Tomb Raider: The Action Adventure is an interactive movie based on Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness. The game does not only feature the same story line as that game, it is entirely built around video footage of it. Therefore the player sees Lara from a third-person perspective like in other games in the series as she runs, jumps and climbs around the levels, but for most of the time there is no control over her movement. At certain times the video stops and the player gets to choose what Lara should do next.

The game is mainly controlled with the remote control's arrow buttons which are context sensitive depending on what Lara has around her. What each button does in a situation appears on the screen. It can for example say "jump", "climb stairs" and "open door". Some commands lead to progress through the game, while others lead to a Game Over screen. Some might be harder, but will make the player earn points, for example when choosing to explore when short on time. When enemies appear it is often possible to choose between shooting or doing a stealth attack. Some puzzle-solving exists as objects are picked up and then have to be used at the right location. In some situations a "play safe" option can be chosen. It is essentially a skip feature where Lara will automatically solve the problem.

The game follows a simplified version of the story from Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness.