[The E]

Okay, so I got the new Tomb Raider as part of AMDs current promotion (get a 7850 or 7870, you get TR and Bioshock Infinite, get a 7950/7970, get Bioshock Infinite and Crysis 3). I am currently playing it, and will be updating this on my progress.

The first few minutes are right out of the Uncharted playbook (and going by the reviews, things will stay uncharted for some time), something I really like. When I had a PS3, the Uncharted titles were some of the highlights, having a similar experience on the PC is something I wanted for a long time.

Now, the story begins with Croft being an archeology student on an expedition to find relics of some ancient asian queen, hidden in what the game calls "The dragon's triangle", a Bermuda Triangle with the serial numbers filed off. There, the ship they're travelling on gets caught in a storm, breaks apart, and sinks (as you would imagine). Lara and other survivors wash up on the shore of an island, and are promptly kidnapped by a cult that likes to string people up and cocoon them in sailcloth.

EDIT:

Okay, so I'm past the first major combat sequences. Comparing this to Underworld, there's a lot more characterization here, the stakes are a little more believable, the characters are good so far. The gameplay also flows nicely (Caveat: I am playing this using a 360 pad, results with KB/Mouse may vary), the gun/bowplay has a nice weight to it, and the areas I've been in have all been very rewarding in terms of exploration. There isn't much of it, and so far there has been a distinct lack of big open vistas that Underworld would throw at you again and again, but we'll see if that comes up later.

So far, the game does a very good job of reminding you that Lara is just one character on an island where everything (except maybe the chickens) can and will try to kill you, and leaves it up to you to figure out how to survive. Verdict so far: Pretty good.

[Scourge of Ages]

I would like to agree with The E's initial impressions.

There's not a whole lot of combat compared to a shooter like Spec Ops, but what there is reminds me of Spec Ops. It works just fine with KB/mouse. There's fortunately enough exploration and platforming to actually feel like a Tomb Raider game.

And if you've watched any previews or anything online, you might think that the game is like 80% quick-time events, and the rest cutscenes and linear jumping. It's not. It's only like 20% QTEs and 15% cutscenes. At least the QTEs are intuitive enough, with the same key presses doing the same actions each event, and the cutscenes are well-done.

[The E]

...aaaaand I'm done with the main story. Steam says it took me 6 hours, but I kinda doubt that (Steam being somewhat unreliable with these numbers). I'd estimate it at closer to 8 hours; which is around the time it took me to complete Uncharted 2.

I can say that I would have definitely bought this game. It's worth the money, imo, and it delivers the same kind of experience Uncharted does, which is highly cinematic fights, some spectacularly filmed traversal, and some good characterization. Now, this certainly isn't as lighthearted as Nathan Drake's adventures, but it does go a long way toward establishing Lara as someone who wholeheartedly believes in violence of action, and who can actually do the things the previous Lara has done.

All in all, a

from me.

EDIT:

RPS's Wot I think  is out. I do agree with some of it, but the points raised as negative (somewhat limited interactivity during certain sequences) are things I didn't have a problem with. Games in the Uncharted mold try their best to create an "interactive cinematic" experience, where at some points the interactivity takes a back seat to throwing cool visuals in your face. The thing was that for me, the all-important immersion was never really broken, and I didn't really notice the game taking over large parts of the gameplay for me.

[Turambar]

I got stuck on a quick time event where this guy is trying to choke me.  even when i click at the right time, the hit animation plays, then the choking resumes and it fades out and I restart.  I had to quit after failing about 25 times, unable to figure out what the game wanted me to do.

[Scourge of Ages]

"F" is melee attack, that's probably what you're supposed to hit instead. "Left click" is for shooting.