Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition is the first of what will presumably be a wave of re-mastered titles re-released for the new consoles and it raises a few particularly pressing questions, chief amongst them; ‘why?’

The answer is, as you might expect; ‘it depends…’

First off, let’s look at what bang you get for your buck from a quantitive perspective. The Definitive Edition Is more or less what you might expect, compiling the main game itself with all of the additional modes and DLC packages that were released following the initial debut of the title back in March 2013, which is a pretty hefty line-up. In addition to the various additional tombs, this also includes 6 alternate character outfits, a large number of multiplayer maps and multiplayer challenges (though the concept of Tomb Raider multiplayer still doesn’t sit right with me)

On this basis, from a completeness perspective, the Definitive Edition is certainly… well… definitive. It certainly makes getting the complete experience a hell of a lot easier this time around. However, this is hardly a persuasive argument for picking up the new version if you’re already the proud owner of a 360/PS3 version.

What, then, have Crystal Dynamics done to try and part current owners with their hard-earned cash for what is, surely, a request for money for old rope in its truest sense?

To answer that we need to look at the title from a more qualitative perspective.

The core game remains basically identical to its previous iteration, with veterans finding nothing new from a purely gameplay experience. In all honesty, if you’re the sort of gamer who only cares about the base gameplay experience there’s nothing to justify picking up this title, none.

No, the place where changes start to appear are, predictably, in the visuals. Crystal Dynamics have, perhaps surprisingly, spent a not inconsiderable amount of time, effort and resources completely overhauling the look of the game; particularly those of leading-lady Lara. Detailed in a series of promotional videos, the development team wax lyrical about the vast and intricate ways in which they have spruced up everyone’s favourite crypt rummager and while a full description of the changes would keep us here the better part of a day, some sense of scale merits note. Lara’s skin now has 3 layers, which while initially not that impressive-sounding, allows for a plethora of environmental effects, with light more realistically casting on and through her skin and mud and water saturating the skin in a more faithful manner than previously seen. Perhaps the most striking visual improvement is in the hair. While it may not sound that big a change, the slightly rigid and uniform rendering of the hair in the original game was notably less impressive that the rest of the visuals previously (enough for me and the Faulty Pixel team to joke about in our Tomb Raider video). Now though, each strand is subject to its own rendering and physics and the result is far more impressive. Again, while this may not seem a big thing, look at it this way: while now you might not notice the hair much, in the previous game it stood out as rather artificial, which is the quickest way to shatter your sense of disbelief. The best accolade that can be given to the improvements here is that they now blend seamlessly in with the rest of the top-notch visual presentation.

In addition to the improved graphical fidelity, the only other notable additions are the now obligatory Kinect features (I was using an Xbox One version). These take the form of interactive camera segments during climbing set pieces, where the Kinect tracks your head and shoulder movement to then match the camera to it. i.e. you lean to your left or right and the camera angle follows. The other Kinect feature allows you to use hand gestures to move and rotate the various artefacts you find to try and spot additional information, where previously you used the right thumbstick. Both Kinect additions are fairly innocuous, with neither directly impacting the core gameplay and being entirely optional. As is expected, both are patchy at best, with both instances proving far more protracted and inaccurate than just using the thumbstick as we are used to. The hand motions to rotate the artefacts in particular proved to be quite frustrating, with tracking of my hand being, at best, sporadic.  Fortunately, as I said, both are optional and can be safely ignored, with the right thumbstick still being available for camera or artefact manoeuvring.

So, in the grand scheme of things, Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition is a compilation of all of the disparate Tomb Raider packages bundled together into a single package with superficial Kinect features and a new paint job.

Is it worth buying? Again that depends…

If you’ve not picked up the game yet (and many haven’t) I heartily recommend it. This is still the same I declared the best of 2013, but now prettier and by that reckoning is technically the best game on the Xbox One/PS4 right now.

However, if you’ve already bought the game on the previous-gen consoles it’s harder to find a justification in buying it. Yes it’s prettier, but is that really worth spending upwards of £50 on it when you can get the older one at far far less, even if you buy the DLC individually? Probably not.

There’s likely to be a raft of these types of re-mastered titles coming to the new consoles in the coming year and I suspect the same dilemma will be present for many of them, though it will be interesting to see if they follow the minimalistic changes of Tomb Raider or if they attempt a more radical change.

Either way, Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition is something of a tricky one to call. If you’ve not played the game yet and are looking for a AAA-quality game for your shiny new console, it’s a must have title. However, if you’ve already played it, there’s no real reason to buy it.

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