In many ways, Tomb Raider 2 represents a quantum leap forward for the series, and it's the title that cemented Lara Croft as an icon of pop culture. The first one build a foundation of glob trotting adventures, the sequel erected a monument. A quickly glued together monument as I soon found out. A monument that manages to amaze you but dont look too close or it will clearly show its many cracks due to a blazingly fast dev cycle. With design decisions that lead me to absolute controller snapping frustration at times. I was still determind to see it through to the end, be it do to my new found love for the first game or my general couristy for retro games. And as much as TR2 turned out to be a very cruel mistress, I wanted to see for myself why so many fans see this as the peak of the series.
Tomb Raider 2 starring Lara Croft has you follow the British adventurer to the Great Wall of China, where she hopes to uncover a mystical Chinese dagger. Upon finishing the first level, we are treated with a similar cutscene to the end of the first game's stage. Lara is ambushed by a henchman, and we get a brief exchange explaining what the goal of the rest of the game is going to be. Turns out theirs a Venetian cult after the Dagger as well, led by a man named MARCO BARTOLI! So the race is on to find the artifact before they do. The story is more fleshed out than before, but not by much in my opinion. There is more of a through line for the levels, but by the end Core Design have made it clear that this is only a vehicle to drive the exploration. You are here for the badass Girl on the cover and her no fucks given attitude. You bought the game to explore spectacular locations and shoot bad guys, and that's what your getting.
And spectacular locations they are indeed. Tomb Raider 2 tops the first game in big ways. From the Great Wall of China in the opening to giant underwater ship wrecks, the leap in quality is honestly incredible. The latter being my absolute favorite level in the game. Many people may pick Venice or the Temple of Xia as their number one but for me, it's the Maria Doria. Swim to the bottom of the ocean and enter an upside down wreck of a cruise liner ? Get out of here, that's too good. It represents the absolute gold standard Core Design can achieve with excellent level design. They really have managed to strike a great balance of linear levels and sprawling key hunts the player can just get lost in. Other highlights include the entire set of Venice stages, the Barkhang Monastery and the mad gauntlet when returning to the Temple of Xia. The atmosphere once again kills across all the levels. The finale in the Temple of Xia is especially strong, and it also represents the perfect segway to talk about the best and worst aspects of the gameplay.
There has been an overall increase in difficulty, and it expects much more from the player in terms of knowing Lara's improved move set. Croft Manor has therefore been greatly expanded. There are better opportunitys to test your skills in high stress situations with additions like the new assault course, and the manors many new secrets. I highly recommend you not skip this tutorial stage, not only because it will help teach you the controls, but also because it's a tone of fun. Don't forget to lock the butler in the freezer. Going into the actual levels though, as much as I applaud the new movement options, midair roll and all, the level design often seems to utterly hate you. There are many, many instances of traps you can't possibly see coming unless you died to them at least once. A specific slide in Offshore Rig comes to mind. Where Lara will slide straight into a spike trap unless the player knows to slide down the exact right way the designers intended and grab the ledge. Your ability to tolerate the many similar situations in almost every level is what will make or break the game for a lot of people in my opinion. I can also extend that olive branch of shit to the less than stellar vehicle segments. The boat in Venice was a neat idea, but I have to give a big shout-out to the fkn snowmobile in Tibetan Foothills. A seemingly weightless snowmobile made out of paper and fueled with dynamite that loves to send you speeding off cliffs when you just want Lara to go in a straight line. Hope you saved a lot. Tibetan Foothills is by far the worst stage in the game, and it even manages to be the shining lowpoint for another bad aspect of TR2: The combat. Combat needed serious improvements, Combat has in fact seen no improvements. Pretty much all it comes down to is that they increased to amount of enemies present in each stage aswell as how much ammo they tank. You do have more weapons now, like the M16 and Grenade Launcher, but that doesn't help when litteral armies of angry Italian men, various wildlife and ancient Chinese warriors have it out for you. You will see many familiar scenes of Lara being pushed into corners, riddled with bullets and getting speared to death followed by reloading. Hope you saved a lot.
Even all that controller snapping frustration, I still came away loving the game more than the original by the time I reached the surprisingly cheeky ending. Maybe I contracted a sever case of stockholm syndrome but I think it once again speaks volumes about Core Designs masterful ability to make absolutely engrossing levels, a compelling main character and a journey that clearly showed me why Lara's fan base has stayed so loyal to her. Tomb Raider 2 kept me deeply hooked like no other game and while I'm still going to take a break from the series for a bit, I can not wait to return and see what Tomb Raider 3 has in store for me.
Tomb Raider 2 starring Lara Croft has you follow the British adventurer to the Great Wall of China, where she hopes to uncover a mystical Chinese dagger. Upon finishing the first level, we are treated with a similar cutscene to the end of the first game's stage. Lara is ambushed by a henchman, and we get a brief exchange explaining what the goal of the rest of the game is going to be. Turns out theirs a Venetian cult after the Dagger as well, led by a man named MARCO BARTOLI! So the race is on to find the artifact before they do. The story is more fleshed out than before, but not by much in my opinion. There is more of a through line for the levels, but by the end Core Design have made it clear that this is only a vehicle to drive the exploration. You are here for the badass Girl on the cover and her no fucks given attitude. You bought the game to explore spectacular locations and shoot bad guys, and that's what your getting.
And spectacular locations they are indeed. Tomb Raider 2 tops the first game in big ways. From the Great Wall of China in the opening to giant underwater ship wrecks, the leap in quality is honestly incredible. The latter being my absolute favorite level in the game. Many people may pick Venice or the Temple of Xia as their number one but for me, it's the Maria Doria. Swim to the bottom of the ocean and enter an upside down wreck of a cruise liner ? Get out of here, that's too good. It represents the absolute gold standard Core Design can achieve with excellent level design. They really have managed to strike a great balance of linear levels and sprawling key hunts the player can just get lost in. Other highlights include the entire set of Venice stages, the Barkhang Monastery and the mad gauntlet when returning to the Temple of Xia. The atmosphere once again kills across all the levels. The finale in the Temple of Xia is especially strong, and it also represents the perfect segway to talk about the best and worst aspects of the gameplay.
There has been an overall increase in difficulty, and it expects much more from the player in terms of knowing Lara's improved move set. Croft Manor has therefore been greatly expanded. There are better opportunitys to test your skills in high stress situations with additions like the new assault course, and the manors many new secrets. I highly recommend you not skip this tutorial stage, not only because it will help teach you the controls, but also because it's a tone of fun. Don't forget to lock the butler in the freezer. Going into the actual levels though, as much as I applaud the new movement options, midair roll and all, the level design often seems to utterly hate you. There are many, many instances of traps you can't possibly see coming unless you died to them at least once. A specific slide in Offshore Rig comes to mind. Where Lara will slide straight into a spike trap unless the player knows to slide down the exact right way the designers intended and grab the ledge. Your ability to tolerate the many similar situations in almost every level is what will make or break the game for a lot of people in my opinion. I can also extend that olive branch of shit to the less than stellar vehicle segments. The boat in Venice was a neat idea, but I have to give a big shout-out to the fkn snowmobile in Tibetan Foothills. A seemingly weightless snowmobile made out of paper and fueled with dynamite that loves to send you speeding off cliffs when you just want Lara to go in a straight line. Hope you saved a lot. Tibetan Foothills is by far the worst stage in the game, and it even manages to be the shining lowpoint for another bad aspect of TR2: The combat. Combat needed serious improvements, Combat has in fact seen no improvements. Pretty much all it comes down to is that they increased to amount of enemies present in each stage aswell as how much ammo they tank. You do have more weapons now, like the M16 and Grenade Launcher, but that doesn't help when litteral armies of angry Italian men, various wildlife and ancient Chinese warriors have it out for you. You will see many familiar scenes of Lara being pushed into corners, riddled with bullets and getting speared to death followed by reloading. Hope you saved a lot.
Even all that controller snapping frustration, I still came away loving the game more than the original by the time I reached the surprisingly cheeky ending. Maybe I contracted a sever case of stockholm syndrome but I think it once again speaks volumes about Core Designs masterful ability to make absolutely engrossing levels, a compelling main character and a journey that clearly showed me why Lara's fan base has stayed so loyal to her. Tomb Raider 2 kept me deeply hooked like no other game and while I'm still going to take a break from the series for a bit, I can not wait to return and see what Tomb Raider 3 has in store for me.
Another old game available on PC, another prelude to talk about making this work. Granted, one step is similar to TR1, which is using the Automated Fix Carlmundo made, and you’re set there if that’s all you want, but using an open source rework this time around is a bit more involved. There’s a guide available to use Arsunt’s TR2Main, the program that makes the PC port a lot more like the PS1 counterpart in terms of fidelity and features, and while it isn’t too involved to set up, I imagine some would rather prefer a “Just Works” approach, which is why I listed these two. You can use both at the same time like I did if you delete any files related to dgVoodoo. Also, since I can’t quite find a place to fit this into the review proper, know the knowledge that Lara Croft appeared on U2's PopMart tour, and this game had two wild "Where The Boys Are" spots.
