Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness

With a Tomb Raider 5 that was really no more than a Tomb Raider 4 expansion pack sold full price, CORE Design really had to get their head straight with that one. The game was full of promises during its development and got a lot of people excited - melee combat, a new playable character, a more define and open story, sounds amazing! But as we all know today, CORE failed this really hard, and the title fell so flat on its bottom that the dev team never got another chance. Where do I begin about what is wrong with this game ? There is so much to tell. Is it that Lara spends most of the game in a generic denim jacket and jeans, only to get into an even more disappointing black goth inspired outfit ? Is it that the game has terrible controls (especially on PC, the mouse controls still haunt me to this day) ? Is it the visual aspect of the game that utterly fails at producing anything memorable or even take advantage of the PS2's raw power compared to an aging PS1 ? Is it the stamina bar that depletes when trying to even climb something ? Or is it the random unexplained and nonsensical RPG elements such as pushing a crate to get stronger so you can break a lock ? Angel of Darkness is really a full failure, that made no sense and feels like a waste of time more than anything else. Even if you are a full fan of the series, this is still a very bad title to avoid altogether. Thankfully Crystal Dynamics saved the Franchise with Legend and the amazing Anniversary.

I'm on the side of those TR fans that enjoyed it despite all its flaws. The graphics are quite nice and a huge improvement over the previous games, and the scenarios are quite nice too. There is a good level of exploration involved, and quite a lot of shooting, and that made it enough to make it at least enjoyable to me. That said, let's go with the bads. The story is a mess, and the most clear indication that this game was not finished. Characters are just not being introduced into the story, they just show up, and you should know who they are, and the biggest WTF for me was the end boss. When it revels it's true identity, Lara pronounces his name like they already met before, which never happened!!. It's just impossible to follow, and the RPG element, full of silly dialogues, don't make it easier. More often than not, it just makes you waste your time. But story telling was never the strong point of any TR for me, but complex level design and tight controls. As I said, the levels are pretty cool, although for a game called Tomb Raider, there should be some more tombs... but I guess that was the idea of the game, to change scenarios a little bit. Controls on the other hands ARE NOT!!. Lara now runs so slow that feels like she is jogging, and is very hard to calculate the appropriate distance for a long jump. Let alone the fact that the same Lara Croft that was able to move blocks 10 times her weight, now can't hang from a rope or wall for more than a few seconds. It feels very different, but still feels like a TR games. But paying 9.99 bucks for this game alone, is just a scam. If it were included with LR and Chronicles, it would be different story, but standalone, I wouldn't pay more than 1 buck for it.

I played this game on PS2 multiple times and even with its jank I enjoyed it for what it was. I thought I would go back again and play it on PC, but I CANNOT play this game with MnK. I tried using a controller on PC, but that just does not work out the box. Google/The Internet seems to have "fixes" for using a controller, but its just too complicated for me to try for such an old and janky game, so I gave up trying. Disappointed I couldn't go back and play this, as I was able to go back and play TR 1 to Chronicles with no issue on PC.

I'm not going to pretend this is a good game. I just have a sort of soft spot for it, that's all. I played through this when I was about 12 years old and didn't really know a damn thing about gaming, so much so that I didn't fully realize I was playing a broken game. (For instance, my 12-year-old self wondered why, when Lara fired one bullet, my ammo counter read that she fired two. When I think about it, though, I admit I'm a little impressed that I beat the game using half the ammo allotted to me. But that's beside the point.) If I bought this game today, I would be furious over how buggy it is. The story and locales are interesting, the variety in weapons is nice, and the game is of a very decent length...but it's broken. There's just no getting around it. And it's too bad because this wouldn't have been a bad game if it had just been completed before it hit the shelves. TL;DR: If you're not a hardcore Tomb Raider fan, then skip. If you're a sucker for TR and are looking for a nostalgia trip, then go for it. Angel of Darkness isn't worth any more than its ten buck price tag.

Game had a lot of potential to be one of the best in series. Instead, it failed. It feels like unfinished product. Game is glitchy, very clunky, with frustrating controls, and it has great holes in storyline. There's moments where it shines. It feels like real adventure, sometimes reminds me od point-and-click games. There's moment with great immersive atmosphere. Music is fantastic! But closer to the end, from half of the game, things start to fall apart. I recommend it only for big TR fans.