Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness

Lara Croft is back and she was supposed to be better than ever - but she is not! Eidos Interactive released the game half-finished and blamed Core for the poor quality of the game. But is it that bad as people or critics say? No, it is an entertaining action adventure with some small and major flaws. A.I is pathetic and textures fall apart but the controls aren't that bad. Worse than before but not bad. It takes few seconds for Lara to respond which makes the fighting very hard.

After getting used to the new control system I had a chance to follow the story - and a great story it is. Core made the best plot for Angel of Darkness and it totally surprised me. Kurtis Trent was great "new thing" but the controls were horrible and there was nothing that made him special - except he had lot of charisma. He is one of the only character in the world of Tomb Raider that can challenge Lara into a fight - which one we love the best!

The camera system was more or less bad but not all the time. It did quite well sometimes, except when Lara died or got too close to the wall. The controls and camera hurt the gameplay but not so much that "Laragame" wouldn't be playable. There were some difficulties to do some long jumping in the end and some minor problems in Louvre Galleries.

The Enemy A.I (like I mentioned) was bad. Actually, there weren't any. Just put the "Stealth" mode on, and they won't notice you. Yes, stealth mode is something new for Tomb Raider but bad controls, sloppy camera and non-excisting enemy A.I made an end to that one.

What would Lara be without new moves? Lara can now do hand-to-hand combat and kick some butt! But unfortuneately, this element is a poor show to run. By tapping action button once, Lara hits, by doing it twice she kicks. Where's the catch? There was no use to kick or hit them because there was barely any effect to the opponent. It was lot easier to use stealth mode and break their neks or just shoot them - and oh boy - Lara didn't forget her weapons home! There is many choices you can do when selecting a gun. All of them have different strengths and flaws. I just loved the action sequences in Louvre Galleries.

So, game play is not the best but the story, voice acting and music are. Jonell Elliot handles her role well and makes the most impressive voice acting in the history of videogames. London Symphony Orchestra has done good job and the athmopshere is great. The story and "looks" of this game was supposed to be dark but don't expect anything big from that part. The story is darker and begins with Lara finding her mentor killed and she is the one to take the credit for it. As Lara is fugitive on the run, she must find out who did it and why. She meets Kurtis Trent, who is after the Cabal Cult members, and so is Lara. Later in the game, these two make an alliance to defeat Eckhart, the man who killed Verner and framed Lara for it. Kurtis wants the man dead because he killed his father and is also the leader of the cult. Lara has to defeat the cult because they have plans for this world that she is not ready for. Eventually, this cliche story ends up being a total surpriser, Trust me, if you need a reason to buy this game, it is the story.

Core has always been great at level design and won't let you down this time either. Paris is stunningly well build and the graphics are something that makes it even better. Louvre is also one of the best parts of the game but then it gets worse. The time when Lara enters a tomb or few. I didn't wan't to go there but thank God, later I had an oppurtunity to go to Praha. That ladies and gentlemen, is a place you should go. It was just awesome.

Now, the graphics. The fix patches clears out some bugs but the graphics isn't good as should be. The lighting effects are stunning and some levels are beautifully textured and Lara looks good but it is not the graphics the game-engine should create. The graphics engine is a total mess. It demands a lot but gives little. At least Lara looks good and smooth.

Now, should you buy this game? Yes, if you don't care about few bugs, floppy gameplay and the fact that all the new elements brought to game are badly done. Tomb Raider fans should buy it but others, perhaps when it is cheaper. Anyway, I enjoyed this adventure but I admit there was lot of things so wrong and lot things so right. Lara is still cool character, the story is great and so is the music and level design. I didn't "love" it but enjoyed it for what it was. This isn't end of the Tomb Raider franchise, just one down hill. The next game is schedueled to be released summer 2005. Core was replaced by Crystal Dynamics.

8/10 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------

The game is a total mess its unplayable, i never finished or get into the story because the controls are awful. I would like to see a remake for this game though the story looks nice and the Lara looks fresh and badass.

I am a born PC gamer, so I have played all subsequent Tomb Raider games on that particular medium. First and formost, I have always loved the game for the adventure and the action and the fact that Lara Croft is a great roll model. I started playing these games when I was thirteen, as that's a tough age for girls, seeing Lara do all the stuff she did, well, it was empowering. Anyway, I digress, the previous Tomb Raider games have been quite fun and enjoyable. On the PC. It has taken me a few years to get a PS2, and I decided in honor of that, I'll play the next TR game on my PS2. eh heh....Not exactly a good idea, but I wil get to that.

I like shiny and sparkly things that look good. I am not going to lie, I am a typical girl. I like pretty things. So, that's why I like the menus a whole bunch, They were quite pretty too look at. A huge improvement over those barfy menus of TR:Last Revalation and TR: Cronicles. The overall look of the game is amazing. Probably much better than what I would get on my craptacular PC. Lara's look is fantastic, very urban and slick. I miss the teal tank top though, but that's just me.

The soundtrack is fabulous and rich and full of what you would expect in such a game with all the ambiance. Speaking of that, a hallmark of a good game ( to me, at least) is if the enviroment you are in is good. If the ambiance makes you want to come back. I really found this particular enviroment engaging. I really liked it. Deus Ex was like that, there was an awesome enviroment to play in.