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From my understanding and through all my digging, Tomb Raider II is generally considered to be one of the best titles in the series, at the very least a worthy follow up to the first game. From playing and formulating each forum post and what have you, it took what was previously established, hardened its difficulty both in exploration and action fundamentals, all while expanding the breadth of scope and scale of the level design with a simultaneous focus on the linear, compact nature that had been dabbled with prior. The first level, Great Wall, is a bit of an appetizer in this regard; while TR1’s Caves eases players into the game’s tricks and philosophies with careful enemy placement, obstacle courses, and overall room layout, TGW instead opts to throw them into the thick of it regardless on if they’re a greenhorn thrillseeker or a returning adventurer, what with having a tiger spawn at a specific point after dropping in to the level over on the right, a secret not too far from where you’re supposed to climb over on the lefthand side, and a majority of its second act running from boulders, spiked walls, crumbling floors, and rolling blades. This is something I expected akin to Late Greece/Early Egypt, but I wonder if that was the point of it. In regards to Croft Manor, the estate now boasts a full-on obstacle course, more of the ground level in the actual estate becoming available, and a secret treasure room from Lara’s time in Egypt waiting to be discovered, alongside Winston the Butler being a new, albeit added late into production, character who’s fun to mess with, as well as Judith Gibbins being the new voice thanks to her brother, Core Design programmer Martin Gibbins, telling her about the role’s availability. Some big changes were made to the formula, which worked to its benefit and occasional detriment. All that being said, let’s back up a bit and go over that production period.
I’ve leaned into Wesley Yin-Poole of Eurogamer’s and Richard Moss of Ars Technica’s reflection articles published years ago - and it’s something I’ll continue doing as I go along for this era - for a variety of reasons, chief among them being that it’s important to stress how this all snowballed into the first wave’s demise. Core, wanting to capitalize off the spontaneous popularity and success, not only had a sequel already in mind, but conducted numerous brand and commercial dealings, resulting in situations like Lara Croft doing pin-up renders and other propped-up doll showings. Scandals like “Nude Raider” also took off, which itself landed a retort and in-joke by having Lara blow up upon doing an input related to it. This whole debacle and sneer of attention was getting to Toby Gard, annoyed that Croft was being propagated as a Bond Girl instead of, well, a normal, free-spirited one. Now, there’s probably a bit of embellishing since this was the dude who made the handstand posture as well as sketched early designs more catered to his tastes, but nonetheless it’s an understandable ire of seeing something you created warped by your publishers for publicity sake. Not to mention, after that game’s success Gard and Paul Douglas received tons of positions from American studios such as… Interplay and Shiny Entertainment? Oh geez, I wonder how those timelines are like. Anyway, among other reasons this manifested into a stubbornly harsh atmosphere during production for a new, unrelated game project the two plus Gavin Rummery were trying to establish, before the latter swapped back over to TR2’s team in agitation. At some point, either before, during, or after the room bubble, Gard and Douglas were offered to either work on an N64 port of TR1, or follow suit in creating the sequel. Both of these options didn’t sit well for them, so they decided to leave and form Confounding Factor in pursuit of creative freedom and personal marketing decisions, and this leads to a rather hectic life span for the game they worked on, Galleon, which is a whole separate matter. The aforementioned TR2team in question consisted mainly of those who worked on the first game to some degree, as well as a few new faces such as animators Stewart Atkinson and Joss Charmet, all working on this for eight months, a crunch period even harsher than before. Co-designer Neil Boyd said he got a divorce during this due to the workload, Rummery remarked that he felt horrible and only thought of the work, usual coffee intakes and sleeping in the offices, it was a mess, and one that’ll continue to escalate as the brand becomes more notable and they focus on getting these out on a yearly basis. As far as this entry is concerned, the cracks don’t show themselves… too strongly, anyway.
As stated before, TR2’s difficulty curve is whetted into a much tougher and grueling ordeal, focusing more on a linear endeavor though the open-ended approach still gets some play every now and then. In terms of technical upgrades, there’s a huge boon gained after Adrian Smith has talked about scrapping a Saturn port due to, as outlined in Sega Saturn Magazine #21, not being able to support these upgrades the PS1 and PC were capable of incorporating, such as more dynamic camera angles, environmental details, and overall just an improved sense of grandeur and scope. There’s two vehicles you can procure overall, and having to activate flares amongst the darkened caverns or rooms gives way for creative lighting and tone. For a more specific example, Venice’s canal starts off tight and insular, but grows into a more robust series of hotspots as you progress further in the sewer system, and further to an interconnected block just before Italian cult leader Marco Bartoli’s hideout. There’s new acrobatic tricks to utilize such as mid-air flips for positional advantage against the newly added human adversaries or puzzle-solving, and being able to climb up on vines, ladders, anything that seems like you can put your hands on and go upward, all of which are necessary to do the first third where you have to obtain the boat from a locked storage shed by jumping through windows to different rooftops. It took a bit to get a handling of, especially in regards to the boat, but once all these additions clicked into place, it was a lot of fun breezing through each section and figure out how to get by the gate safely, culminating in a delightfully over-the-top setpiece. The Deck feels more akin to the “focal room” angle Midas’ Palace and Obelisk Of Khamoon had, with the verticality and general layout centering on a lost, crippled ship dubbed the Maria Doria (this set of levels are one big Disaster movie homage, specifically 1972’s Poseidon Adventure). Not only do you have to go through the differing levels of the ship and its scattered parts to unlock the Seraph necessary to open a gate in Tibet, but you’re also gonna have to go through the expansive cave systems necessary to even progress to these sections in the first place. Your positioning in regards to enemies feel a lot more advantageous, being able to get the drop on them or even just firing far away at a safe distance with your guns, even against the sharks underwater where you can find land, get to shore and whittle them away safely. More careful use of shimmies, standing and running jumps, as well as swimming through the various water are expected, though granted this game does have an affinity for planting you into spots where you have to take damage of varying strength just to progress, such as a large drop to a raft containing a cabin key holding a large medpack before doing the action in question, but overall it’s a rather marvelous place to handle, perhaps my favorite in the game.
While there’s now usage of more contemporary settings, I don’t find this diminishes the archeological aspect, and if anything, it helps make the transitions of an area’s underbelly contain more weight, aiming for grave modernity than old legends and abandoned civilizations. Traditionally they may not be tombs, but functionally they share the same principles: the ending of Batroli’s Hideout and skirmishes of other residential areas, transitioning from a sunny day to a blackened night as your sights are set upon the rotted and decayed Opera House; escaping an Offshore Rig meant to hold you captive whisks you over to the outskirts of SS Poseidon’s distant cousin, swimming from below the capsized vessel before emerging on its broken, right sided hulls; the Tibetan footholds, alongside the Barkhang Monastery it leads to, place you into numerous different challenges, bracing you for what’s to come in the catacombs and ice palace that lay beneath, as well as the scenarios deeper inside the forgotten temple way back in China. The isolationist feeling permeating throughout the first game’s adventure has transmogrified into a different one altogether: grit. Before you felt as though something could be there, anything, but you’re hopeful it’ll lead to some goods. Now, you always feel something observing you, and whatever it is, it’s better to take the first shot. A lot of the sound cues from TR1 carry over to this, and yet again the implementation of them carries a different connotation despite the similar locale, such as hearing the gorey Atlantis’ heartbeat and droning ambiance on the rustic and foundered Maria Doria, or the chants of various temples becoming a lot more spiritually aligned with the monk-populated Barkhang Monastery. Even the arrangement of the main theme is reflective of this change, sounding a lot more melancholic and introspective than ever. Quite honestly, I’m stunned Nathan McCree was able to get all of this done within three months under such harsh conditions and tools at disposal.
Combat was something I dreaded even before the start. Numerous times I’ve elaborated how each game or expansion dead set on focusing with this aspect was largely their millstones, so I had to brace myself for this one knowing its new action focus meant having to fight more often considering the reviews on here. Surprisingly enough, though, not only did I enjoy it, I dare say it contains some of the best combat scenarios I’ve experienced thus far. A lot of it comes down to weapon usage feeling more important than the other games, with only one or two feeling underutilized in any fashion. In a tight hallway with no room to reliably pivot away from enemies? Pull out the shotgun due to its tight spread and pellet size dealing bigger damage. Positioned in a way that enemies can’t get to you quickly, if at all? Use either the M16 for more distant adversaries, the automatic pistols for middle-range places, or the regular pistols if they REALLY can’t touch you. Uzis are still the go-to choice due to their abundance of ammo as well as consistent streak of damage and range, but you can also use the grenade launcher if you want a nice and quick “FUCK YOU” to anyone getting in your way. If you hate yourself, you can also use the harpoon gun, a tool that does poor damage regardless of being in the water or not, and always has to reload after just four shots. While I won’t deny there’s classic hitscan bullshit, as well as enemy placements and/or spawn points being particularly harsh, I can’t say I truly had a miserable time in this regard. It asks more about jumping and dodging their line of sight through various means than anything, and while it definitely could’ve had some trimming done to downscale the human foes (the start of the Maria Doria section would be a lot more impactful if they weren’t around until at least the last third of Living Quarters), there’s still a balance of narrative involvement of these goons, as well as the local fauna being around their home turf. It also helps when you realize each gun’s kit, such as the M16 having two states whether you’re grounded or mobile, the grenade launcher having a fixed lob to take into account when dealing with enemies going around corners, and the aforementioned spread of the shotgun.
