Flashback 04.17.07: Tomb Raider 2

Posted by Steve McHugh on 04.17.2007

Should be buried.

As promised last time this week's column will be taking a look at the second in a very long line of Tomb Raider games.

Tomb Raider 2 was released in 1997 and was the obvious sequel to the excellent Tomb Raider. However, this sequel was only available on the PS1. Core said it was because the Sega Saturn couldn't manage the water effects in the game that would be needed, which was utter crap. Basically, they were either offered a huge sum of money by Sony to make it exclusive or they couldn't be bothered to do a Saturn version. Whatever it actual reason it worked out very well for Sony as this sold in huge numbers.

Also, the game was given pretty good scores at the time with the main problems of the original (awful save system) having been apparently resolved. However, some were less then impressed with the new, more action-centric, approach to the game.

Personally I loved the original TR and found the Sega Saturn version to actually be the better of the two. It was something original and fresh and really showed how a whole new way of doing the old action adventure games could be achieved. Unfortunately the rest of the TR games went downhill one after the other until it reached the utterly dreadful Angel of Darkness. Then the license changed hands and the superb Legends was born which is the 2nd best TR game ever made (after the original)

Story wise this game is somewhat more interesting then the first one as it's about an ancient artifact that rests in the Great Wall of China called Dagger of Xian. Legend has it that those who drive the dagger into their heart acquire the power of the dragon.

In ancient China, the Emperor held this power, and with his army alongside him, he was invincible. He staked claim of China, however his final battle ended in defeat. The warrior monks of Tibet fought against his will and succeeded in removing the dagger from the Emperor's heart, reducing him and his army to carnage. The Dagger was then returned to its resting place within the Great Wall and locked up for all time.

Now Lara and two other parties covet this dagger, all for different reasons.

Unfortunately the story takes a back seat for most of the game, which is a shame as its pretty good.


Graphics

Well some games just don't age very well and this is one of them. Everything looks very blocky and the movement of many of the enemies is not only awkward but in some cases almost a physical impossibility. Lara's animation is pretty nice though and if you ignore that her face looks like it was hit with a truck she still looks reasonable. The environments all look pretty good although after a while everything does start to look the same, especially the oil rig levels which just seem to have the same parts re-used over and over. Also some of the animation doesn't match what is meant to be happening. This is especially true when opening doors as it looks like Lara is miles away from the thing she's meant to be doing.

6.2



This level seems to last for years and never looks any different.


Gameplay

Hateful, evil little bastard of a game. In case that sentence didn't get it across I hate this game. The problem is that inch perfect jumps are a thing of the past and that's where they should stay, but to be fair I hated this game when it was first released for that reason anyway. Also the game will just kill you at random intervals making it more about a trial and error game then one of skill. Dying because you're not good enough is fair, dying because you didn't see the fact the floor will give way even though it looks the same as the other parts of floor is not. It's stupid and annoying and gets in the way of actually enjoying yourself.

So what else is wrong? Well this game relies too much on the action aspects of TR and unfortunately that was the weakest aspect of the first game and it's still crappy here. All you need to do it the back-jump shoot tactic and then you'll kill everything. Except when the game doesn't want you to do this and doesn't respond or when it forces you into a corner and then that's it, you're screwed. Be prepared to lose a lot of health. This is a regular problem, especially the unresponsive controls which will more often than not be the cause of you failing a jump or getting away from a trap. When I push up and jump to jump forward I expect to, shockingly, actually jump forward not sort of hop in place.

Oh and there are enemies that you WON'T BE ABLE TO SEE, but they can kill you anyway. Genius piece of programming there guys.

Then there's the save system. Okay admittedly Core got this bit mostly right. The first game's save system was a pain and caused much frustration as you had to re-do huge bits if you died. This time you can save anywhere at anytime and whilst in theory that makes the game easier it actually doesn't at all. When used right it's a great system, but the actual act of saving seems to depend on whether the game likes you or not. At some parts of the game you can save the game, the game will even say it's been saved, but if you die it's back to the beginning of the level. This only really happened during the oil rig's diving platform level but it's probably one of the dumbest bugs I have ever encountered in a game. Surely the developers realized that one huge aspect of the game just occasionally didn't work.

