Tomb Raider Chronicles

• Release Date: November 20, 2000
• Genre: Action
• Style: Third-Person 3D Action
• Similar Games: Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (PlayStation), Planet of the Apes (PlayStation), Tomb Raider Collectors' Edition (PlayStation)

Game Description

Picking up where Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation left off, Tomb Raider Chronicles begins at a memorial service for the intrepid heroine Lara Croft. While friends and family recollect her past adventures through full-motion video sequences, you'll guide Lara through four previously untold scenarios.

These scenarios take place in the city of Rome, aboard a German U-Boat, from a remote island located in Ireland, and within a technologically advanced tower. You'll use the full-grown adventurer in addition to the 16-year-old introduced in The Last Revelation as you advance through the game. Levels highlight certain aspects of the Tomb Raider series.

Rather than blasting enemy forces, the use of deception and puzzle solving is required on the Irish levels. Whereas the Rome levels are built upon exploration, the German U-Boat is crawling with baddies. Receiving instruction from a faithful companion named ZIP, the tower levels require stealth tactics and strategy.

Stealth is one of the many new features in Tomb Raider Chronicles. Unlike previous titles in the series, enemies react to both sound and sight; in certain missions, for example, you'll want to be as quiet as possible. Lara is also given some new moves (tightropes, suspended bars) and commands with corresponding animations.

Our faithful heroine can search through top-secret file cabinets and desk drawers while looking for clues and key items. Speaking of which, this game offers an assortment of interactive items as well as an improved version of the item combine feature.

Lara also has access to new weapons including a sniper rifle and a grappling hook gun; all the weapons you loved in the previous Tomb Raider games are also intact. In addition to the aforementioned stealth tactics, the heroine can now engage in sneaky hand-to-hand combat. Here, she'll secretively incapacitate the desired enemy with chloroform or another substance/weapon.

Tomb Raider Chronicles also features two new outfits including camouflage gear and a cat suit complete with matching headset. In addition to improved lighting effects and engine refinements, the game incorporates more full-motion video sequences than any previous title in the series. Finally, the developers have overhauled the line of sight, so Lara's weapons will not lock onto the target unless it is obviously visible.

The body of Lara Croft is missing -- will reminiscing about her past adventures unravel the unsolved mystery? Tomb Raider Chronicles awaits!

Review: Overall

It began simply enough: the development team at Core Design, knowing what young males craved, crafted a little title called Tomb Raider, which combined exploration, action, and a female character with a disproportionately large chest, thus satisfying the needs of most every male teenage gamer in the world.

The game turned out to be a phenomenal success and generated yearly sequels, each using the same play mechanics, each failing to offer anything different to any great degree, and each selling enough copies to ensure that Eidos would continue to exploit Lara Croft and the gaming community's obsession with her for every last dime.

Well, now she's dead, and instead of having a decent amount of time to celebrate (or mourn), we're given a collection of her lost adventures to enjoy. Ah, but will we enjoy them? It's a fair question, given the arguable quality of the last two entries into the series, which many felt were simply rehashed, not bringing enough innovation to the table and instead relying on Lara's generous curves.

The fifth entry in Ms. Croft's adventures of plundering and theft is almost certainly the last Tomb Raider that will appear on the Dreamcast. Eidos has tried to sweeten the deal, giving you both Lara in a host of sexy new outfits (as sexy as a pile of rendered polygons can be, at any rate) and new gameplay elements to answer those critics who've said the series has become stale.

But guess what? Tomb Raider Chronicles plays almost exactly like its predecessors for most of the gameplay experience. The much-touted stealth mode that Eidos compares to Metal Gear Solid is an incredibly small portion of the game, and while it is a welcome addition, it can hardly be considered enough to judge the game on this nifty little feature alone. No, the judgment of Tomb Raider Chronicles must be levied via the same old Tomb Raider features as before.

And what are those features? Why, pushing blocks around, of course! And finding switches to flip! And hunting around the levels for obscure, painfully hidden key items! And a combat system so light that it takes almost no actual skill to use! Sound like fun? To some of you it probably does, as exhibited by the following these games still have. Which you cannot be faulted for if you find a game entertaining. So it's safe to say that if you've found every other installment of Tomb Raider to be a great time, then Chronicles is going to be right up your alley.

But for the rest of us, and hopefully there are a few, Chronicles doesn't deliver anything more than the same: a scavenger hunt or obstacle course with some fairly poor action-shooting sequences interspersed in between. You'll be forced to solve inane puzzles by running around, pushing in switches, and moving various blocks to proper places. There are also keys hidden in out-of-the-way places, just to make sure it takes a nice, long time to find them.

Despite a smattering of new moves that you'll only be able to use in a few choice situations, Lara controls much the same as before, meaning poorly. The Tomb Raider series has always been touchy, and it's no different in Chronicles, with loose movement and a jumping engine that is quite inadequate for all of the jumping you're asked to do in game. Maybe people are transfixed by Lara's backside, so much so that they just haven't noticed that the control is still marginal at best.

The game looks decent, better than its PlayStation counterpart, but unfortunately, Eidos hasn't bothered to up the frame rate like they did for Soul Reaver. That's unfortunate; the game could have at least looked impressive, but compared to other titles on the Dreamcast, it is still meager in comparison. Lara looks better than ever, so that will certainly relieve some of you, but many of the levels in which she roams are bland and repetitive.

Honestly, if you are a big fan of the Tomb Raider series, rush out and get this game, because you've accepted the same for so long that you'll be more than satisfied with this one. For those of you who have already grown tired of the franchise and its hype, there's absolutely nothing new or compelling in this title that will make you change your mind.

Review: Enjoyment

It's Tomb Raider. No matter how you slice it, the game is still the same, even after all these years and the supposed engine upgrades. If you love Tomb Raider, you'll love it here, but the game just doesn't offer enough polish to attract most gamers. Beyond, of course, Lara Croft's fake digital body.

Review: Graphics

While the visuals are better than the PlayStation version, that should be a given, knowing the Dreamcast's power. But the frame rate has not improved, which is a big disappointment.

Review: Sound

The game sounds okay, with some decent music and effects, but overall, there's nothing about it that stands out.

Review: Replay Value

Play through it once, but don't expect to have much of a reason to play through it again, unless the thought of completing all those inane puzzles really sets your heart aflutter.

Review: Documentation

The manual is very thin, and although it explains things decently enough, it doesn't really seem to worry about them to any great degree. {@Eidos} probably assumed that you'd all know how to play it already.

Production Credits

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