Tomb Raider II on PC CD-ROM

• Windows 95
• Pentium PC 90 Mhz (133 Mhz recommended)
• 16Mb RAM
• Quad-speed CD-ROM Drive
• DirectX 5.0 (included on CD)
• Supports most major 3D acceleration graphics cards and compatible soundcards through DirectX 5.0

Tomb Raider IIis, as the title suggest, the sequel to the immenselypopular Tomb Raider which was released in November 1996 to rave reviewseverywhere.

The idea behind the game is simple. You take on the role of Lara Croft, abounty-hunter who has to make her way through various cities, caves andlandscapes collecting keys to open doors, medi-packs to restore health, andguns and ammo to defeat the stream of bad guys who are hell-bent on killingyou. While this game is like the first one, being that it is a game ofget-from-A-to-B-as-fast-as-possible, there is a plot to it and it goes asfollows :

Legend has it that when you drive the dagger of Xian into your heart, youacquire the power of the dragon – literally.

In Ancient China, the Emperor was the holder of this power and with his armyalongside him, hr was a force to be reckoned with. Thus he staked claim to thevast lands that are China. His final battle, however, ended in defeat. Whilepeople fell into submission all around him, the Warrior monks of Tibet wouldnot relent and courageously fought against his evil. Knowing the power of thedagger, the succeed in removing it from the Dragon Emperor’s heart – reducinghim and his army to carnage. The dagger was returned to its resting placewithin The Great Wall and locked up for all time…

Now three parties hold the dager close to their heart. And all for entirelyreasons.

Lara, forever the adventurer, is one of these. On her travels, she willencounter the other two…

Installing and Running the Game

Installation is simple. When in Windows 95, inserting the CD will autorun theinstallation process. If you do not have autoplay set up for CDs, then runthe ‘autorun.exe’ file.

You will then be able to select the various graphics and sound set-up options.A 3Dfx selection is available for PCs which are suitably equipped. As the gameitself is run from the CD, you don’t need any more than 3Mb spare on your harddisk to play it, and you can save as many as fifteen different positions.

Playing the Game

In-game Controls

Cursor Up: Run forward
Cursor Down: Jump back
Cursor Right: Turn Right
Cursor Left: Turn Left
Ctrl: Action
Alt: Jump
Space Bar: Draw Weapon
/ or 0: Draw Flare
Keypad-0: Look
Shift + cursor key: Walk in that direction
End: Roll forward
Delete: Side-step left
Page Down: Side-step right
Escape: Display Menu Rings

Hotkeys:
1-6: Directly select available weapons
8: Use Small medi-pack
9: Use Large medi-pack
F1: Reduce screen resolution
F2: Increase screen resolution
F3: Reduce game window
F4: Increase game window
F5: Save game
F6: Load game

Starting The Game

Passport – main game options

The passport allows you to start a new game, load a previously saved one, orquit back to Windows 95.

Polaroid – Lara’s Home

This accesses the training level, and Lara will explain how the controls work.

Personal stereo – sound effects and music

This allows you to adjust the volume level for sound effects and music, eachon a scale of 1 to 10.

Key configuration

This selection shows the keys to operate Lara’s movements, and allows you toalter those you wish to change.

Actions

Moving

Running, walking and taking side-steps are basic operations that performs asyou’d imagine, but after performing a forward jump, pressing down or rollwill make Lara somersault in mid-air and land facing the opposite direction.This also works when taking a backward jump if you press up or roll.

Swimming

While underwater Lara can hold her breath for about two minutes, and thedirection keys will control where she goes in conjunction with the jump keywhich will push her forward. She can also pull levers and pick up objectsunderwater by getting as close as you can and pressing Action.

Lara can also swim on the surface, with the side-step buttons making herswim sideways in those directions. Pressing jump will make Lara dive, whileAction will make her climb out.

In this sequel, Lara can now wade in shallow water. Controls are similar tothose when walking, except Lara can only jump on the spot, and her movement isslower.

Attacking

Lara begins the game carrying a two pistols for John Woo-style two-handedaction, plus a shotgun, but along the way she will find semi-automatic pistols,an M16 gun as well as a grenade launcher.

Other actions

Lara can vault over some obstacles by pressing Up and Action together.It’s also interesting to note that when climbing up to a surface that can bejumped onto, you can also stand in front of it, jump up, THEN press actionand you’ll finish standing on it instead of having to pull yourself up.

Some walls are climbable, and in one of her new moves, Lara can climbup a wall by pressing Up and Action to jump and hang onto a handhold. Pressingthe cursor keys will move her in the direction required, and jump will make Larajump backwards away from the wall.

