 Tomb
Raider: Chronicles is the fifth chapter of Eidos’ best-selling
adventure series starring Lara Croft.
With a movie coming this year, Eidos could not resist bringing
their star back for one more outing.
Ironic since Lara supposedly ‘died’ at the end of Tomb
Raider: The Last Revelation.
The
easiest way to describe Tomb
Raider: Chronicles is
more of the same with a few slight improvements.
Since Lara is missing at the start of the game, the plot
revolves around four acquaintances of Lara’s reminiscing about her
past adventures. There are a total of four mini-adventures that
subdivide the game into four respective chapters.
Since each story is short and varied from the others, the game
never gets tedious plot wise. In each chapter, Lara searches for some mystical object
in a unique location. These
include Rome, a Russian submarine, a haunted island, and a high-tech
office building.
The
graphics of the Dreamcast version are smooth and more polished than
the PlayStation version, although the characters still have blocky
features during in-game play. Environments
include the usual assortment of tunnels, ruins, man-made corridors,
and all kinds of hazards. Some
areas are again overly dark and confusing to negotiate, a problem that
has always plagued the series.
Sound
and music -- as in the past installments -- are scarce and serve
only to provide ambience rather than aesthetic purpose.
The best animation is reserved for the numerous movie sequences
between the levels of the game. The
voice acting is decent, having a British accent, and sound effects are
divided between weather, animals and human foes.
 Gameplay
is virtually identical to the past game's.
Lara must explore various ruins and other environments,
negotiate many hazards, and find a mystical artifact while being
hunted by evil adversaries. The
ability to walk on a tightrope is the only move added to this game.
Crawling, running, shimmying, swimming, jumping, climbing, and
shooting are all present and accounted for.
You get the same type of weapons and equipment.
The only real difference comes in the story settings that occur
in different time points of Lara’s life.
This means you get to adventure as a young Lara without guns!
This addition adds an element of stealth to the game that was
missing in the previous installments.
This game is also considerably easier than the earlier ones
having few really tough foes and plenty of chances to recover.
A save anywhere feature also helps make things a lot easier as
well.
For
me, the main draws of another Tomb Raider are the cool settings
and story elements. As
such, the divisions into short-story style succeeds in keeping the
player's interest more than the previous games which featured
unbelievable stories with drawn-out globetrotting which ultimately
never paid off. Here,
since each event takes place at one location and each location is
widely different from the other, I feel the game is more approachable
for those who are less than devout Tomb Raider fans.
Basically, if you liked the past games you will buy this one.
While not a huge overhaul to the series, it does continue
Lara’s legacy into the new millennium.
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