Why, regardless of all the extras, Rise Of The Tomb Raider is an expedition to undertake on Ps4

Peek over the console divide and you’ll see that Rise Of The Tomb Raider is still regarded as one of the very best games currently available on xbox One. It’s not an inflated opinion that xbox fans landed upon just because the game was a Microsoft-exclusive at its release last winter – the sequel to Lara’s 2013 reboot really is that good.

Fortunately, it remains just as good come its PS4 release. (Okay, you caught us fibbing – when factoring in potential visual and technical touchups, the basic game’s on course to be a little bit better for PS4 players.)

‘Vanilla’ Rise Of The Tomb Raider comprises two main parts. As always, the main event is the campaign. This time it sees Lara venturing to snowy Siberia on a quest to fulfil her father’s life work. In the rebooted lore, Lord Richard Croft was dismissed by his peers as crazy before he committed suicide, and so Lara’s trek to one of the world’s most inhospitable locations is fuelled by a personal wish to restore credibility to his name.

Turning over a new thief

As we stated last issue, Uncharted 4 has it pipped in a straight campaign head-to-head. Nate’s globe-trotting adventure isn’t in danger of being eclipsed when it comes to the story, the polish or the overall sense of wonder, yet Rise Of The Tomb Raider has a great deal going for it.

Addressing criticisms of the prequel’s distinct lack of tombs, there’s much more digging around in dusty mausoleums and fiddling with ancient contraptions to pocket relics this time out (though we’ll take an even greater focus on this still for the inevitable threequel, please, Crystal), with a fair few puzzles and underground sights trumping anything found in Drake’s last hurrah.

The biggest difference between the two stems from Tomb Raider’s openworld design, and the thrill of visiting old locations with new gear to unlock secret areas proves to be a dangerous timesink. Side-quests for the local population and a constant barrage of collection quests (think Nate’s Cairndestroying hooliganism fun during A Thief’s End’s open Madagascan vehicle level, but with multiple variations in every major location – Lara cutting down enemy flags, shooting hidden targets with her bow and so on) ensure every square inch of game world has purpose. Although some later scenes rely a little too heavily on supremely hectic combat scenarios over oldfashioned clambering around, young Croft’s bursting with so many options that you’re able to approach fights however you choose. Tooled to the teeth with upgradeable weapons and capable of whipping out deadly combat skills by the dozen, she’d comfortably hand Drake his arse in a straight fight – or, on this evidence, simply drive a climbing axe straight through his skull.

Rise Of The Tomb Raider’s second half isn’t, as you might expect, a return of the reboot’s multiplayer hijinks. That experiment has been killed off, replaced instead by scorechasing Expedition mode. It’s an arcade side-dish that repackages campaign scenarios as a series of quick-blast levels, modified to nearunrecognisable degrees thanks to booster cards that tweak gear stats, rebalance enemies and even chuck big head attributes into the mix.

Playing through the campaign and Expedition levels unlocks new cards, as does ponying up for booster packs via microtransactions, while leaderboards encourage plenty of one-upmanship (one-upwomanship?) between friends. An unmissable adventuring combo.

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