Rrrrrrrrrrrrright this is it, the last post of the year and funnily enough I started the blog this year with a Tomb Raider post so I thought it would be rather fitting to end it with one also. And this post will cover the 5th game in the TR franchise: Tomb Raider Chronicles.
So without further fuss (afuss) let's load up the guns and give this un a closer look......
And even though it is a game I will mention a bit of the plot which may cover some SPOILERS!!
STORY
So the story is set just days after the events of the previous game - The Last Revelation which left Lara Croft trapped inside a temple which had collapsed and now she is presumed dead. After this a memorial service is held for Lara where two of her associates, Winston Smith and Father Patrick Dunstan learn that Werner Vern Croy is excavating the temple in hope that she is still alive. After this three of Lara's associates Smith, Dunstan and Charles Kane discuss her previous adventures. The first adventure is set in Rome where Lara seeks out the Philosopher's stone but she is slowed down by two henchmen, Pierre DuPont and Larson Conway (from the original Tomb Raider game). The second adventure follows her mission to find the sphere of destiny as she infiltrates a Russian submarine, which is under the control of the Russian mafia boss, Mikhailov. The third adventure is set back in Lara's childhood on the Black isle in Ireland and Lara sneaks onboard a boat manned by Father Dunstan and Lara discovers many strange supernatural creatures there. And in the fourth and final adventure of the game, Lara infiltrates high-tech complex owned by Wener von Croy of an Iris artefact. And at the end of these adventures we learn something as to what happened to Lara and if she is alive or not....
THOUGHTS
After the mediocre Last Revelation, which in my personal opinion is one of the weakest Tomb Raider games in the series, TR: Chronicles saw the series get back on track as it is for the most part a very enjoyable adventure game, which has an intriguing premise where Lara is presumed dead and her associates reminisce on her previous adventures. The game however wasn't commercially successful and it only sold 1.5 million copies worldwide and at the time it also received lukewarm reviews some of which suggested the series was starting to get past its prime. But I think in retrospect that is a bit of an unfair assessment given the game still has plenty of enjoyable moments.
GAMEPLAY
As for the gameplay, Chronicles pretty much follows the same formula as the previous games but it doesn't introduce one or two new elements aswell. For starters one of the new elements for the game's movement is that Lara can now walk a tightrope, she can also grab and swing on horizontal bars and one of the game's best and most practical moves is her ability to somersault forward from a ledge when crouching. Other than Lara has pretty much the same moves as before although one inclusion which I think came from Last Revelation is handy move where Lara when climb she can move around the side of walls to continue her climb as this did not appear in the first three games. Lara can use a grapple hook to allow to fire into surfaces to allow her to swing over certain areas.
In terms of the game's combat its pretty much the same also and Lara has a rather small array of weapons to chose from but you are restricted for choice based on what adventure you play as not every gun will be made available in every adventure (in fact the Ireland levels have no weapons as Lara is only a kid after all!). But the guns that are available include the desert eagle, the MP5 submachine gun, shotgun and a revolver. There are also the odd occasion where Lara can knock out her enemies using melee weapons such as crowbars and one scene in the fourth adventure we see Lara use chloroform to incapacitate one of the bad guys.
The game's menu system is also a bit different as Lara can now access statistics of her progress throughout the game which are made available through a TMX-Timex feature. Also as in the previous game, TRTLR, Lara can also combine different items together when necessary to use in certain situations or for certain things such as door locks etc. The game also features a number of secrets for Lara to find and there are 36 in total spread throughout the game, which are in the form of a golden rose.
GRAPHICS, MUSIC AND VOICE ACTING
As for the game's graphics well given that this game was released back in the year 2000 and the first primary console it appeared on was the Playstation 1 its safe to say that Chronicles graphics are somewhat primitive and rather dated looking by today's standards. The character models are definitely pretty crude and blocky looking and even though the characters mouths move during the talking scenes its far from realistic looking! However on the upside the Lara character does get a wear a couple of sexy outfits i.e. the commando one in the submarine levels and that black leather number in the hi-tech complex levels! ;-) The environments however graphically do fair a bit better as by the PS1's standards they actually look pretty good and the game also makes some good use of its lighting effects and environmental effects such as rain, wind etc. There is even now driplets of water dripping off Lara after she emerges from swimming in water, which is a nice touch in itself.
