Tomb Raider: The Lost Artifact (Jewel Case)

Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT!
Review: Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness is one of my favorites. The plot is very interesting, the graphics are good (but kind of shakey, at least on my computer), and it's pretty cool to be able to play another character (although Lara is always the best). The environment is very dark and grimacing though, and I find that if I play the game to much, I get a little depressed. It's still one of the best, though, and an awesome addition to the Tomb Raider series.

Rating:
Summary: old tomb raider new game
Review: first off dont get me wrong i love this game but in most of the tomb raider games you get two pistols with infinite ammo you never get those guns in AOD that is the first thing the controls are way different than any other TR game and for two or three levels you play as a guy that really set me off the great thing about other TR games is its not like every othor steriotypical video game you play as a girl thats cool well i think if your gonna buy a TR game buy a game thats like 75 cents and is a classic iinstead of a $30$ game that is gonna ruin the series

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely awful controls! DO NOT BUY
Review: I am a huge fan of the Tomb Raider series, and have played all five other games on my PC. I love them. I was so excited to get this one, and sooooo disappointed with the quality. Glitchy glitchy glitchy. Do not buy this game. The controls are terrible. While all other 5 games play out smoothly, this one is slow, stalls, goes blank some times, and takes minutes to load to new chapters. Now I don't have a fancy schmancy computer, but I have been able to play all the other games on it just fine without any hitch. This is just crap. It makes me feel like I have to go buy a $2000 computer just to be able to play this $30 game! It probably runs better on a PS 2, so if you have one of those don't bother with the PC version. Thanks a lot Eidos, I totally wasted time and money and am warning future buyers to BEWARE!

Rating:
Summary: Pretty graphics, and that's it.
Review: I must admit, this is my first exposure to the Tomb Raider franchise. I know it is very popular and I was looking forward to it. Quite frankly, if things have been THIS bad all along, I'm not sure where the popularity comes from.

The scenery and graphics are pretty, and the camera GENERALLY does what it's supposed to. But the controls are absolutely terrible. There is no strafe (move left - move right) function; you can only turn and move either forward or backward, and there is no free-look. The mouse is practically useless. The control lag is UNBEARABLE. If you bring the character to a stop, it takes 2-3 seconds before you can get her moving again. Turning goes EVER so slowly. Jumping and maneuvering is SO bad that it's much more difficult just to get the character to move about than it is to play the game itself. Frustration ought to be in the task at hand IN THE GAME - not getting the controls to do what you want.

Even accounting for the fact that this game is 3 years old, compared to other games of THAT time, this game does not measure up in any way.

I realize that third-person games are difficult to do well, but this game is just plain bad. There are far too many games available - then and now, 1st and 3rd person, and of all different types - that combine great balance and control with great environments. As an avid gamer, I must strongly suggest against this game; don't waste your time or your money. Buy a pizza and get far more enjoyment out of it.

However, to be fair, I can't speak for the folks who are immersed in the Tomb Raider franchise. They may be inclined to look more forgivingly upon the atrociously bad controls and glitches in this game.

Rating:
Summary: Tomb Stinker - Eidos' Revenge
Review: Cutting edge technology does not a great game make. This game is proof.

The graphics are beautiful, which accounts for the extra star for the overall rating. If you are a Tomb Raider fan, you will absolutely hate this game, as I do. The controls, the plot, and the movements are maddening, boring and confusing, respectively. Eidos could plug Tomb Raider 1 into this engine and have a much more interesting game.

Maxim magazine gave this game 5 stars. A good reason to ignore Maxim's ratings.

Rating:
Summary: Fun. But not what it could so easily have been.
Review: The first thing I noticed about this game (compared to other Tomb Raiders) is the absence of a training level. Instead they've made the training part of the game story itself. You have to do certain physical tasks before you can procede. Nice idea, but completely implausible and irritating. I mean... come on, how many people do you know who can gain that much muscle strength in 10 seconds simply by pushing a box? The Lara moves are a bit on the stiff side. It's an ordeal trying to run from enemies in this game. Not that it matters much, there isn't many enemies in the game. It's more about puzzle solving than anything.
Other than that, the game itself plays brilliantly. There's a story here that was very well thought out. The levels, while limited in scope by their locations (Paris and Prague- Not the most exotic locations for a great adventure), are mapped out nicly and well detailed and actually look like the cities they're meant to be. The twist ending was good, if a bit too predictable- Kurtis isn't axactly a trustworthy looking character, is he? Thats another thing: Once I knew who Kurtis really was, it left me wondering why he was such a slow mover with so few acrobatic skills during gameplay. You'd think he'd able to kill that 'Proto' in a heartbeat. And why couldn't I use that Ninja-style disk to kill things?
But my biggest complaint is with the bugs. It seems rushed. They could have at least checked for missing textures before releasing the game on the market. Then there's the occasional walk through the walls problem. And an array of other problems that come up.
In short: Great idea, great levels, but badly executed.

