It's not as bad as some people say... but lordy, it ain't good.
There's a LOT of slowdown ("Baywatch Moments") whenever there are large
areas or more than two characters on screen. The game's story could have
been good but was riddled with silliness:
Lara is running because she's falsely accused of murder so to clear her name
she spends the next week killing every random security guard and policeman
she sees.
The whole point is that the bad guys are trying to resurrect an extinct race
by bringing back to life the last remaining corpse... except for the bad guy
trying to shoot you who IS a member of that race.
The rest of the story is a mix of interesting things that you don't get see
or do and just plain confusing things that if you miss screw you totally
(because you need a lot of these minor points to solve puzzles).
A lot of the game was just sloppy. An incapacitated enemy, after three
seconds, blinks and disappears - just like they did in the eighties! Much
of the game seems undone and glitchy.
The game does many of the interesting or heroic things for you. For example
you struggle to power-up a mechanical loading-dock magnet then climb a 100'
ladder to reach it. As you approach the screen fades and a cinema shows the
magnet being used to advance the story - once done the screen fades back and
you're standing where you were.
You need to reach a specific spot during a dramatic moment. As you approach
ready to leap/shot/sacrifice the screen fades out (often as you obviously
die or otherwise miss your goal as it fades out to slowly) and something
heroic happens without your help.
In the cut-scenes Kurtis (the other player character) uses a cool looking,
mentally controlled glaive-like weapon and psychic powers - but YOU never
do.
Control is sometimes solid, often flaky as all hell. It's also much more
complex than needed on the PS2: for example you need to (just like in the
first game) press a button to "walk" whereas every other game of this type
takes advantage of the analog stick (push lightly to walk, hard to run).
You need to press a button to "hop" instead of taking control of the
pressure sensitivity.
You'll find yourself saving A LOT because you'll find yourself dying A LOT
(and due to the horrible rag-doll physics you'll find yourself in completely
unrealistic death states). Many of the puzzles require EXACT timing and
control over and over again and often take many, many tries because you'll
caught by poor camera angles, slow down or a control glitch.
The game also goes to extremes in difficulty. There isn't a single enemy in
the game that should worry you: there are never more than three on screen
and they are universally to slow to threaten much. Many of the enemies
simply can't be killed and end up as slow-moving annoyances.
Circle strafe using your COPIOUS ammunition supply and you can pretty much
make it through the game without ever using health items. On the other hand
the jumping puzzles and traps are so difficult you'll die over and over and
over and over.
Many of the puzzles are made difficult because you're expected to remember
moves needed only once or twice in the game. For example you might die 20
times trying to get through a series laser markers only to find that
standing sideways jump is all that's needed.
The "commando crawl" (done by pressing "crouch" and "sneak") is needed only
in one place - but makes several other puzzles too easy. Sprinting is
learning later in the game but is really never needed. The much-touted
"upgrade" system where Lara gets stronger is just plain annoying (in every
case she announces "I'm not string enough" you can rest assured that with
10' is something to do that will make her strong enough).
The game also does some things that it just doesn't carry through on. For
example you can collect items early in the game to sell for money - but
quite early on you lose all chance to sell them and you NEVER get a chance
to use money in the game. There are a lot of weapons in the game, but no
need to ever use them unless they run out of ammo. You can "sneak" and take
out guards quietly (although it's very badly implemented - they NEVER see
you - even you're right on them and you can't touch them unless they stop
moving) but there's never impetus to do so.
All that being said the game does try some nice things. For the most part
Lara looks great (if a little cartoony) and the levels are well designed if
poorly populated (the 1000 year never-before opened tomb is littered with
modern ammunition and medical kits - but only two three immortal enemies -
as are crime scenes and the Louvre). The story moves along fairly well and
while it does involve madmen twisting the laws of nature for once they are
not Nazis (although actually they could have been... they all have Eastern
European accents and names like "Eckhardt").
Despite the REALLY annoying wall climbing controls (where you would often
get stuck not moving while your "grip" meter inches quickly towards death)
many of the climbing scenes are LOOK very good (once you get the knack of
figuring out what's climbable). Some of the levels, while frustrating as
all hell, are quite clever and attractive.
Lara's movement is glorious (although often agonizingly slow) and she's
quite versatile - it's just too bad she doesn't fit into the environments
better.
All told it's a tragically flawed game but not unplayable. Definitely rent
before you buy.
Jim Davis
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=5
Subscription:
http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?method=subscribe&forumid=5
Get the mailserver that powers this list at
http://www.coolfusion.com
Unsubscribe:
http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
