Tomb Raider: Chronicles

by Eidos Interactive

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00004U1R6
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: November 20, 2000
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,225 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Four newly discovered and previously untold adventures are revealed when the closest friends of the missing Lara Croft gather in her honor. As they reminisce about her past exploits, they learn new details about her life, as well as the lives of characters from her past adventures. Lara journeys from the ruins of Rome to the bowels of a German U-boat to the rooftops of a high-tech city in search of four ancient artifacts. The game uses the same graphics engine that was used in Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, but introduces new moves: tightrope walking, parallel-bar swinging, and a hand-to-hand stealth attack. An enhanced inventory system allows for greater combinations of a variety of weapons and items. Create your own adventure with the Tomb Raider level editor, which includes a tutorial level and all of the tools that are required to construct custom levels.

Amazon.co.uk

Lara Croft, that cultural icon, cover girl, and scourge of wildlife everywhere, was last seen buried beneath an Egyptian pyramid at the end of Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation. Despite this apparent demise, Lara returns in Tomb Raider: Chronicles, an adventure that features previously unseen episodes from her career. Old friends of Lara who have gathered for her funeral and to swap stories about her exploits introduce the episodes.

The first level is set in Rome, and is classic Lara: plenty of jumping and puzzle solving, with a minimum of gunplay. It's reminiscent of the very first Tomb Raider--it even features the comedy bad guys Pierre and Larson from that game. This chapter also serves as an introduction to Lara's various moves, and is a real nostalgia-fest for longtime fans.

The other chapters have distinct themes: on a spooky deserted island, an unarmed teenage Lara must get through by wits alone; an action-packed level takes place on a submarine; and, most intriguing of all, Lara infiltrates a high-tech building and utilizes various stealth techniques. This is very Metal Gear Solid-esque, and possibly indicates the direction that the series will take in the future. (Lara's not really dead? Now, there's a surprise.)

Unfortunately, the difficult control system remains, and the graphics have been given only a slight polish. An array of customary new moves have been added--this time, Lara can use a tightrope, for example--but these essentially are cosmetic. The gameplay overall hasn't evolved much, but, thankfully the puzzles are less obscure this time around, and the tightly designed levels cut down on the aimless wandering that was common in the middle games of the series.

Tomb Raider fans will be very happy with what probably is the most purely enjoyable game since the series' first. Lara-phobes will take more convincing, but all of the hype that surrounds her shouldn't obscure the fact that the divine Ms. Croft hasn't appeared in a bad game yet, and Tomb Raider: Chronicles is no exception. --Michael Bartley

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An overall fun, if flawed game, January 8, 2001

By 

Christopher L. Canfield - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tomb Raider: Chronicles (Video Game)

Longtime gamers remember Tomb Raider for a few things: blocky levels, millions of switches, and that feeling of being really, really lost. In their latest and last playstation resurrection of the series, Eidos addresses many of the gamers' complaints. While far from perfect, Tomb Raider Chronicles offers up a varied 20+ hours of mostly switch-free game play.

Chronicles shines in many areas. The first thing that most people will notice is that Chronicles looks and sounds extremely good. After three or four revisions to the game engine one would expect a nicely immersive environment. And while the ambiance in Chronicles would benefit greatly from more music, the segways that are present really heighten the mood.

The good graphical engine used in Chronicles is complimented by good characterizations and a nice variety in levels. Every two or three hours, when you have completed three more levels, you are taken to another time in Lara's life, another set of missions, another set of objectives, and different dangers. This variety is a welcome change of pace for a Tomb Raider game, hardly ever slipping into that feeling of "been there, done that" which the series is known for. One scene Lara is avoiding a crane arm on a nuclear submarine, the next she is a little girl swinging over gaping chasms on a deserted island. And while Chronicles lacks an overarching plot, the variety of game play situations this type of narrative allows as well as good short storytelling and characterizations will more than keep any jaded gamer's attention span.

Unfortunately despite all the polishing Eidos has put into Chronicles, it's luster is greatly tarnished by a few extremely frustrating problems. For one, the camera seems to love Lara's high-rex, mit-mapped face. This can be troublesome when you are trying to see the jump in front of you. Anytime she faces away from a wall, or walks into a tight corridor, expect to keep tapping the camera button to see anything. After so many years, they should have it right. Furthermore, the player never feels like he or she actually is Lara. Thanks to some overly precise controls, she can turn slowly, jump only at designated steps, etc. This worked perfectly in the old Tomb Raiders, which were all about careful jumping. But Chronicles isn't, and her tremendous turning radius and her extremely slow sidestepping make the experience feel like driving a school bus.

