right The game starts out with little girl Lara traveling with her mother when suddenly the plane they’re on crashes into what looks like some ancient ruins. As they dust themselves off, they start to explore the area. Little Lara finds some interesting contraptions in the area, starts to fiddle with them, and WHOOSH!, her mother is sucked into some other dimension or something. In essence, the event gave her the calling of digging up artifacts hoping one day to find out what happened to her mother. Will she ever find out is the question.
Audio/Visual: The graphics look amazing. As Lara ventures through the ruins of Bolivia, the jungles of Ghana, and/or the cold mountains of Kazakhstan, the environments are vast and spectacular. As Lara says in the game, a lot of the places would look great on postcards. The animation and character models are well done as well. Sound-wise, the expensive 50-piece orchestra of Angel of Darkness is gone and is kept simple with a digital score. The voice acting is well done and the sound effects of the gunfights and explosions are solid.
Controls: The biggest problem with the last Tomb Raider game is now its greatest improvement. What was once complicated, over-produced and sensitive to the touch is now simple, straight-forward third person action controls. The analog sticks control the character movement camera movements and the buttons allow you to jump, crouch, throw your grappling hook and interact with objects like switches or moveable debris. The directional pad allows you to change weapons, use health packs, binoculars, and a light that brightens caves and dark hallways. The controls couldn’t be any simpler.
Hotness: For the last few Tomb Raider games, Lara used to have some training grounds where you could practice moves and perfect your combat skills. Now the training ground has been replaced by the "Croft Mansion" where you can explore, outside of the main story, and find new gear, treasures and other items. You’ll spend quite a bit of time looking around.
Wackness: During game play there are several glitches that might get annoying. During a fight with a boss, he may get stuck in the ceiling and it may be hard to shoot him down. Other enemies during the game may get twitchy and stuck in places but it isn’t too excessive. Hopefully, you won’t have to deal with it too much.
Test Drive Rating: 4.5/5.
home