There’s definitely aspects in the sequel that felt maligned and lost when compared to the first game. I don’t find secret finding to be especially thrilling this time around since there’s more obvious and “right in front of you” placements of them compared the previous outing where you really have to dig through the environment or obstacles to get rewards, though I will admit sprucing the formula so that you get a hefty reward of ammo after nabbing three dragon statuettes instead of the supplies being the secrets make it a worthy tradeoff. While not at all the center of appeal, for a more deliberate fixation on the John Woo-esque action movies the plot and cutscene direction feel more ho-hum comparatively, rarely containing more bombastic moments to top off the elevator torch or motorcycle jump. The biggest step back, though, was the stilted pacing of levels due to the newfound excess. Tibetan Foothills is the inverse of Venice, feeling a lot more like busywork upon a linear drive to get the entrance of the monastery open while utilizing a rickety snowmobile, facing off against hazards relying more on luck than skill, as well as a barrage of human enemies that’re seemingly endless in numbers. Wreck Of The Maria Doria, the centerpiece of the second level set, has a fantastically moody and flow in the first third and a streamlined, compact last third contain a largely boring middle filled with block pushing, switch flipping, and more mundane tests of platforming. Temple Of Xian is a gauntlet-like penultimate ordeal similar to Atlantis, but while the latter had the right sense of escalation due to a variety of factors, ToX feels endless and overdrawn, utilizing so many gimmicks, puzzles, timed underwater runs, and what have you that it became one of the most exhausting and delirious set of obstacles I’ve faced thus far. It also didn’t help that the springboards, just introduced in Tibet’s Ice Palace prior, feel heavily inconsistent in how they launch you into the air, as well as gauging as to how and when you’re able to land or grab onto things before plummeting to your death. There’s other instances, such as Batrolli’s Hideout continuing on instead of halting just after the business in the library, but these were the main ones that stuck out on having ideas darted at the wall because of the increase in resources, instead of in tandem with.
When I was planning this review out in my head as I went along, as well as struggling to get the words in place when getting to the writing process, I fluctuated as to how it was worse, better, or on par with the first game, due to all the components working or grinding against one another. After some serious thought, I’d have to say it’s just a smidge below the original for my money’s worth. I’m sure some future replays will have these thoughts become more concrete and well realized, but for now there’s a certain aura and consistency from TR1 that makes the adventure feel more grand and realized, compared to this where its tendency to indulge its extravagance lead to mixed results. Either way, I’m still pretty glad I went through this, and it was nice to have hit another banger of sorts within this series. There’s still some nuances and lateral/areal manipulation modern game studios could learn from these two entries in particular when it comes to crafting 3D adventure-platformers. Hopefully the third game can keep this momentum going, but considering what the crew have faced already, the game’s state is pretty up in the air...
LAST TIME: LARA CROFT GO
ADD-ON: THE GOLDEN MASK
NEXT TIME: TOMB RAIDER III
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From my understanding and through all my digging, Tomb Raider II is generally considered to be one of the best titles in the series, at the very least a worthy follow up to the first game. From playing and formulating each forum post and what have you, it took what was previously established, hardened its difficulty both in exploration and action fundamentals, all while expanding the breadth of scope and scale of the level design with a simultaneous focus on the linear, compact nature that had been dabbled with prior. The first level, Great Wall, is a bit of an appetizer in this regard; while TR1’s Caves eases players into the game’s tricks and philosophies with careful enemy placement, obstacle courses, and overall room layout, TGW instead opts to throw them into the thick of it regardless on if they’re a greenhorn thrillseeker or a returning adventurer, what with having a tiger spawn at a specific point after dropping in to the level over on the right, a secret not too far from where you’re supposed to climb over on the lefthand side, and a majority of its second act running from boulders, spiked walls, crumbling floors, and rolling blades. This is something I expected akin to Late Greece/Early Egypt, but I wonder if that was the point of it. In regards to Croft Manor, the estate now boasts a full-on obstacle course, more of the ground level in the actual estate becoming available, and a secret treasure room from Lara’s time in Egypt waiting to be discovered, alongside Winston the Butler being a new, albeit added late into production, character who’s fun to mess with, as well as Judith Gibbins being the new voice thanks to her brother, Core Design programmer Martin Gibbins, telling her about the role’s availability. Some big changes were made to the formula, which worked to its benefit and occasional detriment. All that being said, let’s back up a bit and go over that production period.
I’ve leaned into Wesley Yin-Poole of Eurogamer’s and Richard Moss of Ars Technica’s reflection articles published years ago - and it’s something I’ll continue doing as I go along for this era - for a variety of reasons, chief among them being that it’s important to stress how this all snowballed into the first wave’s demise. Core, wanting to capitalize off the spontaneous popularity and success, not only had a sequel already in mind, but conducted numerous brand and commercial dealings, resulting in situations like Lara Croft doing pin-up renders and other propped-up doll showings. Scandals like “Nude Raider” also took off, which itself landed a retort and in-joke by having Lara blow up upon doing an input related to it. This whole debacle and sneer of attention was getting to Toby Gard, annoyed that Croft was being propagated as a Bond Girl instead of, well, a normal, free-spirited one. Now, there’s probably a bit of embellishing since this was the dude who made the handstand posture as well as sketched early designs more catered to his tastes, but nonetheless it’s an understandable ire of seeing something you created warped by your publishers for publicity sake. Not to mention, after that game’s success Gard and Paul Douglas received tons of positions from American studios such as… Interplay and Shiny Entertainment? Oh geez, I wonder how those timelines are like. Anyway, among other reasons this manifested into a stubbornly harsh atmosphere during production for a new, unrelated game project the two plus Gavin Rummery were trying to establish, before the latter swapped back over to TR2’s team in agitation. At some point, either before, during, or after the room bubble, Gard and Douglas were offered to either work on an N64 port of TR1, or follow suit in creating the sequel. Both of these options didn’t sit well for them, so they decided to leave and form Confounding Factor in pursuit of creative freedom and personal marketing decisions, and this leads to a rather hectic life span for the game they worked on, Galleon, which is a whole separate matter. The aforementioned TR2team in question consisted mainly of those who worked on the first game to some degree, as well as a few new faces such as animators Stewart Atkinson and Joss Charmet, all working on this for eight months, a crunch period even harsher than before. Co-designer Neil Boyd said he got a divorce during this due to the workload, Rummery remarked that he felt horrible and only thought of the work, usual coffee intakes and sleeping in the offices, it was a mess, and one that’ll continue to escalate as the brand becomes more notable and they focus on getting these out on a yearly basis. As far as this entry is concerned, the cracks don’t show themselves… too strongly, anyway.
As stated before, TR2’s difficulty curve is whetted into a much tougher and grueling ordeal, focusing more on a linear endeavor though the open-ended approach still gets some play every now and then. In terms of technical upgrades, there’s a huge boon gained after Adrian Smith has talked about scrapping a Saturn port due to, as outlined in Sega Saturn Magazine #21, not being able to support these upgrades the PS1 and PC were capable of incorporating, such as more dynamic camera angles, environmental details, and overall just an improved sense of grandeur and scope. There’s two vehicles you can procure overall, and having to activate flares amongst the darkened caverns or rooms gives way for creative lighting and tone. For a more specific example, Venice’s canal starts off tight and insular, but grows into a more robust series of hotspots as you progress further in the sewer system, and further to an interconnected block just before Italian cult leader Marco Bartoli’s hideout. There’s new acrobatic tricks to utilize such as mid-air flips for positional advantage against the newly added human adversaries or puzzle-solving, and being able to climb up on vines, ladders, anything that seems like you can put your hands on and go upward, all of which are necessary to do the first third where you have to obtain the boat from a locked storage shed by jumping through windows to different rooftops. It took a bit to get a handling of, especially in regards to the boat, but once all these additions clicked into place, it was a lot of fun breezing through each section and figure out how to get by the gate safely, culminating in a delightfully over-the-top setpiece. The Deck feels more akin to the “focal room” angle Midas’ Palace and Obelisk Of Khamoon had, with the verticality and general layout centering on a lost, crippled ship dubbed the Maria Doria (this set of levels are one big Disaster movie homage, specifically 1972’s Poseidon Adventure). Not only do you have to go through the differing levels of the ship and its scattered parts to unlock the Seraph necessary to open a gate in Tibet, but you’re also gonna have to go through the expansive cave systems necessary to even progress to these sections in the first place. Your positioning in regards to enemies feel a lot more advantageous, being able to get the drop on them or even just firing far away at a safe distance with your guns, even against the sharks underwater where you can find land, get to shore and whittle them away safely. More careful use of shimmies, standing and running jumps, as well as swimming through the various water are expected, though granted this game does have an affinity for planting you into spots where you have to take damage of varying strength just to progress, such as a large drop to a raft containing a cabin key holding a large medpack before doing the action in question, but overall it’s a rather marvelous place to handle, perhaps my favorite in the game.