Music wise the game features a pretty good score by Peter Connelly which is quite subtle and atmospheric throughout, which is a welcome change from the usual loud and bombastic scores you are used to hearing these days in video games.
As for the game's voice acting well it is a bit of a mixed bag but overall its not bad at all and Jonell Elliott has a great voice for Lara as it is both soothing but also has a slightly sinister quality to when needed. Elliott also get's some good lines of dialogue throughout and some of which include the scene when in Rome, Lara hears a noise above her and she says "Rodents, I wouldn't wonder. BIG rodents!" and she draws her pistols. Then there is the scene where Larson searches Lara and takes a piece of stone from her that he places in a wall above the statuesque dragon heads but as a result Larson is suddenly hit by fire and Pierre puts out the flames. And Lara warns them "If I was you, I'd grab your Cro-Magnon cowboy over there and run as fast as your little legs will carry you. Au revoir, mon chèr!". And lastly there is the scene where Lara in Rome falls and dangles off a ledge and Pierre helps her up on the condition she give him a stone he seeks and also that she doesn't lay a finger on him. And after Pierre helps her up she stares at him as Pierre stands nervously and says "Lara you promised!" and Lara suddenly says "Boo!" and falls back over the ledge but manages just to cling on to the edge. And Pierre asks if Lara would help her up and she says "Oh Pierre nothing would give me greater pleasure but we've got an agreement" and Pierre desparately says "Agreement?!" and Lara says "Not to lay a finger on you silly! Anyway busy girl, got to go!" and she walks off leaving Pierre to fall to his death. Nice girl!
FLAWS
As for TR Chronicles, does it have any flaws worth picking out??? Yep it does.
And to start off I think part of the games problem stems from its rather antiquated movement system as there are times where Lara's running feels a bit sluggish and even though she can sprint when you steer her round corners her movement is still a bit slow so you often end ramming Lara into a wall. The new somersault in crouched positions while it is a good move there are some instances in the game where it is difficult to pull off one of which is in the last level in the Ireland adventure where it took me many goes to finally get Lara to do the somersault!
Another problem with the game is that the AI is a bit buggy and there are even characters in the game such as in the high tech complex such as technicians that don't even bat an eyelid when Lara wanders around the lab rooms! These guys are hardly security conscious are they??? And they just seem happy to leave it up to the security guards to take care of any intruders. And even the likes of the enemies that wear the armoured suits and carry plasma guns they don't even seem to notice Lara in one part of the game in the high tech complex when she just runs around in the open! In the end it does show how AI back then was still in its infancy in terms of its effectiveness.
And then we have one of the game's worst aspects of all which are those bloody camera angles! Now these are truly infuriating at times when Lara walks into a room an oscure camera angle is used and when it is in place its difficult to see properly around Lara and often you end bumping her into a wall. This is particularly a real pain in the ass in the level in the hitech complex when Lara has a timed run to get downstairs to claim artefact which is protected by an energy shield and she has to get it before the power is turned back on again. But the camera angle used in the scene when she runs down the stairs makes it an infuriating and frustrating process and more often than not you will find steering Lara very difficult to do! So whoever was behind using these camera angles in the game should get a serious slap!
Last of all one of the other things about the game that let's it down a little is the Ireland based adventure which at times is a bit boring and lacks the usual Tomb Raider factor of Lara's other adventures. Some audiences may have enjoyed the departure from the norm but for me I just think it was a bit of a boring story and not that interesting even though it did show Lara relying on using her wits even as a youngster and doing it without any weapons for once.
Anyhow that is it for the flaws.
SUM UP
So to sum up Tomb Raider Chronicles is a very enjoyable and somewhat underrated game in the franchise which saw the last game of its initial run come to an end before the series started up again a few years later with Angel of Darkness. The game does have some control issues however and the Ireland adventure was a bit dull not to mention those forced camera angles in some parts of the game can be really frustrating. But if you can forget all that then there is still plenty to enjoy here and it is a game that's worth revisiting.
Sooooo that's it for 2015 on this blog and I will be back in the new year and it only remains for me to say a Happy New Year to everyone out there and have a good one.
Till next year its bye for now!
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