Customer Reviews

Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

This game may seem more difficult at first. However, once you learn the new moves and game logic the game becomes much more rewarding. The graphics are very good, the plot is better than previous titles and the game pace moves along comfortably once you learn the system. This game is the equal of any of the best exploration adventure games on the market.

I agree, the first 30 minutes of the game is rather tough, but that is just becuase some of her moves are new and the play isn't all about pushing and pulling objects...you have to think this time out. I have finished the first 3 and I think this one is the best since the first...all except for it's lighting. You will prolly have to turn the bright level on your tv up, unless you want to walk around with Flares all day. This game was a must buy for me and I am enjoying every penny of it. It has grabbed my attention away from resident evil:3...so you know its good!

Did I mention that you get to play as a teenage Lora? Just that open sequence is worth the money!

OK, so I'm a longtime Tomb Raider fan, so my opinions may be a bit biased, but this is the *best* Tomb Raider game since the original. I generally liked all the sequels, but TR 2 seemed way too difficult and frustrating in some sections, while #3 was rather disjointed in all the globe-trotting Lara had to endure. Last Revelation, however, is a true gem. The gorgeous and plentiful FMV CGI sequences give the game a cohesive and compelling storyline that was lacking in TR 3. The puzzles are clever and inventive, and certainly solvable with a modicum of thought employed on the part of the player. This isn't a brain-dead "run and shoot" Quake-type game. Some complain it's too dark.. well, of course it's dark in spots! She's in ruins and tombs! Light a flare or torch for heaven's sake! The flares certainly are plentiful.

That being said, the game isn't perfect. I wish Eidos/Core spent more time working out some frustrating bugs, such as when she swims she sometimes gets "stuck" in spots, as if there's an invisible wall blocking her way. There's a patch for some of the more prominent bugs, but this swimming one remains. Second, some of the sound in the FMV sequences is too soft. However, it's still a *great* game. I highly recommend it. :) I hope they do as well with Tomb Raider 5.

First off I would like to say that I have been a fan of Tomb Raider since the beginning and have bought all the series of games. My only problem with the series was the desire of the designers to make the game absolutely impossible to complete without the requirement of buying a cheat book. I thought that with this TR4 that the designers were attempting to fix this and make the game FUN and not just plain IMPOSSIBLE to beat. Well I was WRONG! This game is absolutely impossible to defeat without a Cheat Guide. Don't even think about buying this game unless you also want to just go ahead and buy the guide. Therefore I do not recommend this game.

My only advice for all you so-so gamers out there, is to SAVE ALOT! You don't have to BUY a hint book, there's free walkthroughs available on the Net. I liked this game, the graphics are decent, the movies are cool, and overall it's kind of scary...the only thing is that.. it is, really really HARD to play and HARD to beat. At times, you just want to kick the computer and say "you [bleep bleep] piece of [bleep]...make her go this way! " You keep on running into walls, or jump the wrong way...its frustrating... Well...Tomb Raider: Last Revelation was alot better than Tomb Raider III for sure. I would so-so recommend this game, only to the hardcore Tomb Raider fans and adventure loving gamers that have tons of patience.

This is by far the best Tomb Raider since the first one. If you loved the first one and were disapointed by the next two this one is much better. Tomb Raider: The Last Revalation brings back the magic of the first Tomb Raider

This is one of the most toruble free, best role playing game ever. I love the Egyptian Content, and I feel that THIS Tomb Raider game is perfect for any level of play. There are walkthroughs on the net if you get "stuck" and can't figure out a certain puzzle. Like all the Tomb Raiders, what I like best is the LENGTH of the game. This will be the best $15 you ever spent!

I have played Tomraiders II and III. I can't tell you enough how great this new version is. What I find more interesting this game are the cut screens at different times in the game. Also, Lara moves so much better, and I love the fact she can traverse around corners. The lighting..the detail is breathtaking. I am only on part three...but am enjoying every minute I play. The walkthrough when Lara was a teen was great. It's also great that she is talking to others in the game. The wait for this version was well worth it. They just keep getting better. I was also glad that I didn't have to learn alot of new moves and weapons. I dreaded the thought actually. I feel comfortable going into new terain this game. I like the way she enters her vehicles...opening doors and having to have keys to operate them. She actually has to open doors to get out too. Its more real to life. I will just keep being a Tombraider player as long as they make them.

