
Tomb Raider
Hail to the queen, baby

Eidos Interactive
t had to happen. After all of the pretenders and imitators, some game had to take the 3D action game to the next level, before the genre drowned itself in a pool of derivative mediocrity. Duke Nukem 3D didn’t do it; it was merely an evolutionary advance over Doom, with identical gameplay refined and polished to the point that it appeared fresh and innovative. Quake took the technology to the next level but the gameplay stayed in Doom-land. Super Mario64 for the Nintendo 64 showed what could be done with superb design and technology, but it’s a bit too cutesy for anyone above the age of 10 (and not a PC game). Who would’ve guessed that the previously unheralded Core Design would produce the game that leads us into the future of 3D gaming? That future is represented by Tomb Raider, the hands down best 3D action/adventure of the year, and a contender for best overall game of the year. It’s not a perfect game, but it mixes gameplay elements from multiple genres with ease and points to the future of 3D game design. The premise is simple enough. You control Lara Croft – socialite, adventurer, sports-bra model – as she tries to recover some artifacts from tombs around the world. The thinnest thread of a story ties it all together, but you’ll tend to forget the plot when you’re dangling from a ledge a few stories high; this game delivers more drama and danger than any fiction could, since you’re actually controlling the action as it unfolds in front of you. Lara makes for a smashing action game hero, a sort of Indiana Jane. She’s a hero who gets out of bed each morning and wonders what daring exploits to engage in today. The third-person 3D viewpoint puts more of an emphasis on character and animation, and the designers have given her the grace of a gymnast and the strength of a bodybuilder. The animation is at times breathtaking in its grace and beauty. Marvel as she makes perfect swan dives into pools of water, does back flips while firing at various denizens of the tombs and makes leaps of faith to faraway crumbling platforms, holding on with only the tips of her fingers. Even Chow Yun Fat in a thousand John Woo movies couldn’t pull these moves off. The keyboard control scheme takes some getting used to, and can initially be cumbersome, but ultimately provides superb control for the seemingly endless number of moves that Lara can do. Lara blazes the feminist gaming trail set by such luminaries as Ms. Pac-Man; it’s too bad that the male designers chose to give Lara the gravity-defying chest of Pamela Anderson after her fourth set of breast implants (she could put out an eye with those things). While initial response shows that men are more than happy to cross-dress as a woman protagonist, women may be put off by this reinforcement of the Barbi physique stereotype. As wonderful as Lara is, the game would be another exercise in character marketing over gameplay (hello Crash Bandicoot) if it weren’t for the level design. Never before have you experienced a better sense of "I can’t wait to see what lies around the corner" than you’ll find in this game. On the third level, the "Lost Valley," you'll literally jump out of your shoes when you encounter a surprise inhabitant. The levels are massive (a map feature would have been appreciated), and full of nooks and crannies to explore. The secret areas aren’t found by running along walls trying to find secret panels; instead, you’ll find them by exploring the fringes of a level, looking for caves only accessible by insane leaps or weird combinations of jumping and climbing. The level design so immerses you in the game world that you may find yourself running around your house or apartment doing backflips while looking for hand grips so you can scale your walls. Where Tomb Raider differs from other games of its ilk is that there are actual puzzles to solve, even if most still are of the "find the key to open the door" variety. You’ll also spend a lot of time experimenting in rooms with different action techniques, looking for cracks in the walls that you can use to climb with and generally throwing your body around in all directions hoping you’ll stick to something. This is fun for one, as there’s no multiplayer play at all (as befitting a game that is predominantly exploratory), and those testosterone-addled teens who get off on graphic violence and body count will be disappointed by the gratuitous lack of both of them. That doesn’t imply that there’s a lack of action each of the 15 levels can take hours (maybe even days) to figure out, and are full of death-defying leaps and mind-boggling stunts. Who won't like this game? Let’s start with PETA activists, because your main target in the game are wild animals (how they managed to get in these sealed tombs is another story). The levels are full of wolves, lions and apes, and killing them in their natural habitat (remember, you’re invading their territory) is a bit disturbing. Where are those Nazis when you need them? Purists of perfect 3D will find a large number of holes in the 3D engine. Contrary to early reports, it's not better than the one found in Quake. It breaks up a lot, polygons will occasionally disappear, there’s a lot of bitmap tearing and clipping problems (Lara will appear to be one with a door or ledge). A high resolution mode is present, but few machines can handle it (the game didn’t ship with promised 3D card support, which is only a criticism for those few who currently own one of the supported cards). You could make an argument that the underrated Fade to Black blazed this trail almost two years ago, and it’s not hard to wish that someone would actually throw a compelling story in the mix, but neither of those things keep Tomb Raider from being anything but an unqualified success. Without the lure of multiplayer compensating for sloppy or uninspired design, it focuses on what has always made games great–gameplay that delivers a roller-coaster ride of thrills, spills and chills.

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