While there’s now usage of more contemporary settings, I don’t find this diminishes the archeological aspect, and if anything, it helps make the transitions of an area’s underbelly contain more weight, aiming for grave modernity than old legends and abandoned civilizations. Traditionally they may not be tombs, but functionally they share the same principles: the ending of Batroli’s Hideout and skirmishes of other residential areas, transitioning from a sunny day to a blackened night as your sights are set upon the rotted and decayed Opera House; escaping an Offshore Rig meant to hold you captive whisks you over to the outskirts of SS Poseidon’s distant cousin, swimming from below the capsized vessel before emerging on its broken, right sided hulls; the Tibetan footholds, alongside the Barkhang Monastery it leads to, place you into numerous different challenges, bracing you for what’s to come in the catacombs and ice palace that lay beneath, as well as the scenarios deeper inside the forgotten temple way back in China. The isolationist feeling permeating throughout the first game’s adventure has transmogrified into a different one altogether: grit. Before you felt as though something could be there, anything, but you’re hopeful it’ll lead to some goods. Now, you always feel something observing you, and whatever it is, it’s better to take the first shot. A lot of the sound cues from TR1 carry over to this, and yet again the implementation of them carries a different connotation despite the similar locale, such as hearing the gorey Atlantis’ heartbeat and droning ambiance on the rustic and foundered Maria Doria, or the chants of various temples becoming a lot more spiritually aligned with the monk-populated Barkhang Monastery. Even the arrangement of the main theme is reflective of this change, sounding a lot more melancholic and introspective than ever. Quite honestly, I’m stunned Nathan McCree was able to get all of this done within three months under such harsh conditions and tools at disposal.
Combat was something I dreaded even before the start. Numerous times I’ve elaborated how each game or expansion dead set on focusing with this aspect was largely their millstones, so I had to brace myself for this one knowing its new action focus meant having to fight more often considering the reviews on here. Surprisingly enough, though, not only did I enjoy it, I dare say it contains some of the best combat scenarios I’ve experienced thus far. A lot of it comes down to weapon usage feeling more important than the other games, with only one or two feeling underutilized in any fashion. In a tight hallway with no room to reliably pivot away from enemies? Pull out the shotgun due to its tight spread and pellet size dealing bigger damage. Positioned in a way that enemies can’t get to you quickly, if at all? Use either the M16 for more distant adversaries, the automatic pistols for middle-range places, or the regular pistols if they REALLY can’t touch you. Uzis are still the go-to choice due to their abundance of ammo as well as consistent streak of damage and range, but you can also use the grenade launcher if you want a nice and quick “FUCK YOU” to anyone getting in your way. If you hate yourself, you can also use the harpoon gun, a tool that does poor damage regardless of being in the water or not, and always has to reload after just four shots. While I won’t deny there’s classic hitscan bullshit, as well as enemy placements and/or spawn points being particularly harsh, I can’t say I truly had a miserable time in this regard. It asks more about jumping and dodging their line of sight through various means than anything, and while it definitely could’ve had some trimming done to downscale the human foes (the start of the Maria Doria section would be a lot more impactful if they weren’t around until at least the last third of Living Quarters), there’s still a balance of narrative involvement of these goons, as well as the local fauna being around their home turf. It also helps when you realize each gun’s kit, such as the M16 having two states whether you’re grounded or mobile, the grenade launcher having a fixed lob to take into account when dealing with enemies going around corners, and the aforementioned spread of the shotgun.
There’s definitely aspects in the sequel that felt maligned and lost when compared to the first game. I don’t find secret finding to be especially thrilling this time around since there’s more obvious and “right in front of you” placements of them compared the previous outing where you really have to dig through the environment or obstacles to get rewards, though I will admit sprucing the formula so that you get a hefty reward of ammo after nabbing three dragon statuettes instead of the supplies being the secrets make it a worthy tradeoff. While not at all the center of appeal, for a more deliberate fixation on the John Woo-esque action movies the plot and cutscene direction feel more ho-hum comparatively, rarely containing more bombastic moments to top off the elevator torch or motorcycle jump. The biggest step back, though, was the stilted pacing of levels due to the newfound excess. Tibetan Foothills is the inverse of Venice, feeling a lot more like busywork upon a linear drive to get the entrance of the monastery open while utilizing a rickety snowmobile, facing off against hazards relying more on luck than skill, as well as a barrage of human enemies that’re seemingly endless in numbers. Wreck Of The Maria Doria, the centerpiece of the second level set, has a fantastically moody and flow in the first third and a streamlined, compact last third contain a largely boring middle filled with block pushing, switch flipping, and more mundane tests of platforming. Temple Of Xian is a gauntlet-like penultimate ordeal similar to Atlantis, but while the latter had the right sense of escalation due to a variety of factors, ToX feels endless and overdrawn, utilizing so many gimmicks, puzzles, timed underwater runs, and what have you that it became one of the most exhausting and delirious set of obstacles I’ve faced thus far. It also didn’t help that the springboards, just introduced in Tibet’s Ice Palace prior, feel heavily inconsistent in how they launch you into the air, as well as gauging as to how and when you’re able to land or grab onto things before plummeting to your death. There’s other instances, such as Batrolli’s Hideout continuing on instead of halting just after the business in the library, but these were the main ones that stuck out on having ideas darted at the wall because of the increase in resources, instead of in tandem with.
When I was planning this review out in my head as I went along, as well as struggling to get the words in place when getting to the writing process, I fluctuated as to how it was worse, better, or on par with the first game, due to all the components working or grinding against one another. After some serious thought, I’d have to say it’s just a smidge below the original for my money’s worth. I’m sure some future replays will have these thoughts become more concrete and well realized, but for now there’s a certain aura and consistency from TR1 that makes the adventure feel more grand and realized, compared to this where its tendency to indulge its extravagance lead to mixed results. Either way, I’m still pretty glad I went through this, and it was nice to have hit another banger of sorts within this series. There’s still some nuances and lateral/areal manipulation modern game studios could learn from these two entries in particular when it comes to crafting 3D adventure-platformers. Hopefully the third game can keep this momentum going, but considering what the crew have faced already, the game’s state is pretty up in the air...
LAST TIME: LARA CROFT GO
ADD-ON: THE GOLDEN MASK
NEXT TIME: TOMB RAIDER III
Probably the Tomb Raider game I go back and forth on the most. Tomb Raider I is such a tight, beautifully crafted platforming game that it borders on perfection, and Tomb Raider III is more varied and eccentric while having some of the best setpieces in the entire series. Tomb Raider II has a lot of water levels and shooting guys, so much so it dilutes the parts of the game that are actually excellent!
The structure of the game is the biggest issue, as you spend half the fucking game not LOOKING for a key, but looking for where a key even IS. While not an uncommon adventure story trope, it doesn't take up half the adventure doing just that. The godforsaken boat levels on a first playthrough feel genuinely never-ending, like the game is prepared to randomly generate more of this boat on the fly, which is a shame because some of the boat levels are pretty fun! When you're not doing another box pushing puzzle they can have some great challenges and environments.
Its really a game that would benefit from having some brevity, which is interesting as Tomb Raider III's strength is in the quantity and breadth of ideas, but I digress. Some of the levels, like the Opera House, Diving Area, The Deck, and Catacombs of the Talion rate amongst my favorite Tomb Raider levels, half the game (ESPECIALLY the loathsome Tibetan Foothills) are just tremendous wastes of time.
By the end of the game things REALLY pick up in terms of variety and difficulty, but the slog getting there means repeat playthroughs of Tomb Raider 2 are an extremely hard sell, especially when EVERY OTHER GAME IN THE SERIES gets to the point so much quicker.
I am also not a fan of the shitty combat at all, and it's honestly head-scratching that anyone could be. Lara goes from killing 3 guys in Tomb Raider I to wiping out half the world's Henchman Population in this, as you shoot hundreds upon hundreds of goons who happen to be in the most hilarious of places, like a SHIPWRECK AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA. I'm not complaining about the absurdity, mind, as it is the lone positive these guys provide, as from a gameplay perspective I vastly prefer the Atlanteans from Tomb Raider 1 for how they tested movement more than how many health packs you had been storing.
Tomb Raider 2 is a very mixed bag to me, as in some regards the new gameplay additions are stellar, and some of the levels are peak Tomb Raider, but in others it definitely shows that it was rushed to get a sequel out. I can't condone people considering this the best one when Tomb Raider 1 and 3 are so much more compelling, but this is definitely worth playing IF you are into Tomb Raider.
The structure of the game is the biggest issue, as you spend half the fucking game not LOOKING for a key, but looking for where a key even IS. While not an uncommon adventure story trope, it doesn't take up half the adventure doing just that. The godforsaken boat levels on a first playthrough feel genuinely never-ending, like the game is prepared to randomly generate more of this boat on the fly, which is a shame because some of the boat levels are pretty fun! When you're not doing another box pushing puzzle they can have some great challenges and environments.
Its really a game that would benefit from having some brevity, which is interesting as Tomb Raider III's strength is in the quantity and breadth of ideas, but I digress. Some of the levels, like the Opera House, Diving Area, The Deck, and Catacombs of the Talion rate amongst my favorite Tomb Raider levels, half the game (ESPECIALLY the loathsome Tibetan Foothills) are just tremendous wastes of time.
