If you’ve been following the Tomb Raider journey so far, you’ll know that I have previously loved Angel of Darkness. My TR experience previously had been Tomb Raider II (love) and then Angel of Darkness (love). And that was it until the new Crystal Dynamics games were released. Well, now I have been replaying through all the early games thanks to the Remastered versions, and it’s been eye opening.

Immediately after finishing Tomb Raider II, it was only a couple of taps on the controller to just ‘see what TR3 is like’. Which of course ended up in playing it in earnest, trying to figure out all the puzzles and collecting all the secrets. Immediately it’s not that far removed from its predecessor but there are differences as you go along. The main difference is naturally in the locations that Lara finds herself in, and this game is a bit hit and miss. I really, really loved the subways of London and the Nevada desert was fantastic. But the jungle is really hard to navigate, and the underwater propulsion levels were so irritating.

If I think about it too much, I get a bit stressed at the weird order I’m playing these Tomb Raider games in, but I couldn’t hold off playing Tomb Raider II any longer. This is the first TR game I ever played, and therefore holds massive nostalgia for me. But even with that, I do think it’s an incredible game - such great levels and locations, perfect puzzle play, and a good story to hang it all on.

Whilst we are waiting endlessly for the new Tomb Raider games to arrive (finally they are announced, at least!) there’s been the upcoming Amazon MGM TV series to focus on instead. Previously we only knew that there was going to be such a show and that Sophie Turner was playing the lead role. I find Sophie a bit hit and miss, but she was excellent in Joan so I hold out hope for another good strong performance.

Something slightly odd has happened with the two Tomb Raider remastered bundles, in that I am deliberately playing through all the games in the second bundle (Last Revelation, Chronicles, Angel of Darkness), whilst the first one still remains mostly unplayed and unreviewed. I’ll get back to it, of course, but it’s quite unlike me not to have to start at the beginning of something. Anyway, having left Lara buried in a tomb in Egypt, I was interested to see what this game had in store, as it’s format is quite different to any other in the Tomb Raider canon.

It’s no secret that I’m a big Tomb Raider fan - lots of memories and nostalgia associated with this, but actually, when I drill down into it, I don’t know that much about the early games. I went big on Tomb Raider 2, and then nothing until The Angel of Darkness. So, obviously I snapped up the previous Remastered bundle of I, II and III, but haven’t actually had time to get stuck in with them. And now, the second Remastered bundle of Last Revelation, Chronicles and Angel of Darkness has been released. I managed to play a few minutes of Angel before being strong-armed into Last Revelation, and oh boy, I’m glad that happened!

It feels like forever since there has been any news of Lara Croft and her tomb raiding business, so I was very happy to hear about a new TV show potentially in development for Amazon Prime. The names attached look good, particularly Phoebe Waller-Bridge who would be able to bring a great level of drama and humour that would fit very well with the character.

I suddenly remembered that I had bought this book a while back, probably when we were playing the game on the PS4. It was a very quick and easy read, starting just after the tsunami that sweeps through Cozumel at the start of Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Most of the action, though, takes place after Cozumel but before Lara’s plane crashes in Peru.

When we watched the new Tomb Raider film back in July, I was quite inspired by some of the behind the scenes footage that showed Alicia Vikander getting super fit to play the role. I wanted to be super fit like that too! Get to the gym, lady, and sort it out! It worked, for a bit. But how funny, then, that it’s also the fault of Lara Croft that my workout schedule has been interrupted in recent weeks.

The third release in Tomb Raider’s recent reboot emerged into the wild last month, and I can honestly admit to being completely obsessed with it. I’ve enjoyed the previous two games, but it’s taken me a while to get fully to grips with this new Lara and her rather more complex adventures. Everything is rather more realistic, far more brutal, significantly more graphic and eventually, a lot more fun, than the Tomb Raiders that have gone before.

I loved this! Oddly, I wasn’t really hugely looking forward to it one way or the other, but I was invested almost instantly and loved every second of it. I think it probably works a lot better if you have played at least one but preferably both of the rebooted games, because there was so much in there that comes from the games, it was a joy to be reminded every step of the way.

Up until this year, when a certain motorsport game came out that replicates the 2016 F1 season, I called our Playstation 4 “the Tomb Raider box” because that’s pretty much all it was good for. I’m not a big console gamer but Tomb Raider has always been a huge love of both mine and Mr C’s, so it was only natural we grabbed the new Rise of the Tomb Raider game as soon as it became available (which was a year later than on the Xbox, thanks peeps).

Recently, we’ve been playing Tomb Raider, the definitive edition on the PS4. It’s the game that actually made us interested in the new generation consoles in the first place, and it’s a highlight in what has been a very quiet early market for this new Playstation. I was intrigued by the game trailer when we saw it so very long ago, it looked good but I was concerned about the level of screeching and pained noises that Lara was making. It seemed to show a level of realism that I’m not really looking for when it comes to an hour or two of Playstation time.

