Tue, Feb 26, 2013 | 13:30 GMT

Tomb Raider reviews begin: get all the scores here

Tomb Raider reviews have begun springing up from the undergrowth like so many unsuspecting deer begging to be hunted. We’ve ventured out into the wilds of the internet to hunt them all down for you.

Before you crack on, you can check out my appraisal of Tomb Raider here, where I suggest it’s one of the best action games in recent memory. No joke, it’s really quite entertaining.

Games Master (Print) – 90/100
IGN – 9.1
GTTV – 8.5
Destructoid – 8.5/10
Eurogamer – 8/10
Shacknews – No Score
OPM – 8/10
Kotaku – ‘Yes’
OXM – 8/10
CVG – 9/10
Telegraph – 5/5
Polygon – 9/10
Gamespot – 8.5/10
Penny Arcade – No Score
Digital Spy – 5/5
Gametrailers – 8.5/10
HardGame2 (Spain) – 9.5/10
VaDeJuegos (Spain) – 5/5
Videogamer – declined to review due to NDA issues
GameInformer – 9.25/10
Meristation – 8.9/10
3DJuegos – 9.4/10
Vandal – 9/10
Hobbyconsolas – 93/100
Edge – 8/10
Gamereactor – 8/10
NowGamer – 8.8/10
Metro – 8/10
Machinima – 6/10

Got a score? Chuck it in the comments below and we’ll add it to the list when we can.

83 comment-trail-alt Posted in: PC, PS3, Xbox 360, reviews
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83 comments

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#1

ps4fanboy
25/02/13, 3:05 pm

1st to comment

#3

ps3fanboy
25/02/13, 3:09 pm

3rd to comment

#4

salarta
25/02/13, 3:09 pm

22nd to comment.

#5

Beta
25/02/13, 3:10 pm

Good scores so far, looks like I’ll probably pick this up soon :)

#6

slayernl
25/02/13, 3:11 pm

Penny Arcade no score but very Positive.

http://penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/not-that-kind-of-croft-par-reviews-tomb-raider

#8

slayernl
25/02/13, 3:13 pm

Gametrailers 8.5
http://www.gametrailers.com/reviews/7zar52/tomb-raider-review

#9

Max Payne
25/02/13, 3:14 pm

Funny thing , every review is criticizing multiplayer :D

#13

Talkar
25/02/13, 3:37 pm

@9
I don’t mind. I don’t play Tomb Raider for the multiplayer ;)

#15

deathgaze
25/02/13, 3:43 pm

Embargoed reviews all coming out at the same time. Must be highly trustworthy.

#16

Dave Cook
25/02/13, 3:45 pm

@15 ??? The industry has worked this way forever.

#17

DSB
25/02/13, 3:52 pm

Isn’t the embargo fully lifted today?

#18

manamana
25/02/13, 3:55 pm

Yes. And I ordered Lara’s reboot.

#19

Dave Cook
25/02/13, 3:55 pm

@17 Yep.

#20

Erthazus
25/02/13, 3:56 pm

Really liked SE support for the PC. Ordered that thing already.

#21

DSB
25/02/13, 4:02 pm

@19 Well then there’s no reason to fear.

If they were all trying to get under, then you could worry :)

#23

mkotechno
25/02/13, 4:24 pm

I’ll wait to angry user reviews at Metacritic, the gamesites reviews always “forget” to show the weak points, and green Metacritics are “OMG best game ever 10/10!!!!!1111oneone”

#24

SplatteredHouse
25/02/13, 4:32 pm

@23 Watch the video I posted a link to. Witness positives and negatives, all mixed together in the same opinion!

#25

salarta
25/02/13, 4:39 pm

In terms of the scores without thinking about what game they’re referring to, I consider scores in the high 80s or low 90s (or if a 10 point scale, then 8) to be more trustworthy than mid to high 90s or perfect scores. When you have perfect or near perfect scores, I automatically assume the reviewer was already so enamored with the premise of the game that there was no way they would ever see it in an even-handed way or score it any differently unless there was a glaringly terrible flaw that nearly breaks the game. And even then, I would expect those reviewers to find some excuse to say the flaw isn’t so bad.

As for games like this one, I don’t trust reviews anyway. What I’ve seen has the reviewers caring almost exclusively about the gameplay and absolutely nothing else. Story and characterization changes tend to get a sentence or at most a paragraph. Though I kind of understand why they ignore or gloss over that part under the perspective that quality in that area is up to personal taste.

