The writing is perhaps the best of any Tomb Raider game, but it all has a very pass feel. This might be forgivable if the rest of the game didn't scream, "Release me in time for the movie! The Tomb Raider series has never really been known for its precise control, but because of the exploratory nature of the games, it's mostly been forgiven. I'm not sure how or possibly why , but the controls are slower here. Far slower. To put it lightly, Angel of Darkness controls like a derailed, speeding freight train.
With no brakes. On an ice rink. And the ice is cracking. Mouse control is particularly atrocious -- it's either a full degree spin or a few seconds of a degree with little in-between. With the precise movements required by Lara, the mouse is not an option. The gamepad and keyboard are the better alternatives and work equally better, but it's still slipshod at best.
One of Lara's most useful moves is walking: she won't fall off ledges or accidentally make some other move you don't want when the walk key is pressed. Pressing left or right in walk mode will make Lara slowly strafe in the appropriate direction, which is required for precise movements. However, if your timing is just a little off, then pressing left or right will simply rotate Lara in place, even if the walk icon is showing.
Even weirder, she'll sometimes strafe in one direction and rotate in the other. Timing is key during many of the episodes, and these types of glitches just aren't acceptable. Finally, the inventory is a mess. I collected several maps throughout the game, but could never figure out how to view one. The game even told me to look at the map a few times, but activating the map made a beep followed by the same rotating inventory image. Most of the guns each took two bullets for each shot, even though there's only one barrel.
The Notebook, which you find fairly early on, contains a lot of important information. Unfortunately, it's never annotated, only appended to. The Notebook becomes an unwieldy mess the further you go, and it's often difficult to figure out what applies to your situation without flipping through page after page. When everything is just right, the game is truly beautiful. Lara's animation is topnotch, as are most of the enemies and other effects fire, water, etc.
They ramble about revamped controls, darker characters, and questions that'll be answered in later episodes of this planned trilogy. OK, now just eject the game disc and play it nevermore, lest you risk disappointment with yet another average Tomb Raider installment that-- like the last few churned-out PS1 sequels before it--fails to deliver on Core's promises.
Darkness is full of half-realized ideas, including strength power-ups see the Body sidebar below , a multiple-choice conversation system that barely affects the intriguing but muddled story, and a new tippy-toed stealth pose that I never felt the need to hunker into.
But of all the big ideas that fall flat, only the revamped controls damage the gameplay. Core's goal was to finally make moving Lara an accessible experience. Instead, Darkness' scheme is more ponderous than ever and feels like it was designed by 10 people who didn't get along. Tapping the Walk button does one thing. Holding it does another. It takes two buttons to perform a small hop. Lara's jitters made me miss many crucial jumps--to the point where I'd save after every successful leap.
Even if Darkness' new controls had worked, much of the game is still missing that sense of exploration--that feeling of "Whoa! Lookit the size of this place! Now how do I get up there? Out of the catacombs, Lara now wanders through realistic stark environments Paris, for instance, teems with one whole person filled with the usual switch-throwing and block-shoving puzzles.
Ironically enough, the game hits its high notes in the few levels actually spent raiding tombs. Maybe Lady Lara should stick to what she knows best. Her game's an inexcusable mess. Despite a three-year development cycle, The Angel of Darkness is packed with graphical, aural, and gameplay glitches. Slowdown occurs with jarring frequency. Sound effects drop in and out. There are misspellings in the dialogue text. And the game logic is nonexistent--why is it that I can kill a guard dog with a couple of kicks, but sixty bullets won't bring it down?
New moves, like stealth kills and melee punches, are a total joke. They're awkward, clumsy, and unnecessary. You don't need to worry about making noise or leaving bodies when enemies can't hear anything happening from more than three feet away, and thug corpses simply evaporate into thin air. The old moves are as robotic and frustrating as ever particularly Lara's jumps--you're guaranteed to accidentally hurl yourself off hundreds of cliffs before the game is through.
But that doesn't mean Angel of Darkness is good--it just means the whole series has been crap since Clearly, a lot of real development time was poured into the game; its story is deep and involving, and the visuals are gorgeous. But who cares about pretty graphics and cool characters in a game that's absolutely no fun to play? I bet Ethan wouldn't be half as tough on this game if it starred one of his idols, like Indiana Jones or Britney Spears.
Yes, this series has sucked for a long time now. And yes, Angel of Darkness is a bit rough around the edges. But that's no reason to be so hard on it. I think the biggest problem is that the developers are trying to do too much here, and none of it comes together quite as well as it could. It's as if the game could have used a few more months' refinement. That said, at its most basic level, this is a return to the original Tomb Raider formula that j worked so well so many years ago.
