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This will be a little different from my usual reviews, it'll be more a first impressions/summary thing.

Pros:
- Awesome base game to begin with. Tons of characters, arenas, and 2 games in one.

Cons:
- There's no 3D backgrounds or arranged OST
- Messy translation
- Online is currently very hit-and-miss

Currently, online is a mess. However, Code Mystics (the developer) have addressed this issue and are working on fixing it. It shows they actually give a damn about criticism and I commend them from that.

I will change my review to a Recommended rather than a Not Recommended when they fix the online.

Legend has it that the fabled Tomb Raider series was doomed to a life of purgatory, after the unfortunate creation of a buggy, rushed but well-meaning mess of a game called "The Angel of Darkness", and the franchise was to remain stagnant for many eons. Alas, a hero named "Crystal Dynamics" emerged, and a mere 3 years after Core Design's unsightly and depressing demise, brought Lara Croft back to life. The name of their triumphant return? The short, but incredibly sweet, Tomb Raider: Legend.

Oh, how I love this game. It got me into the Tomb Raider series way back when it was released in 2006. I'd dabbled in the older entries on the PlayStation but could never beat them (until recently that is. Check out my reviews for them! No shameful self-promotion here!), but Legend piqued my interest in the series and alas, $20 later, I have the entire series on Steam. And what a brilliant way to start again. Tomb Raider: Legend is precisely what Lara Croft needed: a beautiful, seamless and user-friendly transition to the (then) next generation of gaming.

The majority of Tomb Raider's lore is retconned, but the essentials are all here. We still (of course) have Lara Croft, and man, has she recieved a facelift. And a boob job. And a butt job. I'm gay and even I can't stop staring at her. She's still the kickass, no-nonsense, incredibly acrobatic, academic and elegant explorer who we've come to know and love. And the same applies to the gameplay; you still raid tombs, you still discover hidden treasures while globetrotting, and shoot the ♥♥♥♥ out of bad guys and angry cats. All in a beautiful new engine.

Man, this game is pretty. It just looks phenomenal. It has a unique, semi-cartoonish style in terms of character models, but the environments are bursting with detail and realism, and the use of effects like bloom and motion blurs are used just enough not to take away from the experience. Textures are crisp, ragdolls are hilariously bouncy, animations are smoother than jelly, and the detail is immaculate. The first time Lara emerged from water, actually visably wet and her clothes drenched, I was in awe.

It sounds amazing, too. The effort that went into the soundtrack is very admirable. Troels Brun Folmann has crafted a dynamic, unique to each level musical score which only adds to the already excellent atmosphere. Voice acting is also great, a tad unbelievable but very cinematic. Keeley Hawes brings a regal and more mature tone to Lara which I was very glad to hear.

Plot-wise, it's good! I mean, nothing really new or special here. It's the typical "artifact in multiple pieces go around the world to collect them and then something happens when they're all together then boss battle". But there are some lovely villains, there's traitors, there's emotion, there's consistency, and there's enough to keep you interested in what's going on. I don't think as much effort was put in here as in The Angel of Darkness, but it works and it wraps up nicely, hinting at a sequel without resorting to an irritating cliffhanger. That said, the research that Crystal Dynamics did into ancient lore, such as that of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, do give the story a lot more depth.

The gameplay itself? Stellar. It feels so incredibly natural when Lara is rope-swinging, vaulting, shimmying, dodging, shooting, pole-climbing, swimming, and even riding a Ducati™ (yes, there's product placement) motorcycle. The levels are incredibly varied, and I don't miss the older blocky engine one iota. Movement and combat is far less restrictive, control is pitch-perfect, and the addition of Lara's grappling hook adds a lot more than one would think to the game. It's very smooth and well done. There's also tons of unlockables, which I absolutely LOVE. What happened to unlockables?! There's (many) costumes, weapon upgrades, art, models, cheats and a video to unlock, and all this encourages replayability.

Which brings me to the few negative points I have about this game. My main gripe is the length: there are only eight levels in Tomb Raider: Legend (nine, if you count Lara's Mansion, which makes a welcome return), and even with the added collectibles and time trials for each level, the game is over quickly, especially for people who don't care about 100% completion. The fact that it's quite easy (regardless of the difficulty setting) also adds to this; the game is constantly providing you with tutorials, even in the sixth level of the game, and you can utilise Lara's magical binoculars to help you solve puzzles (none of which are remotely complex).

The game is also buggy from time to time, mostly in the visual department. I noticed this especially in Kazakhstan, during a motorcycle section in which areas of the map were simply missing or transparent. Turning on "Next-Generation Content" in the video settings adds dynamic lighting and better textures, but kills the framerate (sometimes regardless of your gaming setup) and throws even more glitches into the mix, including misaligned ropes and distorted faces, and even crashing the game on some levels.

One final thing: Lara's new sidekicks bug me, a lot. They just don't shut the hell up. "Watch out Lara!" "Wow Lara, that was great!" "Whoa, I don't like the look of this!". Even Lara herself gets audibly annoyed with them. It's totally nitpicking on my part but I feel it's a valid criticism. Just shut the hell up Zip and Alister! She doesn't need your help!

