Reviews// Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition

What Tomb Raider does with the Dualshock 4 is far more impressive. You now control the map and some menus with the touch pad. Panning and zooming on the map works exactly how you would expect it to.

The light acts as a gun flash when firing weapons and although you probably wont notice it unless you’re playing in the dark it’s still a pretty cool use of what is usually a useless feature of the pad.

The speaker on the pad has been used, but far too inconsistently to be considered successful. The mechanical movements of a gun firing and reloading plays out between your hands and offer a genuine connection between you and your weapon.

It’s also used for when Lara is using her walkie-talkie but for some reason it drops this rule from time to time and it’s always disappointing when it does. It also plays menu sound effects, but that just seems out of place.

DLC

Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition includes all of the 2013 DLC, which is a little more disappointing that it first sounds. The vast majority of the extra content is for the disappointing multiplayer portion of the game so you’ll barely feel the benefit.

There is one extra side tomb in the single player campaign but it’s not enough to feel as though the game has been significantly expanded.

A Worthwhile Upgrade

Sadly, that’s all this version of the game has to offer over the original.

If you’ve already experienced the game on the 360, PS3 or PC then there isn’t enough in this package to justify the £40 asking price. There’s nothing expanded on, nothing new to discover and as good as it looks, it’s not as though it was improving on an ugly game in the first place.

However if you managed to miss this the first time around and are looking for something to fill the post-launch void that hangs over both the Xbox One and Playstation 4 then you’re in luck.

When playing this through again I was reminded by how great it is. It might not be the most challenging game or even the smartest, but it's a perfectly paced action game that manages to hold your attention throughout.

It’s full of incredible set pieces, fun weaponry with plenty of room for upgrades and unlockables and its smart-cover system is a game changer for the genre.

If you haven’t played Tomb Raider yet, then this will be the best game you can possibly buy on your new system. Get it.

Pros
+ Beautiful game looks even better
+ Fun gimmicks added with clever use of the in-pad speaker
+ One of the best games from last year

Cons
- Not enough added to justify a repurchase if you’ve already played it.

SPOnG Score: 4.5/5