Tomb raider 2 1997 series#

In addition to the boat, which is so much fun to drive around, you just have these elaborate levels that loop onto themselves and provide such natural platforming playgrounds. So I will dock the game for that.īut the levels! THE LEVELS! They're so damn good. The way bullets register in this game (all hit scan) and Lara's limited combat abilities really make every encounter awkward and stilted. Just like loads and loads of human enemies. Venice: Venice introduces the other big tweak to Tomb Raider, and I really don't like it to this day: human enemies with guns out the wazoo. So to me it's really just about adaptability. I feel like if you watch a speed run of this game, you could basically program the game to execute instructions along a grid and it would all work perfectly. I think these games are so precisely designed around the way Lara controls that it all just works for me. Controls can be two things: first, accurate, and second, precise. I've never really had a problem with them, though. Lots of people complain about how Lara controls in the classic Tomb Raider games, and without question it takes some getting used to. It's still remarkable for the trust it puts in players to figure things out for themselves- perhaps at some times it gives players too much trust and/or signposts poorly- and it affords players that same sense of satisfaction and accomplishment that other well-known 'core' titles have prided themselves on. Tomb Raider II takes the approach of Tomb Raider but distills it into more of an action-based cocktail. Tomb Raider I was a smash hit so of course Tomb Raider II had to follow immediately after. I also like games that are really challenging and require the player to behave like an adult and think to accomplish his or her objective. I like games with cool atmosphere that enhances the gameplay. I like 3D platforming and I like deliberate 3D platforming where the player has a lot (or all) of control.

Tomb Raider was quite revolutionary in 1996 and I enjoy the game for a variety of reasons.

Tomb raider 2 1997 series#

I had the pleasure of replaying it this past weekend on my Xbox Series X at 4K with the wobbly texture problem fixed and with 8x MSAA, so it was quite beautiful and ran very smoothly.