First footage of Tomb Raider, it Looks Awesome.

Tomb Raider’s reboot has gotten some mixed reception from the purist fans of the series including myself before anything was ever seen. Now, gameplay footage of the intro has been revealed, showing off the engine, QTEs, and the environment.

The video starts off with Lara suspended in a large room, captured by unknown beings. Using what freedom she has to cause momentum, she ignites a nearby deceased captive, which in turn burns her own restraints, sending her crashing to the ground, becoming skewered on a stray bone. At this point, the QTE mechanics are shown by having to rapidly mash a button to pull it out.

As the video goes on, they show her survival instinct which activates automatically when you hold still. Anything that can be interacted with is lit up in order to provide some subtle clues to the player. A rather welcome mechanic that’s better than a previous title in which Lara had a habit of explaining everything.

One noted comment from various viewers of this video is that Lara is quite noisy in this installment. In her early incarnations, her voice set was mostly limited to some grunts of effort and gasps of pain, oh, and screaming as she fell to her death. Her constant noises can be explained by her wounds and injuries, as well as her panic.

Though a reboot can be very controversial among fans of the original, there are times when a Lara Croft game is done splendidly and this will be one of them. A gritty survival adventure that will probably be as groundbreaking as the original Tomb Raider series. Remember the first Tomb Raider? Full 3D levels, puzzles, action, and a freakin’ T-Rex. Absolutely amazing, but simplistic by today’s standards.