If Lara is near to a ledge while jumping, holding the Action key will make hergrab the ledge in front of her and hang there. She can then either shimmy acrossfrom side to side or pull herself up.

The Action key can be used to pick up objects by standing in front of them,be they objects already on the ground, or left behind by dead baddies after theyhave fallen to the ground. Similarly, the Action key will activate switches infront of her.

When Lara is in the correct position to use one of the objects she hascollected to solve a puzzle, pressing Action will call up the InventoryRing enabling you to select the required item.

When in a dark area, a flare is available to illuminate the situation.These last for about a minute, and will remain in Lara’s hand while vaulting,running or climbing. However, if Lara draws her weapons she will drop it.It can, however, be thrown a short distance first by pressing the flare buttonagain.

The look button, when used in conjunction with the cursor keys, allowsLara to look in all available directions. If you’re not facing forward whentrying to line Lara up for a jump, pressing Look on its own will make herface forward.

When using vehicles, the cursor keys will take her in the requisitedirection. Holding down ‘Walk’ will make her vehicle travel slower, while’Action’ will make her travel faster or fire weapons if the vehicle has thatcapability. Pressing Jump and either left or right, will choose which side toexit.

Hints and Tips

Contrary to popular belief, there never was a “Nude Lara” cheat for the firstgame despite many magazines printing the supposed codes for it.

Level Skip Code :
While in a level do the following with Lara :
Press the Forward Slash key (/) so that Lara will draw a flare.Now, holding down the walk button, take one step forward, take one stepbackward, turn around 3 full times (doesn’t matter which direction),release the walk key and then do a Forward jump.

All Weapons Code :
While in a level do the following with Lara :
Press the Forward Slash key (/) so that Lara will draw a flare.Now, holding down the walk button, take one step forward, take one stepbackward, turn around 3 full times (doesn’t matter which direction),release the walk key and then do a Backward jump.

Graphics, Sound and Playability

The graphics are first-rate in this game, and if you’ve played the firstgame you’ll know exactly what to expect. Crisp graphics, detailed locationsand pin-sharp enemies are to be found on all levels. You could almost feel asif you’re really there…except when I went interrailing in 1992, I don’tremember being chased by too many men in Venice with clubs and machine guns (!)

Depending on your processor’s capabilities, a function is available tocontrol the graphics definition as well as the screen size, but a 3D graphicscard will maximise your PC’s potential.

The sound effects are on a par with the first game, and similarly the musicis fantastic and quite John Williams-esque. To be honest I could sit and listento the music on the start screen alone. Anyone who’s already seen my reviewof this game will remember I had a problem with the music before as it wouldn’tcome on, but I have since solved that.

When I originally installed it, the setup program automatically installed itto : “c:Program FilesCore Design”, but I found that by uninstallingthat and reinstalling it to : “c:Program FilesCore DesignTomb Raider II”,things are running much more smoothly and the music and voices are now in thegame.

The setup screen allows something that’s not explained at all in the manual.After selecting a generic or Media Vision soundcard, the microphone positioncan be selected to either “Camera” or “Lara”. This means that as you play thegame, the camera might sometimes be situated in an alternative position towhere Lara is (eg. looking at her from a far distance or underwater). In thiscase you’ll hear whatever is situated by either the camera or Lara’s ears.

The playability is as spot-on as the first game. The controls allow Lara to movesimply around the environment be it simply running, or running along up to aledge, performing a forward roll and then pressing Action to hold onto the ledgebefore swinging forward to clear certain items such as large glass fragments -something you’ll come across in level 4 (Opera House). That description is morethan a clue to retrieve one of the secret objects, but don’t ask me exactly howI did it as it just happened by fluke and I couldn’t manage it again!

Overall

Since the first game, Lara Croft now has a superbly-animated ponytail whichcleverly floats on water, and her persona has become something of a cult figure,her body proportions being based on that of model Natalie Cooke’s, but morerecently portrayed in real life by FHM cover girl Rhona Mitra (right) who hasappeared at computer game fairs as Lara, and will be releasing a pop singlein January 1998, under Lara’s name, called “Raiders”.

In fact Lara has become as big a household name as previous well-known computergame characters Sonic The Hedgehog and Mario, and was one half of a double-sidedposter in Playstation Plus, the other half being the spiced-up Nikki fromPandemonium 2.

The game itself is the most important thing while you’re playing it of course,and it’s one that simply does not disappoint. Taking the premise of the firstgame, adding bigger locations, more moves for Lara, and more weapons and itemsto make use of, and you have a sequel that is going to keep you just as hookedas the original from start to finish.