Tomb Raider II

"The golden road for an aspiring game company."

In 1998, Core game designers dropped a virtual bombshell on the video-gaming world. This was to be known as the sequel of the Game ''Tomb Raider''. Its predecessor caught paved the way for it, and it sold like hot cakes. This game is Tomb Raider II.

Graphics: 7/10
Since this was one of the first games on the PlayStation gaming console, the graphics were not as smooth and up-to-date as the are commonly known to be know. You could see the squares in there, as it was a little bit choppy, but I think that over-all, they did a pretty good job on graphics of you running, swimming, jumping, shooting, etc.

I think that one main point that they made when doing the graphics in this game is Lara Croft herself. She is the main character of the game. She is a Brittish explorer who likes to do stuff like..... raid tombs! They did a good job on advertising to men and boys, because they made sure she was good and correct.... anatomically correct, that is!
This is only one thing that attracts people to play, but in the current films made of Tomb Raider, they made sure to express that fact once more.

Gameplay: 9/10
The gameplay is pretty good, here. Tomb Raider II is an Action/Adventure game, so there are obviously going to be some weapons! How she gets some of these weapons, I have no idea, however, they are there are they let your enemies know who's boss. You can choose from dual-pistols, an Uzi, rifles, and if I remember correctly, you can get a rocket launcher.

A lot of the aiming is done for you. For example, if there are birds trying to kill you, she will automaticly aim up at them and you just have to fire. One other cool thing about shooting is if there are... say.. a person and a bird coming at you. She points one gun at the person and one at the bird, leaving the shooting up to you. There are many enemies to take down, including rabid dogs, huge cats, humans, birds, even barracudas and sharks! The gameplay is a good, strong nine out of ten.

Sounds: 8/10
There are really not too man sounds to rate, here. If this was an RPG, there would be back-ground music or something, but this isn't that kind of game. You need the quiet to listen for enemies approaching. If birds are coming for you, you can hear them make noises, same with people and other things.

As you walk or run alone the areas, you make some noises according to what you are walking or running in. You can always tell if you are in a wet area or not, because of you can actually hear the sound of her feet splashing in the puddles of water and then hitting the ground after that. They did a good job with that.

Over-all
This game can probably be bought for under twenty dollars, now. If you like the movies and want to compare them to the games, then this is a good one to get. It also comes on PC. I would recommend it to anyone.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/25/03, Updated 07/25/03