Official Website

Platform: Playstation 2

Genre: Action

Number of Players: 1

When the first Tomb Raider game hit the Playstation console way back in 1996, it was immediately a hit with gamers. It wasn’t too often that we had a female character that too the lead role, with the obvious women in that category being Samus from the Metroid games and Jill Valentine from the Resident Evil series. The real difference here though is that Lara Croft, the games heroine, was a little more woman than anyone had expected. The buxom treasure hunter certainly captured the hearts, and fantasy’s, of just about every male gamer out there, and the games success led to on onslaught of titles that followed it.

Not all of these were as great as the original though, and while some were slightly better, others fell short. The thing is though, that no matter how the games were, people continued to buy them regardless. Personally, in my opinion Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation was probably one of the last good TR titles on the Playstation, with Tomb Raider: Chronicles falling far too short of being a great title, although it did a nice job of filling us in on some of the past exploits of Lara, including a very young Ms. Croft before she became the beauty that we all know now. But, even as some gamers began to slowly lose interest in the series, the fact that there was one of the way for the PS2 had many of them excited once again. None of us expected all the delays that came with waiting for Lara to return, but patience has prevailed and now, Lara is ready to make her way back into gamers hearts and dreams with her first PS2 title; Angel of Darkness.

Lara has been summoned to the home of her former mentor, Werner Von Croy, the same man who left her for dead in Egypt during The Last Revelation. Werner has been commissioned for some rather shady dealings, but afraid that his life is in danger, he requests that Lara come to visit. Werner however is shot dead in his home, and the police reports give the description of a young woman that sounds just like Lara. Now, she’s on the run from police, attempting to clear her name, find out who really killed Werner, and gather information on the mysterious Obscura Paintings. With her wanted status though, her only hope on the streets of Paris is to get help from some rather shady characters, but not all of them are going to be willing to talk, and some are downright scared as Paris is under the cloud of fear brought about by the Monstrum, a serial killer that lurks somewhere on Parisian dark streets.

Angel of Darkness is a little different form the previous adventures that we’ve seen Lara in. Usually, our busty girl is exploring dank tombs in exotic locations, searching for some priceless artifact that only she can recover with her Indiana Jones style techniques. The accusations of murder however bring a whole new element to the game, and do quite a deal to give the game a true storyline as opposed to going from level to level, searching for new weapons and treasures. While the elements are new, the game is still the same though. Lara is going to have to jump, climb, swim, and do all those other tings that we’re so used to seeing, and her adventures will take her from the ghettos of Paris, to excavations, and even to strange research facilities and sanitariums. This isn’t just about clearing her name though, and more and more of the strange circumstances surrounding Von Croy’s murder begin to emerge as she delves deeper into the underworld, and someone apparently doesn’t want her to discover the truth.

Lara still will take trips into dank and dark recesses searching for precious artifacts, this time the Obscura paintings, mysterious 14^th century relics that Von Croy’s client, Ekhardt wanted for his own devious purposes, and obviously bad enough to kill for. This means that those with Acrophobia, the fear of heights, are going to cringe a little as Tomb Raider once again employs the use of dizzying heights that are enough to make you fearful to even risk taking a jump. Lara on the other had really isn’t the same girl we once knew, at least in terms of her attitude. While she didn’t really take too much attitude from anyone previously, it becomes even truer now, and her tolerance and temper are both very short. I guess that’s what you get after being buried and left for dead in an Egyptian pyramid.

Some of Lara’s moves remain the same while there are a few new ones that are brought to the game. Lara does her fair amount of jumping, running, climbing, and hanging, and even her trademark handstand and swan dive are back. One thing though that’s always been an annoyance is falling, and passing a ledge that you’d grabbed onto earlier. Now, Lara has the chance for a last ditch effort to grab onto those, usually with a fair amount of success. This is one of those much-needed enhancements that I know many gamers have seen lacking. Using the L1 Button will also allow Lara to walk instead of having to constantly run, and it helps in some of those tight spots.

Apparently, our girl has been taking some lessons from Snake (Metal Gear Solid) as she can now sneak around. This is great for a few things. First of all, it makes her footsteps quieter, meaning that nearby guards or other foes won’t hear you. Also, Lara can slide up against walls, allowing her to peak around corners and see who, or what, might be there. Sneaking will also let Lara grab unsuspecting opponents for quick disposal. Lara also will gain strength in her legs and arms by doing various tings like moving crates or kicking door open. This will allow her to hang or grasp longer while climbing, and even jump a little higher. Lastly, there is finally camera decent camera rotation added in, making it so much easier to align yourself for those nasty looking jumps.

Unlike the other games, Lara isn’t going to start out with any weapons; you’ve got to find those on your own. There are quite a few to be found, including old favorites like shotguns and semi-automatic rifles. Even better, using the D-Pad will let you cycle through them instead of having to go into the sub-menu. Lara even has plenty of health items that she can gather, and they are in abundance. Some things however are gone, sadly enough. One time that I now I used quite a bit was the flare, and while the game isn’t quite as dark as some of the previous ones, they still would have been a nice touch in some areas.

The games graphics definitely have gone up a notch or two. Things look more true to life and aren’t nearly as repetitive as in some of the other games. However, with too much added to the graphics, you’ll find yourself having to wait here and there for the disc to load up a new area. Fortunately though, most of these load times aren’t too long. Lara herself is even a bit more, shall we say, animated in certain areas. Let’s just say that her chest no longer looks like she’s hiding two triangles in it. Event he cut scenes are done very well, matching the games graphics most of the time and going with a more film quality with the variety of shots and camera angles.

The game allows you to save anywhere, with is quite a blessing. The past titles have bounced back and forth between saving at any time, only save at certain spots, or only saving with crystals. This option though helps out, especially after making a climb that’s cost you your life far too many times or making a jump that you weren’t quite sure if you could make in the first place. Follow the golden rule: safe often.

Tomb Raider though does have some problems, and many of them are all to frequent. The first, and most common problem is slowdown. Environmental effects, like smoke for instance, cause the game to go into slow motion, as do things like rain. While the effects do add a great deal to the game in terms of realism, in some areas they could have been eliminated in order to salvage game play instead of having something that “looks cool.” The game also has areas that tend to freeze from absolutely no reason. The area that I noticed that was very common, and annoying, in was the night club stage, with freezes happening in the same area so often I was forced to start the game over again. The game also has that problem where Lara gains a phasing ability to stand partially inside objects, and occasional camera panning too close to Lara and a wall will let you see right through the back of her head. With the game having been in development for so long, and having experienced numerous delays, one would think that all of these bugs and glitches would have been fixed. I know most gamers want a product to be fantastic, no matter how long they have to wait, and releasing this with constant bugs really is inexcusable.

While it may not be a prefect game, Angel of Darkness is definitely a step in the right direction. It doesn’t necessarily revive the franchise, instead it remodels it and makes it something that’s a little different, but not so changed that it becomes unrecognizable. Most fans will appreciate the work that went into this one, buggy or not, and those that have never played any of the Tomb Raider titles will certainly find themselves hooked from the start.  Although I have been enjoying the game quite a bit, I won’t state that it’s the blockbuster hit that some have claimed it to be. Instead though, it’s an excellent advancement in the Tomb Raider series that certain to breath new life into it, and keep it alive for some time to come.

 -mike-