Skip to content
Dom Robinson reviews
Eidos Interactive 
- Price: £29.99
- Players: 1-online
System requirements (rec.):
- Windows 98/2000/XP/Me
- Pentium 3/AMD Athlon 500Mhz (1.5Ghz)
- 128Mb RAM
- Hard disk space: 300Mb
- 16Mb 3D graphics card (64Mb)
The sixth Tomb Raider gameis easily one of the most long-awaited games in some years. The originalon the PS2 was such a fresh diversion from the norm that I completed itfully on both the PC and PSX, marvelling at the fluidity of Lara Croft’smovements (her running around, that is, climbing up onto platforms andperforming backflips or forward-rolls that turn you around 180o soshe can drop off a platform, catch it with her hands and swing forwards to alower level. Sounds complex but I managed it once on a level). Sequel aftersequel followed but afterTomb Raider IInothing else managed to capture the originality or excitement of the first one.A new approach was required.
The basic premise behind Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness is that Lara’saccused of the murder of her mentor, Werner Von Croy, and is now on the run.Along the way you’ll also be able to play as new boy Kurtis Trent, you can talkto other characters which will affect your path throughout the game, a strongnarrative with spectacular graphical effects (yes, but all games promise this),massively improved enemy A.I. and a brand new control system which allegedlymakes things more “intuitive”. Are they sure?
Sure the game looks very good on a fast PC and sounds okay, but it plays likean absolute dog.
The first thing I realised was that the gameplay is nowhere near as fluid orintuitive as any previous outing. It feels like I’ve lost control of Lara.For example, try to run then turn. Whereas in the previous games you couldmanage this with ease and head fast into a turn, here it’s simply not possible.Lara wants to stop dead before turning. This is just bloody annoying. In fact,even “infuriating” isn’t the word and if you’re not throwing abuse at the screenwithin 20 minutes then you must be a masochist.
The standard Lara Croft game engine has gone and the constant camera changesmake it seem like later Resident Evil outings, such as the Dreamcast’sResident Evil Code: Veronica.
What’s painfully obvious is that Lara is too big for the screen – not in termsof breast size, so no need for “f’nar, f’nar” jokes, but it gives the impressionof a kids’ educational game where large sprites are placed on view to distractyou from the lack of content. You need Lara to be smaller so as to get a betterfeeling of the surrounding environment.
Other things to complain about? When you first play the game Lara continuouslygives you how-to instructions which soon becomes tedious. Lara please do shutup! For seasoned gameplayers this gets in the way and I couldn’t find a wayto turn it off.
When Lara picks up items off the floor the sound stutters; When you climbledges and shimmy across you can’t hang on forever – there’s now a timercounting down; If I step off a platform with an attempt to catch it, she’llmiss it and fall to her death; Massively-improved enemy A.I.? No more so thanin any other recent stalker or first-person-shooter.
The developers have spent too much time trying to make it lookflashy without paying any attention to the gameplay and making pointlessadditions like a “stealth” mode – a nod to the Metal Gear Solid series- and is something which the walk mode could’ve been used for, surely?
Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness joins and increasing number ofhigh-profile disappointments for 2003, includingThe HulkandEnter The Matrix.
SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC
PLAYABILITY
ENJOYMENT
OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.