Do I recommend this game? Absolutely. Legend was the start of something new, a rebirth that Tomb Raider so desperately needed. After Legend came onto the scene, the equally awesome Anniversary, Underworld, Guardian of Light and the 2013 re-imagining followed suit. What an excellent way to get us exploring again!

4/5

The story of Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness might be one of the heartbreaking in videogame history, although I don't think many people see it that way. It saddens me to see something so set up for success, so fresh in an aging series in serious need of a facelift, end up like the final product that we have today, which remains the lowest rated main entry in the series thus far. Angel of Darkness was in development hell for 3 years, and Core Design wanted Angel of Darkness to be different. They wanted it to compete with other successful titles such as Metal Gear Solid 2. Eidos wanted the game rushed to the market in order to make sales. And unfortunately, they got what they wanted: Angel of Darkness was commercially successful, but a buggy, broken, unfinished mess.

This is why it's such a shame that Angel of Darkness ended up like it did. There's evidence everywhere that this game is unfinished. Every addition to the game feels half-assed. There's elements like sneaking which you never have to use at all, ever. You can just as easily run up to guards and shoot them in the face. Taking out guards in sneaking mode requires them to be still and you behind them, and most of the time they're mobile so there's just no point. Hand-to-hand combat is again, more trouble than it's worth. Sprinting moves you faster but serves no purpose at all, unlike in previous entries. The infamous RPG elements in which Lara gets stronger by pushing boxes or kicking open doors could easily be removed entirely, and replaced with keys and switches. Collecting valuables and items to sell and purchase weapons and the like only appears once in the game, at the start, so for the rest of the game you're carrying around useless artifacts like rare records and vintage wine. Combat is also quite poor, and hampered further by the controls, which I'll cover in an entirely seperate paragraph.

Tank controls usually refers to a control method in which the player character moves forwards and backwards by pressing up and down, and turning by pressing left and right. Here, it seems that tank controls has been taken too literally, as Lara now has to accelerate from a snail's pace walk into a jog, and by the time you've started jogging, she sluggishly pulls to a halt and stands still for a couple of seconds. Vaulting objects and ladders simply requires Lara to stop next to them and press forward. Most of the time the game understands what you're doing, but other times Lara will just do a 180, vault over a railing and fall to her death. Vaulting from a crawling position back to standing (ie, crawling out from a vent) requires you to hold down walk and forward, which took me ages to figure out because it just made no sense. Looking requires you to be still and holding down the Sprint button. Combat changes the control system from tank into generally three dimensional movement, but your character will flail about like a moron, and the sudden change from tank to free movement generally means you'll run straight into your adversary and take unnecessary damage.

Let's not forget the bane of all banes in this game: the bugs. Lara will fall through solid surfaces, fail to grab onto ledges, will run forward diagonally in aiming mode if you press left or right, bump into ledges that lead to her inevitable death, manage to hang from a ledge from a standing position, but then not be able to get back up, and can run faster sideways on stairs than she can on a flat surface. Quicksaving works the majority of the time, but don't rely on it too much, especially in the final boss battle. The game will crash in some levels depending on what video settings you're using. Textures clip through each other, the camera clips through pretty much everying, halls of mirrors appear on just about every level, unfinished 3D objects only look right from one angle, cutscenes will play music but sometimes not sound or dialogue, items will randomly multiply in your inventory (I had 28 Periapt Shards at one point, even though there's only 3 in the game and they're key items), scripted encounters sometimes fail to spawn (the Cleaner proves irritating to most unlucky users, but thankfully I didn't run into this) and countless other bugs make their unwanted appearance. The Steam overlay freezes the game and alt-tabbing doesn't work most of the time. It's such a damn shame, because despite all the quirks, the engine is actually pretty solid, and with just even an extra month of time to work out the kinks, it could've been far better.

So what's good about this game? Thankfully, there's just as many good things as there are hideously broken things. It's aesthetically pleasing on all fronts. Environments and textures are incredibly detailed and far more believable than the previous five games. Character models could do with a bit more work, but they still look great. There's tons of graphical tweaks in the game's launcher, meaning that this game can look far better than its PS2 counterpart. The soundtrack is awesome, and the best in the series since the first. But by far the best thing is the plot. It's very well executed and genuinely emotional. Lara's transformation into a more cynical, badass and resilient heroine is a welcomed change to the one dimensional Lara from the previous games. In fact, the whole style of the game has undergone this change. Gone are the days of "wow this item is legendary artifact I must go to interesting country #4 and retrieve it to stop hackneyed villain #56 from using it for their own ends", and in its place is a muder mystery, horror-themed dark trek through Europe's criminal underworld and a cult who uses it as a front for their own plans. It's engaging and definitely the high point of the game, even if a lot of it was cut for the final release. Secondary characters have a lot of depth and you actually care about them.