As much as I’d like to see this game bomb and its user reviews turn out to be extremely low, that’s not going to happen in this case. As has been said, franchises are redefined to fit modern ideals. Survival horror franchises are turned into action/FPS franchises, classic films are rebooted with characters given entirely new roles and personalities, and as we have seen this generation, gender ideas accepted by both genders have moved away from women as equals and over to women as inferior to men. Can’t really blame the team for making Lara into exactly what women want to be and men want to see.

#26

Gnosis
25/02/13, 4:43 pm

Oh Crist… please make it fuckin stop >_>

#27

salarta
25/02/13, 4:50 pm

@26: Shh.. shh… it’s alright now.

I’d say “Just don’t reply to me and you’ll be fine,” because my intent is usually just to say my piece and leave it at that unless I need to respond to something, but my experience has been that people don’t listen to that advice. So, I’m going to resolve to not add more comments to this article for at least the rest of the day in order to avoid “hijacking” the article’s comments section, unless I have a really, really good reason to add another comment, like one of the staff demanding a reply or someone grossly misunderstanding/misrepresenting my views.

#28

TheRedMelon
25/02/13, 5:11 pm

Check out Machinima’s 6/10 review here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWQMMlCCEuU

#29

Carl Argent
25/02/13, 5:17 pm

Couldn’t take to Tomb Raider games despite enjoying adventure games in general. Most fun I had was locking the butler in the freezer in TR2. Hopefully this one will change my opinion.

#30

Dave Cook
25/02/13, 5:18 pm

@29 it’s essentially Uncharted meets Zelda. If that appeals then you’ll like this one :)

#31

Lengendaryboss
25/02/13, 5:19 pm

Pretty Impressive for Tomb Raider the “Uncharted Clone”. This Game Is on To be decided list.

#32

Fin
25/02/13, 5:22 pm

@29

The Crystal Dynamics trilogy (Legend, Anniversary, Underworld) are all excellent – I think they’re out as a pack on PS3. Definitely worth picking up.

@31

Er, you realise Nathan Drake is basically a male Lara Croft yeah? And that Tomb Raider was around 11 years before Uncharted?

#33

Gnosis
25/02/13, 5:32 pm

@27 Don’t get me wrong. I don’t care, if someone doesn’t like the game, is bashing it or whatever. It’s none of my business. You’re just getting very, very, VERY repeditiv…

#34

Lengendaryboss
25/02/13, 5:35 pm

@32 I know that: for some strange reason a friend from PSN said its an uncharted clone. he said the platforming reminds him of uncharted. I did point out what you said. I did not notice that until looking at gameplay recently.

#35

Edo
25/02/13, 5:43 pm

I’ve read a dozen of these reviews so far and one thing that really bothers me is that in majority of them there seems to be a great disparity between the review itself and the actual score and most of them end up with “despite all of it’s flaws…” .

#36

Dave Cook
25/02/13, 5:44 pm

@35 that’s why scores need to be abolished, fast.

#37

SplatteredHouse
25/02/13, 5:46 pm

http://www.gametrailers.com/reviews/7zar52/tomb-raider-review Can you explain that outcome Dave? Lara may be glaring at you from the side of the viewing window, but…oh.

#38

Edo
25/02/13, 6:05 pm

@36 So you agree that there is something fishy going on here :) ?Also it’s interesting to point out that there was an NDA that Square provided to these “reviewers” and I wonder what was it about,especially since some of them didn’t agree to it,one of them being Videogamer http://www.videogamer.com/xbox360/tomb_raider/news/tomb_raider_review_why_you_wont_see_ours_until_after_release.html .

#39

DSB
25/02/13, 6:10 pm

@35 Isn’t that to be expected from the press these days though?

Take any score on the 10 scale. Now subtract a number between 3 and 5. There, now it’s honest.

“Here’s what’s wrong with it, and here’s why you shouldn’t care. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”.

It’s been that way for absolutely ages.

#40

Dave Cook
25/02/13, 6:15 pm

@38 no NDA I’ve ever see demands a certain score. That is just bollocks as far as I know. They typically just ask that you give away no spoilers or details before embargoes lift. The size of potential fines is what puts some outlets off.

Hate this conspiracy theory stuff. It’s just wishful thinking from people who believe all game writers are corrupt when in reality most of them are poor, yet immensely happy to be writing about what they love.

