Tomb Raider 2
It was less than a year ago that I was being totally amazed by one little game by those guys at Core. Little time has passed and
already we have seen a new version which is bigger, better, sexier and tougher than the original ever was. One of the more
fussed about elements is no doubt Lara Croft (though I haven't really caught on what all the fuss is about), and she sure is back
in full glory. While resting for the past year Lara has kept fit and lost quite a bit of weight. She also underwent a Breast
reduction (I'm not kidding she lost allot of assets) and now has a wardrobe of new clothes and wears her hair in a piggy tail!
One big improvement visually however is the new use of smarter and less bland textures. By this they are no longer similar to
each other and are packed with tons more detail. The characters are unfortunately incredibly similar to before with more
humans and slightly more life like animation in most cases. The use of source lighting was the main improvement however over
the original. Some of the places which you tread can be very eirry at times thanks to dark and spooky locations and the lighting
of flares to find your way through dark environments was most interesting. The music is very Tomb Raider-ish in style, by the
way of very little, but of very high quality. The use of quiet music then short stints of orchestra is again used to exceptional effect
building up the suspense slowly.
Tomb Raider wowed gamers with immersive atmospheres and seemingly excellent game design. Two new moves have been
implemented into the game play: the Climb wall and the run jump shimmy sideways. This adds to what is already a huge array
of moves which Lara Croft posses. Lara also feels allot smoother to control around the huge worlds which Tomb Raider 2
acquires. This was probably due to the less stiff feel and the new swimming feature which makes underwater battle an absolute
breeze. The levels are now also centred around more present times in more civilised locations. This of course means Humans
are now scattered throughout the levels more succesfuly making killing slightly tougher but then taking away a special charm of
the original. Tomb Raider 2 also features eighteen gigantic levels to explore from Great Wall of China, Venice, Oil Rigs,
shipwrecks and last Tibet. This is a far larger variety than before and each section looks distinctly different. The puzzles too are
again a very strong part of the game, but it does take back seat to the amazingly cool platforming which is always so original
and challenging.
Overall: Tomb Raider 2 is another fantastic adventure game but the improvements over the original may disapoint some.
9 out of 10
Reviewed by Brad Penniment from VideoGames.co.nz