By the end of the game things REALLY pick up in terms of variety and difficulty, but the slog getting there means repeat playthroughs of Tomb Raider 2 are an extremely hard sell, especially when EVERY OTHER GAME IN THE SERIES gets to the point so much quicker.
I am also not a fan of the shitty combat at all, and it's honestly head-scratching that anyone could be. Lara goes from killing 3 guys in Tomb Raider I to wiping out half the world's Henchman Population in this, as you shoot hundreds upon hundreds of goons who happen to be in the most hilarious of places, like a SHIPWRECK AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA. I'm not complaining about the absurdity, mind, as it is the lone positive these guys provide, as from a gameplay perspective I vastly prefer the Atlanteans from Tomb Raider 1 for how they tested movement more than how many health packs you had been storing.
Tomb Raider 2 is a very mixed bag to me, as in some regards the new gameplay additions are stellar, and some of the levels are peak Tomb Raider, but in others it definitely shows that it was rushed to get a sequel out. I can't condone people considering this the best one when Tomb Raider 1 and 3 are so much more compelling, but this is definitely worth playing IF you are into Tomb Raider.
extremely challenging game for me to appraise, and not just because it lives in the shadow of the first game. this game has such higher highs in terms of level design and complexity, but much lower lows in terms of combat scenarios and pacing. i lost count of how many times this game expects you to just tank fall damage. not to mention every enemy with a gun is a fucking nightmare to deal with if they're aggro'd, because they'll hit you from across entire rooms and through walls. and while the final boss was cute, it was a complete shitshow to fight.
i think had this game just scaled back a bit, this could've been a favorite of mine. i'm also trying to grade on a curve, because i played devilishly conservative with ammo, and by the end of the game i was sitting on an embarrassment of riches that never got used. maybe a replay of this in the future where i'm more aggressive with ammo will make some of my combat concerns fade away. i do want to love this game, because i genuinely adore the level designs in this game (wreck of the maria dora through and the living quarters + the temple of xian - the floating islands are all-timers for 3D platforming in this era for me). meanwhile, other levels drag ass (opera house truly felt never-ending in the worst way, and the first tibet level has some brainworm-y enemy design with those snowmobiles).
also, natla in TR was camp and fun, meanwhile bartoli is a dullard and i literally had to google what his last name was just because he was such a nonpresence in the game. i guess i just wish this game had more fun with itself, having the main antagonists be cult members willing to commit suicide for their leader is decidedly less fun to riff on. i don't need these games to tell a story of the ages, but i'd be lying if i said the story isn't contributing something here, for better and worse.
overall i'm leaning a bit more charitable here by sticking with 3.5/5.0, but i feel obligated to show this game respect considering how often i found myself impressed with it. it's graphically and structurally a step up from the previous game, which i already found remarkable. it's a shame that there's so much about this that i dislike at the same time, because there's a diamond in the rough here.
i think had this game just scaled back a bit, this could've been a favorite of mine. i'm also trying to grade on a curve, because i played devilishly conservative with ammo, and by the end of the game i was sitting on an embarrassment of riches that never got used. maybe a replay of this in the future where i'm more aggressive with ammo will make some of my combat concerns fade away. i do want to love this game, because i genuinely adore the level designs in this game (wreck of the maria dora through and the living quarters + the temple of xian - the floating islands are all-timers for 3D platforming in this era for me). meanwhile, other levels drag ass (opera house truly felt never-ending in the worst way, and the first tibet level has some brainworm-y enemy design with those snowmobiles).
also, natla in TR was camp and fun, meanwhile bartoli is a dullard and i literally had to google what his last name was just because he was such a nonpresence in the game. i guess i just wish this game had more fun with itself, having the main antagonists be cult members willing to commit suicide for their leader is decidedly less fun to riff on. i don't need these games to tell a story of the ages, but i'd be lying if i said the story isn't contributing something here, for better and worse.
overall i'm leaning a bit more charitable here by sticking with 3.5/5.0, but i feel obligated to show this game respect considering how often i found myself impressed with it. it's graphically and structurally a step up from the previous game, which i already found remarkable. it's a shame that there's so much about this that i dislike at the same time, because there's a diamond in the rough here.
Ohhhh I like this game, but the middle section is so meandering. Half the fucking game is a water level before it gets REALLY badass near the end. It does have one of the most humanizing Lara moments though, where while flying a plane before the final section, she spots a bomber jacket she thinks looks cool and wears it for the rest of the game. she just like me fr.
Lara Croft and the cross continental journey to open one fucking door
joguei criança também e o que eu mais gostava de fazer era prender aquele mordomo safado dentro da mansão e ficar metendo o loco do lado de fora fazendo altas piruetas! KKKKKK
o modo de ficar na mansão era muito bom pra ficar treinando as peripécias dela
o modo de ficar na mansão era muito bom pra ficar treinando as peripécias dela
Damn, imagine if there wasn't enemies every 5 seconds to hit you with hit scan bullets that you can't avoid and drain your health packs. Could've been a fun game :( sad.
I could not even do the tutorial
I didn’t write a review for Tomb Raider 1 but I enjoyed it quite a lot. It had some rough patches that obviously were a result of its age but it’s still a solid 8/10. I went into Tomb Raider 2 with pretty good expectations considering this is a lot of TR fans’ favourite entry of not just the classic games, but the entire franchise.
Tomb Raider 2 is a game that I think has even more explicit highs and lows compared to TR1. At its best you got great levels like the Great Wall, 40 Fathoms and Barkhang Monastery where it has fun puzzles in impressive settings with brilliant set pieces but at its worse you get boring levels that focus way too much on the combat or gimmicks that aren't well thought out (such as the awful Tibetan Foothills) than the actual tomb raiding with areas in some levels being designed in ways that you legitimately cannot avoid taking damage (such as having to drop down and take fall damage somewhere to progress) to the point where the games gives you medpacks afterwards because they are aware of it. I don’t understand why people defend this because why couldn’t these levels be designed so you don’t take unavoidable damage instead of slapping down a large medpack and calling it a day? That brings me onto my next issue.
Most of this game you aren’t raiding tombs, but more modern settings, with pretty much 85% of the enemies being humans. The combat in TR1 was not very good, so I have no idea why TR2 pushes the combat so hard with gun wielding enemies around most corners without doing anything to improve the actual combat in a game that clearly wasn’t designed for heavy combat to begin with. If I wanted to play a game where I dual-wield pistols and smgs killing dozens of henchmen I’d boot up Max Payne, not Tomb Raider, and Max Payne has fantastic combat unlike these games.
Additionally, the middle portion of TR2 starting from the Offshore Rig definitely drags on for too long and pulls the “you lose all your weapons” trick way too early into the game. I hope you like the same rusty looking shipwrecks because you spend a lot of time running through them, even if some of these levels (40 Fathoms, The Deck) look very nice at times.
But even with these lows, TR2 has some of the best highs. The new weapons like the M16 and Grenade Launcher are extremely useful. The M16 has great range which lets you snipe enemies before they can retaliate and the grenade launcher is a great “fuck-off” button against enemies that you really want dead. Some levels like Venice and Tibetan Foothills have vehicles. The boats in the Venice levels were good. The snowmobile in the Foothills… not so much. It overstays its welcome, controls like complete shit and seems to explode over any minor drop or bump. If you couldn’t tell I REALLY don’t like this level. An over abundance of bullet spongey hitscanners on top of a janky vehicle section is not my idea of fun. However, the high points in TR2 are even better than TR1. Fighting alongside the Monks in the Barkhang Monastery is awesome. Other levels like the Monastery such as the Deck and the Catacombs of the Talion introduce this almost immersive sim level of "just go wild and complete your objectives in whatever order you like" which was a nice change of pace and because of how brilliant the level design is, you almost never get lost.
Overall, Tomb Raider 2 is just as good as the first Tomb Raider and I can see why it's viewed as the best in the series by many.
Tomb Raider 2 is a game that I think has even more explicit highs and lows compared to TR1. At its best you got great levels like the Great Wall, 40 Fathoms and Barkhang Monastery where it has fun puzzles in impressive settings with brilliant set pieces but at its worse you get boring levels that focus way too much on the combat or gimmicks that aren't well thought out (such as the awful Tibetan Foothills) than the actual tomb raiding with areas in some levels being designed in ways that you legitimately cannot avoid taking damage (such as having to drop down and take fall damage somewhere to progress) to the point where the games gives you medpacks afterwards because they are aware of it. I don’t understand why people defend this because why couldn’t these levels be designed so you don’t take unavoidable damage instead of slapping down a large medpack and calling it a day? That brings me onto my next issue.
Most of this game you aren’t raiding tombs, but more modern settings, with pretty much 85% of the enemies being humans. The combat in TR1 was not very good, so I have no idea why TR2 pushes the combat so hard with gun wielding enemies around most corners without doing anything to improve the actual combat in a game that clearly wasn’t designed for heavy combat to begin with. If I wanted to play a game where I dual-wield pistols and smgs killing dozens of henchmen I’d boot up Max Payne, not Tomb Raider, and Max Payne has fantastic combat unlike these games.
Additionally, the middle portion of TR2 starting from the Offshore Rig definitely drags on for too long and pulls the “you lose all your weapons” trick way too early into the game. I hope you like the same rusty looking shipwrecks because you spend a lot of time running through them, even if some of these levels (40 Fathoms, The Deck) look very nice at times.
