Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness (Sony PlayStation 2, 2003)

Well, after months and months of anticipation and innumerable postponements by publisher, Eidos, it's here. Overall it's not bad, but I think that if this is all that can be done with Lara on the PS2 vs. PSone format, then it might be time to retire the poor girl.

For forty quid you expect to at least be able to control Lara. Unfortunately she responds with all the urgency of a three-toed sloth in a coma. Ironically this means you're less likely to fall off a high ledge, but more likely to end up shouting at the screen when involved in a close-quarters combat situation. "MOVE!", "RUN!", "DO SOMETHING!" and far, far ruder cries rang around my flat the first time Lara came up against a boss. You do get used to it, but compared to other third-person games e.g. Syphon Filter, and previous Tomb Raiders, Lara behaves as if she's heavily sedated. The other annoying fact is that you can't sprint until alomost the end of the game, and it isn't terribly obvious when she learns this ability. Make sure you note that she can belly-crawl too, as you'll need it to get under tripwires and laser-activated bombs (press and hold 'triangle', then tap L2).

My other initial impression of disappointment was of the level domains. This is a far cry from the stunning Sphinx room, Great Wall of China, or legendary "Cistern" level in the first couple of Tomb Raiders. Early on in the game the levels are cramped and linear - even Lara ironically complains, "Another cold, dark city..." as you arrive in Prague. It's not until you reach the Tomb of the Ancients or maybe the Bio-Dome that you start to see the jaw-dropping visuals and rendering the PS2 is capable of, but this is an original differentiator for Tomb Raider that Eidos really hasn't exploited much.

Tomb Raiders also used to be known for their puzzles. Maybe I'm getting cleverer, or just used to the format, but I breezed through this game and was only really stuck once, trying to figure out that the subtle change in The Keeper's behaviour meant the painting was up for grabs. There were scant few occasions when I eneterd a level, saw a high balcony or ledge and thought, "Wonder how I get up there", and then ended up getting to it an hour later having been round the houses. Shame.

Playing as a bloke (Kurtis) for a while is new, as are some of the weapons, belly-crawling, and climbing of drainpipes etc. Unfortunately Kurtis walks like a chimpanzee, complete with knuckles scraping the floor, and frustration is added to amusement when you realise that he wields what looks like a ninja throwing star equipped with AI only in the cut-scenes, not in the game.

All in all, Tomb Raider is still a good game by today's standards. If you haven't played the originals then it's up there with Timesplitters 2, Tenchu 3, and Syphon Filter. Unfortunately, Eidos set a high standard with the first game that's difficult to live up to, so TR fans might be a bit disappointed.

Final verdict - buy it if you're new to the series, wait for it on Platinum or promo-price if you're a fan.

I was a big fan of the PS1 series of Tomb Raider. I had read bad reviews of TAOD when it was released and lost interest in the series until I decided to get TR: Anniversary (a remake of the original game), which is awesome btw. My interest restored, I decided to buy the first TR game released for the PS2.

-The below star ratings are on a scale of 1-5 stars.-

STORY ***
The story in this game is a far cry from any of the PS1 TR games (I have not played the PS2 games, Legend and Underworld). As I played through TAOD, the story honestly reminded me in some ways of the plot of a Resident Evil game, which isn't so bad, except it's a TR game. I do have to give a nod to trying something new, it just didn't work for me as well as it could have. Lastly, I do have to mention that I had to play on to know what happened, so it did have that effect.

PLAY CONTROL *
The play control is horrible! It might not seem so bad, but the five PS1 TR games and Anniversary are a million times better. Play control has always been one of things that made me like this series in the first place. It's at times hard to line Lara up for her jumps, it's difficult to make her run instead of walk or vice versa. It created more frustration some times than it should have. On a side note, something that came in handy at times, but I don't think was intended to be this way. Guns could be fired as fast as I could press the Fire button, including the shotgun.

GRAPHICS **
With the PS2 came a certain expectation of improved graphics. While better than PS1, it is quite obvious it is not what it could have been. There are missing textures at times, and there could have been much more detail to Lara and her environment. Also, there is no lighting adjustment and after seeing videos on YouTube of game play, I should have been able to see things better than I could.

SUMMARY ***
While it seems as though I have more to complain about than I liked, I would still encourage fans of the series to get this game. I am what I call a completist and must collect all of a series of games if I like one enough,
albums of an artist, or movies in a series, so that statement to get it may come from that. Still, as a stand alone game, it's not bad. It just dims in the light of the others. I believe that it was supposed to be a part of at least a trilogy of games that would include characters & story elements introduced in TAOD, but that was abandoned when it was panned pretty bad. I also believe that after missing previous deadlines, it was rushed be released to coincide with the release of the second TR movie, The Cradle Of Life, which also met with mediocre success.

