Tomb Raider II is exciting and flawed in equal measure.
Tomb Raider II makes no hesitation to get into its stride, pitting you in a very exciting first level of climbing to the Wall Of China and dodging a series of booby traps: the random cliched scenario of huge boulders rolling themselves at you, spike walls closing in on you and the creaky ground soon to give way - whatever the reaction, the adrenaline is certainly pumping... considering how much of a lesson controlling Lara is for you personally. Her slow movement caused me to curse her big round polygon arse a few times.
Two years have passed since Lara thwarted the corrupted business woman Natla and now she's after an ancient dagger used in a historical war in which those who plunge it into their hearts will transform into a mighty, fire-breathing dragon. As you would expect, Lara's lust for adventure and superiority over big bad men lead her onto the trail for the dagger; incidentally she stumbles into a war between a ganglord named Bartolli, who has the usual meglomaniac intentions, and the monks who lay their life on the line trying to protect the dagger. Lara takes neither side and winds up on a mission to get her own filthy mits on the dagger instead.
People who thought that it was a game in itself to control Lara can dust off some of the worries here. Reflecting back on the previous game and you would grit your teeth to find how slow Lara was. She has slightly faster boots here, making it not so much torture to run away past revolving blades and trying to turn around corners and such. She still doesn't qualify for olympic sprinting just yet though, while you have to applaud the technique Eidos have used here; the slowness of Lara precisions your sights onto her, and only her. You're most likely to have your eyes featured politely on the back of Lara's head... or more truthfully, her arse.
Thankfully, with or without the aid of cheats, Lara is available to experiment with a wider variety of weapons such as the M16, grenade launcher, shotgun and a very useful harpoon gun. What hasn't been installed yet is the hand to hand combat system which has been eagerly anticipated. But seeing Lara take pleasure in demising her foes with bigger and better weapons is definitely something to revel in. As much so as the screams of Lara as she plunges to her death from somewhere really, really high. The levels are spectactular and by far the most enjoyable thing in the game. The colourful towns in Venice, where you are treated to driving a boat in the canals; in the underwater capers where you have to infiltrate a sunken submarine and dodge the sharks before your oxygen runs out is brilliant gaming; the penultimate level of the main antagonist taking his feud with Lara to her own home is a great masterstroke. It's an exciting conclusion, Lara being attacked in the middle of the night and being left with no choice but to reap up the shotgun and chase them out.
Speaking of the mansion, it proved to be popular with gamers in the last game, which was set up as a small token of extra gameplaying and a training kernel. Tomb Raider II refurbishes this, with more rooms and a bigger training assault course in which you can time and set records. It helps you somewhat get used to the grating controls and pathetic speed of Lara. Also, if you ever do find the creepy butler following you around annoying, lead him into the fridge in the kitchen and lock the door. Problem solved. Although you really wonder why Lara's sink could bathe a baby elephant, and why is her bath six feet deep?
Controls are the main flaw in Tomb Raider game. For starters, there seems to be indecisiveness on Core's part as to whether how fast Lara should be. How about giving us a fair chance to run away from death traps? Also annoying is that Lara seems to almost always bump into walls whilst trying to turn a corner. While the action buttons, to shoot and to jump and do the acrobatic requirements are easily done, the actual movement of Lara needs immediate work. Patience required? God yes.
Exploration was the highlight and remains the highlght of Tomb Raider. Because of this, the lack of action is never sorely missed as you are always too far engrossed in the layout of each level, rendered in great graphics. There are some superb cases of stunts you may have to do in order to get to a certain point to grab an item or something else beneficial to your goal. Diving from waterfalls and climbing from low to high - it's the sight of Lara carrying out these small tasks that make it all the worthwhile.
Visually, Tomb Raider is a pioneer for not only the use of polygons but explorative levels, which boast great design and expanse to them. Tomb Raider II sees Lara with her trademark pigtail, a bigger chest and smaller waist. That's funny. The locations are beautiful and conventionally atmospheric with muted tones in the more dark and sinister of places that Lara visits. The best example of this would be in the underwater levels, where the dark depths of the water shroud Lara, giving her mere vision that is tightly claustraphobic if you stop dead to evaluate your direction and peer at the hazy images of the sand beneath her.
The CG sequences are also better, while Lara's face looked like a brick that had been chiselled in the first game, in the CG, she doesn't look so victimised here. You'll see a great display of stunning technical effects here that show the true talents of the hardware in action. Lara's face might need just a little bit more of proportioning, but hey, at least they got the eyebrows perfect. With Lara being the conservative heroine, it is perhaps expected of her to be so reserved. However, what is disappointing to her in this adventure is that the only depth that is covered is how she pulls through another dangerous climax instead of her emotions. Some find this preferrable as it shrouds Lara in mystery and gives her that enigmatic streak. Having Lara find it with no nerves to take her pistols and gun down guard dogs and project her shotgun at those intruders is arguably heroic but perhaps the quiver of a lip or persperation would help in making her less wooden or cold-hearted. There is often great hints of danger in Tomb Raider II and not used to maximum effect by having Lara seemingly unphased by what is going on around her. Having her pant breathlessly, let's face it, is only added for sexual effect.
Musically, things are even better than the game looks. The orchestra music dramatically backs her up. Just as if desperately trying to get Lara to run for her life when the roof is suddenly about to collapse you hear the violin also playing desperately in the background, triggering something of a time limit for Lara to escape with her life, weaving a musical message of keep running Lara, keep running. There's wonderful wind music accompanying her discovery of something big.
The difficulty of any Tomb Raider game has always been underestimated for the lack of Lara having to demolish her way through levels. While it's true that Lara doesn't embark on a Duke Nukem killing spree, her task is far more provocative and challening. You are always pit against banal to difficult logistics of getting from one height to another; Tomb Raider 2 takes advantage of the fact that they've created a landscape so enormous that you will have to examine it and use it to your own advantage. Those high up places, slopes, cracks and corners are there for a reason and it's most likely they will be essential for the completion of a level. Judging distance and measuring the environments Lara needs to traverse is thought-provoking and requires logic. It's a seamless idea Eidos have mastered, only let down by the much poor movement of Lara. I for one look forward to this inspired idea of gaming in future sequels.
All in all, Tomb Raider II is a fairly controversial game. While a good portion of the media loved the sequel to one of the most original concepts ever devised, a lot of gamers revile it. From the last game, this sequel has definitely flourished in terms of ideas and atmosphere, upping the quota of adventure platforming. If Lara is to bathe in the limelight, then let it be because Tomb Raider II is a glorious masquerade of the busty heroine vaulting herself to that spotlight in the first place, rather than for mere wet dream purposes. This is a series which found no task in becoming ubiquitous and instantly popular in and outside the world of video gaming; Tomb Raider II is a sign of why that just happened.