The levels 1 are well designed and inventive, and Lara j actually raids a tomb or two. And the controls--despite Ethan and Crispin's whining--work great once you get used to them. Overall, it's simply a solid addition to the Tomb Raider legacy. OK, I noticed a few, but not nearly the number that Ethan's talking about, and certainly not enough to keep me from playing.
A puny girlie-girl at the game's outset, Lara can bulk up her upper- and lower-body brawn by shoving blocks and performing long-distance leaps--strength-blasting moves that increase her hang time from ledges and let her kick in doors. Core Design refers to this on-the-job fitness training as Angel of Darkness' role-playing infusion. But in reality, Lara's strength power-ups are just a thinly veiled twist on the old fetch-the-item puzzles. Stumble on a stubborn door, for instance, and chances are you just need to mosey around until you find a nearby crate, shove it two feet, and voila--you instantly get the necessary boost in strength.
At least Core deserves credit for evolving the ubiquitous crates from a bland puzzle piece into fitness equipment. Could a workout video be far behind? Do we dare to imagine jumping across the game's deadly fissures without dying dozens of times? We dare. Here are 10 ways to avoid Angers frustrations. Turning with the left analog stick is a pain, but there's a better way: Press forward on the left stick and maneuver the camera and Lara with the right. This way, you have much more control.
Leap at a wall, hit it, and slide down onto a ledge. This technique will save you hours of maddening trial-and-error jumping, especially when guiding Lara over gaps of indeterminate distance. Don't be shy. Boldly sprint into close quarters and fire.
You will save on ammo, spend less time fighting, and generally feel better about yourself. Your enemies have restricted vision and don't cope well if you circle them. Use this to your advantage. Every number puzzle in the game has a five-digit solution. Whenever you see a five-digit number, jot it down--you'll be using it soon. Talk to anyone who isn't trying to kill you and always save your game before you do in case the conversation goes awry.
For example, Margot Carvier gives you a notebook if you answer a few questions, but she's easily insulted. Most of the doors in Paris and Prague don't lead anywhere.
If a door is jammed, sealed, or doesn't display the hand icon, ignore it. Make a note of doors that Lara cannot yet kick open and return to them later when she's stronger.
Locked doors require keys, which are usually nearby. When a puzzle requires a specific item, the object in question is probably close, usually within two or three rooms of the puzzle. Search the immediate vicinity. Carry your weapons out of their holsters. If foes appear, Lara autotargets them before you spot them even if they're offscreen because of the uncooperative camera.
Remember to save your progress before you enter an ominous room, prior to engaging an enemy, and most of all, just before a jump of unknown distance. And once you've done a thing right, save it so you won't have to reprise the feat after Lara's next death. Despite an outstanding plot, fantastic graphics and the always-stunning Lara Croft, The Angel of Darkness is plagued by a bevy of small but annoying glitches and faults.
The Angle of Darkness starts with Lara Croft meeting with a former mentor. Moments later the man is dead and Croft becomes the only suspect.
As Croft tries to unravel the mystery of her mentor's death she must avoid the police and the mysterious and deadly Monstrum while trying to locate the five Obscura paintings. Although all of the Tomb Raider games have relied on plot to a point, Angel of Darkness is certainly the first to successfully make the leap from a plot driven game to an almost interactive movie. This latest Tomb Raider also sports a number of new features; unfortunately many of them are mere window dressing.
The most exciting change is the in-game evolution of Croft. They way it's supposed to work is that Croft becomes better at what she does as you use her talents to complete the game. This page explains how. If you are still running Windows XP, I do recommend downloading and installing the v42 patch then the v52 patch before playing.
See the patches and utilities section below for download links and info on the issues these patches fix. If you're looking for help running it on a newer Mac system, I highly recommend MacRaider. This site includes a wealth of general information on the games, as well as a detailed section on backward compatibility. The GOG and Steam versions require no patching. If you are still running Windows XP , I recommend downloading and installing the v42 patch then the v52 patch below before playing.
I recommend patching before starting to play, but if you've already done so, you can download savegame files made with the patched game in order to continue near where you left off.
These can be found on my AOD savegame page. If you are unable to see the video sequences at the start of the game and between certain levels, or if you just want to watch them again, you can use the TRAOD Startup Configuration Utility below to access them directly. Or watch all the cinematics, including cutscenes within levels, on YouTube. Thanks to TombRaiderCutscenes.
This series of fan-made patches is designed to fix bugs, improve controls and graphics, and generally make AOD the game it should have been. It includes many different tools created by many different people.
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