Product description
-------------------
In Tomb Raider, you assume the role of a beautiful
archaeologist, Lara Croft. She is a thrill seeker and is willing
to do almost anything that puts her life in danger - she enjoys
it. Naturally, Lara jumped all over the rtunity to recover
the powerful Scion, an ancient relic scattered throughout the
caverns and temples of the world. Played from a third-person 3D
perspective, her adventure spans over 15 levels set in four
distinct worlds and environments. As Lara, you'll have to solve
ancient riddles in the Egyptian Pyramids, discover the Lost City
of Atlantis and traverse through Ancient Rome all while looking
for the artifact. Each level is laced with traps and hazards that
require you to flip, swim, and climb your way to safety and
success. Along the way, you'll engage in battle with countless
enemies including wolves, bears, and the occasional "extinct"
dinosaur. Fortunately, you have a slew of weapons at your
disposal. Lara's default weapon is dual pistols and as you
progress further into the game, you'll come across s,
magnums, and an Uzi. When the ammunition is running low, you'll
have to make good use of her various maneuvers to avoid enemy
contact. Look out Indiana Jones - Lara's in town.
.com
----
The first of the now-famous Tomb Raider games is a must-have for
every gaming fan. You are Lara Croft, a tough, beautiful,
sophisticated female Indiana Jones--think of a British Demi Moore
in a fedora. Lara climbs walls, leaps chasms, and generally
defies gravity using impressive gymnastics. All of her actions
are intricately modeled to produce the lifelike athleticism that
made Tomb Raider--and Lara Croft--famous.
But Lara's got more than good looks and smooth moves to help her
on her globetrotting quest for relics. Like s. Lots of s.
Lara begins her adventures with her trademark pistols, wielded
John Woo-style: one in each hand. She eventually works her way up
to Uzis and even adds a handy to her arsenal, perfect for
taking down a troublesome tyrannosaur found in some steamy
Tibetan lost world.
Here's the story: having made a name for herself as a finder of
antiquities, Lara is hired by a mysterious woman to find an
artifact believed to have come from Atlantis. Lara travels around
the world, plumbing the depths of long- or best-forgotten
locales. As she discovers clues to the artifact's whereabouts,
she also uncovers the true motivation behind her employer's
search. The intriguing plot is told through gorgeous computer
animation movie cutscenes interspersed throughout the game's
episodes.
As you venture to and through various ancient tombs, a host of
enemies and puzzles await you. In fact, it is the puzzles that
will keep players interested even after the challenge of slaying
enemies has passed. Also hidden throughout the game are a number
of secret rooms and hidden treasures, unnecessary for completion
of the game but adding a level of complexity and replay value.
Being one of the few video game characters to grace mainstream
magazine covers, Lara Croft is part of video game history.
Ravenous fans have demanded three sequels, with the fourth
installment, Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, due in late
1999--and a live-action movie in the works. And it all started
with this game, the original Tomb Raider. --Allen Stewart
Pros:
* Great graphics
* Fun camera angles
* Complex puzzles require time and thought
* Entertaining plot, well-directed movie scenes
Cons:* Takes a while to learn all of Lara's moves
P.when('A').execute(function(A) {
A.on('a:expander:toggle_description:toggle:collapse',
function(data) {
window.scroll(0, data.expander.$expander[0].offsetTop-100);
});
});
From the Manufacturer
---------------------
Climb, swim, and backflip your way through a maze of cryptic
deathtraps so realistic you can practically smell the decaying
. Unload an arsenal of lethal firepower on any wild-dog,
giant lizard or blood-thirsty mercenary that gets in your way.
Your mission is the deadliest one to date--the recovery of the
fabled Scion, an incredible treasure reputed to give its
possessor vast power. Get ready to cross the globe to take on
impossible odds while exploring Incan ruins, Ancient Rome,
Egyptian Pyramids, and the Lost City of Atlantis...
Features:
* Explore four massive worlds with over 15 original levels
encompassing four continents.
* Your arsenal includes: pistols, magnums, a and Uzis.
* Battle wolves, bats, bears, alligators, raptors, and even a
T-Rex in your quest for the Scion.
* Over 5,000 frames of animation on the main character, Lara,
alone.
* Unique multi-target acquisition system.
* State of the art intelligent third person perspective cinematic
camera system.
* Multi-genre immersive gameplay.
* The first real 3-D interactive exploratory adventure.
Review
------
Move over, Resident Evil. The new benchmark for 32-bit 3-D
gaming is here. Tomb Raider combines slick graphics with a
fantastically agile character and an excellent story, offering
proof that the 32-bitters can hold their own with the Nintendo 64
and its plumber juggernaut.
The most striking thing about Tomb Raider is its 3-D environment.
Players will explore immense caverns, often bigger than the
worlds in Mario 64 (with fewer polygons, but polygons don't
guarantee greatness), and zero delay after the initial load.
While Tomb Raider may not be as clean as the 64-bit Mario, it is
very impressive nonetheless. What's more, it has a compelling
storyline and a great Indiana Jones-style heroine, resulting in a
much more interesting atmosphere. Fans of Resident Evil, Mortal
Kombat, and their gothic ilk may actually prefer Tomb Raider to
Super Mario 64.
As Lara, players walk, run, jump, dive, swim, roll, hurtle,
shoot, and dodge their way through temples of doom, unveiling a
mystery that seems to lead to a sunken continent. Gameplay favors
puzzle solving and skillful maneuvering (making the right jump,
finding the right key, searching every corner of a cave) over
shooting and conflict, making Tomb Raider is more like the
opening sequence of Raiders of the Lost Ark than its finale.
Nonetheless, it's completely mesmerizing. Tomb Raider instantly
sucks players in with Laura's deft movements and death-defying
jumps. (Be sure to bring along a hintbook or FAQ). In addition,
by restricting forward movement to 12 o'clock on the gamepad,
rather than allowing control to shift with the camera angle, the
game lends its protagonist the capacity to actually walk in a
straight line.
Of course, Tomb Raider is not perfect. The animals seem to be on
a polygon fast. Also, some of the problematic camera angles
familiar to players of Super Mario 64 occur here as well. They
have a smaller impact on gameplay here, however, because of the
game's emphasis on puzzles over action. Tomb Raider is simply a
smart game, bursting with great touches. In the training level,
Lara takes players through her house, into her gym, and tutors
them on the skills they'll need to stay alive. Fortunately, the
complicated maneuvers can be learned in moments. This is the
first 32-bit game to compete with Nintendo 64's polygon arsenal,
and it handles itself very well. If there are more Playstation
and Saturn releases like this one, Lara and her followers might
very well be uncovering Nintendo 64s along with the other
artifacts in Tomb Raider 5. -- Hugh Sterbakov
--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction
in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written
permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot
logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc. -- GameSpot Review
See more ( javascript:void(0) )