Parents' Guide to Tomb Raider Reloaded

When is a Tomb Raider game not a Tomb Raider game? Apparently, when it's Tomb Raider Reloaded. This free-to-play mobile action title feels more like it was meant to be something completely different, but at the last minute someone decided to change the lead to Lara Croft, toss in a couple of obligatory references to past games, and then call it a day. On the upside, the game's art style, while cartoonish, still manages to do a decent job with overall look of the Tomb Raider franchise. The problem is that once you strip away the Tomb Raider aesthetic, you're left with a game that just doesn't feel right.

The gameplay in Tomb Raider Reloaded makes little sense. For starters, players don't control Lara's shooting. Instead, the game uses a combination of auto-aim and auto-fire. This would be fine except for the mind-boggling fact that Lara can shoot only from a stationary position. Mind you, the enemies in each room have no problems moving and attacking at the same time, but this is apparently too much for the iconic adventurer to handle. In another head-scratching decision, Lara will occasionally come across a room with a giant wheel to spin for bonus loot. But the only way to spin the wheel is to watch one of the many third-party advertisements that bog down the game and can even cause it to crash or freeze. With its clunky controls and confusing gameplay, Tomb Raider Reloaded is a cursed relic of a game that probably should have stayed buried.