sportster's Full Review: Tomb Raider for PlayStation 1
Ever wonder how all of today's gaming heroines got their start? They owe it all to this game right here. Eidos took a chance and produced a game featuring a female lead character, along with some(at the time)new gameplay wrinkles, and it took. Now, four sequels later, many may have had their fill of this title. But let's look back at the game that introduced us to one Ms. Lara Croft.
Tomb Raider, which was released in 1996, brought elements from the Action/Adventure genre, mixed in some(actually quite a bit)Platform Jumper, along with a good dose of Puzzle Solver. Toss in a young lady with a couple of huge pistols, and you have one of the sleeper hits of the year. Back then we were willing to over look the graphic glitches(most of which still plague this series today)and enjoy the game for what it was. That is, enjoy it if you were into next to impossible jumps and playing with a guide book next to you. More later.
The story of Tomb Raider begins as Ms. Croft is hired to find an artifact somewhere in South America. This female version of Indiana Jones is up to any challenge, so off she goes, only to find out that her quest is quite a bit more than it seemed on the surface. A simple trip into some Incan(or are they Mayan?)ruins leads to adventures with Greco/Roman, Lost World, and Atlantian themes. Turns out her employer has her own agenda as well. This is really all one needs to know, as the storyline takes a backseat to the game itself.
At the time of it's release this game was considered to be a good graphic effort. You saw the 3-D world from a third person view, and the almost symetrical looking backgrounds didn't look quite so out of place as they do on the later releases in the series. The areas you explored each had their own look to them. There were golden-walled Incan temples, lush, green pre-historic jungles, white-stoned Greco/Roman areas, all contained in underground caverns. All of this was rather nicely presented, with some decent effects. Waterfalls come to mind right off, they did do quite a good job with running water.
While primative looking when compared to character models found in later games, I would say that the ones here were OK for the time. Same goes for the different animal enemies you encounter(unlike the later games in the series, almost all of the enemies here were either animals or mythical creatures). While blocky looking, they all seemed to have some interesting effect to them. Like Larsen's five-o-clock shadow, or the eyes of the rats, and Lara's swinging pony-tail.
As mentioned, the game had some real glitches that still haunt this series today. One is the see through wall. Another would be the ability to walk right through things like fallen enemies and some plants. And how can anyone forget those annoying camera angles? (this may be more of a control issue than graphic) I seem to remember a couple of times that the game slowed down as well. Again, I have to mention, all of this didn't seem to bother most gamers at the time.
Control was where many people seemed to have quite a few complaints. For a game that required some pretty precise actions, the controls were touchy to say the least. The timing never seemed to be the same two jumps in a row, and I must have used at least four different controllers with this game. Other than that, I found the controls to be alright. The action button worked well enough in combat, the oh so neccessary walk button was ok, changing the camera angle(often!)was easy enough, and using the inventory screens was painless. The problem was only in trying to execute some of the more difficult leaps.(lots of them too)
As you can probably imagine, to say that this is a hard game would be an understatement! The basic outline of the game is as follows: enter each area, killing all enemies while searching for the keys to unlock different doors, solve a few puzzles(mostly lever-based, some block sliding), and make quite a few leaps of faith. That's a bare bones description of the game, it's actually more complicated than that. While it does start out pretty simple in all aspects, the game gets progressively harder the further you advance. Both from the stand point of enemies and jumps/puzzles.
You start out with your trusty pistols and an unlimited supply of ammo. Along the way you'll pick up better weapons, like the shotgun and uzis, as well as two sizes of first aid kits. Your new weapons also require you to find ammo for them, so use them wisely! Early on your pistols should be more than enough. Secret areas abound in this game(as in the later titles)many of which you'll never find without a guide book. Problem is that some items needed to progress in the game are hidden in much the same way. Don't get me wrong, I like exploring a game environment, but many times things are hidden in places that are illogical(if not suicide)to look in.
Another place many gamers found trouble is with the multi-part jumps. Many of these required right on timing, some were timed, and there was one that was next to impossible. That one can be found in level nine, the Cistern. There is absolutely no margin of error in it. Unless you're perfect, reload the saved game. There are also many jump, backflip, jump(you get the picture)type moments. These most likely wouldn't have given gamers such fits if the controls were right on.
One of the best parts(in my opinion)of the game were the many underwater areas. These were quite challenging(yes, you can drown, not to mention get lost easily)and also had some cool lighting effects to them. Lara didn't learn to fight underwater until TR3, so you had to evade the crocodiles, or fight them from dry land before diving in. There were underwater levers to pull, and some tricky parts. I found these to be the fun areas of the game(and no, there's no wet t-shirt effects!!!)
Sound wise the game doesn't have any glaring flaws. I've always found the Raider theme to be a good piece. Voice overs during cut scenes do sound forced at times, but there's not that many of them. Most environmental noises aren't badly done. You'll know there's a waterfall, or fast moving river in the area before you see it. Music builds during encounters, other times it's mostly soothing. You'll hear animals like Raptors approaching, and the T-Rex encounter is very memorable.
So, do I recommend it? If you haven't played a Raider game, this is the one to get. I think it's the best of the series. True, the sequels look a little better, but I still found the first one to be the most enjoyable. With the movie due out in a couple of weeks, I guess another fling in some dark places with Ms. Croft doesn't sound like like a bad idea after all.
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