So the controls are shot, the save system is hit and miss and the fighting is woeful. "There's always the puzzles right?" I hear you cry. Well sort of. The first game was all about the puzzles and whilst the game does have them they're in short supply. Most puzzles are run here pick up key, run here insert key, repeat until feeling of death embraces you. When the puzzles are implemented they're done pretty well but they don't happen enough.

The other nice part is the use of vehicles, a first in the series, and it's implemented pretty well. They're all quite user friendly and all handle reasonably well. Unless you start going fast, then you're pretty much guaranteed to die.

That seems to sum up the whole game. It's like developers said ‘Well we've added a save anywhere system to help people so lets make its really easy to die for no apparent reason.' How this game ever got good marks is beyond me.

3.7


Sound

The sound is all pretty good alongside the decent music and voice acting, which both add to the package and help the atmosphere nicely. Some of the voices are annoying but mostly they're all done reasonably well. Especially for a PS1 game.

7.5


Lasting Appeal

Well if you manage to get through everything then about 10 hours. However add about 10 hours more on that just because of the amount of stuff you'll have to repeat when you die. I like longer games that give you value for money but not when it's only longer because of how unfair the gameplay is.

6.1



It looks like Lara had an accident with a wood plane.


Fun Factor

Well sadomachism aside the game is actually pretty addictive. It's that pride issue of ‘I know I can do this so I must' sort of thing that pushes you to continue. I can't say I had much fun playing it though I just didn't want to get beaten by this game. If you like being punished for no reason and to an unfair degree then this is probably the game for you. The main problem is that all of the charm from the original game is gone. Those levels with the dinosaurs in the first game were, and still are, amazing but there's nothing like that in this game.

4


The 411

Well it's awful. Almost every aspect of the gameplay is woeful but despite that it can be quite addictive to play which is a very strange experience. Should you buy this game? Oh my word no. It's been outclassed by pretty much every other game of the kind since. In fact, go buy Soul Reaver instead as that shows this up for the dreadful piece of rubbish it actually is.

4.5


Feedback

Well I'm glad that's over. Before I finish for the week it's time to go through everything else that needs to be discussed.

Firstly to everyone who e-mailed me, and Theo who mentioned it in his Nintendophile column, about my views on Spider-man 3 for the PS3/360 and Wii. I think the 360 and PS3 versions should be excellent, especially if the go fetch quests have been toned down and the fighting engine much improved (which seems to be the case). Also from what I hear there's a whole bunch of different stories you can go through so that should make the game much more varied then the last one. The Wii version, however, is kinda interesting. Where the other 2 versions have a whole city mapped the Wii won't have anywhere near as much space to play in. However the controls sound quite nice and if you can indeed swing with the Wiimote then it could be something pretty special. The Wii version is definitely something people should keep an eye on.

Other stuff


- Just a quick mention to congratulate Liverpool for getting into the Semi-Finals of the Champions League. Liverpool Vs Chelsea should be good and if I get my way it'll be Liverpool in the final and then winning the cup. Also a special mention goes to Man U who beat Roma 7-1 in a superb thrashing. I dislike Man U as much as any other football fan who doesn't support them but it's always nice to see any English team giving the Italians (or any European team) a bloody good kicking. I don't want them to win overall but a Man U Vs Liverpool final should be a damn fine game.


- Also Southampton: come on sort it out. You were in with an easy playoff place and then you screwed up. Then you started playing well again and now you've lost another game. Just get it together, if you manage to get up into the premiership that means I can stop listening to everyone bitching and moaning about you not being there now. So for my own sanity play better.


- Have now seen 300 and it's fantastic .It's not good enough to take be the best film I've seen this year (Hot Fuzz wins that) but it's a close second. Spider-man has a lot to live up to now.


- Guitar Hero 2 for the 360 is wonderful. Everyone with a 360 needs to own this game. In fact if you don't own a 360 then go buy one so you can play this. Those people who say the 360 X-polorer is worse then the PS2 controller obviously have no idea what they're talking about. But on a serious point where the hell is my AC/DC stuff to play?


- Speaking of AC/DC I recently got a copy of their 2 disk live album called Live. If you are any sort of fan of AC/DC or rock music you need this album. It about 10 years old now but it's one of the best live performances I've ever heard. Certainly up there with great live albums from bands like Foo Fighters, Zeppelin and Black Crowes (with Jimmy Page) that I've heard.



Well that's it for this week. Any thoughts, opinions etc then let me know. Until next time.