Lara is back on the PS2. (Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness (PS2))

Member Name: heekeer

Product:	Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness (PS2)
Date:	17/08/09 (4 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: New playable character, new dialogue options

Disadvantages: Poor platforming, camera problems, grip mechanic is poor, where are the dual pistols

Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness is an action game for the Playstation 2 developed by Core Design.

The story in the game follows the series heroine Lara Croft who starts off by visiting her mentor Von Croy but he gets murdered and she is blamed. You have to discover who is really behind the killings but the focus soon shifts to stopping the evil syndicate from gaining all the pieces of the Sanglyph which will throw the world into chaos giving them immortality and god like powers. The story is actually quite interesting and throws many twists and turns your way.

The series takes some steps forward in some aspects as now you can play as another character, Kurtis Trent though he is exactly like Lara aside from different movement animations. The levels in the game have really been expanded and feature far bigger locations such as Paris the city you start off in, character interaction has been much improved as you can talk to characters with multiple dialogue choices and learn information from them like an adventure game.

The series sadly takes a few steps back and for a start the platforming hasn't improved at all, the frustrating jumps you have to take are still really based on luck and timing if you will make it or not so expect to see Lara plummet to her doom at regular intervals then suddenly you will complete the jump not knowing what you did differently, her iconic dual pistols have been removed which is a real disappointment as they have always been in the games.

The new grip mechanic is annoying and frustrating as it requires you to traverse ledges but only gives you the bare minimum of grip you need to get across. The camera is also pretty bad especially in tighter locations like hallways it will go anywhere but where you need it.

Graphically the game is quite good, Lara now looks like the CG box shots for the previous games, some of the larger environments are quite impressive too.

Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness is one of the more disappointing Tomb Raider games, it tries for some innovations but fails to implement them well.

Summary: Tries to innovate but sadly fails.