I've been a fan of Tomb Raider since the Sega Saturn original. I love the character and the games. I started to lose interest in the series when the old ones stopped improving and lost hope when Dark Angel sucked on the PS2. But when Tomb Raider Legends came out I fell in love with the series all over again. Anniversary was just as good and Underworld is one of my favorite games of the generation.
The Uncharted games are pretty. As a Tomb Raider fan I thought it was a rip off at first, but there's more to it than that. They are extremely linear and don't have any real exploration. So Uncharted is kind of like Tomb Raider but not at the same time. Uncharted is fun in a movie kind of way. You shoot stuff and then participate in cinematics. Once you've finished it replaying is like re-watching a movie. I was afraid the new Tomb Raider would lose what makes Tomb Raider good and become an Uncharted clone.
Basically it took the best stuff from Uncharted, combined it with the best stuff from Legends and Underworld, and threw in some cool open world exploration. It's great. The linear/cinematic and shooting parts are like Uncharted, the action is like a combination of Underworld and Uncharted, and you still get the feeling of exploring thanks to the tombs and quests.
The new Tomb Raider is not like the originals, but it's not Uncharted with Lara Croft either. It still holds onto a lot of what made Legends-Underworld such great action adventure games. It's a very good balance.
Oh and the story, writing and acting is very good. And I have to mention the graphics and sound. Top notch.
Comparing Tomb Raider to Uncharted if fair, but there are so many differences that liking one doesn't not mean you will like the other. If you like the combat of Uncharted you'll like the combat of Tomb Raider. But if you just want a linear cinematic movie like game you will find a much bigger open game in Tomb Raider.