Rating:
Summary: Tomb Climber returns!
Review: I don't know if it is just me, but did the reviewers of Angel of Darness play the same game I did? They spoke such blasphemous and awkward words such as "Best game,-EVER" "A+" "Better than the others". WTF? What I shall share with you now must be kept a secret from the other "amateurs" and those on this review site that have only played six games: Tombraider 1,2,3,4,5, and 6, - as to not offend them or hurt their feelings in any way. Let me tell you folks, this is one of the WORST games I have EVER played. The PC Gamer review of 54% didn't stop me. The millions of copies of Tomb Raider: Angel of darkness at your local Electronics Buttique for $4.99 - didn't give it away. I alone decided to defy the critics because the game was so indiscriminatly cheap and the box cover was so goodlook'n pretty; in essence I was determined to play the game quite simply because Tomb Raider 1 and 2 were two of the best games I had ever played in the past. But now, I want my five dollars back.
Looks can be deceiving. Tomb Raider is enriched with fantastic, impressive looking scenes that would make even the most hardened gamers gape in awe. Fire and Brimestone careen through the air and delve into the burning chasms below. Caves are dark and spooky - lighting, shadows, and special graphical effects have never been better. To anyone who has only played a few several games or is playing Angel of darness as their first Tomb Raider game, the interesting gameplay elements of the Tomb Raider series will certainly interest anyone - at first. Beyond the pretty pictures and the gameplay elements that made Tomb Raider popular, this game reeks of boredom, anger - which will conclude in the breaking of your beloved keyboard, and did I mention that all you ever do in this F#$king game is CLIMB? What ever happened to ya know - Raiding? Gone are the AI, the enemies, the purpose of actually playing a tomb raider game. There is about 100 enemies in this Entire 30 hours of excruciatingly long gameplay. It seems the creators thought the series had more than enough bad guys, so for every bad guy they left out of the game they included a surface to climb, mount, spin, traverse, jump and grab, pull, push, shove, and lean upon. It is true, you will climb and jumb upon one million surfaces in this damn game. Thats all there is to do. Ladders, crates, and barrels - the full enchilada. Shouldn't a game contain more? Lara herself, can't do what she used to. Instead of jumping around the place like a crazed monkey, she pauses every time she lands. Every time Lara takes off she starts with a walking prowl before she speeds up to a run - I hated this when an enemy was on my tail.
What happened to the reason a person plays a game in the first place: the gameplay? The fun? Not in this one guys. Oh and lets not forget how much times you will load a saved game if you do decide to play this shoddy game...Thousands. Lara goes through these "powerups" or leg enhancements that power up her jump. You will have to locate these powerups by pushing, jumping, or climbing on certain random unidentified surfaces before you can proceed. These powerups impede your process, and they are more of a hastle than a benefit. Every time Lara powers up her legs she can jump farther. Unfortunately for close jumps you have to account for the new powerups hence you will fly right over the surface you need to jump upon and into the conveniently located chasm on the other side. There are millions of chasms, might I add. And lets not forget the "consolizing" of the new series. Enemies disapear when you kill them. Ammo appears when your out. All 3 bosses need to be shot to pieces, but its kind of dumb when you run out of ammo and have to run over to the "ammo appearing centers" to continue your gameplay. Last but not least, the horrible monster toward the end, the prototype Boaz. You can only switch targets by pressing the roll key - give me a break: This boss and many other situations in this game highly aim toward the purchasing of the angel of darness guide, because many puzzle solutions and ideas are so ridiculous that the gameplayer will start second guessing what they are meant to do, because the puzzles and bosses are so poorly made. The final problem has to do with bugs. The game makers took a batch of bugs out of the oven and they are feeding us some of the worst bugs since the Tomb Raider: Chronicles. Luckily, after various loads and reboots, and bomb threats, it is possible to make it through the entire game.
Despite my disappointment of this sorry game, I did have some fun "looking" at the game, and the first half of the game is better than the second, because the story helps. But quite frankly no one really wants to be playing this game, they do it because they have loved the Tomb Raider series ever since it started in 95 and they can't let the memory go. But the original makers moved on a long time ago. And after the last four shoddy titles of the series (especially this one) I will never play another Tomb Raider AGAIN. So if you choose to overlook this review and many others, I wish you the best of luck enjoying the "The worst attempt at yet another sequel". Maybe game developers should be playing games like these instead of good examples such as half-life, deus ex, starcraft, and the original Tomb Raider, in an effort to identify and grasp exactly what it is that gamers do not enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: No Game Play Problems On My Machine
Review: Game A+ On Sound Track
A+ On Graphics
A+ On Story Line