And the gameplay itself isn't that bad, once you get used to it. You learn to control Lara soon enough, even if it is a hassle. You still raid tombs, however scarce they are, the puzzles are pretty good, the environments are varied and refreshing (again, a lot of these were cut), and at least it's something different from fatigue that's set in after five years of the same thing. Dealing with the bugs becomes just another enemy to deal with, and the game still works. Just think of it as a beta! With all the crappy Early Access games flooding Steam nowadays, you can easily just imagine that Angel of Darkness is simply another one that will never be finished!

I'm going to end my review by saying that this game was worth it in the end. It made me sad to think of what it could've been had Eidos not been greedy bastards and rushed it. It basically spelled the end of Core Design, of which the CEO resigned after the poor critical reception, and the company itself only released further disappointing casual games until its demise in 2007. It spelled the end of the first era of Tomb Raider. Crystal Dynamics took over and rewarded us with Legend, Anniversary, Underworld and 2013, all of which were critically and commercially successful. Finally, here's a Eurogamer article detailing more about the depressing story of Angel of Darkness, and the awesome community efforts being made to transform it into the game it deserved to be.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-10-12-the-fans-who-would-fix-tomb-raiders-most-broken-adventure

3/5

Tomb Raider: Chronicles started off so promising, so well set up. The opening cutscene had me hooked. Is Lara really dead? Who knows? Winston finally gets a role other than cannon/freezer fodder, opting to recount Lara's past expeditions around the globe to Father Patrick Dunstan, after a memorial service for her is held. Meanwhile, Werner von Croy, Lara's mentor and rival, continues excavating the Temple of Horus in hopes of finding her after the events of The Last Revelation.

But after the opening cutscene, I've made a stunning revelation myself: this game is utterly soulless, lazy and devoid of heart. In my reviews of Tomb Raider II and III, I made comments addressing that I found them to be more effective as expansion packs rather than sequels, but still good games. Chronicles, however, feels more like a map pack created by someone who had the Tomb Raider concept hastily explained to them in 2 minutes.

There's only 13 levels this time around. To boot, a lot of them are incredibly short. The amount of puzzles has been reduced, an addition that I really loved from the Last Revelation, instead opting to return to key, switch, door and backtracking from Tomb Raiders I-III. The levels are also annoyingly easy, except for the final level, which is ridiculously hard and total change of pace from the previous 12. Here's a breakdown of the levels:

1-4: Reskinned Venice levels from Tomb Raider II with a hint of the Greece levels from Tomb Raider I.
5-7: Painfully unoriginal snowy Russian base and submarine levels. Cause that's never been done before.
8-10: Okayish levels pretty much stolen from Shadow Man/Medievil. Seriously.
11-13: Why is Lara Croft stuck in the Matrix now? Why didn't you take the blue pill?!

Lara's new techniques include: tightrope walking and swinging from horizontal bars. As usual, these additions are barely noticeable as they appear about 3 times each throughout the entire game. Because the level system jumps around to different time periods, Lara's inventory is reset at the beginning of each set, which is actually a pretty good addition. Secrets have been replaced by golden roses which, upon collecting them all, unlocks an artwork menu (yay). If you miss one, you miss out, but it really doesn't matter. It's not worth it. There's also no vehicle sections either, other than a crappy underwater mission which is irritatingly short (literally 2 minutes).

Not to mention that it's filled with some irritating bugs as well. Using hotkeys for medkits depletes your supply, but doesn't actually heal you half the time. Weapon hotkeys don't work anymore. A couple of times Lara just refused to draw her weapons, whether I used the draw key or equipped it from the inventory menu. Saving also screws up for a lot of people, but thankfully I never encountered this issue. The final level is ghastly in its bugginess.

Plotwise, well, what plot? It's four completely random episodes thrown together. This entire game is totally unnecessary in the overarching plot from Tomb Raider through to The Angel of Darkness. The concept is good, but it's executed so poorly that it's just sad. The only connection that Chronicles has to past entries is, at the end of the game, Werner von Croy finds Lara's backpack. It would be a spoiler, but come on, we know she's still alive, and playing through this dreck really isn't worth such an equally pitiful ending.

The sound is just average. I don't know what happened to Peter Connelly's great soundtrack from The Last Revelation. Most of the music is gutted, reused or remixed from previous entries. Egyptian-themed music from The Last Revelation is used, for example, in the depths of water beneath a Russian submarine. It doesn't flow and it's just freaking lazy. Voice acting is just bad all around. Stereotypical Americans, Frenchmen, and Russians flood the cutscenes, of which there are inexplicably many, consistently interrupting the little gameplay that there is. Voice volume is also far too low, leading to important dialogue, such as hints given by Zip in the final 3 levels, being missed.

Oh, and the camera! My God, the camera. The fixed angles are revolting, obscuring your view and disabling the use of the look function. Meaning that, unlike in previous entries, if you wanted to return to your normal view, you just pressed look or draw weapon. Here, nope! Enjoy this beautiful tilt while you fall to your death, or this stunning pan while you get the ♥♥♥♥ shot out of you by a helicopter!

