Tomb Raider : The Last Revelation

Click Box Art above to purchase (PC version)

A Techtite Review

Macintosh Version Available! Click Here to Order

Lara has been a staple of the holiday season four times by now. Using the same engine (with several tweaks along the way), Lara has taken us (or have we taken her?) to every locale under the desert sun, and beyond. Whether it was Egypt, Italy, the rooftops of London, or even her own home, It seems like we've gone with her practically...everywhere. Now, upon the release of game #4, can the designers offer us anything new? As it turns out, yes and no.

The game begins with a prologue, not unlike the third Indiana Jones film; we get to see a teenage Lara exploring her first tomb! Along with her is her explorer mentor, Verner Von Croy, whose "lessons" for young Lara are the replacement of the classic "Lara's mansion" training level of earlier TRs. As a result is my first gripe; this training mission isn't half as cool as exploring Lara's exotic millionaire mansion. It's important, however, to see what happened to Von Croy, because he's a major part of the later story.

After the training mission, you see Lara as she is today, and the main levels begin. These missions are pretty easy to "jump into" for Lara Croft fans; only a few differences are present. For one, Lara can now climb poles and ropes. While this new maneuver seems more forced-into the game than Indiana Jones' whip in The Infernal Machine, this move is used and re-used (and overused) from the very beginning. Unlike Indy, however, you can swing on the rope in the direction of your choice. In addition, while climbing walls and ladders, she can even climb around corners; a game engine tweak that has been a long time in coming. Other cool moments include driving a jeep and a motorcycle.

The bigger visual plus is in texture handling. Lara seems less like a rag doll, and more like a human being (of sorts). Although all characters have far better texture detail than prior games, Lara looks particularly better and more life-like. How intricate are these textures? Enough to make Lara's outfit choice very obvious; a one-piece thong bathing suit and shorts. Intriguing choice of adventure-wear, eh?

Then there are the levels. Every one of them is a return to Lara's Tomb Raiding roots, and that's a very good thing; no racing in a gondola in Venice or jumping onto construction cranes in London! I found the concept of "Egyptian bulls" a bit much, though all other enemies are relevant to the story; mummies, scorpions, and so on. While other game critics apparently found the pyramid environments redundant after a while, I found exploring them intriguing; it's hopping around the outside of the pyramid that I found so annoying (the opening is on top of a slippery pyramid? Why?). Elsewhere, however, the game has a few amusing surprises, such as fighting bad guys on top of a speeding train.

New visual effects equally enhance the game. When Lara climbs out of water, her clothes drip with realistic droplets that slowly reduce with time; a nice slice of realism. In one scene, Lara must complete a statue, and instead of having the missing piece suddenly "appear" on the statue, Lara climbs up and carefully places it there herself. Well done.

There are a flew grumbles, however. This might be mere personal opinion, but I felt that the coolest puzzles were only shown once, while dull puzzles are overused! In one scene, you see a man attacked by a giant scorpion; help him out, and a special key to an armory is yours. If this game indulged in more heroic moments like this --use your strongest ammo to save a life, get reward-- the game would've had a less redundant, "jump and shoot" feel to it. Instead, this is an exception to the jumping bean rule, and, seriously, how many jumping puzzles can one game have...? Other so-so puzzles are overused almost as much. Even the cool-at-first laser scope on your revolver becomes redundant.

This game has one giant flaw, however; one which makes me unfortunately have to relive the Drakan: Order of the Flame experience all over again; a pleasureless ending. Is it an open ending? That would be the good news! I don't want to give too much away, though allegedly, it's already been said by Eidos; this will be Lara's final adventure! To make this an even bigger, bitter pill to swallow, her final adventure seems to have been written by the same TWIT who made the classic Infocom text adventure, Infidel. IMHO, it is pretty annoying to have a game's finale try to squash you like a bug six times --even after vanquishing the final boss(!)-- only to reach a lackluster conclusion like this. Apparently, the "Infidel" Lara Croft needs to be punished...as do her fans.

"Bottom Line"...? Okay, I'll give it some credit for not being buggy upon release (a sad rarity these days), as well as excellent improvements in texture handling, AI, and FMV. In addition, this is one game that will keep you playing for a minimum week, even with the best walkthrough in hand. However, the final game was a bit of a let-down; too many death scenes, not enough reward...

	Final Rating : Small Crater. Flawed, and yet the best "tomb raiding" since the original! Fans of the series might want to check it out...and the Millennium Edition!
For more on this site's ratings system, click here.

To buy PC version of this game, click box picture at left. To buy the Mac-version, Click Here

Also available for the following game systems (click on system name to order): Dreamcast ,  Playstation