Preview: Rise of the Tomb Raider could be Lara's best

The 2013 revamp of Tomb Raider initially angered many fans of the original Ms Croft, despite the fact that the last few games in the series, were bad. They had struggled to find purpose, to define Lara as a character, to offer anything beyond more raiding of tombs and increasingly dry British sarcasm from the hero herself.

In the years since the original Tomb Raider(and, more importantly, Tomb Raider 2) on the PlayStation established Croft as a gaming icon, the series had been outdone at its own archaeological action adventure game by Naughty Dog's Uncharted. When it came time for that 2013 Tomb Raider, it was little surprise that developers Crystal Dynamics took some inspiration from the very series Lara's earlier incarnation had herself inspired.

Like Uncharted's Nathan Drake, modern Lara was -- and, in Rise of the Tomb Raider, continues to be -- a complex, more fully realised character. She's a realistic figure, physically and emotionally, not a cartoon. After her rebooted origin saw her trapped on the cursed island of Yamatai, growing from eager but naive archaeology student into a hardened survivor, Rise delves into what motivates her now.

The answer is truth. Lara is determined to reveal what took place on Yamatai to the world, but a cover-up orchestrated by a shadowy organisation known as Trinity has turned the gutter press against her, rubbishing both her claims and the research of her father before her. And, if Trinity has locked down the Yamatai incident, well, she'll just find another lost civilisation and reveal that to the world.

There's a newspaper we see in a flashback early on in Rise, headlined "ANOTHER CRAZY CROFT". It's just a brief glimpse in the background, but it perfectly defines this new Lara. She has something to prove, and no power on Earth will stop her. But it also reveals the harsher side of the life she's being drawn into, where that push for the truth alienates her friends in the comfortable world.