Interesting to get a different take on it. So, you beleiive that MS had the freedom to delay the game but opted not to. Choosing instead to let QB go up against Uncharted 4 as they launch within 2 - 3 weeks of each other. 

It makes some sense but also directly contradicts the quote I have at the start from P. Spencer about not having a game equivalent to UC. 

(ROTR has broken the top 20 on Amazon and is currently 17. Seems to be doing similar to Forza 6)

So true, it's more like Tomb hater. I liked anniversary a lot. It just needed to be like that with a bigger budget.
Killing 800 people quickly became boring in the reboot. It became a ridiculous cover shooter. I thought this sequel was supposed to bring tombs back but after reading the Eurogamer review it's not worth $60.

In nine optional Challenge Tombs and at a couple of junctures in the story, Lara finds herself gingerly exploring lonely ruins, gorgeous in their centuries-old decay. ... It's not the lip-service the 2013 game paid to the tomb-raiding concept, but it's still barely more than a sideline for nouveau Tomb Raider. Given the tombs' strong flavour and Crystal Dynamics' comfortable command of the form, why couldn't there have been more of them, with harder puzzles, and why couldn't they have occupied some of the space filled with empty battles and vacant scrambles in the storyline?

Either way, it's emblematic of a series that's suffering an identity crisis - trying too hard to be all things to all men, and not hard enough to be itself.

This made me lol
The game has a tendency to slip into the lifeless language of design documents: you get an achievement for collecting 'narrative assets'.

They still praise the tomb sections as the best part of the game, albeit a bit on the easy side. I've played them all, so I guess I'll get it second hand some time. Must still be better than angel of darkness at least, the one I did not complete.

The orignal and TR2 are still the best. Prince of persia sands of times took the torch from tomb raider but couldn't keep it either. It's a problem with most games nowadays, don't know what to make next, add more enemies! Forever increase the kill count. It's easy, no need to think.

You got used to the easier controllers we have now. You gotta put your mind set back to the N64. And forget how you play with two joysticks. I did that. And I can play those games fine. Tomb Raider 1 controls are broken. The game isn't really. If someone ported the games. And redid the controls. People could play the older games fine. And I mean real suuport for joysticks. Not mapped out dpad to joystick. Like RE1 Dual Shock edition sadly did. Same with NES games. You want to speed through them. But games have quirky ways of killing you. You can hit a enemy, in mid air, but you still get damaged and fall off. You gotta actually slow down more than you're use to. Compared to new games.

Zelda is female.  I think you meant Link.

I think the delay of U3 stole its thunder. It got pitched against Fallout 4, wich isnt good for it.

Was this game originally a cross gen title?...I remember some talk about a 360 version...was it canned? (if there was such version to begin with, that is)

There is a 360 version. 

By the way, DF doesn't sound really enthusiastic about the One version (aliasing, input lag, screen tearing, image quality...). How bad is it really? (not talking about the already known beautiful areas here) 

I'll just go ahead and say it, FO4 would have stolen the thunder from both.

I really haven't heard much about this game and it's already out. This was such a wasted effort by MS and Square just buried any hype this game had by releasing it right now. Tomb Raider needs to be released when nothing else is around it's not a big enough franchise to be taking on COD, Star Wars, and Fallout. What a stupid stupid move by both companies.

That's not saying much .... Fallout 4 is available on PS4, Xbox One and PC vs Tomb Raider which is only available on Xbox One.

Beside Fallout is a much bigger franchise then Tomb Raider. Fallout 3 will easily out sell Tomb Raider on Xbox one.