Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation on PC CD-ROM

PC System Requirements :

• Windows 95/98
• Pentium PC 233 Mhz (266 Mhz recommended)
• 16Mb RAM (32Mb RAM rec.)
• Quad-speed CD-ROM Drive
• DirectX 6.1 (included on CD)
• Supports most major 3D acceleration graphics cards and compatible soundcards through DirectX 6.1

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Tomb Raider 4: The Last Revelationis the fourth in the successful series of games from Core Design.This time round, the game starts with Lara at age 16. She’s graduated fromWimbledon High School for Girls and is off to study her A-levels at aprominent boarding school.

After reading an issue of National Geographic, an article on the respectedarcheologist Professor Wener Von Croy grabs her attention and his intentionto tour across Asia, culminating in a potential new discovery to be made inCambodia.

Anyone who has played either of the previous Tomb Raider games willknow what to expect and for those not in the know, check out my reviews ofTomb Raider 2andTomb Raider 3and if you’ve never heard of Lara Croft, then you’re either dead or lying.

What’s New ?

My reviews of the previous games stated the additional moves allowed in thosegamea, and what follows is a summary of the new moves for game No.4.

Attacking

Automatic & Manual Lock-on are possibilites, the former allowing Larato lock-on to a target when her guns are drawn and she’ll only change targetwhen you press the Look key. If she loses sight of the enemy, the lock-on willbe broken.

The manual option stops her locking-on to a target until you press theLook key in the first place. As far as I know, Lara was always able to lock-onautomatically before now, but not manually.

Combining

Tomb Raider 4 is the first in the series which allows you to combine objects,as appropriate, for the purposes of continuing your mission, such as addinga laser-sight to a shotgun.

Climbing

Lara has been able to climb walls for a while now, but poles and ropes arenew features to this game. As you’d expect, you have to jump up or onto thepole or rope and hold down the Action key so you don’t drop off.

Whilst keeping hold, you can rotate around each of them. Using the Sprintkey allows you to swing a rope back and forth and pressing jump will sendLara forth off the rope, while the same key on a pole will make you do aback-flip.

Big and heavy

If it’s big and heavy it must be a Crowbar. When in use, she can pryitems off walls, or prise open doors.

Hints and Tips

These cheats apply to the PC version only.

Level Skip Code :
Lara must be facing north. Use the compass to verify that she is. Select”Load Game” and, input H, E, L, P. Now go to the inventory screen.

All weapons, infinite ammo, medipacks :
Lara must be facing north. Use the compass to verify that she is. Enterthe inventory screen and input G, U, N, S. Then exit the inventory screen.

All items :
Lara must be facing north. Use the compass to verify that she is. Enterthe inventory screen and input W, E, A, P O, N, S. Then exit the inventoryscreen.

Graphics, Sound and Playability

Once again, the graphics look superb on the PC with the fluidity and movementyou’d expect. This time round the game states a requirement of a Pentium 233and 16Mb RAM, but it works fine on my P200MMX with 128Mb SDRAM, the extraram making up for the shortfall in processor power. On the Playstation,everything is how you expect – it looks like the PC version but without a3D graphics card.

On the Dreamcast, the graphics have taken a rather unfair bashing on theinternet. Okay, so they’re not absolutely astounding as something likeCrazy Taxi,but they are as close to a reasonable PC 3Dfx card as they can get and playingon a big-screen TV (32″ widescreen in my case) looks great and it saves mehaving to buy a 3Dfx card with TV-out facility.

However, since things are pretty much the same as the previous games it losesa point for not having made any particular advancement over the first threegames. I’ll be very interested to see what Core Design can provide for thePlaystation 2 when it’s released.

The sound effects and music are once again in stereo and crystal clear,but still no different from before.

The playability is one thing that continues to be first rate. The new movesare easy to get to grips with too. The controls allow Lara to move simplyaround the environment be it simply running, or running along up to a ledge,performing a forward roll and then pressing Action to hold onto the ledgebefore swinging forward to clear certain items. Sounds like a complicatedmanoeuvre, but it is possible.

I’m more used to keyboard controls for this sort of game which is why, on theDreamcast, it’s takes a while to get used to the controls on the joypad sinceit has more buttons than I’m used to. Not everything performs the desiredaction where I’d like it so I’d like to see a user-definable control systemor, something that would be better, an ability to user-define the keys witha Dreamcast keyboard, so I can replicate the PC keys. (I’m presuming thishasn’t been implicated as I can’t find the option but I don’t have the keyboard.I’d buy one in a second if I knew it was possible though).

Overall

At the end of my review forTomb Raider 3I said that I’d lay odds on the next Lara adventure needing to be significantlydifferent to stay ahead in the ever-changing games market, but this isn’twhat we’ve been given. It’s very much more of the same but while at times itmakes you stop and think, or take you to a point where you can get no furtherand you have to put the game down for a while and then go back to it later,in the main it’s easier and a more linear experience than the second and thirdinstallments.

However, the Tomb Raider series is beginning to behave like the JamesBond films, the last two of which are head and shoulders above most filmsreleased but rather average compared to what’s gone before and with thisfourth installment it really needs to try a different tack next time round.

The Real Lara is still being modelled by a real-life woman and this timeround it’s another Lara, Lara Weller (right).

If you’re after some more info on Eidos Interactive’s games, you can checkout their official Website atwww.eidosinteractive.com orthe

GRAPHICS
SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC
PLAYABILITY
ORIGINALITY
ENJOYMENT



OVERALL