#41

varrelo
25/02/13, 6:18 pm

http://www.laps3.com/analisis/374169-analisis_tomb_raider.html 90/100 from LaPS3 – Spain

#42

Edo
25/02/13, 6:25 pm

@40 No need to be upset about it then if it’s just a conspiracy theory and wishful thinking,thanks for the reassurance.

#43

NeoSquall
25/02/13, 6:30 pm

@40 If the conspiracy was true I shouldn’t be worrying about finding a way to get the Heroes VI Complete Collection next May, let alone getting all the interesting games (DMC Devil May Cry, Metal Gear Rising, Tomb Raider, God of War: Ascension) that have been/will be released until then…

I shouldn’t even be mad about being unable to play Crysis 3 on PC because my card doesn’t have DX 11, for I should have a GTX Titan inside my chassis chugging gigaflops over gigaflops of data.

#44

Dave Cook
25/02/13, 6:33 pm

@42 brilliant.

The annoyance comes from people like you running their mouth about things they have no base understanding of.

And the implication that all of the games press is corrupt. Which we’re not.

Really annoys me.

#45

Edo
25/02/13, 6:52 pm

@44 What exactly is your problem dude!?Where have I stated that all reviewers are corrupted or anything like that?!You’ve changed since that Doritosgate thing and become obsessed that people might think that you might be corrupt hence the all “I was offered this but didn’t take it” disclaimers in every bloody article you write.
Would I ask for your opinion if I thought that you were corrupt or anything!?
When you joined this site I genuinely thought that you brought a fresh perspective to this place but at this point I’m not sure anymore…

#46

Dragon246
25/02/13, 6:54 pm

@Dave,
No, not corrupt, but I think games press is a bunch of people who I think are increasing speaking like they know something when they know nothing.
Off topic, but don’t you feel at least some of the sites are filled with sensationalism (especially in videos and podcasts)?
I am really starting to feel that hearing their “opinions” is a waste of my time. Each one of them seems catering to a niche audience lacking respect for others (I dont like this game, fuck you if you like it and vice-versa). Objectivity is lost. They are starting to feel more like tabloids.
That is one of the main reasons to mostly visit vg247 only. I just want news. And scores? Metacritic has them all and gives you an objective score and a general view if a game is good or bad.
Obviously, vg247 staff is not among them, as otherwise I would have stopped visiting it.

#47

manamana
25/02/13, 7:09 pm

@Dave most of us appreciate the hard work you and the other staff members put into VG24/7. Just wanted to let you know, that I feel you overexagerated a bit on Edo but maybe it’s because you are pushing very hard, working your ass of and in return you see so many trash comments that you mixed up the good vs. bad guys. However, you and Brenna and Steph and Pat are doing a great job, don’t get carryied away by some comments and keep this website floating. It’s the best out there.

#48

SplatteredHouse
25/02/13, 7:10 pm

@38 “no NDA I’ve ever see demands a certain score. That is just bollocks as far as I know…Hate this conspiracy theory stuff. ”

The terms of that NDA were apparently less agreeable to videogamer.com than issuing their review before the game was released, which it is bound to be considered as in their interest to do. Doesn’t it lead one to ask what the point of contention might have been? That’s no conspiracy theory plotting, but readers with an interest in whatever clause had been found so disagreeable, that Videogamer elected not to be bound (affected) by it.
Would accepting it have impacted their ability to present their opinion, or was it because of an unrelated reason that they reacted so?
Is that an unreasonable question..

#49

CaptPierce
25/02/13, 7:27 pm

Why are some people trashing a game that won’t even be out for a whole fucking week? You’ll hate and don’t say you trust reviews if it says something positive about the game you don’t like, but agree %100 if they say it’s terrible? If people are really that desperate (or bored enough) to hate something, that’s just pathetic.

#50

PEYJ
25/02/13, 7:30 pm

@ Fin

Despite what people say, Uncharted looks nothing like the the first eight TR games. Tomb Raider didn’t invent platforming nor archaelogic adventure. TR was a combination of platforming games and Indiana Jones/James Bond, and whatever Uncharted did was closer to that than to TR.

@ Salarta

You should read Ellie Gibson’s review on eurogamer.net. She really points out (what seems to be) the particularities of the various parts of the game (gameplay, story, character development, history of TR). I obviously haven’t played the game myself but my preorder is awaiting me. As a long time TR fan I will play it but I’m a little bit on the fence with this one. Perhaps I won’t keep it after playing through it.

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