Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness

With a new Tomb Raider game coming out next year I understand the desire to make the classic Tomb Raiders available. While AoD technically falls under the umbrella of classic Tomb Raider it is anything but. It is a buggy, horrible mess that's not even worth $2.99, let alone the $9.99 GOG is asking for it. If I could've given this game less than 1-star I would have. AoD is an embarrasement to the Tomb Raider name.

This game had strong potential of becoming one of the best TR games or PS2 games because of the mighty legacy that the original TR games had back in the day. Sadly this game is one of the worst games ever created and it was the final nail in the coffin for Core Design and the TR franchise until Crystal Dynamics resurrected the franchise with 3 pretty good TR games. However Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness is very buggy, the controls are even worse than the previous entries in the series. I would only recommend buying this game if you want to get into game design and see just how bad a game can be.

After the fourth episode and the cliffhanger of what happened in Egypt, Core Design had the idea to make a new trilogy with a refreshed gameplay : urban environments (Paris, Prague), a deeper and darker script involving a secret society, stealth gameplay (maybe inspired by Splinter Cell, released the year before) and a kind of RPG feeling with dialogs and inventory. Too bad, the developers got caught by the reality when they were pushed to finish the game in order to stick with the release of the second movie (yes there was a sequel...). So what remains of these intentions ? Nothing. You are caught by the security in the Louvre ? Just shoot the guards to make your way. The loot and money you find ? Useless since there are no merchants (we can guess you were supposed to buy weapons, items, upgrades). They also "changed" Lara Croft by making her slower, which is a good idea for a stealth/ adventure gameplay but when it come to action, it's a chore to play. For example the first boss (the "ghost" with the paintings) will make you smash your head on your keyboard while the last one can be defeated with one hand (not to mention some tedious platform sequences...). When you gather what all the pieces of what the game should have been, it deserves 4 stars, but we have to judge the final product...

I really enjoyed Angel of Darkness (AoG). I am a tomb raider (TR) fan so I could appreciate what Core was trying to do in this game. AoG introduces a lot of new elements to the tomb raider formula, some work some don't. If you are new to TR you probably will not enjoy this game. First thing is the controls are just bad for the whole game. Laura does not react very fast to any of your inputs and sometimes will move forward when you want her to move backward. They are very clunky. There are times where you will take control of Kurtis, a new character, and his controls are even worse. Like any game over time you will get use to the controls. The game adds a lot to the formula and most of it feels like they never developed it fully. Like it never got past the idea stage. The game introduces a stamina bar, upper and lower body “strength” upgrades, a stealth mode, a pretty wide assortment of guns (most you never use), and a interesting dialog system. Most of these are pretty bad, but I appreciate them trying something new and not just putting out another game. The graphics are pretty solid compared to the Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation. By 2023 standards it looks bad, but I did enjoy the look. The game has a darker tone and Laura has a more determined look than in her other adventures. Core was taking the character in a new direction for once, which I think was a good thing. This game was planed to be part one of a three part trilogy, but the sales were so bad Core got pulled from making them and they rebooted the whole thing with another developer. Again, I really enjoyed it because I could see they were trying to take the series in a new direction and some of the ideas are interesting. The stamina system is nice and depending on what dialog choices you make, you get more information from certain characters. If you are looking for a classic Tomb Raider experience, this is not it though. I finished it with no fixes and an xbox controller.

They did hype this game as a new, dark and exciting direction for the Lara Croft character, but instead they somehow gave us this and many who were fans couldn't believe it was the same game they'd been talking about. I was bitterly disappointed by it's gameplay and story. It proved to me that the Tomb Raider series really was at an end (along with Legend, which was also a mistake). And they utterly wasted Joss Ackland's voice talents in this.