Right this may well turn out to be my last post of the year on this blog as I may not get time to squeeze another one in before the New Year so I decided to do one on another Tomb Raider game which I have been playing recently, Tomb Raider III. So let's gear up and give this one a look....
So a bit about the plot which begins with a meteorite crashing onto Earth in Antarctica millions of years ago. The story then moves to the present day where Lara starts off her mission in India to find the artefact, which she eventually takes from a researcher who works for the corporation RX Tech, who went insane and Lara was forced to kill. Lara is soon then approached by Dr Willard who is the head of RX Tech and he tells Lara of the background of the stone she acquired and it is only one of four stones, which are scattered throughout the world and Lara agrees to help Willard recover all of them. From here Lara's travels take her to other locations which include the South Pacific, London, Nevada and Antarctica but as she tries to acquire the stones she as usual faces some dangerous opposition along the way and as she nears the end of her travels another twist awaits her before she complete her quest. (Wow that was really quick!).
Tomb Raider III continued to see the franchise carry on in style as overall its a very entertaining and enjoyable game, which features even more expansive environments than the previous game in TRII. The gameplay also has been enhanced more this time round and it sees some new moves have been added for Lara as she now has the ability to crouch, which she oftens uses to get through confined spaces and she can also sprint aswell, which can at times comes in handy when Lara has to dodge a bolder or run away from danger such as a moving spiked wall. Another new feature move wise is the inclusion of monkey bars as Lara can now jump up and grab overhead bars or vines to traverse certain areas of the game where she can't go on foot. Lara also can access in one level during one of the South Pacific levels a kayak, which she can use to move through some dangerous waters as in the South Pacific the rapids prove to be fatal for Lara if she happens to fall into them. In terms of the underwater parts of the game there are also some new inclusions such as the force of water currents can push Lara in a certain direction, which forces her to try and swim her way toward the direction she needs to go in. Underwater there is also a new danger in the form of piranha fish, which are lethal and they will swarm round Lara and kill her almost instantly if by accident or fate falls she falls into waters where they are to be found. Lara also during the Antarctica levels has a temperature level bar which will drop quickly as she will swim in subzero temperatures and she may die if she doesn't get out of the water in time. And in terms of the environmental hazards the game features another danger also which is quicksand and there are certain times where Lara has no choice but move through quicksand and she will at times become almost submerged by the quicksand, which will cause her oxygen level to reduce and if she is not careful she may drown but in most instances Lara can move through the quicksand to reach the surface before that happens.
Moving onto the gameplay's combat system things are pretty much as before but there are some new additional weapons alongside the usual suspects (ha ha just reviewed that aswell!) of handguns, uzis, shotgun, harpoon and the grenade launcher, which are the desert eagle (which is the best gun in the game!) a rocket launcher and an MP-5 submachine gun. Also an improvement to the previous game Lara has access to more pickups than before in terms of weapons, ammo and also flares, which she can find a healthy supply of throughout. The game also gives a balanced approach in its combat of enemies as Lara will take on both animals (primarily in the earlier levels in India and South pacific) and later humans. And of some of the new animals featured in the game there are monkeys, who curiously go from being helpful in the first India level to being suddenly hostile in the next levels! There are also rattlesnakes and Pythons which can poison Lara, which will turn her healthbar yellow and it will gradually reduce and she will need to use a medpack to restore her health. As for the human enemies as before you get a game boss at the end of each stage in the game for the different locations (except for Nevada).
Graphics wise Tomb Raider III for its time looks great and again the programmers have produced some really impressive looking environments for Lara to run around in and they look a bit more refined and smooth than in TRII and with the different locations of Indian, London, South Pacific, Nevada and Antarctica there is much visual variety on display. The characters models have also slightly improved from before as Lara looks a bit little bit more defined than previously (her chest is now no longer sharp and pointed as in the original for starters and its still big!) features wise, but the models are still way off the level of what we have today in character graphics but for their time they aren't bad at all. The game still does of course have some graphical blips such as clipping especially when Lara has killed some enemies and their bodies lie through the floor or are only half seen! Music wise the game also features a fine score written by Nathan McCree, which does reuse some of his music from TRII but the new tracks are really good and are also quite ambient and atmospheric and again they suit the adventurous tone of the game perfectly. Voice acting wise however the game still let's itself down a bit as the acting is pretty so-so and Judith Gibbins once again resumes her part as the voice of Lara and her performance again is a bit flat and one dimensional.
Which brings me onto the game's flaws.... are they any??? Well yeah there are some to be found, first off the game's graphics and visual design are at times a bit too discrete and in darkened areas it can be quite hard to spot items such as ammo or medpacks, which in this instances may also rely on the use of flares to light up an area. And this also applies to certain areas in the game in dark passages where you might struggle to find where to go next and you find that you are looking for a ledge, which appears to be hidden but is just right above you only you can't see it! The game also has done away with the visual icon of the item that Lara has picked up e.g. a medpack which was quite handy in TRII but unfortunately it is missed here as it was a good visual aid particularly dark places as to what you have just found. Some of the game's puzzles can also be a bit obscure at times and it would take some figuring out and yeah OK I admit it I cheated the game in stages and use walkthroughs to get through it when I played it recently (I know shame on me!).
Another criticism that could also be levelled at the game is also to do again with Lara's movement which still feels a bit sluggish in terms of the speed of her running (although the sprint does speed her up quite a bit and is a good inclusion). This is also particularly notable when Lara has to try and make it through timed doors and she takes a wrong turn and hits against a wall she will quickly find herself to be out of time and you will need to start again. It also causes much frustration when Lara tries to outrun bolders only to sluggishly turn a corner and find herself flattened as she couldn't turn in time to avoid it! Another issue with the game are some of the underwater segments of the game which feature strong currents which end up pulling or pushing Lara in the opposite direction of where she needs to swim and you find yourself frantically pressing down the button to try and get Lara to move in the right direction. This is a real pain in the arse in one or two parts of the game, especially in one of the levels in India where Lara has to swim in area where there is a strong current pulling her in the other direction and will also her pull into some spikes that are in the back wall, which will quickly kill her of course (and it took me a few goes to get past that!).
And lastly (yes I know three paragraphs on the game's flaws!) the game also exhibits some strange behaviour with the enemies AI especially with the human baddies as some of them keep moving around in circles, this is notable in the Nevada security compound level where Lara releases some prisoners who help her overcome the security guards but they keep moving around in circles as they attack one another! And one of the game's most annoying aspects is when armed enemies are killed they get off one last shot before they die, which will invariably take a bit off Lara's health bar if she doesn't avoid being in the line of fire right away. And last of all in the Nevada desert level one thing that left me baffled was why was the outside of the security compound being guarded by bikers????!! It just seems totally bizarre that some bikers from the Hell's Angels or some other outlaw motorcycle gang would be called in to guard a high security facility rather than your standard dressed security guards! Perhaps the bikers wanted to have a go and paid off the security guards by giving them some cool crystal meth! Its not a big deal of course but it certainly is an unusual inclusion in the game.
Anyway despite those flaws (and yes I know there are few there but then it is an older game so that is to be expected and to a large extent can be forgiven) Tomb Raider III is still a very enjoyable game and one of the most solid entries in the series. It may be a slow burner to start with but it soon becomes a pleasure to play and like the previous two games it will keep you entertained for hours on end.
So that's it for now and if I don't manage another post tomorrow (which I might not) I will wish you all a Happy New Year and I will see you in 2015!
Bye the now.
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