The game somehow looks worse than The Last Revelation. Lara's model remains unchanged from the previous year, and only a small amount of levels actually take place inside a tomb, the rest of which are cities, military bases or submarines. I'm all for variety, but it is called TOMB Raider. Why the sudden aversion to one of the core (no pun intended) elements of the game? Human models other than Lara look downright awful, especially Father Patrick's. Time Crisis on PS1 had better models than this game. The only above-standard thing about this game is the pre-rendered cutscenes, and even they aren't up to scratch with other games released in the same period.

I suppose one other good point about the game is its disappointing length, which means that it's over quickly, even though it feels like an eternity. I passed Tomb Raider: Chronicles in five hours. FIVE HOURS. It's one of the most disappointing games I've ever played. And if you're afraid of missing out on some plot details, don't be. This game is worthless in every aspect.

2/5.

How does Tomb Raider III: Adventures of Lara Croft measure up to its predecessors? Well, I think a more fitting title for the game could've been Tomb Raider: Part III. In retrospect, I'd apply a similar moniker to Tomb Raider II, as I feel they work more as either expansions or episodes, rather than fully fledged sequels. That being said, what we have here is still more of the same: more of the same action-packed, platforming and puzzle-pulling gameplay of which the Tomb Raider series is so renowned for.

Lara Croft returns once again in another globetrotting adventure, this time in search of four pieces of a legendary meteorite, scattered throughout the world. She must travel to India, London, Nevada, the South Pacific and Antarctica to retrieve them, and stop the mad Dr. Willard, among other hackneyed antagonists, from using the meteorite pieces for their own devilish deeds.

For the first time in the series, you're allowed to select which set of levels to play in order, but I really don't see the point of this at all, as you end up playing all of them anyway. Lara's mansion makes another welcome appearance, serving once again as a tutorial for newcomers and veterans alike, allowing them to get accustomed to Lara's new abilities, including sprinting, a dive-roll, crawling, and using monkey bars. And yes, you can still lock Winston in the freezer, or even shoot at him on Lara's new shooting range! Secrets return to the system from the first game, in which hard to reach places reward you with a cache of healing items, ammo and even weapons from time to time. And if you collect all of them, you can unlock a secret level, which I love as an incentive for completionists. You can keep track of this by checking your stats, which makes it a lot easier to find them.

The main issue I have with Tomb Raider III is inconsistency. Similar to Tomb Raider II, Tomb Raider III suffers from an uneven pace and lack of balance. For example, the London levels are incredibly boring, long-winded, and full of water and ladder sections, both of which are incredibly cumbersome. The South Pacific levels offer a bit more variety, but here there's an even larger emphasis placed on water, and controlling the kayak is absolutely abysmal. I actually love tank controls, so I have no issues with games like the older Resident Evils or Tomb Raiders 1-5, but the kayak is just so floaty (no pun intended), so sticky, so unresponsive. In contrast, Tomb Raider III has one of the best looking opening levels I've seen in a video game. It truly is stunning how Core managed to work around the limitations of the engine to provide such beautiful locales. Antarctica and Nevada in particular are also very well done sections and feel far more natural and at home in a Tomb Raider game.

The difficulty is also just as sporadic and unpredictable as it is in the second game, and I once again find this incredibly grating. There is a large amount of instant deaths, most of which feel so damn cheap. It feels like cheating to just save after every small section just to avoid playing the same parts over and over again, but I suppose that's a better alternative to what the PlayStation players had to suffer through. Whereas in the PlayStation version you have to collect "Save Crystals" to save the game (wherever you wish), in the PC version you have an infinite amount of saves (as in previous games), and Save Crystals are converted into floating green crystals that function as instant small medpacks. It's kind of bizarre and I wish Core had just outright removed them rather than changing them.

The game looks and sounds fantastic, there's no denying it. The levels are so detailed and considerably less artificial. Effects such as water, fire and muzzle flashes look stunning, and the lighting is phenomenal. It has this autumn-afternoon, orange-green colour palette going on that I really, really like. Nathan McRee returns once again as the composer, and has thankfully resurrected the Tomb Raider Theme from its hideous Tomb Raider II remix. Sound is far more solid and involving in Tomb Raider III, and I think it's one of the best aspects of the game. Judith Gibbins lends her voice to Lara for the second time, and she still remains my favourite voice actress for her.

Despite my aversion to the inconsistencies of the game, I'd still recommend it for fans of the previous games. I wouldn't, however, recommend it for someone trying to get into the series for the first time. It's quite difficult and not very accessible to newcomers. I enjoyed the game but I felt that, like the second one, it failed as a sequel and filled more of a expansion pack role. For me, I consider The Last Revelation to be the true sequel.

4/5.

PS. In Nevada, workers before you enter Area 51 have Lost Souls from Doom and Doom II on the back of their jackets. This alone added half a star to my final score.