I haven't had any of the problems that other's have reported like Slow-mo Lara, Audio drop out, Lara Falling out of the game World. To sum it up Tomb Raider AOD is a Best-Buy

Rating:
Summary: Don't bother
Review: This game was nothing but glitchy on my PC. I have no problem with a dozen or so other games from other companies (including Deus Ex 2, also from Eidos), but this one is a turkey. It's glitchy, the controls are too clunky, and whenever I exited the game my PC restarted. The built-in EAX support didn't work with my Sound Blaster Audigy 2 (which uses the EAX 4 drivers), I had to install the EAX 3 drivers that came with the game, which was essentially a downgrade for me.

On the other hand, this game looks great and when the sound worked it was terrific. The story is pretty cool, and I was looking forward to see how it played out. The cutscenes were good, and I felt like it was as much an interactive movie as it was a game.

Unfortunately, I couldn't take the bugginess, so I didn't finish the game. Avoid this one and spend your money on one of the earlier Tomb Raider titles.

Rating:
Summary: Best Tomb Raider ever!
Review: When I first got this game I was disapointed. Both with the grafics and the game play. But I got a new grafics card and it looked amazing! I had no idea that a small update would make it look so good! And the controls are confusing at first, but within an hour they're almost second nature. The story is very involving, and the characters are cool. The enimy in this TR is a perfect villian! The levels are well detailed, and I only got stuck twice in the game through the whole time I played it. But I was able to get past those hard spots in the levels.
The music is awesome in this game, it even has a sound track!
This, the first tomb Raider (Classic) and the fourth tomb raider are the best. But TR6 is probibly THE best tomb raider ever! It's very fun! The grafics reminded me of Enter The Matrix, but the cutsceens in tomb raider are much better. And some levels reminded me a bit of Resident Evil. I think that any fan and non-Tomb raider fan, should get this game!!! It's awesome!!!! :D

There are ups and downs to this game. You decide:

Glitchs/bugs that you'll find: If you don't find bugs in games a problem then you'll be able to play this game and be happy with it. If bugs bother you alot avoid this game.
Diffrent computers will handle this game in diffrent ways. You'll probibly get at least one or more of the following when you play:

-Some times you fall through the world, this mainly happens in Paris.
-when you turn around really quick or get too close to the camera you'll see a flash of the inside of Lara's head (Or if your playing Kurtis the same thing will happen).
- When in Prague sometimes Lara's leg or hips will strech and dissapear in some angles. This only happens a few times.
- As Kurtis you have one gun, but when you punch sometimes his glave will flash into his hands for about 2 seconds. But you can never use it.
- The sound effect for the shot gun won't work. (Patch will fix this)
- The FMV's disapears.

Frusterating things:
-You have to have goofy power ups. Basicly Lara is not strong enough to do much anything, so she'll move a box and say her chessy one liner "I feel stronger now". After that she can open a door or something.
-Some area's are hard to get past, like trying to take the painting out of a statues's hand while being attacked endlessly. It took me 5 hours to get past that and I've only gotten it to work once.
-Another chessy thing is that you often have to fight two bosses in a row. Boaz mutant 2 and then right after that Boaz mutant 3. And the dumb thing about that is you're character get's stabed and you just leave him there and got back to Lara. Fighting two more bosses in a row happens again at the end of TR6 too.

The really cool things:
-The story line is involving and you get sucked into it and want to find out more.
- The lip sync is perfect.
- It can be emotionaly grabing at times, very cinimatic. It's like playing a movie!
-The motion it great, some games they don't look right when they walk. This game has great motion.
-Characters are good, Lara and Kurtis are the main two, and the bad guys a really evil and you want to defeat them.
- The textures and the whole world you play in looks beyond awesome. Great lighting too.
- Good gameplay and fun.