I really liked this game, but I had mixed feelings about it. I'm an avid Tomb Raider fan, and a huge fan of Lara herself. This game has amazing graphics, and a pretty good story line (although it still confuses me a bit at times.). I liked the new moves put into this game, like climbing pipes on walls, and the stealth mode (which made a lot of sneaking easier, lol.). I also liked how you could play as Kurtis, a second character, in a couple of the levels. This is good, but if there should be character changes like this in future tomb Raider games, they should keep it to just a few levels (becasue the game is really about Lara, you know, lol.) They did a good job with not overdoing that. It took me awhile to get used to the analog feature ( I never used analog before this.) I hated it at first, but now I use analog for everything, lol. So it works out well ^_^. I think my biggest disappointments with this game were that 1) there are manyglitches and bugs in the game playing, making some levels that should have been easy very difficult (example: Aquatic research facility- the mutant fish still atacks you, even though you could put meat in the water to distract it, it doesn't work and is supposed to.), 2)I didn't lie how easy everything was to follow. Yes, there were some hard times where I had to consult a walkthrough, but it was difficultt o really get lost in levels (you could easily get lost in other tomb Raider games. the exploration of being lost makes Tomb Raider fun!), and lastly, 3) I felt like they made Lara look kinda sissy and ditzy in this game, which is not her personality. She will get down on her knees and surrender if you get too close to police, she steals things like jewelry and vintage item (that have nothing to do with the game in any way.), and everyone treats her like she's stupid, and she kinda seems that way at times. I felt that Lara's personality was not altered to its best. I had mixed feelings about the strength and body upgrades throughout the games. A lot of things could not be done until you got the upgrade. though this seems more realistic, it gets really annoying. (if you hang on a ledge too long, this little yellow bar starts running out, and you'll fall off. Very frustratiing, lol.). Overall, I give this game a B+. I definitely think you should have this game in your collection if you are a diehard Tomb Raider fan (I like all the games very much, but the original Tomb Raider is still a classic favorite that never gets old ^_^.)

***** TOMB RAIDER ROCKS!! I LOVE LARA CROFT, SHE IS AWESOME!!!! *****
I just Love this game!!! Even though I am a novice PS2 user...

***** WANT A CHALLENGE???? ***** ~THIS IS YOUR GAME~
I Love the Challenge of this game! Not extremely easy for a novice PS2 player as am I, but a great challenge... If you love challenges this is your Game!!

***** EASY INSTRUCTIONS TO USE CONTROLLER *****
GREAT beginning instructions as you play the game... VERY HELPFUL to learn how to use controller and actions she can perform!

***** MISC. INFORMATION ON GAME (MY OPINION) *****
1 ~ Just a touch dark, but then again look where this location is :)
2 ~ Great graphics amazing "Star Of The Game... AKA... Lara Croft"
3 ~ Must have game!
4 ~ Have fun and kick some bums! :)
*************************​******************************​********************

There was really nothing wrong with the story, but the camera angles plus the controls were pretty awkward. there's even a time where i could see inside Lara's head. I felt that she could die easily, there were times where i tried to get away from an enemy and i could barely do it. When she shoots at something, its like the sound just totally freezes even though she's still shooting, sometimes it would take a WHILE to kill a dude with a freaken gun. she can do some combat face to face with enemies but she gets hurt at the same time, so whats the point in that.

You also have to make Lara level up, meaning how long she is capable of hanging on to something, how strong she is capable of opening a door, or kick a door open, how strong is to push or pull something. she has to gain all this momentum when she ALREADY had it before this game.

****DEATHS****
If youre pretty humorus about Lara deaths, this is definitely the game for you. Lara is SOOO flexible its not even funny. she can die millions of ways and bend in all kinds of directions. she is a freaken rubberband.

Angel of Darkness to me is the first Tomb raider that was actually a bit different from the past Tomb Raiders. Now she picks up money, candy bars (these are reoccuring items depending on where you are). she doesnt really need the money anyway becuase she rarely trades it with people. Lara is MORE social with the public, you can even make her choose what to say to poeple.

but overall the levels, the story, the graphics, all of that is pretty awesome. the gameplay is PRETTY LOONG. People may say its the worst Tomb Raider ever made becuase i heard that the company just pretended that they never made the game and just resumed with Tomb Raider Legend. But its not that bad. if you have patience, buy the game.