But even with these lows, TR2 has some of the best highs. The new weapons like the M16 and Grenade Launcher are extremely useful. The M16 has great range which lets you snipe enemies before they can retaliate and the grenade launcher is a great “fuck-off” button against enemies that you really want dead. Some levels like Venice and Tibetan Foothills have vehicles. The boats in the Venice levels were good. The snowmobile in the Foothills… not so much. It overstays its welcome, controls like complete shit and seems to explode over any minor drop or bump. If you couldn’t tell I REALLY don’t like this level. An over abundance of bullet spongey hitscanners on top of a janky vehicle section is not my idea of fun. However, the high points in TR2 are even better than TR1. Fighting alongside the Monks in the Barkhang Monastery is awesome. Other levels like the Monastery such as the Deck and the Catacombs of the Talion introduce this almost immersive sim level of "just go wild and complete your objectives in whatever order you like" which was a nice change of pace and because of how brilliant the level design is, you almost never get lost.
Overall, Tomb Raider 2 is just as good as the first Tomb Raider and I can see why it's viewed as the best in the series by many.
I feel like such a hypocrite playing Tomb Raider II, as all of the things I enjoyed about the first game seemed lessened, whilst the things I hated there were more of. Yet for some reason, I had so much more fun with this game than the prior.
For most of Tomb Raider II, the atmosphere of isolation and the unknown is completely missing, replaced instead with a fun variety of environments, from the canals of Venice, to the interior of an abandoned Opera House, to the wreck of a ship at the bottom of the ocean, and beyond. The level variety meant I was never bored, always finding it a thrill to explore the different environments, with a much greater variety than the slightly different shades of brown and grey you'd find in the first outing.
The platforming was equally as satisfying here, with very fun to solve puzzles in environments that weren't as tedious to explore when lost, and very creative use of the same control systems that really rewarded you experimenting with all of the movement options available to you.
In the first game, I found combat very frustrating. At first, I felt my stomach drop at the amount of human enemies this game featured - very much fearing for the worst at the new action focus. Yet for some reason, with the change in environments, I found it nowhere near as annoying as the first game. The new weapons, and increase in medkit and ammo drops meant the combat was way more fun. I still found movement during combat an issue, especially towards the end of the game, but overall, an improvement.
One noteworthy level was the Barkhang Monastery. Fighting alongside the monks and exploring the very open level was an absolute highlight for me - probably my favorite in the franchise so far.
The main criticisms of this game probably fall to the last few levels, where the fun did start to wane a little for me. I found the end level especially fairly unsatisfying, though this may just be to playing it all in a reasonably condensed amount of time.
This game has left me thoroughly excited to explore more of this franchise, and really cemented why these games have had so much staying power throughout the years.
For most of Tomb Raider II, the atmosphere of isolation and the unknown is completely missing, replaced instead with a fun variety of environments, from the canals of Venice, to the interior of an abandoned Opera House, to the wreck of a ship at the bottom of the ocean, and beyond. The level variety meant I was never bored, always finding it a thrill to explore the different environments, with a much greater variety than the slightly different shades of brown and grey you'd find in the first outing.
The platforming was equally as satisfying here, with very fun to solve puzzles in environments that weren't as tedious to explore when lost, and very creative use of the same control systems that really rewarded you experimenting with all of the movement options available to you.
In the first game, I found combat very frustrating. At first, I felt my stomach drop at the amount of human enemies this game featured - very much fearing for the worst at the new action focus. Yet for some reason, with the change in environments, I found it nowhere near as annoying as the first game. The new weapons, and increase in medkit and ammo drops meant the combat was way more fun. I still found movement during combat an issue, especially towards the end of the game, but overall, an improvement.
One noteworthy level was the Barkhang Monastery. Fighting alongside the monks and exploring the very open level was an absolute highlight for me - probably my favorite in the franchise so far.
The main criticisms of this game probably fall to the last few levels, where the fun did start to wane a little for me. I found the end level especially fairly unsatisfying, though this may just be to playing it all in a reasonably condensed amount of time.
This game has left me thoroughly excited to explore more of this franchise, and really cemented why these games have had so much staying power throughout the years.
Linear shooter without any story at all. Just set of levels without any sense.
At the same time, underwater lever was beautiful and floating islands are so weird in better sense.
At the same time, underwater lever was beautiful and floating islands are so weird in better sense.
Descontei tanto da minha raiva adolescente trancando o mordomo no freezer..
This game is so hard hhhaaaarrrggggg!!! – Me, years ago.
This game improved a lot from the first one. More guns, scenarios that are more diverse, more interesting soundtrack, more action and -near the end- one of the most ridiculously hard stages a game could have. Seriously, this game has many unfair moments. I mean, still a good game, but for very hard. Good game, play if you have patience.
This game improved a lot from the first one. More guns, scenarios that are more diverse, more interesting soundtrack, more action and -near the end- one of the most ridiculously hard stages a game could have. Seriously, this game has many unfair moments. I mean, still a good game, but for very hard. Good game, play if you have patience.
my mom broke my ps1 copy in half when I was 5 bc of the guns when I just wanted to swim in the cave in the first level
Recently, I watched The Passion of the Christ, a film that re-enacts the last few hours of Jesus's life. Whatever your religious beliefs, it's hard not to be inspired by the stoicism and fortitude of the man as he endured untold suffering with nary a sob.
I needed some of that Christly forbearance to beat Tomb Raider II, which makes its predecessor - which was no cakewalk - look like... well, a cakewalk. To put it simply, this game knocked the stuffing out of me. It may well be the hardest game I've ever beaten. When I finally got to the credits, my stats showed a playtime of 11 hours and 25 minutes. My Steam playtime for the game says 20 hours. Even if one subtracts the hour I spent setting the game up and testing out different modernizing patches, that leaves 7 and a half hours in limbo. Guess where they went? That's rights: deaths and wasted progress. This ain't your goo goo ga ga 'press X to not die' reboot-ass Tomb Raider. This is hell.
I have very fond childhood memories of Tomb Raider II (locking the butler in the freezer is as universal an experience as believing Marilyn Manson had a rib removed), but as with the original, it's only 20 years later that I'm actually finishing this game. After Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, this one was my childhood favourite. It certainly has a remarkable array of improvements over the first game. The graphics are much better: Lara has a braid and actual boobs now, instead of the infamous triangle. While the NPC models clearly didn't have the same care lavished on them, there seem to be a lot more polygons in everything else this time around.
The levels are huge in scope and well-designed, creating a myriad of memorable moments. It's a testament to the skills of Tomb Raider II's development team that they managed to create a convincing facsimile of the deep dark ocean - complete with terrifying great white sharks - in a 1997 game; and rework the limited engine of the original to add vehicles (including a delightful tribute to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade's motorboat scene); and heck, that they managed to complete this game at all, in its extremely contracted six-month development schedule. These people slept under their desks and splashed their faces with cold water to keep working on this game. I salute them.
The only gaffe: an overabundance of combat. This is not the game's strong point, and while new weapons are welcome and the old ones' sound effects have been punched up, the M16 and the harpoon are cumbersome to use. I do like the focus on combat from one perspective - it furthers Lara Croft's characterization as a badass, take-no-prisoners heroine.
The gameplay has also been expanded, and trust me when I say they'll make you use the full range of Lara's new moveset. This is a game where the final levels expect you to backflip off a ladder, do a mid-air somersault and grab onto another ladder while dodging a swinging blade, all at a height where the fall damage alone could kill Lara ten times over - but for good measure, there's a lava pit beneath her too.
But therein lies the appeal of classic Tomb Raider. If you get drawn in, it's impossible to let go. TR II does a good job of satiating this appetite for tribulation with its epic length, sprawling environments and brutal platforming. The only caveat is that it's clearly designed for expert players. I strongly recommend that newcomers try the first game to find out if they're willing to tackle this one.
I needed some of that Christly forbearance to beat Tomb Raider II, which makes its predecessor - which was no cakewalk - look like... well, a cakewalk. To put it simply, this game knocked the stuffing out of me. It may well be the hardest game I've ever beaten. When I finally got to the credits, my stats showed a playtime of 11 hours and 25 minutes. My Steam playtime for the game says 20 hours. Even if one subtracts the hour I spent setting the game up and testing out different modernizing patches, that leaves 7 and a half hours in limbo. Guess where they went? That's rights: deaths and wasted progress. This ain't your goo goo ga ga 'press X to not die' reboot-ass Tomb Raider. This is hell.
I have very fond childhood memories of Tomb Raider II (locking the butler in the freezer is as universal an experience as believing Marilyn Manson had a rib removed), but as with the original, it's only 20 years later that I'm actually finishing this game. After Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, this one was my childhood favourite. It certainly has a remarkable array of improvements over the first game. The graphics are much better: Lara has a braid and actual boobs now, instead of the infamous triangle. While the NPC models clearly didn't have the same care lavished on them, there seem to be a lot more polygons in everything else this time around.
