Tomb Raider: Chronicles (PlayStation)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 3.5 stars Very good
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 7.2 (3.5 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Joe Fielder
• Reviewed on: 11/20/2000
• Updated on: 05/17/2006
• Originally published on GameSpot: Tomb Raider: Chronicles (PlayStation) Review

Five years ago, when most games were making their first tentative steps into the third dimension, the fully 3D worlds of the original Tomb Raider and Super Mario 64 were a revelation. Since then, the fact that we've seen four new editions to the Tomb Raider line - each with the sort of incremental upgrades customarily found in sports game series like EA's Madden and Sony's GameDay - in a such short time has ultimately robbed the property of any sort of excitement.

Still, you can't help but believe that there are tens of thousands of game players out there just waiting for word that it's all clear - it's safe to come back to the Tomb Raider series, it's as fun as it was before. And the truth is that there actually is some glimmer of that original shine to be found here. Even if the gameplay in Tomb Raider Chronicles is essentially the same as that of Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation and the others, the game is solidly made, and many of the rough edges found in the series' earlier incarnations (problematic camera angles, touchy control, and so on) have been smoothed.

The premise of this year's model is that our heroine, Lara Croft, is missing and presumably dead, but that doesn't stop her from appearing in flashback form. After her memorial service, several of her friends gather at Croft Manor to recount tales of her adventures, which you then play. One episode places her in Rome; another on a Russian nuclear submarine, hunting for the fabled spear of destiny; another in the moors of Ireland; and another still in a fight against the storyteller himself.

While Ms. Croft can still be found running, jumping, climbing, and shooting exotic animals, the game's puzzles have moved away from shoving blocks around and closer to using stealth. This stealth element is nowhere nearly as developed as it is in games like Konami's Metal Gear Solid or Activision's Tenchu, though. For instance, in one case, Lara has to quietly walk up behind an enemy, choose a crowbar out of her inventory, and brain him. As such, it's not very gripping and could have been far more developed, but it ends up as a nice minor break from the norm at the very least. The mainstays of the series - puzzles in which you need to perform a series of complex jumps, climbs, and long distance runs in a short period of time - are its real focus, and elements such as tightrope walking and target shooting have been thrown in for good measure.

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