TheProfessor
1 review liked by TheProfessor
Tomb Raider II
1997
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.