also, TRESSFX son. Feel the power!

Tomb Raider should absolutly be discussed in goty conversations, and then quickly dismissed when talking top 10.

Hair Tech of the Year 2013

Lira Crunk!

That game was great and nobody gave it any love at all, but as of right now I go with AC 4 for sure.

Best Death Animation of the Year

I hope not.

Well, the guys at Giant Bomb typically discuss most everything in passing, but as for a formal debate...nope. I think in retrospect it was better than other big games this year, but I think the impression of the game was that id was a solid 'Uncharted copy' that was overly gruesome.

The podcast that will discuss this game will be Weekend Confirmed, Garnett Lee was very disappointed in that the game wasn't very 'Tomb Raider' and missed the point of being a TR game.

L to the C-rizzle

I really liked it so I hope so.

it's really the only of my games that have a shot (zeno clash 2 and EU4, no chance in hell)

I think it'll be thrown out pretty quickly because from what I remember the gang wasn't too hot on it. I certainly had the same thing as Patrick did. I seem to remember him saying he was having fun whilst he was playing it, but when he wasn't playing it, it seemed bad.

In a way I'd hope so since it ranks highly among my favorite games this year. I thought it was an excellent action platformer and triumphant reboot for Lara Croft. I even got a surprising kick out of the strange MP but the singleplayer was pretty top notch either way. It's the best mainstream, truly big budget game this year to me and the best game of its kind for quite some time. That said, I don't think it's got much of a chance from the GB crew's perspective. Brad found it to be merely good - not great - I think, Jeff probably isn't interested whatsoever, Patrick got extremely hung up on it not being some sort of hardcore survival sim and Vinny really seemed to damn it with faint praise (stating "yeah that game's OK" several times in a very bored, disinterested fashion).

Then there's the unpleasant context of gaming media at large deciding that game just deserved their pseudo-intellectual, poorly informed, hyperbolic wrath since armchair social commentary was very hot clickbait at the time. I think I'd rather have the game be ignored during GOTY than seeing that bullshit debate get re-ignited. If I had to guess, I'd say it won't get super high praise anywhere, certainly not here on GB. But that's cool. It impressed me so much since it's one of those games that almost seems to be made for my particular tastes - which often means it's not that great to many others in a variety of ways. And I'll take a glorious gaming experience over critics agreeing with me any day!

Tomb Raider is like a top 7 or 8 game, could be higher depending on preference. Not sure if GB will put it at 10 or leave it off altogether. Though I should note Tomb Raider is better than Bioshock Infinite in just about every way.