Too Much Raider
Written: Dec 05 '00 (Updated Dec 28 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Underwater sequences, lack of backtracking, simple weapons system, very clever game design
Cons: Lack of story, character interaction, saves. Some jumps too difficult. Too repetitive
The Bottom Line: Needs more saves and lower level ofdifficulty
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| forneon's Full Review: Tomb Raider for PlayStation 1 |
I`m new to video games and had only played two others, Parasite Eve and Koudelka, prior to my experience with TR. I expected a story and an interesting, if flawed, game experience...something like a mummy movie with player interaction....was I in for a surprise! TR was a problem right off the bat; I went to Laura`s home but could not find the practice space where the player is expected to practice Laura`s jumping and swimming abilities (neither the guide nor the walkthru I used was of any assistance). I kept going back to Laura`s home after I had begun the game and eventually found the area (behind loads of crates). This annoyance was soon to be overshadowed by other, far,far more important, shortcomings of the Tomb Raider experience. The game is divided into fifteen long, and I mean really long, levels. Don`t get the idea that the completion of a level in TR results in a movie , character interaction, or a change of scenery...all you get when you finish a level is another level. All of the areas in TR look almost identical (lots of rocks (of all sizes and shapes) streams, temples, tunnels etc.) Laura has to climb and jump over and around hundreds of obstacles. The jumps are of several types and are frequently very difficult to execute (Laura has to be aligned just right and the guesstimate of the distance to be traveled determines just what combination of buttons the player must utilize). Laura is frequently in danger of falling off things....cliffs, buildings,towers,bridges and the like....to prevent this the player must constantly press on a control button...this is about as much fun as walking around while having to hold your pants up with one hand. A few of these jumps would be a novelty and a challenge....hundreds of them are a bore. Laura fights many battles in her journey (with guns against gorillas,lions, dinosaurs, etc.) and some of them come as a welcome break from her endless leaps of faith ( which are almost always accompanied by sexy grunts and groans)... most of them required that Laura run and shoot as I tried to prevent the damsel in distress from being trapped against a wall or backed into a corner. The graphics in TR are a bit primitive, but passable. A much greater problem is a virtual absence of character interaction. The game began with a movie, but no other such diversion was offered in the six plus levels of the game I was able to complete. Laura`s nemesis ( a real bad ol` boy) occasionally pops up and she must defend herself and stave off his attacks without any chance of killing her foe...this was a novelty... until this same routine was repeated four times during the first seven levels. This was the full extent of character interaction in TR thru mid level seven. Music is a rare commodity in this game, just a bit when Laura (whom I do not find to be the least bit attractive by the way) will enter certain areas. BUT... I have yet to mention the two real killer problems with this adventure which are: ONE an almost unbelievable lack of save positions...and each can be used but once ( the game sometimes requires the player to overcome several very tough obstacles without any possibility to save along the way), and TWO a requirement to perform difficult multiple jumps (which may be subject to severe time constraints). I could not complete a timed jump sequence in level seven and therefore could not complete the game (TR remains the only game that I have begun and not finished..and this really annoys me). Not to be easily undone I jumped to other levels , managed to get all items necessary to finish the game, rushed to the final level, completed several very tough activities (without any opportunity to save) .....and again was stopped by a requirement to execute a very tough multiple jump sequence. In summation what is there to be said about a very, very lengthy adventure( I required more than sixty hours to complete about half of the game) that has clever puzzles, a simple weapons system, many, many interesting challenges (gates that won`t open, floors that break away under your character`s feet, "impassable" pits ,difficult underwater swims etc.) and yet fails to provide even a remote resemblance of a story (Laura robs tombs...a corporation wants to rob her, bad guys are defeated ..takes a very few minutes of game time to play out) or meaningful character interaction and is too difficult to complete?....Play at your own risk.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
forneon
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Reviews written: 17
Trusted by: 0 members
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