Gaming Target - PlayStation 2: Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness

Written by John Scalzo on March 18, 2003

Updated Look: I will not make a boob joke... I will not make a boob joke... I will not make a boob joke... I will not make a boob joke...

When Tomb Raider was first released in 1996 it was at the forefront of video game history. Following closely on the heels of Super Mario 64, it cemented the fact that third person adventure games were here to stay. In the ensuing years the series managed to lose it's focus from a groundbreaking 3D game to other, ahem, assets of the lead character. Lara Croft has become a phenomenon totally unto herself. Starring in games, posing for action figures, being a cover girl for countless magazines, modeling for her own swimsuit calendar, and being immortalized on the big screen by Angela Jolie. But like all phenoms, Lara Croft and Tomb Raider have faded back down to Earth. And it is from this point that the developers at Core have decided to reinvent Lara Croft and Tomb Raider for the next generation.

There's no denying that the Tomb Raider franchise has been in a bit of a lull recently. The series has been eclipsed by the likes of Metal Gear Solid, Splinter Cell, and lots of boob jokes by the adventure gamers. So Angel of Darkness has been created to give the series a new outlook. The dark caves and temples are a thing of the past as The Angel of Darkness opens with Lara being framed for the murder of her former mentor, Werner Von Croy. She has to figure out the connection between the murder and a mysterious man named Eckhardt who was using Von Croy to track down The Obscura Paintings. The paintings hold the key to unleashing a dark power that from the screenshots looks at the very least like an army of zombies, giant bugs, and a secret society known as The Cabal.

Lara's fugitive status is the catalyst that creates the second big change in Angel of Darkness: a new emphasis on stealth. Lara has been given a boatload of new moves, over 500 to be exact, and stealth will be a large part of the game. Going in with guns blazing may not get the desired results anymore as Lara is now able to sidle around corners, sneak up on guards, and the ability to snap that guard's neck without him knowing you're there are just a few. Lara will also have the ability to engage enemies in hand to hand combat to avoid the use of her twin pistols.

This new stealth based system also lends itself to some of the customization options Core has planned for the game. The way a player plays the game will determine the extent of some of Lara's new abilities. Depending on how fast you solve a puzzle or how thoroughly you explore a level will make the game grant you improvements to some of Lara's talents. Speed, jumping ability, brainpower, upper body strength, stamina, and more categories can be tweaked to how the player wants them.

Tomb Raider's famous jumping and climbing puzzles are also on the drawing board to be revamped in Angel of Darkness. Jumping and climbing are still a big part of the game but Lara now has more moves than ever when it comes to reaching that high platform. Going around corners while hanging from a ledge is no longer a problem. Lara's repertoire also has a new move called "last chance grabs" that allow for a more forgiving jumping system. This is supposed to cut down on the number of misstepped jumps in the previous games that were often off by only a step or two. But the coolest change to Lara's platforming ways are her new climbing skills. Any wall that has indents suitable for climbing can be scaled like the expert climber that a person like Lara obviously would be. It should add an interesting new dimension to the game.

Character interaction will also affect the Tomb Raider series for the first time. Saying the right thing to the right person at the right time will often be the only way to find the right path in the game. It hasn't really been revealed how this will work in the game, but anything to hear more of that great British accent.

For all you Tomb Raider fans that are beginning to sound a little worried at the thought of all this stealth and talking, fear not, because Kurtis is here to pick up the slack. Angel of Darkness will feature a second playable character in the shape of Kurtis Trent. Kurtis is conducting his own investigation into Eckhardt and he will cross paths with Lara several times during the game. Sporting his own set of moves and the much more direct approach of shooting everything that moves, Kurtis' time should be a welcome change of pace throughout the game. Core has also said he's rather handy with an unknown weapon called the Chirugai blade, and who doesn't like a guy with weird weaponry?

Visually, The Angel of Darkness looks ready for the next generation. Everything has a much sharper and cleaner look than any of the previous Tomb Raider games could ever dream of. Lara herself was actually created using ten times the number of polygons as before. But I hate counting polys and would much rather look at the fantastic environments that Lara must travel through in order to clear her name. In fact, several of the game's levels take place in rain and snow and the screenshots just look incredible.