She’s inexperienced. She’s never killed anyone. And she hates tombs!

Meet Lara Croft in the new “Tomb Raider,” developed by Crystal Dynamics for Square Enix.

The reboot of the long-running franchise takes Lara back to her first expedition: searching for the lost kingdom of Yamatai, the realm of an ancient Japanese sorceress/queen. When her ship enters the Asian equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle, a vicious storm tears it apart and hurls the survivors onto a strange shore. Before she can get her bearings, Lara is captured by a malicious scavenger who hauls her into a cave where others have obviously met their demise.

It doesn’t take long for Lara to make her escape, but it’s just the beginning of a long series of exciting encounters that make the game one of the best of the year so far.

Most gamers are familiar with Lara, the curvy archaeologist who spends her time seeking objects imbued with supernatural power. You can generally find her climbing cave walls, swinging on jungle vines, leaping among columns in ancient ruins, solving puzzles to deactivate complex traps or shooting dinosaurs with her trusty handguns.

The younger Lara is different — and much more interesting.

First, she looks and behaves like a real woman instead of some nerd’s overdeveloped fantasy. She’s attractive, but normally proportioned. And, as the game progresses, the effects of her adventures leave her scarred and bruised. She’s resolute but she still has worries and doubts, which makes her much more believable and sympathetic.

Lara isn’t the only thing that’s changed. The scale of the adventure has been tightened to make it much more intimate and intense.

In other games, Lara is confronted with enormous, abandoned tombs and temples that have been rigged with complex traps and barriers that are designed to guard mystical objects. This time around, Lara faces similar challenges but on a more modest scale. For example, she must find her way across a room filled with electrified water or into an alcove that’s slightly out of reach. What makes these challenges compelling is not the scale but the stakes. Lara must be successful to survive and save her friends, not just to recover a magical trinket.

The primary threat comes from the island’s blood-thirsty cultists. These cutthroats capture shipwrecked sailors, forcing some to join their band and slaughtering the rest. The evidence of their work is gruesome and plentiful.

Dealing with this well-armed menace requires a good arsenal, and “Tomb Raider” doesn’t disappoint. Lara acquires a bow, handgun, shotgun and assault rifle, as well as a climbing ax that comes in handy in close quarters. While these are all quite effective, her most useful piece of gear is the bow. It can dispatch enemies silently, launch fire arrows into combustible materials or carry the end of a rope to areas that are impossible for Lara to reach.

This edition of “Tomb Raider” definitely offers much more fighting than previous games. The result is a satisfying blend of fighting, platforming and puzzle-solving that’s bound together in a compelling story.

The action doesn’t end with the primary missions. If you’re a fan of platforming and exploration, you can spend hours searching for relics and tackling challenges, such as lighting lanterns, destroying explosive mines or burning flags.

There’s also a multiplayer mode that features capture-the-flag, team death match and other familiar competitions.

The game is also excellent from a technical standpoint. The controls are tight and responsive. The graphics are terrific, with superb character rendering and animations and richly detailed settings.

The game earns its mature rating through a smattering of obscenities and quite a bit of violence — including some gruesome cut scenes that launch if you aren’t skillful enough to evade deadly traps.

Bottom line: “Tomb Raider” gives Lara Croft and the entire franchise a new sense of energy and excitement.

Platforms: Xbox 360 (tested), PlayStation 3, PC

Online: www.tombraider.com

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