If there's one thing I can say about The Last Revelation, it's that it surprised me greatly. I'd be lying if I said that my expectations weren't low for the fourth entry into the immortal Tomb Raider series. No Croft Manor? No Judith Gibbins as the voice actress for Lara? No inventory ring? No musical score by the awesome Nathan McCree? No locking Winston in the freezer? All these charming little things from the previous games that up and left with The Last Revelation had me thinking that I would be quite disappointed with Core Design's next foray into the adventures of Indiana Jane and the Breasts of Enormity. It's not often that I like being proven wrong, but I can happily say that The Last Revelation surpassed my expectations and proved why I can't keep myself away from this excellent series.

While it is sad to see the previously mentioned elements missing from this installment, the gameplay itself is still the stellar, straight-forward and damn fun formula players have grown accustomed to in the last three games. Lara returns with all her previous manouvres, and a few new ones to boot, including rope-swinging, shimmying around corners and pole-climbing. Nothing groundbreaking, but hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. The Last Revelation has seemingly taken a few pages from Resident Evil's book. There's a largely increased emphasis on puzzles and riddles, some of which are quite complex. This is a well thought out departure from Tomb Raiders 1-3, in which pretty much every puzzle boiled down to "find keys to open this door so you can open that door to get that key to pull this switch". You can also now combine certain items and vision-based items such as binoculars and scopes are frequently used. Some weapons also have multiple ammo types which is a lovely added touch.

The Last Revelation is also the most accessible game in the series since the first. I loved the slow but steady learning curve of the original release, and I found it irritating that in the second and third games, Core went kind of ballistic with the difficulty, throwing all kinds of cheap deaths here and there and ruining the pace accordingly. The Last Revelation is quite easy compared to its predecessors, but thankfully the challenge once again builds up as you get used to controlling Lara once again. Later on in the game, you gain access to hub-like levels and backtracking between areas adding some welcome open-world and exploration elements. Fans may be disappointed with the reduced difficulty though, and I find this understandable. Secrets are a cinch to find, and there's so many items jam-packed into Lara's tiny backback, I'm surprised she can even stand up, let alone monkey swing, drop-hang onto a crevice, crawl, 180, backflip mid-air, catch a rope, swing back and forth, jump pistols akimbo slaying infernal bats, sprint and dive-roll inbetween rotating circular blades.

The game is also fantastically long. The earlier entires opted for a smaller amount of levels, but these levels were insanely large and sometimes overly complex. This time, due to their reduced size and the addition of backtracking, combined with the ever-changing environments leads to a far less boring and cumbersome experience.

Apart from the first two levels in Cambodia, which serve as a tutorial, the entire game takes place in Egypt. The Tomb Raider series is well known for its varied locations, with Lara often globetrotting to retrieve her beloved artifacts, but even with only one major set-piece, the game never gets boring. The choice to have a single primary location for the setting helps keep the game more cohesive, and it makes the plot flow together much easier. Yes, the story is still not Pulitzer Prize worthy, but it's entertaining and far more involving than the previous games. It's great to have an antagonist who has some sort of depth and character.

Peter Connelly is no Nathan McCree, but he does a pretty swell job on the soundtrack. As long as we still have some form of the original theme, I'm content. Jonell Elliott also provides a great voice for Lara, although I did prefer her more mature tone that Judith Gibbins provided in previous installments. The Tomb Raider engine is showing its age at this point, but Core continues with its stellar level design and intelligent workarounds to ensure that levels remain unblocky, despite the engine's limitations. FMV sequences are heavily improved from past entires, but the animations are still kind of robotic.

What else can I say? I was so pleasantly surprised with The Last Revelation, and I think you will be too. Tomb Raider 2 and 3 felt more like expansion packs, but The Last Revelation is truly the sequel to the original masterpiece. Core has basically perfected their formula at this point, and I can only hope that Tomb Raider: Chronicles follows suit. It's definitely the best since the original, and I would even go as far to say that it surpasses it.

4.5/5

Core Design's insanely successful sequel to the original, classic Tomb Raider (1996) is just more of the same. However, for some reason, this statement seems to often be taken as a negative one, whereas I just view it as more of a good thing. And that's exactly what Tomb Raider II is. Much more!

Let's start with aesthetics. The graphics are largely improved in comparison with the first game. Lara looks like an even more sexy bunch of polygons this time around, complete with larger and rounder breasts, which I assume took up 60%+ of the development time and budget. Lara also has a ragdoll ponytail, which would actually look quite good, if it didn't look like a three-section staff that could knock somebody out. It would come as no surprise to me if she was almost every teenage guy's wet dream back in '97. Moving on, we have video settings this time around! Yes, actual video settings, and I'm fairly certain the game runs without any emulators or graphical enhancements that weren't there in the original release. There's even support for widescreen resolutions, but I prefer to keep it at 4:3.

Textures and other models are largely improved, although for some reason all the male characters look incredibly wrinkly. I think they just started with Winston's model and built upon every male character from there. Finally, there's an improved lighting engine, which also plays a faily big role in the game itself, as well as being a nice visual enhancement. There's only one complaint here, and that's the FMVs. Not only do they have awful scanlines, but the game goes windowed in full-screen and it just looks wrong. However, when you compare that to the first one, where you'd have to alt-tab and the game would sometimes crash, it's not a big deal.