The levels are huge in scope and well-designed, creating a myriad of memorable moments. It's a testament to the skills of Tomb Raider II's development team that they managed to create a convincing facsimile of the deep dark ocean - complete with terrifying great white sharks - in a 1997 game; and rework the limited engine of the original to add vehicles (including a delightful tribute to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade's motorboat scene); and heck, that they managed to complete this game at all, in its extremely contracted six-month development schedule. These people slept under their desks and splashed their faces with cold water to keep working on this game. I salute them.
The only gaffe: an overabundance of combat. This is not the game's strong point, and while new weapons are welcome and the old ones' sound effects have been punched up, the M16 and the harpoon are cumbersome to use. I do like the focus on combat from one perspective - it furthers Lara Croft's characterization as a badass, take-no-prisoners heroine.
The gameplay has also been expanded, and trust me when I say they'll make you use the full range of Lara's new moveset. This is a game where the final levels expect you to backflip off a ladder, do a mid-air somersault and grab onto another ladder while dodging a swinging blade, all at a height where the fall damage alone could kill Lara ten times over - but for good measure, there's a lava pit beneath her too.
But therein lies the appeal of classic Tomb Raider. If you get drawn in, it's impossible to let go. TR II does a good job of satiating this appetite for tribulation with its epic length, sprawling environments and brutal platforming. The only caveat is that it's clearly designed for expert players. I strongly recommend that newcomers try the first game to find out if they're willing to tackle this one.
Tomb Raider II is a step up from the first game in terms of level design and pacing, but the untouched combat somehow got even slightly worse.
The game starts off in familiar territory, ancient ruins that contain your fair share of Tombs, but what blindsided us back in the day was now we are also going to populated city levels such as Venice. TR2 has such a nice variety of locations that the pacing feels right, and you're in the same type of underground environments for the entire game, which keeps the game feeling refreshing.
The levels are much better designed too. They feel more like Zelda dungeons than a hodgepodge of rooms with switches. This time levels can feel pretty long, but at no point did I ever feel like I was stuck or did not know what to do next. I was always running to my next objective.
One of the worst things about the first game, which almost ruined for me was the combat, which remains untouched here. The problem here now is that you are fighting humans as the majority enemy, which isn't fun since they are all bulletspoge hitscanning enemies. The worst kind of enemies in anygame. Especially a game where movement is not the strongest suit, hitscanning enemies made this almost a frustrating experience. Good thing the game gives you enough health packs and resources to deal with them if well managed.
I liked the direction of where the series was going with Tomb Raider II, and just like the first game, it shines when you're exploring/platforimg and solving puzzles. Unfortunetly this time around there is a lot more combat with the worst enemy type ever. However due to the great level design, I still fairly enjoyed my time with this.
The game starts off in familiar territory, ancient ruins that contain your fair share of Tombs, but what blindsided us back in the day was now we are also going to populated city levels such as Venice. TR2 has such a nice variety of locations that the pacing feels right, and you're in the same type of underground environments for the entire game, which keeps the game feeling refreshing.
The levels are much better designed too. They feel more like Zelda dungeons than a hodgepodge of rooms with switches. This time levels can feel pretty long, but at no point did I ever feel like I was stuck or did not know what to do next. I was always running to my next objective.
One of the worst things about the first game, which almost ruined for me was the combat, which remains untouched here. The problem here now is that you are fighting humans as the majority enemy, which isn't fun since they are all bulletspoge hitscanning enemies. The worst kind of enemies in anygame. Especially a game where movement is not the strongest suit, hitscanning enemies made this almost a frustrating experience. Good thing the game gives you enough health packs and resources to deal with them if well managed.
I liked the direction of where the series was going with Tomb Raider II, and just like the first game, it shines when you're exploring/platforimg and solving puzzles. Unfortunetly this time around there is a lot more combat with the worst enemy type ever. However due to the great level design, I still fairly enjoyed my time with this.
Higher highs, lower lows
Tomb Raider II is everything the first Tomb Raider was but more, for better or worse. TR II retains all the mechanics that makes the 1996 original so precise. The tank controls, grid structure, delayed jump, etc. are all here. Many of the same positives from the first game apply. I already reviewed the first game so check out my review on it for more detail on the general design of the platforming and why I think it’s so perfect.
TRII blends the games mechanics masterfully and this is where I think it surpasses the original. For instance, in the first game, slope jumps in quick succession were only used for secrets. Now in TRII, it’s a basic mechanic used everywhere throughout the game. This is the type of progression I wanted to see in a sequel. Additions such as the vehicles and spring pads are added to the formula to make new puzzle-platforming challenges that differ from the basics. The Venice level is a perfect example of where TRII shines. A level that uses a one-off idea in order to make a unique puzzle that isn’t standard fair. This masterclass of design is seen throughout TRII. It makes every level feel much more unique and, dare I say, more memorable?
TRII’s environments are much more varied than the original. Some might be displeased by the lack of ancient tombs and the abundance of residential areas throughout the first half of this game, but I liked it. It offered a sense of progression when I finally made it to the ancient tomb areas at the end of the game. There’s far too many levels in the water area though.
TRII features many quality of life improvements. Lara’s hair now has physics (which apparently was planned for the original but was cut), there’s a new dynamic lighting system that intertwines with the gameplay smoothly, you can now quick turn in mid air, and Lara now drifts toward edges ever so slightly when jumping straight up. Little things like this are expected in sequels but I’m acknowledging it because it does make a difference.
Where TRII truly falls short of the original is in its level design and abundance of combat. This game is much more linear. While the platforming and puzzle-solving are both fantastic as stated earlier, these levels are more laid out with one set path. In the original, there were many levels where there were branching paths that you could choose the order to do them in. There’s not much of that in TRII. The only levels that achieve this are Barkhang Monastery and Floating Islands. Too many levels have the two ways to go, one ways locked, one way has the thing you need for the other way. Of course, you’ll be solving great puzzles on these paths, but the point remains, especially when the original didn’t have much of this at all.
The secrets in this game are too easy to come across in my opinion. There’s many instances in this game where you’ll find all the secrets in the level but still not know where to go to progress. When the secrets are easier to find than points of progression, there’s an issue. But maybe this is just me. Not a dealbreaker.
The focus on combat is a puzzling choice to me. There are a ton of enemies in this game. The shooting in the original is mediocre and it’s mediocre here too. It’s not devoid of strategy; your positioning and movement are both important. Keeping yourself behind goons will make short work of them, and staying out of reach of ravenous creatures will ensure your survival. But there’s far too many instances of “out-healing” your enemies. You have no choice to tank damage in some of these sections.
TRII did away with the save crystals from the console versions of TR1. I’m mixed on this. Obviously, save crystals would not have worked in TRII. You die so often to traps and missed jumps that there’d be now way for save crystals to not create frustration. For the game Core Design made, save crystals would have been a disaster. But now there’s save scumming. The tension is gone. Just save in between every jump, every traps, every encounter. You could say “well don’t save scum then”. I say that it’s the developers job to ensure the best way to play is the most fun way. It’s not fun to open the menu and save every 30 seconds, yet it’s optimal on a first playthrough. I don’t know what the answer is to this, but removing tension from the game wasn’t the answer.
While I prefer the original’s slower pace, save crystals, and open levels, TRII succeeds at being a worthy sequel. It’s much longer, it’s much more action packed, it’s much more varied, it’s balls to the wall; Tomb Raider cranked up to 100, and it’s excellent.
8/10
Tomb Raider II is everything the first Tomb Raider was but more, for better or worse. TR II retains all the mechanics that makes the 1996 original so precise. The tank controls, grid structure, delayed jump, etc. are all here. Many of the same positives from the first game apply. I already reviewed the first game so check out my review on it for more detail on the general design of the platforming and why I think it’s so perfect.
TRII blends the games mechanics masterfully and this is where I think it surpasses the original. For instance, in the first game, slope jumps in quick succession were only used for secrets. Now in TRII, it’s a basic mechanic used everywhere throughout the game. This is the type of progression I wanted to see in a sequel. Additions such as the vehicles and spring pads are added to the formula to make new puzzle-platforming challenges that differ from the basics. The Venice level is a perfect example of where TRII shines. A level that uses a one-off idea in order to make a unique puzzle that isn’t standard fair. This masterclass of design is seen throughout TRII. It makes every level feel much more unique and, dare I say, more memorable?
TRII’s environments are much more varied than the original. Some might be displeased by the lack of ancient tombs and the abundance of residential areas throughout the first half of this game, but I liked it. It offered a sense of progression when I finally made it to the ancient tomb areas at the end of the game. There’s far too many levels in the water area though.
TRII features many quality of life improvements. Lara’s hair now has physics (which apparently was planned for the original but was cut), there’s a new dynamic lighting system that intertwines with the gameplay smoothly, you can now quick turn in mid air, and Lara now drifts toward edges ever so slightly when jumping straight up. Little things like this are expected in sequels but I’m acknowledging it because it does make a difference.
Where TRII truly falls short of the original is in its level design and abundance of combat. This game is much more linear. While the platforming and puzzle-solving are both fantastic as stated earlier, these levels are more laid out with one set path. In the original, there were many levels where there were branching paths that you could choose the order to do them in. There’s not much of that in TRII. The only levels that achieve this are Barkhang Monastery and Floating Islands. Too many levels have the two ways to go, one ways locked, one way has the thing you need for the other way. Of course, you’ll be solving great puzzles on these paths, but the point remains, especially when the original didn’t have much of this at all.