I kinda liked the realism about the game. Like, Lara has one gun in one hand. I have always thought that no matter how strong she was, it would pretty hard to fire twin guns in quick sucession and deal with the recoil. So, that was a plus. Also, the stength meter. Okay, I don't know WHO thought this up, but it's a pretty stupid idea. Yes, it's realistic, but come on...five past games and there was no need for it, so why now? Oh, and no vechicles. I dunno whether this is good or bad, so I'll just not put my opinion in on it.

Okay, the controlls. They bite. Pure and simple. They are really hard to get used to, especilly for someone who is fresh off the PC version. I can only hope that that the PC controlls stay true to the pervious versions of the game. Honestly, I love the D-Pad, and having to use the analog stick is a pain. It's painful. The controls are just bad. I think this has been said over and over adnausem, so I am just going to end my rant now.

I like being a TR purist, while I liked the first movie, I didn't like the fact that it was sans-teal tank top. Now, the second movie is deriving even more by getting rid of the braid. >.<...I didn't like how this game went so far away from the other games. I don't care about this "New Generation" crap. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Like I said, this game has it's merits and it's pitfalls (no pun intended ;D), it's not excellent, or really, really bad. I like the game. I don't love it, I don't hate it. I think what should really be done is just sit back and play, and enjoy it for what it really is, a game.

TheForlornJedi-

Now I'm not an obsessive Tomb Raider fan, nor do I dislike the series (I like it, it's just not my favorite), but this was just lame. The controls were sloppy beyond belief, the plot holes were gaping and Lara was just plain unlikable in this game. Now I'll bite, I appreciate that they were trying to take the series in another direction, but they did it wrong. I know it was meant to be darker and Lara was grittier as a result, but it just went in too many wrong directions. Then there's Kurtis who would've been better had his story been more developed. But the worst of it all was the gameplay where Lara controls like circus clown balancing on a rolling ball. If there are any redeemable qualities, they are that the graphics are nice and the dialogue is well written. Other than that, just scrap this crap. It damn nearly killed the franchise, but thankfully Tomb Raider: Legend (a far more superior game) came out and reversed that.

Lara Croft is arguing with her old mentor Verner von Croy over something called the "Obscura Paintings". After some yelling, Lara is knocked down, we hear gunfire and when Lara regains her consciousness, von Croy lies dead on the floor. Not long after that, police sirens can be heard in the distance; Lara Croft is wanted for the murder of Verner von Croy.

Thus does a fast paced story telling in the 6th installment of the Tomb Raider series commence, and it is by far the most intriguing story of them all. Readers of The Da Vinci Code will see the obvious similarities here, since the game is told the exact same way; A murder, a chase, a secret, the Louvre... much inspiration has been borrowed here. Also, the pace of the famous book is equally fast; with Lara being hunted by French police helicopters, cops, villains and secret society special forces, it would seems that everything's set for a fantastic and enjoyable adventure; suffice to say, the story is certainly not where the film snaps.

The control, however, certainly does its part in ruining the little escapade. First off: Lara no longer runs instantly, she walks and THEN she runs, which can prove fatal when you haven't got a large plateau to jump from. Also, her acrobatic actions like jumping over railings and climbing drain pipes are not triggered by pushing Shift, or the X button, but simply by pointing the directional buttons in that direction. This can create some very frustrating and catastrophic situations, as Lara will be more than willing to jump over a railing and fall 70 meters down. However, the controls can be mastered and once they have been, they work.

Another thing that will cause many players to throw the controller into the TV screen is the absence of an Auto Save function. Since you'll die on a regular basis, saving is certainly necessary every 5 minutes. Every run and jump has to be executed with surgical precision, something that is destined to fail, especially with newbies behind the screen.

On a graphical side-note, AoD is a peculiar game. Lara's shadow is in high resolution, but doesn't match her surroundings, i.e. her shadow is pointing in another direction than other objects. The 3D environments have high polygon counts, but this can't be said for Lara or any other characters: they still look like dolls, with octagon eyes and square fingers. The tombs are fantastically rendered but low res textures (for the PS2 version at least) makes the experience a little dull and does not encourage one to explore.

The enemies in AoD are brain dead and uninteresting, they can run, bite, shoot, hit you... and that's pretty much it. Any unusual behaviour is usually programmed actions like soldiers roping themselves down the roof and so on. The stealth elements in the game quickly falls to the ground as it is ten times easier to just run forward and mash the action button to shoot your foes, since the auto-aim function takes care of the hard part. And once defeated, they will simply blink and disappear, arcade style. That is one of the things that makes AoD lose much of its realism. The new kung-fu elements looks cool, though albeit slower than Tom Cruise's moves in MI:2, they usually cause you to lose 50% health since the enemy can still hit/shoot you during the attack. RUBBISH! Also, AoD suffers from strange bugs, like the sound repeating itself over and over again when dying and Lara has a rare tendency to fall through the floor into blue, uncoded nothingness.

Conclusively, Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness is a game that requires patience, tolerance and a pretty controlled temper if you like your TV. Although the graphics are decent in places and outright ugly in other, and although the controls take forever to master, it is a decent game that requires your attention, at least by a rental.