They killed her.

There are many things that make you fall in love with a woman; the way she dresses, the sound of her voice or that mysterious look that pulls you close like a lit room from a dark hallway. When they lose those things, when someone becomes someone else, can you still love them?

Can you still see her when those things are gone?

I started playing Tomb Raider after I found the demo on Playstation. It was a section of the Great Wall where you had to climb these rocks and escape some Bengal tigers that roamed the bottom of the map. After a few hours I was finally able to make it to the top and it faded to black.

I wanted more and played every game after that.

It was a different series of video games. You’d control a beautiful woman and bend her to your will making her do some ridiculous and wonderful things. When climbing a rock wall or cliff and upon reaching the top, by pressing the right buttons, she would do a hand-press into a scissor split and arrive at the top standing.

If you chose to have her jump off a cliff, again by pressing the right buttons, she’d perform a perfect swan dive into water. Or if you didn’t press the right buttons she’d illicit a bloody scream at the top of her proverbial lungs all the way to the rocky bottom.

These things are missing from the new game. You could rip her character out and replace her with Snake Plissken and not miss a beat.

They pulled out its soul.

I miss the little things that used to happen as well. Like when you were trying to solve one of the many puzzles that pepper the previous games and would try different variations and tried something wrong, she’d say, “No, that’s not right” in her Brit lilt or give a little “hmm”.

If was funny, endearing and …irritating.

The once mind bending puzzles that would take weeks to solve in prior games have been reduced to a two minute escapade involving the miracle of the fulcrum and lever.

The new game Tomb Raider has lost all this, the idiosyncrasies that elevated this series to something unique. The new stunning graphics and skins have been wasted by turning the most unique video character into a two dimensional, shallow ghost.

It’s like handing someone you love over to Norman Bates for safe keeping. It won’t turn out good.

And I miss her.

I agree!

I started playing it on the XBOX 360 on Monday last week.

I was on vacation and I was all excited that I was able to have some free time to play the new Tomb Raider.

Well, after only 4 days of playing, I've lost interest in it.

The image is too dark even with the brightness turned up.

There is too much violence and foul language.

The weapon aiming control and camera work is clumsy and useless especially when she is attacked by the wolves.

How can you aim when you can't see the wolves?

I am still in the first 3 areas of the game right after Lara escapes from capture.

I don't think I will go back and finish it.

I am also playing Tomb Raider Underworld (when it was released, I got a copy but never got started on it) and that one I am still playing regularly and enjoying it.

I am at the end of Thailand.