In the interview from Eidos prior to The Last Revelation release, fans were promised a game 1) that returns to TR roots, 2) is puzzle based, and 3) Lara's objectives would always be clear (probably in response to all the complaints received over TRIII). Eidos also promised that Lara wouldn't have to run around so much to find objects and that the emphasis on bad guys would be downplayed. Put simply, TLR would be a return, in sorts, to the original Tomb Raider.

Using the Eidos interview as basis, let's look at their claims. First, yes, TLR does a nice job returning to TR's roots, at least in terms of atmoshpere and looks. That's my number one praise. But in terms of gameplay, TLR is far from puzzle-based. It starts out so, but about halfway through the designers decided to return to the convoluted ploys that plagued TRIII. And, having just finished TLR, I'd say that Lara's objectives are far from clear. There are still a lot of thugs to kill off and Lara does an awful lot of running across multiple screens to obtain objects. (there aren't really levels in TLR; Lara passes from one area to another--with a download time in between!)

I think the biggest problem is that the designers simply ran out of great puzzle ideas (which occurred sometime after TRII) where you actually have to use some logic and your brain. This is what made TR1 so fantastic: you knew that if you sat in front of the screen long enough, you'd eventually figure out whatever challenge TRI threw at you. TLR however, beginning with the Cairo section, becomes frustrating because it stops being puzzle based, and to make up for this lack of puzzles, resorts to annoyingly complicated, nit-picky, non-logic based ploys to make the game more "challenging" (and, thus, ensure more sales of their strategy guide). I've never had to use a forum/walkthrough site so often in my life. Let me make my point as clear as possible: puzzles require brain power and logic. Trial and error is NOT equal to good gaming and is NOT fun. I seriously doubt that there are many gamers out there who made it through the entire Cairo sequence without the aid of a walkthru. This could have been a great game (and it was for the first half) The graphics in TLR are outstanding, and the Desert Railroad level is innovative and fun. Sadly, though, this game was ruined by ridiculously complex, illogical levels that surrogate for a lack of puzzle ideas.

Lara Croft returns to her roots. Although most might argue that Tomb Raider 2 was the best game in the series, it was the original game that defined what she was about, sort of a female Indiana Jones (How often have we heard that one?) Tomb Raiders 2 and 3 were great in their own right, yet had moved beyond the simple premise of Underground exploration.The Last Revelation is like a distillation of the basic premise of the first; lots of underground areas (it's stretching it to class them all as tombs) with only rare appearances of above ground areas. Although I still enjoyed Chronicles I didn't like the direction the franchise took after that. So The Last Revelation is to me the last great Tomb Raider game.

The Last Revelation is undeniably a good game if you're into action adventure videogames. I think the appeal of Lara Croft is that she represents to video gaming what James Bond or Indiana Jones is to cinema- A world that is based around our own, but at the same time is larger than life and essentially implausible. Yet you can suspend disbelief enough to believe it could exist in a sense. With most video games plot is usually of a secondary nature but here it manages to hold your interest. Suffice to say that during a trip to an Egyptian Tomb she awakens something best left undisturbed, mwahahahah. The rest, well you'll just have to play it and see won't you?
The real reason most play these games is the platforming fun of running and jumping across gaping chasms to manage to grab onto a ledge with your fingers and haul yourself up, to shoot enemies and to solve puzzles. The puzzles in Last Revelation are thankfully generally good and often involve more that simply hitting a switch to open a door to pull a lever. There are some imaginative enemies too that may not be defeatable by conventional means.

There are three main problems with The Last Revelation though. Firstly it is a very large game, and many players have been unable to finish it. Only the most dedicated will have the patience to actually complete it. Secondly it's also a very difficult game. The game requires some dextrous fingerwork at times (buts that's the way I like it myself) But not only that but some solutions to puzzles are just too obscure. Almost everyone who plays this will need to resort to a walkthrough. Thirdly, well it's Egypt overkill frankly. It's set entirely in Egypt, although the modern day Cairo setting does provide a welcome change of scenery.But nearly everyone who has played this has found the constant Egyptian setting tiresome after while.

Overall The Last Revelation is undeniably great action adventure, and delivers the originals subterranean thrills in spades. But in some ways it's like being given ten boxes of chocolate for Christmas; best in small amounts at intervals.Trying to rate this is hard. In small amounts, it's a 5 star game. More than that and it could end up being a chore.