Tomb Raider Review - PC

Her polygonal breasts were a big driving force when "Tomb Raider" was first released in 1996. But in this age of bikini-clad volleyball vixens, does Lara Croft have anything left to offer gamers? From the looks of "Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness," the gang at "X-Play" isn't so sure. A serious misstep for a franchise that was already flailing, it might be easier to go over what they did right first.

Lara does Paris

Following the murder of her rival and mentor Werner von Croy, Lara must explore the seedy underside of Paris to discover who killed him and why. The badass babe is even tougher this time around. The story, which predictably deals with lost artifacts and the occult, is decent. The various cutscenes are compelling to watch and keep you motivated to find out what happens next. The controversial decision to add a new playable character, Kurtis Trent, was a good move on Core's part. Also admirable is the game's score performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. It's rich, moody, and cinematic. Unfortunately, this is about all the game does well.

Half-baked gameplay

Where, oh where to begin. "Angel of Darkness" isn't so much a game as it's a series of partially completed ideas. It's painfully clear that the design of this game was overly ambitious. Early on in the game Lara runs around Paris, talking to people, picking up clues, and doing small quests. There's an illusion of non-linearity here as you can get through this area a couple of different ways.

This section also stresses the importance of finding valuables that you can sell to a pawnbroker for cash. This feature, however, is rendered useless by a bug that allows you to make as much money as you want, and by the fact that there's almost no use for money, anyway. Your exploits in Paris take up roughly a third of the game, and it's fairly dull. There are many hints at something deep -- the inventory, the money, and branching conversations -- but they never manifest into compelling gameplay. It's all a facade.

Only when you reach the first full-fledged tomb does the game begin to come together. Here, Lara is in familiar territory and watching her run, jump, and shimmy is still a pleasure. The puzzles, traps, and acrobatics are easier this time around, but there are still a few devilishly difficult areas. In theory, "Tomb Raider" pros should not have much of a problem if it weren't for the game's biggest fault.

Half-baked controls

Controls are uniformly sluggish. Getting Lara to run requires you to jam the analog stick in the direction you want to go. Jumping is imprecise and getting the camera to cooperate is a full-time job. More deaths will be attributed to poor control and bad camera angles than anything else. To add insult to injury, the game suffers from mind-jarring slowdown that almost makes the game grind to a halt. This is inexcusable.

The highly touted stealth mode is just as useless. There are precious few places where sneaking is better than just shooting the bad guys. It's further marred in that it doesn't work as explained in the manual. The instructions explain in detail how to draw and use your weapon while in stealth mode. It goes so far as to say you should always have your weapon drawn, yet there is no way to do it. Drawing your weapon immediately pulls you out of stealth mode. There are several sections in the manual that are flat-out wrong, which further suggests that large parts of the design were cut in order to get the game out the door.

Fully baked bugs

Any enjoyment you might still get out of this game is completely snuffed out by the bugs. "Angel of Darkness" locked up several times during the course of this review. There are numerous areas where Lara will simply drop dead for no apparent reason. Gunfire sound effects will cut out and enemies will get stuck on walls. The list goes on and on.

What could have been

This is a tremendous disappointment because you can sometimes see the good stuff Core had originally envisioned for this game. But as it stands, "Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness" is an unfinished, bug-ridden game. Blame Core for being too ambitious. Blame Eidos for shipping it too soon. But don't blame us if you buy it.
"Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness" (PS2)