Sound-wise, it's not as good as the first, at least in my opinion. The main theme is a gutted remix of the original, but Nathan McRee provides a nice selection of short, dramatic pieces which generally fit each situation well. Lara's new voice actor is good, although for some reason they didn't replace all her lines from the original. Seems a bit odd. All the male voice actors are god awful though. Just awful. Funny, but still awful. Guns sound incredibly satisfying, and there's a larger selection of environmental sounds to add to the atmosphere.

In terms of plot, it's very simple; point-A to point-B. Lara hears of a legendary artifact called the Dagger of Xian, visiting China, Italy, and Tibet in the process to claim it. There's a couple of hackneyed villains here and there, but it's all very basic. If you want better stories, I'd player later entires in the series.

Nothing much has changed gameplay or control-wise; rather there's just been some additional things slapped onto the already solid gameplay to provide some variety. Levels are insanely long. Like, hours long. There's 17 levels in the game and it took me 24 or so hours to complete. I'm a slow gamer, but that's still insanely long for an action adventure-game. I've also noticed a large increase in difficulty from the first game, and the learning curve is nowhere near as smooth. It seems to be completely random, but all I can say is that I recommend you save after pretty much every puzzle; according to my end statistics, I saved 217 times. There's a lot of instant deaths, and to be honest it feels quite cheap, but I suppose that's why you can save at any time. Secrets have changed and are more rewarding, and completionists will love finding them all. The new weapons are awesome, quite frankly, and some, such as the M16, require some actual tactics to use, rather than just holding control and backflipping.

The use of newly added flares takes advantage of the aforementioned improved lighting system, as a lot of areas in the game are too dark to see without them, and it adds a nice extra element of exploration and discovery. Although you can use them underwater, which is kind of funny. Ladders and ziplines are also new, although the former are incredibly cumbersome, overused and slow, and the latter appears about 3 times in the whole game, so they really don't count for much in my book. As such, Lara comes equipped with some new manoeuvres, such as doing a half-turn in mid-air, and the animations for these are all just as fluid and beautiful as in the first game. Lastly, vehicle sections, which I was at first skeptical and hesitant about experiencing, are actually some of the most enjoyable parts of the game. It's a shame then, however, that like ziplines, they appear so rarely throughout the game.

So what's the verdict then? Well, Tomb Raider II is everything a perfect sequel should be. It's an improvement over the previous title in an abundance of ways, but at the same time, I think the game suffers a bit from a lack of overall fluidity and pace. For example, my personal favourite parts of the game are the first couple of levels and the last 5, whereas the middle section of the game is all basically indistinguishable, incredibly long and tiring. There's also a lot of backtracking, far more than in the original. This game requires a lot of patience, but I do think it is worth it. The added positives and negatives balance it out to be exactly as good as the original, which I suppose means that it fails a sequel. But that doesn't mean it isn't a kick-ass, sexy, hi-octane and lengthy adventure.

3.5/5

(Quick verdict at the bottom)
Score: 4/5

Resident Evil 4 is actually the fifth game in the main series, and definitely the most popular. Critics and gamers alike heap praise on this title like there's no tomorrow, and you can't blame them, because the game really is incredible. And although it's set some questionable trends, like the hideous and cheap quick-time event, or the genre shift from horror to action that it's successors unjustly receive criticism for, the game holds up incredibly well today. Thus it should be no surprise that it has been released on basically every platform in one way or another; this one is the second PC version. We're talking about Capcom here, people! The master milkers! This review will be mostly a comparison between the original (abysmal) 2007 PC port and this re-release.

Graphically, this game isn't a remake but an HD overhaul, so don't expect it to be amazing. The new textures look great in comparison to the old ones, but still kind of washed out and muddy. Animations are exactly the same, but no complaint there, as they're extremely fluid and, well, kick-ass. There's a new lighting engine and it looks good, but still not great. Far better than the original 2007 release though. There's also a variety of video options to tweak, which, while standard, weren't there for the original, so it's a nice addition. 60fps looks great if your PC can handle it, but the option to stay at 30fps is still there for lower-end machines. I've heard complaints about how the game runs, but I haven't run into anything major so far, so I assume they've patched a couple of things. Monster design is unique and some of the best in the series, for sure. Regeneradors/Iron Maidens still scare the piss out of me, and they look even worse now in HD. Menus are crisp and finally the cutscenes are in real-time, which is so much better than those eyesore FMVs in the 2007 version.

Sound-wise, it holds up well. Being the middle point for the series, the voice acting sort of follows suit; it's like halfway between a B-movie (from Resident Evil 1, 2, 3 and Code: Veronica) and a Hollywood blockbuster (Resident Evil 5, Revelations and 6). Still camp, but in a good way. Music is phenomenal, very appropriate and moody depending on your circumstance in the game. Enemies sound chilling (again, the Regeneradors scare the piss out of me) and just damn cool a lot of the time. The bosses especially provide some traditional Resident Evil-style mutations. I do have an issue here though; every now and then the game will just stop playing all sounds, only for them to all play at once after a couple of seconds. It doesn't happen often but it is kind of annoying nonetheless.

