This isn't your parents' Lara Croft . . .

If you do not own the new Tomb Raider, you've been wasting your time doing anything else.

The new reboot for the series, developer Crystal Dynamics has taken the franchise and made it into a more dramatic, emotionally-driven thrill ride while keeping it action-packed.  The best part of all this is that neither interferes with the other so that the game is too one-sided.

Move over, Mr. Jones, you've got competition.

A big thing for the Tomb Raider franchise since its beginnings has been the massive amount of action that was stuffed into each game.  After all, what's a good adventure tale without dangerous animals, booby traps, and deadly tribes?  Action is something that the franchise has always harped on and capitalized on, but this reboot has brought about some change to that aspect.

In the past, Lara Croft had been a hard-nosed adventurer who stared into the face of danger without flinching from the get-go.  She punished anyone who got her way of an objective! . . . This isn't that same Lara.  The rebooted Croft starts off as a vulnerable young woman who is shipwrecked on a remote island after your ship is wrecked during a violent sea storm.

However, as the game progresses, you see Lara step more and more out of her shell, becoming not only a strong-willed individual, but the adventurous and death-defying Lara that we have come to know and love from the past.  Crystal Dynamics does an absolutely fantastic job of giving you the feel like you're actually in the game and experiencing the story unfold as if you're actually there.

Which brings up the next point: this might just be one of the biggest and best stories told in recent memory.  Lara's development into an adventurer over the course of the game is something to truly behold, the environment in which she operates is breathtaking, and enemies will test you to use all the resources at your disposal, making for one heart-racing, adrenaline-inducing moment after another.  The multiplayer is forgettable but trust me, you won't care once you dive into story mode.

This is just one of many great moments Tomb Raider produces.

In my opinion, the rebooted Tomb Raider is an absolute masterpiece.  Lara Croft has never looked better or been brought to us like this, going from a vulnerable, outmatched girl to a skillful and deadly young woman.  Her environment and enemies should be praised, and although the multiplayer isn't anything to write home about, the story makes up for any little deficiencies this title may have.  Tomb Raider needs to be yours, and it needs to be yours NOW!

Tomb Raider is now out for PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

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Deuces for now bros!