But the most frustrating part of the game is how difficult it is to interact with objects. I can't tell you how many hours I've lost because the manhole I had to crawl down or the handle I had to yank off didn't respond to repeated button presses. I figured it was just background and moved on. Hours of aimless wandering later, the strategy guide would tell me to go back and do the exact thing that I had already tried to do. This one flaw takes a huge bite out of any overall enjoyment of the game that one might derive. Knowing full well that I had to steal a coin from an underwater demon, and having plenty of time to swim to it, it still took nearly ten tries to actually be able to pick it up. If I didn't know that was the objective, I would have dismissed it as background and moved on.

Despite its flaws, Tomb Raider Chronicles manages to be an overall fun, if frustrating, experience. Hopefully the next generation of systems will give Eidos the power to do something truly unique with Lara, and solve all of the control issues. In the interim, Chronicles is the best Tomb Raider has to offer, and by now you should know what that means.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The best and worst of Lara, February 6, 2001

By 

Nico Taudarian (England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tomb Raider: Chronicles (Video Game)

The 5th instalment of Lara Croft's adventures, this game unfortunately has both the best and the worst of the entire series.

Essentially a stop-gap to keep up public interest before Lara's rebirth on the Playstation 2 the game is a series of vignettes from Lara's previous career. The graphics are as impressive as in The Last Revelation and Lara is as smoothly animated as ever, picking up the by now obligatory new trick, in this case tightrope-walking.

The first episode is set in Rome against two old rivals. It incorporates the training level into the first level which threw me at first and also one of the secrets is hidden in the training level. Long-time Tomb Raiders will find the Rome levels absurdly easy, easier than the first Tomb Raider that was released.

The second episode, set in a Russian submarine base and then onboard a submarine is about average in difficulty for the series. It features the return of the one of the best TR weapons - the Desert Eagle pistol - but then cruelly takes it off Lara before she gets to do much with it (boo !).

The third epsiode is from Lara's youth and is set on a haunted island on Ireland. I found this ridiculously hard and frustrating. The graphics are dark and hard to make out, the colours lurid. The storyline is a patchy affair which revolves around releasing a 19th century Russian Cossack who has been trapped for seven centuries (how does that work ?). The tasks are annoyingly difficult and to add insult to injury you have to do all three levels unarmed. (Bad Eidos ! Naughty Eidos ! Go to your room !).

The fourth episode is easily the best. Lara goes all Entrapment-like to pilfer an artifact from the office block of her former mentor Von Croy. This is loads of fun with the added bonus that Lara gets to blast away happily with the return of the sublime MP5 from TRIII which, whilst the only weapon she has, can be locked onto single-shot sniper mode, three round burst and full auto (when you absolutely, positively just have to kill every *&%^*@~#*% in the room). More of this please Eidos if you're listening.

Until the release of Lara: The Next Generation, Lara fans will have to make do with the forthcoming movie starring Angelina Jolie. Looks good from the trailer.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Game!!, November 30, 2000

By 

"danbraasch" (Seattle, Wa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tomb Raider: Chronicles (Video Game)

Tomb Raider Chronicals is a very fun game!! I starts off where the preceding one ended. There are 4 new adventures that take you from the rooftops of a high tech city to the bowels of a German U-boat. Lara has new weapons as well as new moves. She also has some new outfits. Her new weapons are th e grappling hook gun, sniper rifle, and choroform. Her new moves are tightrope walking, parallel bar swinging, and a hand-to-hand stealth attack. The inventory systen is enhanced for greater

combinations of weapons and accessories.

You now can search through files, drawers, and shelves for useful inventory items. You will be 16 year old Lara as well as adult Lara. Tomb Raider has always been known for the 100% freeness of movment. I'm sure you will love Tomb Raider Chronicals if you are new to Tomb Raiding or a old fan. It is full of strategy and adventure and there are many puzzles to solve. If you are an old fan of Tomb Raider then you will love this edition. There is now a added challenge. You can search for hidden roses which will open special features in the menu.

The movie begins with a scene of Lara's grave. No one is sure if Lara has died or not and they are waiting for word from Von Croy. Then Winston and some friends and family return to Lara's mansion to talk about all of Lara's past adventure. They are discussing Lara's deathe. You can see the emotions on their faces and feel their sadness and dispair. Then you take it from there. As you start the game there will be another movie where Lara is making a deal on a artifact she has found. The person that she made the deal with pulls a gun on her. She narrowly escapes. She looks like a James Bond girl. The graphics are very good and the people almost look real. Everyth ing looks so very life-like.

Lara has never been very quite, but this Lara is even more dynamic then ever. She can now walk the tight-rope and now if Lara is not seen by the bad guys or heard by them they will not attack her. Before the bad guys would just come out at her even if they didn't see her. There's a level editor wich will enable you to edit the levels the way you want them.

Tomb Raider 1 was one of the most influential games ever created and undoubtedly this will be as well.