Tomb Raider: Chronicles

If eidos needed to make a fifth game for a franchise they were clearly tired of by this point, they certainly could've done worse than they did here even though they did drop the ball hard with one of the stories this game tells to keep the memory of Lara alive.

The set-up here is interesting as we're at the funeral of our heroine following the events of the previous game (she's totally dead guys, no way they could make another game after this) with her loved ones recounting her previously unheard of achievements in her life (presumably as unreliable narrators to skirt around continuity errors.) The first three adventures are all must have experiences as they see Lara retrieve the philosophers stone from Rome, infiltrate a Russian base for the spear of destiny and travel to Ireland as a teenage girl respectively. The Rome levels are where the continuity errors take place as it implies she kills both Pierre and Larson prior to meeting up with them in the first game, this is where I choose to believe that the narrators exaggerated their injuries that Lara inflicted on them especially given how she's portrayed more of the type of girl boss modern Disney is obsessed with in this story rather than the traditional girl boss we all know and love. The second story is interesting as it brings up her involvement in the dying days of the cold war that the films even reference given how touching this take is, it also brings back the stealth elements of the third game and plays them out really well, making it another story worth reliving. Ireland is by far the strongest point in the game as we control a teenage Lara who investigates an island that's haunted and is required to use her wit to survive its perils given how she lacks any weapons in these levels. This is where the acrobatic mechanics introduced in the game really shine as they lead to clever level design in a way that makes sense for her to swing on poles and walk on tightropes.

This is where my compliments for this game sadly ends as I can't in good faith say that it's anything more than decent due to what I'm about to talk about. Going back to the tightrope mechanic, it isn't great as Lara tends to overbalance far too often leading to a tedious mechanic that the game imposes on you far too often. It's not as terrible as the rope mechanic which returns from the last revelation and is more frequent here as well, but it's a drag, nonetheless. Theres also a ton of reused assets in this game, making it feel like an expansion pack to the previous game rather than a standalone title (that's my head cannon given how neither of these games had an expansion pack.) This leads to the final story told in the game which I can only interpret as a f**k you to everyone who wanted more Lara croft as it's a bad rip-off of the mission impossible franchise with its set up and includes several game breaking glitches in an obvious attempt to piss off fans who demanded more content in this franchise. I won't go over all of them here as this section has been thoroughly deconstructed by the internet already, but I don't think it's even possible to clear the final stage without cheating due to a door closing in on you after reloading a save. Don't even get me started on the cyborgs Lara has to defeat or the level she has to clear unarmed due to a metal detector preventing her from carrying her gun that she has to shut down in order to retrieve her weapon. The message was loud and clear with these levels, the developers were done with the franchise and any further entries would just bring more damage to it.

I wish the game didn't end on a sour note because there was still plenty of love and passion for the other stages in the game, perhaps having a second developer come in to rejuvenate the series was the way to go as that's exactly what would happen when the series was rebooted.

After the events of The Last Revelation, Lara Croft is presumed dead, and her friends gather for a memorial service at Croft Manor. Meanwhile, Von Croy is searching for evidence of Lara. As they discuss her adventures, you then play them.

The game has 13 levels which are split across 4 of these tales. So this time, there's no common narrative, but I guess it feels like Tomb Raider 1-3 where her adventure spanned the globe. The first part is in Rome, then a Russian submarine, then Ireland, then New York, and the settings change the gameplay. For example, you play as young Lara in Ireland who is unarmed, and has a horror theme. New York has stealth mechanics for many sections, and Lara looks more like Trinity from The Matrix.

Core churned out these games as a yearly franchise, and apparently they killed Lara off in the hope they could move onto a new franchise. However, Eidos, the publisher demanded a new instalment in the usual short timeframe, and this is what they came up with. To say they churned out the game, it's actually impressive. I do think I've got a little bored of the formula since The Last Revelation was really long, but at least this one is shorter. I'm quite surprised fans didn't like this game that much, because it actually plays closely to the previous games. Maybe people are just biassed towards the idea of it being considered a cash-grab, rather than a necessary, inspired game.

