Tomb Raider: Chronicles (Mac)

by Aspyr

Product Features

• Each memory provides a new adventure, taking you from a high-tech city, to the ruins of Rome, to a German U-Boat and more
• Utilize new nimble moves, like tightrope walking, parallel bar swinging and a hand-to-hand stealth attack
• New weapons, including a grappling hook gun, sniper rifle, and chloroform, have been added to Lara's arsenal
• Create your own adventures for Lara, with the Tomb Raider level editor, including a tutorial plus all required tools
• Requires CD-ROM drive, Mac OS 8.6 or later, Open GL 3D Hardware Acceleration Required (Rage Pro, Rage 128 or better); 350MHz G3 or later, at least 32MB RAM (64MB recommended)

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B00005K2QU
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: November 1, 2001
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #30,303 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #21 in Video Games > Mac Games > Action > Shooter

Product Description

ASPYR delivers Tomb Raider Chronicles for iMac and Macintosh G-Series computers and exciting adventure builds to new highs. After the memorial service of Lara Croft, her friends gather at Croft castle to reminisce about her past exploits, providing new adventures.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars doesnt measure up to past trs, November 1, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Tomb Raider: Chronicles (Mac) (CD-ROM)

tomb raiders are among my favorites, combining the best mixture of shooter and puzzle games. generally, they are satisfyingly challenging, and the "engine" is still the best there is. no other games i have done have such natural running, jumping, and swimming. also, mac versions are better than windows. for example, the windows trilogy, in tr I, has lara a bunch of speckles rather than a well defined figure.

all this does tr 5 little good. it is made of four different segments of 3 or 4 levels each, with each segment comprising a different unrelated story. these segments are like rejects from past potential levels, as if they were tv pilots that didnt make it into series. for example, "rome" is reminiscent of "venice", but without the charm or inspiration. the sinking sub is like the maria doria levels. the irish island section is admittedly spooky, but, annoyingly, the action keeps being taken over by cut scenes. also, it is more implausible than dinosaurs and atlantean monsters. the last levels, von croys headquarters, are hard, but nothing else. they are deus ex like, but without the mission choices, the stealth, and the sense of purpose. also there are bugs. tr 5 is the only one i couldnt get through without cheating, but it turned out that when i became stuck, the problem was related to saving bugs. i wonder whether this was done on purpose to make the game harder. medkits are rare and there is an impossible shooting range. however, none of this lends to the appeal of the game, as these levels are pedestrian and have none of the attraction of the nevada levels. the level editor seems too complicated to be useful; i doubt many people edit levels.

in summary, this game is typically tomb raider, but without the inspired levels of the past. no hidden valley, no barkhang monastery, no madubu gorge, no train. i would buy the other trs first, and only buy 5 to have the complete set. i hope #6 reverts back to the style of the the first four.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Big Disappointment, September 20, 2008

By 

V. Goins "Zombieland Rule #2 - Double Tap" (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:1.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Tomb Raider: Chronicles (Mac) (CD-ROM)

I bought this game shortly after buying my MacBook and was very disappointed to find out that the game does not work on Mac OSX. And since the new MacBook no longer supports classic mode, this game is useless. Make sure you read the fine print to ensure this game is compatible with your system before you buy.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Building Block, if Nothing Else, January 8, 2006

By 

Jesse (Connecticut, USA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Tomb Raider: Chronicles (Mac) (CD-ROM)

The last Tomb Raider to use the "tiled world" engine, Tomb Raider Chronicles gives out 4 short adventures for you to experience. It also includes a CD with the Tomb Raider Level Editor, which lets you build your own tiled worlds with the Tomb Raider Last Revelation game engine.

First, the game itself. There are 4 storys, each with about three levels. The level design I thought was enjoyable, with new experiences, such as a giant bell for you to shoot to open doors, or a flock of bats shredding away at your health bar, or sneaking up behind a guard and choking him. You can also press the jump key when crouched at the end of a crawlspace to flip off the ledge - so you don't have to turn around. As usual you get that fresh Tomb Raiding feeling.

However, in this particular game the feeling leaves quickly. This is due (in part, at least) to the lack of continuity. After a story you loose ALL of your items and are given new ones for the next set. Say good-bye to that Uzi that you had JUST found in the previous level. The level designers should not have saved weapons for the last of their levels (there was one designer for each story) because you barely have any enemies to use them on before you loose the weapon! Unless they did not know about the whole "reseting the inventory" thing. Either way it was a bad decision to reset the inventory.

To add to this, you loose your weapons in the second level of the second story (because Lara gets her guns taken from her), the third story does not have any weapons at all (you're young lara), and the fourth story only has the HK Gun. So you don't get to have much fun with the variety of weapons.

And once you get to the end of the 13 levels, you feel that it was too short. Of course, you can always go back and try to find all 36 secrets to get to the bonus features in the options menu. Those bonus features I feel are the only other good thing going for this game besides the new experience, and perhaps some of the cutscenes. However, it could be used for inspiration for the Level Editor (more on that later).

The real deal of this package to me is the Level Editor. Core provided all the files "as is" and does not support them, but there are plenty of people on the internet who provide help, and are coming up with new ways to make the editor more flexible. Of course you need to know how to use the editor first. There is a tutorial provided in the manual to get you used to the many features of the editor. Once you're familiar with how the editor works you can start making Tomb Raider...the way you want it to be.

Even though the editor uses the TR: Last Revelation game engine, Tomb Raider Chronicles can be used as a sort of inspiration for your level series. For example it is possible (with the help of unofficial tools) to have Lara swing on parallel bars in your level, or have her tightwalk on ropes or poles. There is even a way for Lara to foward flip out of crawlspaces in the TR4 game engine (I discovered that myself). You just need to improvise a little. And of course you can create your own animations and/or objects, and you can create your own outfits for Lara or download some from the internet.

So basically the editor provided lets you structure and run your own worlds, and unofficial tools provided online let you make it your unique creation.

In this fashion Tomb Raider Chronicles, while not so great of a TR game itself, serves as a new source of inspiration for adventures created by Tomb Raider fans, and I like it just for being inspirational, if nothing else.