Tomb Raider Appreciation Thread

[skittlebrau]

But there's a catch. This thread is only dealing with the Tomb Raider games for the PS1, so you won't find any Angel of Darkness or Legend here. Not even the games made for Game Boy Color or Advance. I'm also leaving out the PC versions, just because. And for the love of Allah we are not dealing with the movies, either. Suckaz.

Tomb Raider was the very first game I owned for PS1 and I became infatuated with it overnight. This might just be my favorite PS1 game (having a hard time choosing between this, Silent Hill and Twisted Metal 2). Love the plot involving Atlantis and the Scion, love the levels (especially the final Atlantis levels and Egypt...those damn cat mummies), and especially love the overall gameplay and fun factor. I think I <3 this game because I'm a huge history dork and I love watching shows on TLC, The History Channel and the like on ancient civilizations (yeah, so), so this appeals to me even more. God, just typing this up makes me want to play it again. Need to find it first, though :-$

Tomb Raider II was also fun, if not just slightly less so than the first one. I liked the plot involving the Dagger of Xian, and it was a nice change of pace to explore ancient China, Venice and the like instead of the usual Egypt/Greece/Rome settings. The floating islands level near the end with the flying warriors...woah. I could never get a clear view of where they were at, and they always scared the fuck out of me when I ran into them. Other than that nerve-wrecking level, this game is still highly enjoyed by me.

Tomb Raider III: ...hmm, more of the same. It was at this point that I thought the franchise was getting a bit repetitive. I've only played this game maybe twice (or maybe once and then got halfway through the second time, can't remember), and I can't seem to remember too much about it. Only that it involved a meteor crater and Antarctica. I was quite disappointed with this one, although it is a good game in its own right and I can't badmouth it too much since I only vaguely remember it...I just didn't think it was up to par with the first two. It's okay, because the next game totally kicks ass.

Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation: Holy shit. Just when I thought I was done with the franchise, they release this one and totally redeem themselves. This one is right up there with the first one as far as fun and awesomeness go. We're back exploring tombs and ancient history again, and that's the way (uh huh uh huh) I like it. Love how all the action takes place solely in Egypt, and I love the relationship between Lara and Werner that goes back quite a ways. God, do I hate those levels with the flesh-eating beetles >: I wouldn't mind popping this one in and playing it again.

Tomb Raider: Chronicles: A nice way to follow up The Last Revelation since that particular game ended with a cliffhanger. I really like this one 'cause you're delving into some of Lara's past expeditions which are fun...you know what? I'm gonna stop right here 'cause I'm running out of things to type and I've just become instalazy :-$ Just know that this game is quite awesome, too.

I really do love them all.

[kupomog]

As "inferior" as people thought the series was, I thought it was a great, great series. The controls never bothered me, the camera only slightly irritated me. The gameplay could be fairly difficult but I still managed to figure things out and boy was I ever proud. It did start to feel a little stale towards the end, unfortunately, but I still have great memories. The first three were the ones I would play simultaneously over the phone with my best friend in middle school. So awesome. She had a hard time playing so I would tell her what to do, but I also had to be doing it to know what I was talking about. So hilarious when we were playing the first game and in one level these raptors chase you down out of nowhere, and I had forgotten to mention that to her 'cause I already killed mine. I heard her freaking out and was just like "oh, yeah, there ARE raptors in there, sorry." :LOL:

So let's see, Tomb Raider was just plain neat, and the main theme was great. Loved visiting those old civilizations, I'm a history fan, too. I liked Lara's voice more in this game :-$ Some of the levels pissed me off a great deal, especially ones that dealt with height frequently because I hate heights and just the idea of her falling and going *CRACK* on the ground bugged me. Water levels also sucked, too...underwater stuff freaks me out. That stuff may have been attributed to camera problems but just the same. I had the most trouble with Rome and Egypt...St. Francis' Folly (fucking gorillas scared the crap out of me, the fuck are they doing there...and that HUGE room at the end with a long drop), the Cistern (water, FUCK), those Khamoon levels... Other than that the level designs were crazy cool...coliseum, Sphinx...looked neat for being all PS1 blockied. Oh, and Atlanteans scared the living daylights out of me, freakish. I had the hardest time beating the kinf Atlantean because I'd try to run and then I'd fall off the ledge and Lara would fall long enough to scream three times..

Tomb Raider 2 was neat because it was fairly more modern...you fight more humans, you go to Venice (AWESOME levels to me), then the oil rig (hated...yet loved), the sunken ship (WATER, FUCK), the monestary (too cool) and then there are those crazy ass floating island levels at the end (gave me hell). Those samurai-ish warriors were evil. Level designs were fairly impressive, always loved the scene where Lara changes into the diving suit in front of the old monk (?) at for like a split second it looks like his eyes get huge. Lara's house was also totally cool...the butler farted.. and I loved getting him stuck in the meat freezer.

Okay, Tomb Raider 3...had some fairly memorable levels but the rest are just kind of like vague to me. India (hated quicksand and the Shiva statues freaked me out, no surprise there) and Nevada/Area 51 are the two I remember the most and loved to death (mostly Nevada). I thought it was neat that you could pick whatever destination you wanted to go to next, but the others weren't as memorable to me. I think we went to London...and I know Antarctica was at the end. I guess this might be were I started to get a little bit bored too. Gameplay was still fairly cool, though. Lara's house getting even cooler.

Last Revelation and Chronicles were the two that I didn't play as much. Especially Chronicles, I don't think I ever even finished it. I enjoyed playing as young Lara in LR, but I can't remember too much otherwise. I know that I liked how everything looked a great deal better and felt less grid-based. I enjoyed the story with Von Croy. And I don't even remember the first level of Chronicles so...

..yeah, that should be it :-X

[skittlebrau]

Haha, totally forgot about the farting butler. I'd intentionally lock him in the meat freezer simply because he pissed me off, following me around everywhere I went. Maybe it was the sound of the tray he was carrying that I couldn't take anymore...but that was great.

[H Thompson]

I've only played 2,3 and 4 and I'd say it goes 4>2>3.

What I liked about 4, was how the levels felt more free roaming, you could go back and fourth between the different areas more so it blurred the line between the levels.
It also had a much more tightly focused story and somehow lara seemed more sympathetic in this one I guess because she had that other friend she interacted with that made her seem more human. Although I didn't quite understand the end boss, you put all these things in place to awaken this evil god, so you can then seal it up.

2 was my first experince with it and in fact, I never had a games console until I got a ps1 and TR2 was my joint first game along with the old incarnation of Pro Evoloution Soccer. Untill then my experince with games was mostly just old 2d platformers.
I think 2 had the best variety of levels, Venice was particulary memorable. I went to venice a couple of years ago and my brother and I kept rembering the levels and joking about it. The Temple of Xian was an absloutley epic level, just so overwhelming and really quite scary too. In a way it was the last level of the game, If you don't include the dragon boss and the floating islands where the staff seemed to go completley insane, I still enjoyed the islands, but it just didn't make any sense, it stretched the reality of the game a little too far.

3 was just too damn big, and every step of the way there's some trap to avoid, And it wasn't helped by how forumlaic it was getting along with a dull story. I was consulting a guide every step of the way for this one. Still some beautiful levels though. At least they were at the time