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.