Tomb Raider

Description

desertcart.com The first of the now-famous Tomb Raider games is a must-have for every gaming fan. You are Lara Croft, a tough, beautiful, sophisticated female Indiana Jones--think of a British Demi Moore in a fedora. Lara climbs walls, leaps chasms, and generally defies gravity using impressive gymnastics. All of her actions are intricately modeled to produce the lifelike athleticism that made Tomb Raider--and Lara Croft--famous. But Lara's got more than good looks and smooth moves to help her on her globetrotting quest for relics. Like guns. Lots of guns. Lara begins her adventures with her trademark pistols, wielded John Woo-style: one in each hand. She eventually works her way up to Uzis and even adds a handy shotgun to her arsenal, perfect for taking down a troublesome tyrannosaur found in some steamy Tibetan lost world. Here's the story: having made a name for herself as a finder of antiquities, Lara is hired by a mysterious woman to find an artifact believed to have come from Atlantis. Lara travels around the world, plumbing the depths of long- or best-forgotten locales. As she discovers clues to the artifact's whereabouts, she also uncovers the true motivation behind her employer's search. The intriguing plot is told through gorgeous computer animation movie cutscenes interspersed throughout the game's episodes. As you venture to and through various ancient tombs, a host of enemies and puzzles await you. In fact, it is the puzzles that will keep players interested even after the challenge of slaying enemies has passed. Also hidden throughout the game are a number of secret rooms and hidden treasures, unnecessary for completion of the game but adding a level of complexity and replay value. Being one of the few video game characters to grace mainstream magazine covers, Lara Croft is part of video game history. Ravenous fans have demanded three sequels, with the fourth installment, Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, due in late 1999--and a live-action movie in the works. And it all started with this game, the original Tomb Raider. --Allen StewartPros:Great graphicsFun camera anglesComplex puzzles require time and thoughtEntertaining plot, well-directed movie scenesCons:Takes a while to learn all of Lara's moves From the Manufacturer Climb, swim, and backflip your way through a maze of cryptic deathtraps so realistic you can practically smell the decaying flesh. Unload an arsenal of lethal firepower on any wild-dog, giant lizard or blood-thirsty mercenary that gets in your way. Your mission is the deadliest one to date--the recovery of the fabled Scion, an incredible treasure reputed to give its possessor vast power. Get ready to cross the globe to take on impossible odds while exploring Incan ruins, Ancient Rome, Egyptian Pyramids, and the Lost City of Atlantis... Features: Explore four massive worlds with over 15 original levels encompassing four continents. Your arsenal includes: pistols, magnums, a shotgun and Uzis. Battle wolves, bats, bears, alligators, raptors, and even a T-Rex in your quest for the Scion. Over 5,000 frames of animation on the main character, Lara, alone. Unique multi-target acquisition system. State of the art intelligent third person perspective cinematic camera system. Multi-genre immersive gameplay. The first real 3-D interactive exploratory adventure. P.when('A').execute(function(A) { A.on('a:expander:toggle_description:toggle:collapse', function(data) { window.scroll(0, data.expander.$expander[0].offsetTop-100); }); }); Review Move over, Resident Evil. The new benchmark for 32-bit 3-D gaming is here. Tomb Raider combines slick graphics with a fantastically agile character and an excellent story, offering proof that the 32-bitters can hold their own with the Nintendo 64 and its plumber juggernaut. The most striking thing about Tomb Raider is its 3-D environment. Players will explore immense caverns, often bigger than the worlds in Mario 64 (with fewer polygons, but polygons don't guarantee greatness), and zero delay after the initial load. While Tomb Raider may not be as clean as the 64-bit Mario, it is very impressive nonetheless. What's more, it has a compelling storyline and a great Indiana Jones-style heroine, resulting in a much more interesting atmosphere. Fans of Resident Evil, Mortal Kombat, and their gothic ilk may actually prefer Tomb Raider to Super Mario 64. As Lara, players walk, run, jump, dive, swim, roll, hurtle, shoot, and dodge their way through temples of doom, unveiling a mystery that seems to lead to a sunken continent. Gameplay favors puzzle solving and skillful maneuvering (making the right jump, finding the right key, searching every corner of a cave) over shooting and conflict, making Tomb Raider is more like the opening sequence of Raiders of the Lost Ark than its finale. Nonetheless, it's completely mesmerizing. Tomb Raider instantly sucks players in with Laura's deft movements and death-defying jumps. (Be sure to bring along a hintbook or FAQ). In addition, by restricting forward movement to 12 o'clock on the gamepad, rather than allowing control to shift with the camera angle, the game lends its protagonist the capacity to actually walk in a straight line. Of course, Tomb Raider is not perfect. The animals seem to be on a polygon fast. Also, some of the problematic camera angles familiar to players of Super Mario 64 occur here as well. They have a smaller impact on gameplay here, however, because of the game's emphasis on puzzles over action. Tomb Raider is simply a smart game, bursting with great touches. In the training level, Lara takes players through her house, into her gym, and tutors them on the skills they'll need to stay alive. Fortunately, the complicated maneuvers can be learned in moments. This is the first 32-bit game to compete with Nintendo 64's polygon arsenal, and it handles itself very well. If there are more Playstation and Saturn releases like this one, Lara and her followers might very well be uncovering Nintendo 64s along with the other artifacts in Tomb Raider 5. -- Hugh Sterbakov --Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc. -- GameSpot Review See more