So before I start let me say I am not a games reviewer, I never have been and I never will be, what I can tell you is that I love the new Tomb Raider so much I could just jump up and down for joy….well I would have in the days pre knee surgery. Not now.

I’d read the reviews and seen the trailers on the XBox and to be honest I was sort of meh about the whole thing. Yes the graphics looked amazing but I wasn’t to sold on the gameplay. I sort of figured I’d have a go sometime but I wasn’t going to rush out and buy it.

Tomb Raider, the original, was the game that got me hooked on the PSone. Up until that point I had a Sega Master System and the most addictive game in the world was Alex the Kidd in Miracle World. Then one night while at my friends house he showed me this game and said I’m stuck want to see if you can get any further and that was me hooked! He lent me the console for the Christmas holidays. No one saw me for days other than the short breaks I took to grab some food. I have only ever taken leave from work for two games, this was one of them and the other was Final Fantasy VII. Granted some of the puzzles drove me almost insane, but for that time the graphics were awesome, the music haunting and the gameplay addictive.

Since then the games that have held my attention have been few and far between. I’ve enjoyed games but not to the point where you get restless until you sit down and pick up the controller.

I was lucky enough to pick up a copy of  the new Tomb Raider, so I anxiously installed it to hard drive and pressed play.

Awesome graphics. I love FMV scenes, especially where it’s almost hard to tell what is real and what’s not. I guess I was hooked from the starting scenes.

It’s a completely different experience to any other TR game, but that’s just my opinion. It has the same feel about it and you know that’s what you are playing, but it’s in a different class.

I have to say, I was worried as my weapon mastery skills are not the best,  for example here’s how Battlefield 3 usually goes…..Spawn, stand up, get shot, die. Respawn, stand up, get shot, die, and so it goes on. After a few attempts I fell in love with the bow and arrow and it is currently my weapon of choice, however the others do come in handy as well. I’ve become quite adept at headshots, and my list of achievements is growing. What can I say I am a shameless achievement whore!!

The puzzles are challenging but not frustratingly so. The challenges are puzzling but not frustratingly so.

There is plenty of terrain to explore and there were a couple of times when I actually Oooo’d an Aaahhh’d at the landscapes, something I had not done since playing ICO.

There were also a couple of places where there was a little twist of unexpected gameplay, where I whooped in delight and wondered why I have never seen this in any game before.

I’ve almost completed the game. I’m on the run up to the final level, however I still have plenty to explore and find, as I have uncompleted challenges, unfound treasures and missing GPS caches, but instead of thinking oh crap I can’t be bothered doing all this again, I can’t wait. I have a desire to totally complete the game. Whether the desire becomes a reality remains to be seen.

My recommendation! Give it a try, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.