Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness review

Guess who's back for another adventure, yep you guessed it - Lara! This time though, the emphasis is on solving a murder rather than raiding tombs. It seems our ms. Croft killed her mentor, Werner von Croy during an argument in his flat in Paris. Although she has no recollection of what happened, she believes she's innocent. But is she? And how can she prove it with the cops hunting her down? New gameplay features include melee combat and the ability to sneak around and avoid detection. Perhaps most significantly, the graphics engine has had a total overhaul for the first time since Tomb Raider made it's debut back in 1996. And boy is Lara looking good! Her polygon count has gone up from 400 to 4000! The physics have also been enhanced to make her movements more realistic, I won't divulge any details, play and find out ;) The developers decided to keep her facial features cartoonish, even though they could have made her face look way more realistic if they wanted to. Although they didn't give a reason for this and it might seem crazy to deliberately hold back on such an important aspect, it actually makes sense. I think they weren't sure whether they wanted to make her look like Angelina Jolie or refine her existing "real" face. Well, they'll have to decide before Tomb Raider 7, because at the rate hardware technology is progressing, the "cartoon-look" card can only be played so long. A really cool new feature is in the cutscenes, for the first time ever Lara's mouth actually moves when she talks. Although there are not many major locations, there is plenty of diversity within those locations. The levels are well structured and there are some really well thought out action sequences and puzzles. The storyline is very good and the dark nature of this particular adventure is well realised. It genuinely feels foreboding and suspensful and this is something which is hard to get right in a game. Tomb Raider 6 has had a lot of criticism from fans, which surprised me as I really enjoyed it. Although the general setting is different to the previous titles, the gameplay which made them so successful is still there and there are lots of new features and greatly enhanced graphics, what more do you want people? All I have left to say is long live Lara and Tomb Raider! And I await the arrival of Tomb Raider 7 with the same excitement and anticipation I have had for each of the previous games! © Action Girls 2004.

Featured Action Girls: Lara, Boaz, female civilians.

Angel Of Darkness, Bloodrayne, Cate Archer, Drakan 1 and 2, Joan Of Arc, Lara Croft, NOLF, NOLF2, No One Lives Forever 1 and 2, Rynn, Tomb Raider series and other trademarks are all the intellectual property of their respective owners. We at Game Girls would like to acknowledge the official sites of these games for character biographies and certain wallpapers displayed on our site. We would also like to thank fans of the games for their contributions to our content. © Game Girls 2011.