Story: typical Resident Evil. As in, it's just all over the place and weird. Kind of a mixed bag. One thing I never liked about the plot in Resident Evil 4 is how radically different it is from its predecessors. If you ignore the fact that Wesker, Ada and references to Umbrella's downfall are in the game, it really doesn't have anything to do with previous entries. It's pretty much entirely self-sufficient. The fact that the gameplay changes radically as well further alienates it from the earlier games. But the story has never really been a drawing point for me in this series, and it's not too complicated and gets the job done, despite some cliches here and there. Leon S. Kennedy, from Resident Evil 2, is tasked with rescuing the President's daughter, who's been kidnapped in rural Spain. He interacts with a cast of mostly interesting characters, there's a couple of plot twists, and there's some nice political stuff thrown in.

The gameplay is where this game shines, and it's easy to see why it's renowned as a classic and one of the best games of all time. Gone are the fixed camera angles, pre-rendered backgrounds, solving puzzles, zombies, and avoiding enemies. Resident Evil 4 is pure action, but this isn't a bad thing, because it's done so well. Setting the trend for basically all future third-person shooters, Resident Evil 4 is played in an over-the-shoulder view from Leon's perspective. Tank controls are far less restricting when the camera moves with you, and aiming is now free, allowing for precision, which you'll definitely need. Enemies react incredibly well depending on where you shoot them, or what type they are. No, you can't move and shoot, but you get used to it quickly (especially if you've played the earlier games).

In the place of zombies are Ganados (Spanish for "cattle"), humans who have been injected with a parasite which makes them all hive-minded servants, hell-bent on slicing you open with a scythe, or rake, or hatchet, or kitchen knife, or chainsaw. Shoot them in the arm and they'll drop their weapon. Shoot them in the leg and they'll drop to their knees, allowing you to perform a crowd-clearing and oh-so-satisfying kick to the head. They're relentless, smart and they greatly outnumber you, and they're always getting stronger and more intelligent, which keeps them from being boring and keeps you on your toes. Their human qualities and behavior makes them all the more creepy too. And there's far more than just Ganados, too. There's tons of different enemies to kill, all requiring different tactics and weapons.

Weapons are now acquired (mostly) from a travelling Merchant, who is simply the greatest Resident Evil character of all time. Not really, but he's cool. You can also upgrade weapons, find and sell treasures for more money. Your inventory is now an attache case with a grid-based spacing system, meaning items such as herbs take up a mere two slots, whereas rocket launchers take up a huge a mount of space. You can rotate items to allow for more space, or throw stuff away. Pretty much everything is upgradeable, and the sense of progression is really, really satisfying.

Resident Evil 4 is also perhaps the only game in existence to have an escort mission that is actually ENJOYABLE. For about half of the game you have to escort Ashley Graham, the President's daughter, to safety. If she dies or gets captured, Game Over. Thankfully, her AI is actually pretty good, and the fact that you can tell her to stop and hide rather than having to constantly be on the lookout makes the game much less of a hassle.

It controls well, although they definitely haven't aged as well as everything else. This port allows for much greater compatibility, either with a 360 controller or keyboard and mouse. Nothing astounding, but when you consider that the original 2007 release miraculously didn't have mouse support, it's a nice touch. And there's a slew of extras after completing the game. Tons of content to unlock, to keep you going. Sure, there isn't anything new in this version that you haven't seen since the original came out, but at least it's all there!

If there's one bad thing I can say about this release, it's the fact that it's basically a giant middle-finger to the awesome modding community of the original 2007 version. The people here: http://z6.invisionfree.com/Resident_Evil_4_PC/index.php?showforum=10 made what was one of the worst ports in history into one of the best through their hard work and dedication. I'm assuming Capcom either saw what they transformed this game into, or given that it's easier to port nowadays and that there's already a PS3/360 HD version available, decided that they'd just re-release it for some quick cash. However, there is a new modding community for the HD re-release, and if it picks up even a quarter as much as the original community, I'll be really impressed. After all, I did support Capcom and their money-grubbing ways by buying it again.

Verdict: Buy it if you haven't played it before or in a long time. It's definitely the best version. Otherwise, stick with whatever release you currently have. There's nothing new here. But that ain't a bad thing!

What else can possibly be said about one of the most famous video games of all time?

Graphically, yes, by today's standards the low polygon count (dem triangle boobies) and the square-based geometry is laughable, but back in '96, this was top-notch. Levels and textures are repetitive, though, especially caves and the like. Funnily enough, Lara's house and Natla's mines, two of the least "tomb-like" areas in the game provide the most variety and definitely look the best. The character and enemy models themselves, although blocky, look great and are well textured.