The secrets in this game are too easy to come across in my opinion. There’s many instances in this game where you’ll find all the secrets in the level but still not know where to go to progress. When the secrets are easier to find than points of progression, there’s an issue. But maybe this is just me. Not a dealbreaker.
The focus on combat is a puzzling choice to me. There are a ton of enemies in this game. The shooting in the original is mediocre and it’s mediocre here too. It’s not devoid of strategy; your positioning and movement are both important. Keeping yourself behind goons will make short work of them, and staying out of reach of ravenous creatures will ensure your survival. But there’s far too many instances of “out-healing” your enemies. You have no choice to tank damage in some of these sections.
TRII did away with the save crystals from the console versions of TR1. I’m mixed on this. Obviously, save crystals would not have worked in TRII. You die so often to traps and missed jumps that there’d be now way for save crystals to not create frustration. For the game Core Design made, save crystals would have been a disaster. But now there’s save scumming. The tension is gone. Just save in between every jump, every traps, every encounter. You could say “well don’t save scum then”. I say that it’s the developers job to ensure the best way to play is the most fun way. It’s not fun to open the menu and save every 30 seconds, yet it’s optimal on a first playthrough. I don’t know what the answer is to this, but removing tension from the game wasn’t the answer.
While I prefer the original’s slower pace, save crystals, and open levels, TRII succeeds at being a worthy sequel. It’s much longer, it’s much more action packed, it’s much more varied, it’s balls to the wall; Tomb Raider cranked up to 100, and it’s excellent.
8/10
The problem with emulating games is that you don't have the price commitment to a game that might drive you through a section you're struggling with.
Anyway, the second level in TR2 is Venice, and it's filled with dudes with guns and is labyrinthine in an incredibly boring way. It's not a cool cave or abandoned location, it's boring and annoying and it can fuck off.
Anyway, the second level in TR2 is Venice, and it's filled with dudes with guns and is labyrinthine in an incredibly boring way. It's not a cool cave or abandoned location, it's boring and annoying and it can fuck off.
This was the first video game I can actually remember playing.
A nice escalation in level design and puzzle platforming from the original while serving up a larger variety of locations. I'm particularly fond of the Venice and underwater levels (even though the quality itself kinda lulls a bit during those).
Even still, there's way too much combat for my liking to be found here and I'm glad the following games saw to it to cut back again.
A nice escalation in level design and puzzle platforming from the original while serving up a larger variety of locations. I'm particularly fond of the Venice and underwater levels (even though the quality itself kinda lulls a bit during those).
Even still, there's way too much combat for my liking to be found here and I'm glad the following games saw to it to cut back again.
I had a rough time with Tomb Raider II, I am not gonna lie. Mainly, my expectations and other persons nostalgia was the main reason why I felt like I was betrayed by Core Design.
Tomb Raider II seemingly loved by many, and hated by few, is considered a worthy follow up, to the legendary platformer that was the original game. I had a rough time with that one too, mainly because of the controls, but I finished that game and I had my fun at the end. Tomb Raider II however is not just a poor sequel, but a rushed one.
The second entry seemingly forgot what made the original an enjoyable experience, despite being a janky PS1 platformer. The overall atmoshpere was the reason that everyone remembers fondly to those PS1 days of raiding tombs with Lara, and while II certainly has it's own charm, the open levels and the combat filled gameplay drags it down to the mud.
The game introduces human enemies, who are either useless or terribly overpowered compared to Lara, as they have very precise aim and can kill you in seconds. Focusing on the combat was a big mistake here, as the game's combat mechanics were never good in the first place, even the original knew this and only featured small fight sequences with bats or bears.
Not only that, but the actual tomb raiding was shrinked down to feature varied locations and settings that are just not that charming. The occasional vehicle segments were appreciated, but they were not fun at all.
Core Design seemingly wanted to make an action game, but they also threw in some puzzles to make you feel like you are playing a Tomb Raider game.
Despite this, the soundtrack is still awesome and some of the charm of the original is still here. I do not think that Tomb Raider II is that good of a game, or a worthy sequel as it does not improve on the original, but to be honest, knowing the history of the franchise, this led to the eventual downfall of Core Design.
Tomb Raider II seemingly loved by many, and hated by few, is considered a worthy follow up, to the legendary platformer that was the original game. I had a rough time with that one too, mainly because of the controls, but I finished that game and I had my fun at the end. Tomb Raider II however is not just a poor sequel, but a rushed one.
The second entry seemingly forgot what made the original an enjoyable experience, despite being a janky PS1 platformer. The overall atmoshpere was the reason that everyone remembers fondly to those PS1 days of raiding tombs with Lara, and while II certainly has it's own charm, the open levels and the combat filled gameplay drags it down to the mud.
The game introduces human enemies, who are either useless or terribly overpowered compared to Lara, as they have very precise aim and can kill you in seconds. Focusing on the combat was a big mistake here, as the game's combat mechanics were never good in the first place, even the original knew this and only featured small fight sequences with bats or bears.
Not only that, but the actual tomb raiding was shrinked down to feature varied locations and settings that are just not that charming. The occasional vehicle segments were appreciated, but they were not fun at all.
Core Design seemingly wanted to make an action game, but they also threw in some puzzles to make you feel like you are playing a Tomb Raider game.
Despite this, the soundtrack is still awesome and some of the charm of the original is still here. I do not think that Tomb Raider II is that good of a game, or a worthy sequel as it does not improve on the original, but to be honest, knowing the history of the franchise, this led to the eventual downfall of Core Design.
Why the fuck is 50% of this game set on a fucking shipwreck? Why is there so much combat? The combat is ass. Later in the game they start putting like 6 dudes with auto aim into rooms or just have Snow Leopards spawn around corners in pairs. The controls are still jank as fuck too. The Level design is thankfully still really good. I do not get why they make you explore things that aren't tombs for half of this. TR1 had this great balance of exploration and combat, everything felt well laid out. TR2 has you doing jank ass vehicle sections while exploring mostly buildings while 45 guys show up to shoot at you. I do not get it at all.
"It's no big surprise that Eidos is moving up the video game food chain considering last years mega hit Tomb Raider. The sequel uses the same formula to great success, with minor control changes for side-stepping, and of course all new worlds and vehicles.
The game starts off with a peek at ancient China. A dragon attacks the great wall and a soldier notices a dagger embedded in his chest. Oddly, removing the dagger results in the dragons death. WEIRD.
You play Lara Croft, complete with front-loaded anvils searching for the dagger centuries later. Your path to the dagger will take you just about everywhere. And that snow speeder kicks some major you-know-what!
Tomb Raider has slightly more action than exploration this time around. But you may not notice the difference. This is good, because that way everybody's happy.
Obviously, we're giving Tomb Raider 2 a good review. We fully expected to do so. We knew the game would be great, and it is. And we've only just scratched the surface. An answer to Lara's giant earrings however, we have a challenge to Eidos:
In Tomb Raider 3 create a storyline in which Lara gets breast cancer. Imagine the drama of a vulnerable Lara Croft still persisting in her worldly adventures despite her illness. It needs fleshing out (no pun intended) but we guarantee the gaming world would be shocked, stunned, and moved at the effort to make Lara's character more meaningful. We love Lara, but its about time the industry had a big shock for a change.
Its no shock that Tomb Raider 2 IS excellent. Everyone should buy it. Period. The end."
The game starts off with a peek at ancient China. A dragon attacks the great wall and a soldier notices a dagger embedded in his chest. Oddly, removing the dagger results in the dragons death. WEIRD.
You play Lara Croft, complete with front-loaded anvils searching for the dagger centuries later. Your path to the dagger will take you just about everywhere. And that snow speeder kicks some major you-know-what!
Tomb Raider has slightly more action than exploration this time around. But you may not notice the difference. This is good, because that way everybody's happy.
Obviously, we're giving Tomb Raider 2 a good review. We fully expected to do so. We knew the game would be great, and it is. And we've only just scratched the surface. An answer to Lara's giant earrings however, we have a challenge to Eidos:
In Tomb Raider 3 create a storyline in which Lara gets breast cancer. Imagine the drama of a vulnerable Lara Croft still persisting in her worldly adventures despite her illness. It needs fleshing out (no pun intended) but we guarantee the gaming world would be shocked, stunned, and moved at the effort to make Lara's character more meaningful. We love Lara, but its about time the industry had a big shock for a change.
Its no shock that Tomb Raider 2 IS excellent. Everyone should buy it. Period. The end."
Pretty lackluster to the first game but I still enjoyed it overall. One of the first PS1 games I have on my Vita.
Igual ao 1o só que muito pior!
Isso aqui é literalmente o uncharted 2 só que ruim.
04/10
Isso aqui é literalmente o uncharted 2 só que ruim.
04/10
spent 30 mins in the tutorial warming up to the controls before i gave up
trapping the butler in the freezer is one of my core memories
Fabulous and difficult gameplay
one of the best classic tomb raider titles due to how it inspired games to up their game at the time. level design, controls and story were incredible. a must play tomb raider
Obra de arte. Recomendo o documentário de uma hora no YouTube explicando como a direção de arte desse jogo é perfeita.