Review #555: Tomb Raider II

 I wanted Persona 5 to be review 555...

Those breasts don't quite look right.

 Tomb Raider II is... quite something. It's an undisputed step forward from Tomb Raider 1, but, but it's still aged a bit badly.

 The story... is barely even there. There's an intro movie revealing the past of an ancient dagger, then there's Lara exploring the great wall o' China, then you come across a baddie who talks of another baddie who wants the dagger and now Lara is out to get the dagger before the bad guy does. The story is but a frail, delicate thread that's barely even there, so if you like narrativesi n your games, this game ain't it.

The game looks quite a bit better than the first game.

 The game plays pretty much exactly like the first one, Lara shoots, jumps, grabs, clings, dives and swims all over the place. Kudos to the developers, as nothing reminded me of Tomb Raider 1, every stage, jump and obstacle felt quite fresh. The arsenal of weapons has expanded to include an assault rifle and a grenade launcher, as well as a harpoon gun to deal with underwater enemies. Tomb Raider 1 was filled with psychotic animals looking to kill you, and there're plenty of animals wanting your meat here too, but most enemies are humans this time around, which is much more exciting thematically, but it was pulled off rather poorly. Simply put, it's incredibly hard to come out of a fire fight unscathed. The best tactic seemed to be to dash towards an enemy, guns ablazing, but run toward his side, then roll and continue shooting while the enemy shoots at thin air. It's not perfect, but it works... albeit it ends up being incredibly lame and repetitive. Sometimes you'll have to swim towards a platform while an enemy shoots at you, and then climb on top of it while still getting shot, which is why taking damage seem unavoidable. You also have to perform a few drops that will hurt you, so level design feels a bit cheap at times.

 It sounds hard, and it is hard, kinda. Enemies are the least of your worries, as ammo and health pick ups are very plentiful... not that you'll know that on your first playthrough, as you foolishly try to stock up on everything you can, since everything and anything is out to get you. I'm not kidding, it seems like there's a trap laying at every single corner, thank god you can save at any time now. Sadly, this meant that I was saving my game every few minutes or so, either because I knew the game was gonna throw something unexpected at me or because I just got done with a tedious endeavor, like pushing crates which takes like forever, so I'd rather save before the game forces me to do it again thanks to an unforeseen death. Tomb Raider was made for the 'save-anywhere' feature, so thanks god it finally made the leap to the console version, Tomb Raider II would have been nigh unplayable without it, due to how frustrating it could've been.

New weapons, new costumes, new environments but the same ol' Lara.

 Tomb Raider II introduced Flares into the game, I found it quite annoying having to use flares to light my way, and having to drop them at a moment's notice in order to take out my guns, but I can understand why they are here: The game has impressive lightning effects, and they had to show them off. Another new addition are vehicles, such as snowbikes and motorboats, which, while they don't add too much to the gameplay, are a neat new element into the game. Finally, secrets work quite differently than before, now you need to collect 3 dragon statues in every level, and only upon gathering the third one do you get goodies. This means that rewards are great, but if you finish a stage missing a single dragon statue... ends up feeling disappointing.

 Overall, Tomb Raider II is decent, but it takes the right kind of person to appreciate it nowadays, since the game can get quite frustrating when there're so many ways to die. The new stages are larger and more complex than the ones in TR1, but the new emphasis on gunplay leaves a lot to be desired, simply put, combat is cheap and always favors your enemies, but I guess they did what they could with the tools they had at the time. Tomb Raider II is quite long and hard, so it's best enjoyed in bursts.
 7.0 out of 10