Sound-wise, I'm not sure why this game slipped under the radar for camp voice acting. Some of Natla's lines are on par with the likes of Barry's "Jill sandwich". In all seriousness though, the ambient sound and music (where available; unfortunately the game is stripped of most of Nathan McCree's beautiful compositions from the PlayStation version) coupled with the sharp blasts of gunfire and Lara's various grunts (and hilarious screams) makes this one of the best sounding games I've played.

But these just supplement the best part of the game; the gameplay and controls themselves. The eloquent and just right mix of platforming, puzzle-solving and exploding-mummy shooting provide constant and consistent variety; you're never bored playing this game. Lara's various techniques are easy to perform thanks to the very tight controls; it's easy to predict where Lara will land, if she will grab onto the right ledge, and if she'll take damage from a fall. In fact, it would be not too hard a task to complete the whole game without dying. The precision of the controls combined with the square tiles mean you can pretty much always calculate a jump, which in turn means that it's absolutely your fault every single time that you plummet to your painful, neck-breaking death.

The difficulty and length are also just right. The learning curve is magnificent, gradually building up the difficulty and length with each level. It took me 15 hours to pass 15 levels (the 3 extra hours were starting over and over, as I tend to do), which is amazing for an action-adventure game.

There is only a few nitpicks I have here, and none of these to do with the game itself, but with Steam's pretty lacklustre effort in making it compatible with modern operating systems. This game is a c-word to get working on modern systems. I remember buying the Red Ant retail version of Unfinished Business back in 2000 and crying (I was 4 then) because it wouldn't run properly on Windows 2000. So, needless to say, it's annoying to get working. So while I do give kudos to Steam (or rather GOG and DOSbox as they're the ones who did all the actual work), some very grating issues persist.

For one, each time a cutscene plays (pre-rendered FMVs) I have to alt-enter, and alt-tab, and watch it windowed, otherwise it won't play. And there's a 50%ish chance that DOSBox will crash each time I alt-tab, so that's kind of irritating. Also, if you close the game other than using the in-game exit button, the gamma of the game will translate to your actual machine. Meaning that if you had just started a level and gamma was higher than say, when the screen was fading out after completing a level, your computer will have an annoyingly bright display until it's restarted. Not sure if this happens to anyone else though, so it's not a major issue. Finally, why weren't the Unfinished Business bonus levels or the music included as well? There's an awesome guide on the game's Steam Community which adds these extras, but it's baffling as to why they aren't included by default.

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=118984427

In the end, the awesome original game is still there, and it does save a lot of infuriating trial-and-error getting it to work on a modern system. I heartily recommend this game to anyone who likes amazing games. I'd wait until the Tomb Raider pack is on sale though, so you can play its many, many sequels as well (including the new, shiny survival game with lots of DLCs!). It often goes on sale for $20ish bucks, which is 10 games in one bundle. A shame it doesn't include Guardian of Light!

4.5/5

Quick review:
Pros:
- Realistic but fun gameplay
- Scary as hell atmosphere
- Excellent multiplayer
- Great developer support (constant patches and good community too)
- FREE! And completely free too, none of this "free-to-play but not really because infinite pay-to-win DLC muahahaha" bullcrap
Cons:
- Animations could do with a bit of work (but this IS a mod)
- Steep learning curve
- Sometimes buggy (although as I said, there are constant patches. Finally I can switch to my torch while holding a crowbar!)
Overall score: 8/10

Full review:
No More Room in Hell is one of, if not the best mods I have ever played. Zombie games definitely aren't scarce nowadays; hell, zombie mods for Half-Life 2 aren't exactly hard to find either. The zombie genre is getting kind of old, but NMRiH is so fresh and unique in its gameplay that even the tired concept of flesh-eating hordes doesn't detract from the awesome experience.

So, what makes NMRiH so unique? Its realism. Realism and zombies don't usually go together, as infected people biting one another and slowly turning the world into an apocalyptic wasteland isn't exactly realistic. But the attention to detail here is astounding. You can become infected, a concept which has barely been touched upon in most zombie games (other than Resident Evil: Outbreak, which did pretty poorly anyway) and choose whether or not to reveal it; you can pop some pills to keep you going or ask your mates to pump you full of lead to stop you from turning. Ammo is scarce - very scarce. Melee weapons are your best bet, but firearms handle realistically and each weapon has their own ammo type. Teamwork is another aspect of NMRiH which works fantastically. Covering each other's backs feels actually genuine; a highlight of the game for me is the dynamic lighting system, in which a player with a torch lights up an area for all the other players in the game as well. This means that one player can be on light-shining duty, and another on zombie-mauling duty. Sharing resources is also crucial. Health is also very realistic. The two seperate game modes also allow for some variety. Survival is your typical "board up the house, kill waves of zombies, await extraction" fare, but the Objective Mode is where the game shines. Objective Mode is basically "go from point A to point B, overcoming various obstacles and puzzles along the way." The randomisation of objectives and the sense of achievement when you FINALLY complete a map are what makes Objective Mode great. There's no charging guns blazed in NMRiH, unless you want to be instantly pummelled or bitten to death by an angry horde. This is a true survival-horror game, and that's what makes it great.