## Narrative
The one thing about the game that doesn't quite work for me is the implied story.
I've played **Tomb Raider** games, I've seen the movies, I know what's going on.
Lara Croft is a millionaire heiress treasure hunter (you might even call her a raider of tombs).
She goes into places that have been designed to confound or kill trespassers, in the interest of protecting a dead king or queen.
That's what you expect when you pick up a **Tomb Raider** or **Lara Croft** game.
In **Lara Croft Go**, I rarely felt there was any clear reason for Lara to be in the tomb.
You navigate through death traps, but there's basically no interaction with artefacts through the core mechanic.
It feels like a designer realised this shortfall late in the development process and hastily added an add-on mechanic where you hunt pixels for hidden artefacts in the background.
That's actually the mechanic.
You just move the cursor around the background until it "catches" on something, at which point you're rewarded with the artefact you've just discovered.
It takes you out of the game, it doesn't feel like Lara is even aware of the artefacts, and I think once you've collected enough hidden artefacts you unlock a new outfit for Lara to wear (with no mechanical benefit).
The game also has a fundamental misunderstanding of how guns work.
One of Lara Croft's most iconic poses is her dual-wielding a pair of HK UPS 9 handguns.
Pistols are invariably considered ranged weapons, propelling (as they do) bullets for thousands of metres.
In **Lara Croft Go**, however, you can only use your pistols when you're in an adjacent space from your target.
To kill an enemy from more than 1 square away, you must find and use a spear.
I don't care about guns.
I don't need Lara Croft to always have her guns.
It's confusing to me why the developers gave Lara constant access to her handguns while also making them melee weapons.
I was perfectly willing to accept the limitation as part of the game mechanic until the game introduced spears that could kill from a distance in ways Lara's pistols cannot.
It's definitely counter-intuitive, and every time you use a spear in the game you'll be laughing at the silliness of a world where a spear is deadlier than bullets.
These narrative quirks don't actually effect the game play, though.
Once you make the conscious choice to ignore the parts of the story that don't feel like they belong in **Tomb Raider**, it's easy to focus on the joy of being in Lara Croft's world, and on solving the cleverest of puzzles.
## Simplicity
The most surprising thing about **Lara Croft Go** is how simple the game is.
As you progress through the levels, there are a few new mechanics introduced just to keep things interesting, but at the game's core is the turn-based dismantling of an elaborate trap designed to keep you from getting to the glowing exit.
I thought I knew what **Tomb Raider** games were like, but **Lara Croft Go** correctly detects the most appealing aspect of the series and focuses entirely on that.
In addition to the main quest, there are 2 add-on levels with some devious new mechanics.
There's plenty of play time here, and I do think it's re-playable at least once or twice (unless you have a really good memory).
I wish the discovery of artefacts was better integrated into the core gameplay.
I can imagine a version of this game that features randomly-placed artefacts, on the actual game board, to influence the way you choose to beat each level.
Its minor shortcomings don't matter in the end.
This is a fun game, with amazing level design, in one of my favourite video game settings.
Go play it.
Header photo by Valve. Screenshots by Square Enix.