Tomb Raider

"Tomb Raider is truly outstanding and the start of an amazing series"

Tomb Raider... a game that you may be completely unaware of, as it is the first of the fantastic TR series. Sure, the series has had its downfalls, but also its strengths. Core Design came up with a very good game here, and it's grown into one of the best video game series in history. A woman by the name of Lara Croft.... raiding these awesome tombs in search of secret treasures... but what's nice is that Lara doesn't get these artifacts for profit or their secret powers, but for the simple beauty of having them in her trophy room.

My review will tell you all about what is so great about this game.

GRAPHICS- 5/10

This may have been one of the only downfalls in the game. Of course, this is on the PS console, and furthermore, it's one of the earlier PS games, so you'd expect the graphics to be a bit sloppy. From a long-distance perspective, the graphics don't actually look muddy at all. They are very realistic if you look at them from a ways away, but if you're up close, they look very pixelly. I suppose this is no big deal, as the game's superb gameplay covers up for this. Lara is very blocky and not well-made, so don't play this game if you're just doing it for Lara. This game is about pure gameplay, not graphics.

The game is also littered with bugs. However, as I say this, you may be thinking: "Okay, all of this talk about bad graphics is making me think I shouldn't get this game." Well, actually, the bugs in Tomb Raider are actually very fun to use! The designers have been quite careless in some areas, but it's all for the better, because the graphics are very to try out and use. If you ever get the game, I suggest that you check out ColinC10's Glitches FAQ for TR1- it includes nearly every glitch found in the game!

STORYLINE- 7/10

The storyline is very unique, and I won't give you a lot of info, but a woman asks Lara to retrieve a mythicological object called the Scion, which is located in a tomb in Peru. And you'll have to find out the rest yourself. The thing I was disappointed in was that there were little cinematic sequences, and even these were still pixelly, and the mouths of our characters don't move at all. Again, this is probably due to the early games on the PS, but still, I do think that the mouths could atleast move!

GAMEPLAY- 10/10

Holy cow, this is where the game shines. From the valleys of Peru to the tombs of Egypt, you'll be enjoying every bit of your experience. Lara must jump, roll, sprint, and climb her way to victory. I won't spoil anything about your locations, but Lara will travel to Peru, Greece, Egypt, and a lost city in her travels, all of which are designed differently with different enemies. Have I talked about the enemies yet? They are some of the most sneaky, cool, and tough enemies that have ever been designed, and you'll have a blast shooting at them with your arsenal- a pair of pistols, a shotgun, two magnums, and some blazing Uzis! Puzzlement is found very frequently, as Lara must survive timed traps, spiked pits, deadly chasms, tricky gauntlets, and much more to move along. She must also pull switches, activate pressure plates, throw levers, and much more to get into further locations.

LENGTH- 8/10

Long enough. I personally think that they could have added perhaps a bonus level, but whatever. This game in itself is good enough, and a bonus level wouldn't make a whole big of difference, but something nice to be treated at the end of the game. Most levels get longer as you go along through the game, which is kind of nice.

Also, there aren't any unlockables. This isn't a big deal, as unlockables are simply something nice to have in a game, but not real effective in the main play. The only unlockable (which is very cool) is that Lara gets all weapons with unlimited ammo if she restarts the game. How sweet is that? You can pop those killer bats with your Uzis in the first level. :)

MUSIC- 9/10

Wow..... the music is simply brilliant. The musical tunes play whenever you step into a dangerous area, fight a big, bad enemy, or when you solve an ancient mechanism (or, for that matter, enter an ancient area). Some music tracks are really exciting and adventurous, while others are soothing and relaxing, and some just make you feel like you've accomplished something. :) Oh, and the nice thing about the Tomb Raider disc is that if you put it into a CD player, it'll actually play music from the game. How sweet is that?!?!? There are 57 tracks total (55, since 2 of them are apparently for data and don't play anything) and they are either music tracks from the game or characters' voices.

REPLAY VALUE- 10/10

This game is very fun to replay, as you can try new methods of defeating enemies and even discover hidden items that you were previously unaware of. And furthermore, you get all weapons with unlimited ammo, so why not? This game is pretty old, and while most people would forget about their old PS games, this one will never be forgotten- or almost any of the TR series for the PS.

OVERALL- 9/10

Positives
+ Female character
+ Great gameplay
+ Plenty of action
+ Storyline is interesting
+ Long & challenging
+ Cool environments
+ Replay value is high

Negatives
- Graphics look sloppy from close
- Few cinematics give little info
- Very pixelated chracters/enemies

And so that's my review. As you can see, I've rated a few categories somewhat low, but the reason for this is that the game doesn't focus around these parts. The game has a focus on gameplay and storyline, not graphics and a hot girl. I hope that this review has helped you decide whether or not you should buy/rent the game- and you should most definitely BUY it- so thank you!

Also check out the rest of the series of Tomb Raider, as well as my reviews for Legend and Anniversary. These two games are also great ones for the PS2!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/13/07, Updated 11/19/07

Game Release: Tomb Raider (US, 11/15/96)