The chaps in charge of Tomb Raider these days, Square Enix, have in their infinite wisdom released the first installment of the game for iOS devices for just 69p. I was always more of a fan of Tomb Raider 2, but getting access to any of the early games has been tricky of late. Now, the game that made Lara Croft famous has been released for next to nothing and it looks great!

I think, generally speaking, my initial impressions summed up the film - I enjoyed it, I can see that other people probably didn’t like it as much as the first one, if at all. It seems like the kind of film that is for proper fans of the game, rather than an Avengers-style anyone can enjoy it adventure. The best bits about both films remain the nods to the games, so if you’re not spotting those, I’m not sure there’s an awful lot to entertain you with.

I’m not entirely sure how I’ve managed to get this far without Film Watching this. It feels like I’ve seen it relatively recently too, but I reckon I might have caught snippets of it on TV, it’s always on the box! Anyway, love it. Love the game and love the film, so we absolutely knew what we were getting into when we settled down to watch this one.

That E3 stuff is going on right now, and with it comes a bumper crop of Tomb Raider goodies. Except, I’m not finding them so good. Watch this trailer for the actual gameplay (I watched the trailer, and then muted the rest to ogle the goodness without the commentary). Is it me or is this just too realistic? I don’t get how you can play it. I was watching the scenes thinking: “Yea, I want to see this movie.” But it’s not a movie, it’s a thing that you have to get involved with. It’s so loud and there’s so much movement, and she seems to be feeling a lot more pain than ever before… can that be right?

In my school days, one of my very best friends introduced me to two important things. First, Doritos and dip. Mmm. That’s a staple of our Film Watch evenings these days, so if it wasn’t for that early introduction, I don’t know what we’d be munching on. The second thing was Tomb Raider. We used to wrap blankets around us, sit on the living room floor, and pass a laptop between each other, working our way through Tomb Raider 2. I may have seen the game thanks to my brothers, but it was the first chance I got to really sit down and play it all the way through. It was brilliant.

There’s a new trailer out for the next Tomb Raider game and I have to say, at first glance, I thought it was real. Even if this is not gameplay, it’s not live action and I was somewhat flabbergasted! Of course, all the comments I’ve seen everywhere focus on the most important thing - whether this Lara is more attractive than any of her predecessors. I’m gonna have to say no, because that voice is just not powerful enough. Lets her down a little bit.

Apparently, the Sims 3 is breaking all kinds of records, and I don’t own it yet. Grr. According to this CNET story, EA are reporting that the game sold 1.4 million copies in the first week, is topping the PC gaming chart, and the iPhone app chart, plus it has been EA’s best game launch ever. Now, CNET suggest that whilst this is something of a surprise, it does fly in the face of criticism levelled at EA that they rely too much on long-term game franchises. So what if the Sims has been around for almost a decade? If the fans still want it, then EA would be foolish not to keep producing it.

Today we got up feeling a little bit tired. The reason for this is a little thing, it’s called Tomb Raider. That’s right. Another game we’re obsessed with. It came out on Friday, and whilst I was at work, Mr C purchased it, played it and sent me an email saying how it was. It went something along the lines of “Controls a bit better, but not great. Graphics a bit better, but not great. Puzzles good, shooting people bad.”

Seeing that there is fantabulous progress on the new Tomb Raider game. I’m a bit annoyed that they’re not carrying on from the previous one, and I’m a bit stunned at how much Lara has changed. I’m all for making the graphics better and making her look more realistic, but you’d think she still needs the same basic bone structure. I’m starting to wonder if this isn’t actually an imposter - Louise Croft or something like that.

I’ve never wanted a day to go so fast in my whole life. And did it? Nope. But now I’ll push the never-ending day from my mind and concentrate on the good stuff. For my birthday (a rather belated present, but TOTALLY worth the wait), I got a new computer. A brand spanking new computer with a marvellous graphics card and a super duper silver screen. It’s just the best thing ever.

Argh, Tomb Raider is so infuriating! We’ve got to a bit with a lady who’s a bug… sort of a ladybug! But she’s really hard to defeat. In fact, I’ve travelled to visit my parents to get away from it! We’re looking at photos of me as a kid, and the nice parents that they are let me choose which ones they can embarrass me with. What a choice!

Things that are getting on my nerves: I can’t stop listening to Queen. And if it’s not Queen, it’s We Will Rock You. I’m currently playing Tomb Raider 2 in an attempt to kill time before the new one arrives. I got stuck in Venice (level 2). All those waterways! Once I’d got through that, I breezed through the next four levels and now I’m stuck again… grr… We headed to Borders, to their Paperchase section, for wedding present wrapping paper, but we ended up browsing through all the books and DVD’s and the computer magazines. I wouldn’t let Mr C buy anything until he convinced me that if we both bought something, that would be fair. I couldn’t find anything I wanted though!