3 of 4 customers found the following review helpful:
 Classic Tomb Raiding, taken up a notch!, 2004-06-22
After reading all the bad press this game has been getting, I felt compelled to write a review myself. In all honesty, I must say this game is getting slammed unfairly.
I've been a fan of the TR games since the original, but I freely admit that some of them had their fair share of irritations, and by the time Chronicles came out, things were starting to seem a little uninspired. I say this so you know I'm not the sort of person to gush over anything that has the Tomb Raider logo emblazoned across the box.
Now, on to Angel of Darkness...
Core Design knew the series needed an overhaul, but they also knew they couldn't change things too drastically without upsetting long-time fans. So what we have here is a classic Tomb Raider experience with an all-new (and quite attractive) graphics engine, a bit more depth (dialogue-trees, deeper plot), and some simplified controls to make it easier to navigate the TR world.
Yes, that's right, I said the controls are EASIER this time around. I cannot fathom why so many people are complaining about the control scheme. In essence, it's identical to one found in every other TR game, but it doesn't require your fingers to be quite as nimble. For example, when climbing a ladder or a wall, you no longer have to hold down two keys at once. Same with walking. Want to climb over that box in front of you? No need to press some weird key combination, simply walk up to it and keep on walking, and Lara automatically hitches herself on to it.
A lot of people complained about the vast number of bugs and the drops in frame-rate. Maybe I just got very lucky, but so far I've experienced only minimal bugs (nothing that interfered with gameplay), and I did not experience any drops in frame-rate at all... everything runs very smoothly, and Lara is quick to respond to keystrokes. I'm running this on a Pentium 4, 1.8ghz, 256 megs ram, 64 meg GEForce2 graphics card, so it's hardly a cutting edge system by today's standards, yet I can't complain about the performance at all.
AOD offers some great environments to explore. The beginning of the game is somewhat mundane, as you run through the back streets of Paris, but it's a good way to get a feel for things before you're in any significant danger. Then you're off to raid the Louvre, which is brilliantly atmospheric, and before long, you find yourself in some classic tombs. The gameplay in the tombs is among the best the series has seen, reminding me very much of the thrills I got back in 1996 when I first worked my way through St. Francis Folly in the original game. From here, the adventure heads off to other exciting locales, which I won't spoil for you, but suffice to say, there's plenty to see and do.
I recommend this game whole-heartedly to Tomb Raider fans. My only warning is that I know a lot of people have experienced significant bugs, and I suppose it's somewhat of a gamble when you buy the game because you may be lucky (as I was), or you may have problems. If you're one of the lucky ones, you'll have a great time playing one of the best TR games in the series. If you're unlucky, well, hopefully you can trade it somewhere.
3 of 3 customers found the following review helpful:
 unusable controls, graphics glitches., 2004-06-04
I LOVE the tombraider line. I waited for this game with bated breath......And it was absolutely horrible. :(The controls are so bad, the game is virtually unplayable -- they're sluggish beyond belief! No more fast-paced running & jumping. I literally had to STOP MOVING, in order to perform side jumps! (doesn't work well, when you're being chased by a ball of flame, from an explosion behind you) It crashes randomly. There's graphics glitches all over the place. Should've known it was crap, when the release date kept getting moved back. /sigh Note to self: read the reviews before buying another TR game. /lms
16 of 16 customers found the following review helpful:
NOT TOMB RAIDER in any sense of the word, 2004-05-22
Wow, am I gullible. I read all the other bad reviews about slow game play, glitches, and an awkward Laura. I thought, no, it can't be that bad; after all, it's Tomb Raider, and they've all been a lot of fun. Big mistake. First, the levels are boring! No surprises at all, and while there is a lot of area to explore there isn't much going on at all. There are about 1000 doors that don't do anything, so I'm stopping at all these pointless doors. There are also several timed puzzles where you only have 30 seconds or so to do something, which was fun and challenging in the previous episodes, but with such lousy controls its frustrating as heck to make her do what she needs to do.
Second, the controls are horrible. Laura does a few new things, like climb things by herself, but its annoying not helpful. The movement is slow, even on a fast computer, like driving a car with both front tires gone flat. You press the button and wait around for her to start moving. I have noticed that if you start moving forward while trying to turn, she starts off walking, which is horrible when trying to line up a jump.
Third, it looks like the developers went to great length to do away with the square world Laura was living in before. The result, however, is that you never know if you'll make a jump, and the vertical distances are horribly distorted.
Fourth, the camera is unbearable. When Laura is close to a wall preparing to leap to another ledge, for example, it's very common to be looking at the top of her head. There are numerous times when the camera won't realign on its own or even if you try to force it. More than once, I was looking at Laura from the front, and the camera was on the ledge she needed to jump to.
Fifth, the glitches are embarrassing. If car manufactures tried to get away with shipping a product that worked okay most of the time, people would freak out and manufactures would be scrambling to improve the product or just go out of business. Laura stands in mid air, gets stuck to walls, and when I try to quit the game, half the time it hangs and I have to power down and restart. I know its possible to make games without glitches.
Like the other reviewer I found myself screaming at the computer. If the game were fun, it would be easier to forgive the glitches, but its just boring. It's just going through the motions, not playing. Please, buy it used if you have to own it, but don't say I didn't warn you. The one good thing is that you can play from the hard drive. Makes me wonder why so many are available used, hmmm?
Thanks for reading
1 of 4 customers found the following review helpful:
 Incredible, Excellent, and First Rate Fun!, 2004-04-20
This is a winner! The Angel of Darkness has a great plot and story. Plus the new combat moves are really cool. It is a challenging game, but well worth playing. The graphics in this game are egualy impressive, the camera angle can be a little frusterating at times but overall it has the best graphics of the series. Lara has a great new look and with the inhanced graphics, her sexy body is really a big element like in the movies. This is the game to buy if you want a challenge, and top scale fun. (...)
1 of 1 customers found the following review helpful:
excellent, 2004-03-15
Yes, there are parts that are a bit tricky. If you don't like a challenge don't bother with it but it is very involving and well laid out. Great story line with wonderfully interactive characters all providing enough clues and goodies to keep the game moving.
If you like intelligent, challenging games then this one will be for you, otherwise just stick with the kiddie stuff.
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Amazon Sales Rank:#3747