Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation

By: Kirk Hiner

Genre: Action/Adventure

Format: CD

Developer: Eidos Interactive and Core Design

Mac Port: Westlake Interactive

Publisher: Aspyr

System Requirements: MacOS 8.1, 233MHz PowerPC, 32MB RAM, 4X CD-ROM, hard drive, hardware 3D acceleration (ATI Rage Pro, 3dfx Voodoo1 or later)

Network Feature: No

3Dfx Support: RAVE and Glide

Retail Price: $39.95

Availability: Out Now

I'm going to do something I don't normally do here. I'm going to get right to it. This is my fourth review of a Tomb Raider game in less than two years, and I don't know how else I can comment on Lara Croft. Oh, sure, I could be like many other reviewers and make all sorts of witty comments about Lara's breast size, but what's the point? You all know about Lara, you all know about Tomb Raider, so lets just get right to it.

First off, despite its moniker, Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation is no more the last chapter of this series than Star Trek: The Final Frontier was the final chapter in that series. I'm still not exactly sure what the Last Revelation actually was, but I have a habit of missing things sometimes.

Now, did any of you see The Mummy last summer? You should have. It was wonderfully entertaining in that Saturday matinee sort of way. Sure, it had its flaws, one of which was that the scholared librarian, who supposedly knows everything about Egyptian culture, is the one who unwittingly releases Imhotep and his 3,000 year old legacy of terror. The same goes for Lara Croft. You'd think with her education that perhaps she'd know not to read the Ankh that unleashes the evil god Set. I guess the lesson here is that if you hever find some funky looking stone or sculpture in Egypt, don't read it.

But alas, Set is loose, and Lara sets out bring him home. As a result, unlike Tomb Raider III in which she spanned the globe, Lara spends the entire adventure amongst ancient Egyptian ruins. This makes the game much less colorful than its predecessor, but there's enough here to compensate.

For instance, the first level takes us back in time to Lara's formative teenage years in which the precocious lass accompanies aracheologist Werner Von Croy on an exploration. This level is mainly used as a trainer; Werner teaches Lara the moves she'll need to know for the rest of the game, including the new monkey swing with which Lara can swing upon and shimmy up and down ropes. This is a nice, interactive way to learn the ropes, so to speak, but experienced Tomb Raider players will quickly grow bored as they await the real action.

One of the funnier moments in the game is where Lara crawls into a crevace and discovers a skeleton. The music swells, indicating tremendous importance, as a cut scene reveals to all the day Lara discovers...her backpack. Finally, the truth has been told.

Backpack. Come on, already.

The changes from the previous three installments become apparent once the real adventuring begins. The levels are much more tightly integrated here. Unlike before when levels lasted forever and were generally split with cut scenes, they can now be as short as a few minutes. Sometimes you even have to advance a couple levels before returning to complete one previous. To add to the confusion, many cinematics take place in the middle level. This bothered me at first as I liked having solid endings to help split up the game. The more I played Tomb Raider IV, however, the more I realized that splitting the game into many more and often shorter levels improved the flow of the story. Unlike playing as a movie serial, the game now feels more like a made for TV movie. No cliffhangers, just small incentives to stop you from heading for the fridge or turning to Malcolm in the Middle.

The inventory has changed as well. Along with the new items that can be used (binoculars, flaslights, torches, etc.) comes the ability to combine items to perform a certain function. Pieces of keys must be collected and put together before they can be used, and shotguns can take multiple types of bullets. None of this is too hard to figure out, but it does add a slight touch of realism to the game.

The action in Tomb Raider IV is pretty much the same as in the others, save that Lara spends more time killing animals and less time killing humans. I hope this isn't in reaction to the flack that games have been getting for graphically displaying violence towards humans. I personally feel worse about killing computerized dogs than computerized guards, but that's just me. And you know, this brings up another point. If Lara is such a noble adventurer, why does she kill so much? Take Tomb Raider III. If you're an explorer and you find a Tyrannosaurus Rex living today, would you kill it? Of course not, so why does Lara? The American NRA constantly cries about the gun ownership laws in England (which is odd considering the reason the 2nd Ammendment was ratified was to protect us from English guns), but said laws are only there to save the T-Rex from British explorers.

The graphics in TR IV, although not as colorful as in previous incarnations, are more stunning than ever. The detail in the backgrounds is much more intricate, and even Lara herself has seen improvements. Her disjointed figure has been almost completely eliminated, making for much smoother movement. Along with this, for some reason, came a shinier butt and dirtier cleavage. I've never seen such a shiny pair of shorts, and if Lara's going to wear such low cut shirts, she could at least bathe. But hey, I don't suppose Egyptian tombs have many bathtubs.

Speaking of the tombs, the maps have become much more intricate as well. Before, it was fairly easy to spot the hidden rooms and the ledges that provide access to important areas. Not anymore. Many such entries are in fact dead ends, and ledges are much harder to navigate because they're no longer just blocks. I easily doubled the amount of game time I spent using the "look" key this time around.

Improved this time around is Lara's interaction with the environment. For the most part, she no longer disappears into boulders or walls (although she does sometimes get stuck on nothing while swimming). Also, she can now light torches from fires, kick in doors, jump up to pull down levers, and so on. With all this new interactivity, I'm curious to see what it'd be like to go back to the first Tomb Raider where Lara can pretty much only jump, shoot and climb.

The puzzles in TR IV take a little longer to figure out than in previous versions, but there's nothing in the game that should stump you to the point that you'll need a walktrough (although you may want one to insure you find all the secrets). Think there may be a reward for all those who find everything?

As is customary to this series, Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation is an excellent blend of action, adventure and story. The characters are well designed and acted out (Werner Von Croy makes a tremendous adversary), and the levels are a blast to explore. Even if there were no scorpions or skeletons (skeletons rock!) to kill, exploring the tombs would still be more entertaining than many games currently on the market. No, you just can't go wrong with any of the Tomb Raider games, and the Last Revelation is certainly no exception to that rule.

Now, does anyone care to hear of the origin of my backpack?

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February 09, 2010