"Plenty of raiding, not enough tombs"

The Tomb Raider series was always much maligned, loved by some, hated by others. The series spanned 4 sequels between 1996 and 2001, some were good, others were borderline poor but what made the series special to some people, no not that, but it was the fact that the game revolutionized the platform genre for the 32 bit console, it featured expansive levels, was laced with atmosphere and allowed the gamer to trot the globe whilst picking up artifacts, shooting endangered species in what was usually a fresh and exciting adventure. After months of delays, the trouble hit first foray onto Playstation 2 hardware, Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness was released in 2003, to great hype and promise.

If you've never played a Tomb Raider game, its time to get acquainted. The series follows the adventures of an upper class multi millionaire English woman, who moves like an Olympic gymnast, is proficient in martial arts and weapons, and whose sole purpose in life is for adventure and, of course, Tomb Raiding. After reading that, she does sound like a ridiculous character! Looking aside, the original came out in 1996. 3 sequels followed until Lara was supposedly killed off in Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, which ended with her crushed under tonnes of Egyptian rock. Her one time mentor, Professor Werner Von Croy who happened to be the main adversary of that game returned to try and save her. This plotline was expanded in Tomb Raider: Chronicles which focused on Lara's death, but hinted that she would return at a later date.

Von Croy returns in AOD; sadly, his return is a fleeting one as he is killed off in the first few moments of this game in Lara's presence. A hazy recollection leaves her unconvinced who killed her old friend and she is wanted for Von Croy's murder, and what follows is the story, initially of Lara trying to solve the murder, evade the authorities and complete a twisting and turning plot. The storyline is good, it's not right to spoil most of it for you, but it surrounds a cabal and a new world order, and you can find out the rest when you play it, but the main points are that it is interesting enough to carry the game forwards.

One word which can be used to describe Core design's efforts on this game is ambitious. If you look back to the 1996 original, that game was a platformer in 3D with combat. Now, there are free roaming and RPG elements here. Most of the game does involve ledge jumping and puzzle solving and combat – even in Paris – whilst there are also opportunities for stealth. Lara has a stealth button (R2) which helps in some areas of the game as you can take down your opponent stealthily. In some parts, most notably in Paris early on you'll need to explore a slum of Paris talking to people and gaining contacts and earning some money by selling trinkets. It adds something new to the game which is good. The game does rely on interaction with people on the streets – sometimes maybe too much – to help you progress. The problem is, you can't skip these and some people just drone on and on. But essentially the gameplay remains more or less similar to what you would have seen in previous games with some welcomed and ill conceived new ideas.

The spirit of the previous games is there in the sounds and music. Voice Overs are much more accomplished this time. The actress who has played Lara over the last few titles remains, and she was always impressive as is the voice artist for the main villain, Van Eckhardt. Minor characters are mostly French and Czech, some with put on accents but the standard of the voice acting is more impressive than not. The music is good, some great tracks are played throughout which do what they are designed to – create an atmosphere appropriate for the situation and its all good stuff. The sound effects are also very impressive. The most striking thing about this game, and a testament to how far the series has evolved, is the game's looks. Backdrops and locales are lovingly detailed, water features are crisply done, and the characters are detailed and very well animated. The wildlife, of which there is not enough, also looks much more lifelike. The presentation is not as good as it could have been the title and pause screens are very ugly and are jerky to maneuver.

Unlike the first few games in this series, The Angel of Darkness does not have levels per se. Instead, the game follows on as a continual adventure like The Last Revelation. But in terms of locales which effectively count as individual missions the count is well over 35, which offers a refreshingly large and pleasing amount of depth and challenge and it is a game that could take up to a month to win with a couple of hours play per day. Sadly, just like many other titles in the series there is not enough replay value to keep you hooked after you have finished the last level which was always a flaw in Tomb Raider games. The game also lacks the traps and difficult puzzles which were so good in previous games. One of the most fun parts of some of the previous games were in the amusing and innovative ways in which you could kill Lara, but the lack of traps and punishing puzzles is very apparent. Its not a very difficult game to complete, If you get stuck in the game it is usually because you get lost rather than you've met a difficult enemy or tough puzzle which leads to great frustration as it is sometimes difficult to know where to go next, although Von Croy's notebook which appears in the pause screen hints, the notes are too vague to be of much use to you. Although the opportunity to save anywhere makes the game a little easier, there are so many frustrating areas to contend with that you'll be thanking Core for retaining this feature.

The controls were something that many people had issues with, and I too was left puzzled by Core's controls for the PS2, particularly in what has changed or is missing. Many puzzles require Lara to move blocks, clamber on top of them and use them to reach higher areas. The X button is used to climb and push, so when you try to climb it you push it, so you have to run backwards and hope that a random jump will help you land in the right place, which is a part of the game which can be very frustrating. Thankfully, the right analogue stick is used for panning the camera while the left stick is used for controlling Lara's movements. You can't control the speed of the camera, but its more than adequate as often you'll be searching an area for where to go next. A drawback to this is in the woeful areas where there are fixed camera angles where the camera panning doesn't work and you are left in the dark as to where to go, and there were parts where you could be easily confused at what your next move would be. The controls for swimming are an absolute joke. You have to move the analogue stick in one position whilst tapping Circle. The previous games had one button to move underwater as you guided Lara with the D-Pad. These controls are virtually unworkable, unnecessarily complicated and its practically impossible at times to pull it off

The AI is generally good, human baddies will hunt you out, but can't seem to climb objects and such which featured in The Last Revelation (1999), but what is most alarming about the AI is that enemies cannot hear your gunfire, even if you shoot behind them from about 10 meters it seems they are all deaf. Don't forget this game came out after Metal Gear Solid 2 – there is simply no excuse for that omission. Not only is that a clear fault, but it is very obvious this game had a long period in development hell as there are glitches galore as you'll experience. The game freezes unexpectedly, character's speech glitches and enemies will fly into the air when shot – its one of the glitchiest games I've played on the PS2. The trouble really is, The Angel of Darkness tries to be so much different from its predecessors that in some ways it has forgotten what made those games so good and lost its way a bit. I enjoyed the varied locations, the globe trotting and the tomb raiding. Here it is more of a case of raiding without the tombs, and almost ought to be called Urban Raider. The game takes place in Paris and Prague and to be honest, the urban locales can, at times become a little repetitive and I longed for the return of open countryside.

There are a lot of things that will put people off about playing this game; I can see a lot of people disliking the game and getting frustrated very early on, not least due to the unforgiving learning curve and numerous glitches. But if you like this standard of game, are a fan of the series and enjoy the huge challenge of actually completing it, it is still a game well worthy of your consideration. It's not the top notch effort that many fans were expecting, and since this is Core design's legacy, I for one would have liked a game which stuck more to the series' roots as some of the more drastic and ambitious changes haven't really worked. There is a lot of good stuff in Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness; dig deep and you'll find a decent game – it's just a question of whether you persevere with it long enough to get to that point.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/23/06