The main change is the addition of a fairly unnecessary stealth manoeuvre, which puts Lara in a semi-crouch pose, allowing her to sidle up against walls Solid Snake-style and peek around corners, as well as perform a deadly neck breaker attack behind unwary enemy. Apparently the controls were a massive bone of contention internally, and have been the chief cause of the delay - we were hoping this was for good reason. For anyone even vaguely familiar with previous Tomb Raiders, the controls feel much the same, albeit with a few context sensitive tweaks in the name of making the game more accessible. The first few sections amount to nothing more than a training session, but for many this lead-you-by-the-hand approach will come as a welcome introduction. Unlike the other games in the series, Angel Of Darkness does at least try and introduce the controls to the player. Hats off to the audio guys for bothering with surround sound too. The music, however, is excellently atmospheric throughout, and easily the best yet in the series. Angel Of Darkness: compare and contrast the voices. Surely Core's budget could've stretched to employing some decent voice actors after all these years. Although Lara's part is played admirably, the bit part players with their dreadful cod-French accents are laughable in the extreme. During the Paris levels, AOD even reminded us of Revolution's much cherished Broken Sword, which can't be a bad thing.Īs good as the plot undoubtedly is, the voice actors do their bit to undermine its effectiveness. It probably sounds like typical gaming fodder, but the scenes are lavish, interesting and don't outstay their welcome, unlike many action adventures with illusions of cinematic grandeur. Having suffered a past betrayal Lara is understandably a little pissed off, and soon an argument ensues which coincides with the brutal shooting of Von Croy.įramed for his murder, the game follows Lara's desperate escape from the law, and her subsequent pursuit of the shady Eckhardt character and his plot to awaken the long dead Nephilim race. The game kicks off in Paris with Lara in conversation with her old mentor Werner Von Croy, who has been asked by a 'sinister' client Eckhardt to help him track down an old 14th Century painting. The storyline and scripting is certainly a cut above most gaming fodder, and an area Core has paid an enormous amount of attention to. This was Core's big chance to give the previous annual cash cow series a break and return with fresh ideas, some groundbreaking technology and renewed vigour to revitalise arguably the most important British gaming franchise ever. This was supposed to be the reinvention of the series where gamers got to see a 'darker' side of Lara, "a new harder edge that has arisen from her inner demons". Surely the naysayers were just the unbelievers that didn't have the patience in the first place? We had faith, even if the ropey demos at E3 and last year's PlayStation Experience suggested we should prepare for the worst. But at the same time, having thoroughly enjoyed the majority of the series we couldn't quite believe that over three years of development would result in failure. What an almighty cock up.Īs much as we try to remain impartial to the weight of outside opinion, we must admit we were more than a little nervous as we finally took possession of Tomb Raider 6. "Definitely before the 30th", an Eidos spokesman assured us, although that looks increasingly unlikely. Bizarrely, the City wasn't even told that the game had slipped again, and even the normally in-the-loop retail community hadn't got the faintest clue as to when the game was going to be shipped. "We don't care if it's finished, just get it out the bloody door before the City lynches us!"Īnd to add insult to injury, the Yanks got it before us, as under pressure Eidos scrambled frantically to get the game shipped in time for its third quarter. You could say it's been a rocky road in the build up to the release of the latest Lara Croft adventure.Įven the Official PlayStation 2 Magazine only gave it 8, and struggled through a long list of flaws before having to painfully justify its score, and as we scribe, the first 'proper' reviews have started to filter through and it seems that years of hype and promises have come to nothing. It's been delayed three times, slapped with a succession of unusually critical previews, and subsequently praised by less than convincing reviews.
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