It was the last game in the franchise in the Playstation 1 era, and Core made their last on the Playstation 2 before the series got a reboot of sorts with Crystal Dynamics starting with Legend. (They then rebooted it again in more recent years).

The game has the same flaws that have hindered previous games, with the occasional unclear objectives, hidden interactive objects (sometimes the graphics just look like a bland texture), or placing doors out of sight of the camera. Sometimes you are expected to make awkward jumps or use non-obvious techniques to progress (one level suddenly introduces horizontal bars that you can swing from without explanation). When it is dark, I do wonder if you are supposed to use a flare, or if it is unintentionally dark due to the game engine. Ireland is very dark in general, but you have no flares which meant I missed a vital item which was placed in a dark cave. There's plenty of times where you don't know what your end goal is. In "Submarine", you basically get to the end room and place your items in a deep-sea diving suit. You could get there without the items so will have to backtrack. In "Sinking Sub", you have to shoot out a loose grate above you which most people won't notice and also you haven't done much before. The Submarine levels also introduces bookcases which you need to interact with to find certain items; the animation is incredibly slow, and there is nothing stopping you searching them again for no reward. You may need the Internet to help you overcome these awkward moments of game design.

The stealth elements in the final sections involve either walking behind an enemy, or moving based on patrol routes. There's even stealth parts in the Submarine which I think was jarring to most players as you have to walk up behind an unsuspecting chef, choose a crowbar from the inventory in order to dispatch him. Expecting the player to do things not previously introduced is bad game design. At least when the mechanic comes back, it's more obvious what you are doing when you pick up the chloroform (as long as the player has the knowledge of what that can be used for).

In the very first level, "Streets", you can turn down a side-path for a tutorial or proceed forward for the main level. I found it weird that it is not clear to the player this is the case though. You are introduced to the different strategies to jump and flip, and get to practise the new tightrope walking. This is very slow and boring but I think it was used a few times in Rome, then maybe once at the end. I think Lara wobbles a random amount of times as you move across, and you just hold the opposite direction when she does. You can now flip out of crawl-spaces instead of slowly turning around then slowly lowering yourself out - which was a massive pain in the previous game.

“Labyrinth” starts in a church with massive pews, and it goes all Resident Evil on you with changing camera angles. There's a puzzle which might just be trial and error then you have to run though ghostly skeletons with swords. I was unsure of the technique to get past them but with more trial and error, I survived.

In the final level, "Red Alert", many people seem to say that bugs can prevent your progress. I did have to reload in a few places in order to progress. There's a part where some enemies should burst through the ceiling, and then you can use their rope to swing yourself over to the next platform - but they didn't spawn in. After that, there is an enemy that is supposed to burst through a door, but he didn't for me, yet I could just pass through the door as if it wasn't there. After that, there is a helicopter that is gunning you down as you run. The first pass is supposed to have the floor intact, but it wasn't there for me, meaning I had to do the complex jumps in both passes. I think people often say it's the next section that glitches if you save the game. However, I saved a few times here and it was fine. I thought it was unclear what your objective was though, so make sure you have multiple save slots here because I think you essentially have one-shot to trap an enemy.

There's not as many items to collect since the chapters are self-contained. Most levels don't need you to switch weapons much, and Young Lara is unarmed. I think some people have said they have run out of ammo in the final level, but I had plenty left (although I did reload if I felt I used too much).

I couldn't get the Xbox controller working (Lara kept on moving, even after reconfiguring the "dead zone") and spent ages reconfiguring the controls to be comfortable for me. Once I had a set-up I liked, I was happy enough with the keyboard. I couldn't get the FMV sequences to display, so had to disable them (I could still see the in-game cut-scenes, but the overarching story uses FMV).

When you die, it takes you back to the main menu which is annoying. Even more annoying, New Game is the default option. What happened to popping up the load menu?

As previously stated, the game is surprisingly impressive to say it was supposed to be rushed and uninspired. If you like the old Tomb Raider formula, then I think you should like the game.