Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness

When the original Tomb Raider hit the scene seven years ago, legions of geeky, pubescent teens found a new poster girl in Lara Croft. Lara had it all: brains, beauty, and blazing pistols. However, the years were less than kind to Lara. Her gameplay grew more and more stagnant and repetitive, and people grew increasingly disappointed with each Tomb Raider title that came out. Then, the powers that be (read: Eidos and Core) felt that Lara needed a serious overhaul. They went back to the drawing board, and began to reconsider the direction the series was going. They threw out various influences for the new title, hinting at titles like Shenmue and Metal Gear Solid. They promised a newer, darker Lara, with a look and atmosphere more akin to survival horror than tomb raiding. Many gamers took note at these announcements, and looked forward to the series’ new feel. And finally, after countless delays, the new Tomb Raider is finally here. However, is it worth the hype? Is this new Tomb Raider the shot in the arm that the series sorely needed? Well, I’ll say this: it’s certainly different. However, in too many ways, this addition to the series feels far too rushed and incomplete and the final result will undoubtedly end up disappointing many gamers.

Angel of Darkness brings Lara to Paris. Lara is a fugitive on the run from Parisian authorities for the murder of her former mentor. If that wasn’t bad enough, the murder occurred in such a blur that she doesn’t know if she actually committed the murder or if she was framed. Therefore, she embarks on a quest to uncover the clues to her mentor’s murder. Along her journey, she runs into a secret organization bent on world domination and some mysterious paintings...

Core and Eidos promised that the game would have a much darker feeling than any other Tomb Raider title, and they delivered. The story elements and visual style of the game are darker than any title in the series. They also promised to completely revamp the controls of the game as well, and to their defense, Lara does have more moves now than she ever had. She can now move stealthily, clinging to walls to get the drop on unsuspecting enemies. Unfortunately, the controls are incredibly sluggish and slow, and annoying, precise jumping puzzles are still quite plentiful. The keyboard controls follow pretty much the same layout they always have. Lara turns very slowly, and takes a second to start running in one direction, which can be very irritating. Lara also must navigate across very narrow platforms quite often, and many a time will fall screaming to her death unless the walk button is pressed.

The developers promised that the game would be a huge departure from previous installments, stating that the classic tomb raiding formula of solving puzzles and fighting wolves and bears would give way to less linear gameplay with emphasis on stealth. However, while these elements can be found within the game, they feel incomplete. Case in point: the stealth emphasis. True, Lara can hug walls, take down unsuspecting baddies, yadda yadda. But, that’s pretty much as far as the stealth aspect goes. The AI is extremely poor as each enemy follows a predictable pattern of attack, namely they run at you firing away blindly. The nonlinear gameplay shows up in the form of dialogue with other people as you try to get help in discovering what has happened. While what you say can affect the way those people deal with you, it doesn’t really change the outcome of the game or the path Lara takes throughout the game, thus making it quite linear.

In later stages of the game, you can play as Kurtis Trent, a new playable character with mysterious psychic abilities. While it is kind of neat to play as a different character in a Tomb Raider game, his section just feels like a rip-off of Resident Evil or Silent Hill, only without the creepy/spooky charm.

While the gameplay is pretty unfortunate, the graphics aren’t. Lara looks better than ever, with new, cleaner animations and smoother, uh, edges. The game features some very good facial animations in the dialogue cutscenes. The environments are also very well detailed, with loads of dark atmospheric tones and bump-mapped textures and lighting effects. There are, however, a few instances of clipping and a lack of polish in some spots. All things considered, though, The Angel of Darkness is a good-looking game.

The sound is not too shabby, either. The voice acting is nicely done, and certain environmental sound effects, like dripping water echoing in a sewer or the buzz of a florescent light overhead are superb. The haunting music is also great, and helps add to Lara’s darker, edgier feeling.

Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness (along with Enter the Matrix) is just another example of a summer blockbuster game that could’ve been great given a bit more time. However, as it stands, The Angel of Darkness is just another rushed, unpolished game that’s been way too hyped and will undoubtedly disappoint anyone looking for a rebirth in the Tomb Raider series.

Gameplay: 5.5
Most of the new gameplay elements the developers had announced are here, albeit in very incomplete form. The controls are downright awful, the AI is extremely dumb, and the game is very linear. While a good concept, the new playable character, Kurtis Trent, treads an all too familiar path and his section ends up being another poor Resident Evil knock-off.

Graphics: 8.0
With brand new textures, models and animations, Lara looks better now than she ever has. The environments exude tons of dark atmosphere and the game features some pretty impressive lighting and shadow effects. There are a few instances of clipping, however, and some unpolished sore spots.

Sound: 8.5
The sound in The Angel of Darkness is very good. The music is haunting and melodic, featuring the London Symphony Orchestra providing the score. The voice acting is nicely done, and the environmental sound effects are superb.

Difficulty: Medium/Hard
The game is quite short, and the insipid AI can be easily defeated. However, most gamers will spend most of the time wrestling with nasty controls more than anything.

Concept: 7.0
It certainly was noble of the developers to attempt to breathe new life into the waning Tomb Raider franchise, but most of the new gameplay elements fell way too short.

Overall: 6.5
Lara Croft was in desperate need of an overhaul before The Angel of Darkness and now, well, she still needs one. The gameplay fails on so many different levels, and that’s a shame given how good the other elements are in the game. If only Core and Eidos had taken the time to delay Lara’s new adventure one more time, then maybe, just maybe, it could’ve been what she (and we) needed.