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| Since shortly after the release of Capcom's Resident Evil, gamers have been anxiously awaiting a game similar to RE, but their cries were only answered with Alone in the Dark and Fade to Black, both of which were comparatively primitive and lacked the visual luster of Capcom's adventure. Enter Lara Croft, a modern-day female of exaggerated proportions who is in search of artifacts which happen to be buried deep within tombs and underground caverns scattered throughout the world. I am not about to turn this review into a synopsis of the background story, since the plot and the events around it are better told by the beautiful cinemas which appear between certain levels, as well as at the opening and end, of course. So, allow me to plunge into this review as we would into the crystal waters of a Caribbean bay on a sunny Summer afternoon (sorry, this game makes me a bit poetic). You can breathe a sigh of relief to hear that the graphics in Tomb Raider are fully 3-D. Complex, elegant textures cover the polygonal environments and characters, and place you in a world that is convincing enough to be scary. Lara Croft, the main character, is beautifully modeled. Save for her conspicuously oversized upper body, she is rendered with a fair amount of accuracy and is animated with striking realism. As for the characters who continually try to do away with Lara, it can be said that they are fairly well done. While the wolves and rats are well animated, the crocodiles and bears are a bit too stiff to be convincing. The fictitious creatures such as the mummified beasts and winged demons move in ways that make them unworldly...and frightful. Most of the creatures in Tomb Raider give you enough visual information so as to keep you aware that you must either run for your life or blow them to pieces. As expected, light sourcing and transparencies are used to some extent, and help to give the levels even more realism. The environments and textures are varied to a great extent, which makes each new level fresh and distinct. As beautiful as the environmental textures are, they suffer from severe pixelization and wall-morphs which are due to the limitations of the hardware on which the games (PSX and Saturn versions) are played. In addition, this game seems to suffer from polygon fallout in which whole sections of walls just disappear or flicker, depending on the camera angle. This basically makes the graphics appear glitchy and unstable, but thankfully, it does not occur too often. Besides the aforementioned flaws, the graphics of Tomb Raider are a fantastic achievement in design and presentation, and remain some of the most impressive to grace the respective systems. Accompanying the breathtaking visuals are sound effects which add greatly to the overall game. Ambient sound effects tell you when you are becoming dangerously close to an opponent, or vice-versa. Footsteps, grunts, and screams all give a heightened feeling of life to our heroine as she explores the various labyrinths. As well, Tomb Raider has a soundtrack which should make any game developer green with envy. The music in the game in intelligently composed and beautifully orchestrated, but is unfortunately only played at key areas throughout the game. Oh well, I seek consolation in the fact that I can always pop the game into my Discman and listen to the music to my heart's content. As for the voice-overs in the cinemas, they are quite good and show that the people behind these voices had some decent acting ability. My congratulations to Core, who has shown that they know what good audio is. The gameplay itself is what we're really after, and it is what truly shines. Although the character control is similar to that of Resident Evil, the second person perspective makes Tomb Raider an entirely different playing experience. The camera trails behind Lara as she runs, jumps, walks, swims, and climbs through the winding underground caverns. For the most part, the camera is in the right spot, but it apparently becomes confused in small, enclosed areas, and makes the game a bit confusing. Not to fear though, Lara can aim the camera and look around as long as she is still. Controlling Lara definitely takes a bit of getting used to. The game would have benefited considerably from analog control, but on the system controllers, we are forced to hold a button down and press a directional just to make Lara walk. The control is also a bit on the sluggish side, especially when it comes to jumps. The slow control would not be so bothersome had it not been for those more-than-tricky feats which Lara must accomplish. After some practice, though, you will become accustomed to the control. The brilliant level design is what adds a great amount of depth to the whole Tomb Raider experience. Resident Evil, Fade to Black, and Alone in the Dark all featured action which took place on one plane. In Tomb Raider, however, jumping is every bit as important as running and shooting, and allows for levels with ceiling doors, steep drops, and gigantic open areas. This very important aspect is partly what makes Tomb Raider stand out as a title in which careful observation of the environment is a must. As such, Tomb Raider is a game which will constantly have you guessing as to what's hiding in that cave or crevice. The ability (and necessity) to swim is also an excellent feature, if only to see the beautiful underwater light-sourcing effects. The levels themselves are quite lengthy and most of them take a while to complete. Well-placed save beacons will keep the frustration level down, and the drive to explore will only heighten as you continue playing. As well, the "Lara's Home" mode was an excellent and thoughtful feature which gets you right into the game and prepares you for your quest. I must say that this is one of the most impressive games that I have seen in a long time. It has all the elements of a great game and shows that a game could be produced almost equally on the two 32-bit systems. Sure, the Saturn's graphics are a bit less impressive, but all of the important things are present, and that is what counts. Hopefully, this game will not only show other companies how to be innovative (or at least spawn a few good rip-offs or sequels), but will also show that it may be best to produce for more than one platform. As it stands, Tomb Raider remains one of the best 32-bit games thus far, and is destined to be a classic. |
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