Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation - Faux Complexity

Well, it took a while but I finally got it done. That is to say, I finally finished Tomb Raider: the Last Revelation. You want to know what I think of it? Of course you do, why else would you have clicked on the article? All jokes aside, I'm having a great time exploring the Tomb Raider franchise with all of you lovely readers.

I'm not going to stall anymore, let's get to what you clicked for; here are my thoughts on Tomb Raider: the Last Revelation.

Lara's Fourth Adventure

The success of Tomb Raider I, as I've said a few times already, was monumental. Eidos Interactive, the company that published the game, was eager to capitalize on that success. Of course, that meant staying on top of the market by releasing sequels - lots of them - on a regular basis. The second game was just as successful, but the team was reluctant to rush production on the third game.

Not wanting to lose out on the good sales, Eidos pulled together a smaller team of Core Design members from other projects. This group would work on Tomb Raider III while the main team worked on what would become Lara's fourth adventure.

By the time that development for the Last Revelation kicked off, the team was, to put it mildly, fed up with Lara Croft and her globe-trotting antics. Franchise fatigue, health issues among the team members, and a general lack of enthusiasm colored the development cycle from the get-go.

Despite all that, the game was released for PC and PlayStation in November and December of 1999 for North America and Europe respectively. Further releases for Mac OS and Sega DreamCast the following year. The game was a critical and commercial smash, received many positive reviews, and was a best-seller for two months straight in the UK.

The Story is Nice and Simple

The story of The Last Revelation is nice and simple, Lara Croft is on an adventure and she finds the Amulet of Horus. When she pulls it free, she accidentally awakens Set, the Egyptian god of chaos. She subsequently, has to fix the problem by finding the armor of Horus to summon the only deity who can put Set in his place.

What works?

The graphics are nice, which is always a good start and the music is fantastic.

The story is also pretty good; it's somewhat plainer than the previous 3 stories - I think - but that serves as something of a blessing. Everything is one cohesive piece - a major difference from the previous games where each section sort of felt like its own story.

The environments are nice to look at and they provide a nice-ish challenge in terms of platforming. Lara also has a slightly extended move set, including the ability to shimmy around corners which is very useful.

I also loved a lot of the voice acting work. Jonell Elliot's Lara is very different from Shelley Blond or Judith Gibbins - in the best way. Her voice is full of sassy arrogance that works well with the story.

What Doesn't Work?

This is the part of the review that I've been absolutely dreading because I'm about to sound really, really harsh.

The Tutorial:

I'll start off gently, where's Croft Manor? The Croft Manor tutorial level, a staple of the last three games, is missing here. Instead, it's replaced with an early adventure of Lara's set in Cambodia which...oh brother...I HATE this part of the game. I'd rather fight an army of Atlantean mutants led by Spider Willard than go through it again!

The Cambodia levels feature a teenage Lara and her mentor Werner von Croy looking for an artefact called the Iris. The control scheme here is the same as the previous games - although, I did have to re-map one or two buttons - so you'd think it would be a simple case of go from A to B. Yeah, well, it's not; not by a long shot.

Going into a familiar move (i.e. jumping, sprinting, climbing, etc.), is constantly interrupted by von Croy telling you how to do exactly what you were about to do in the first place. It's frustrating! That's not even the worst part though, the tutorial levels in Cambodia can't be skipped. That means that every time you start a new game you have to play through these frustrating tutorial sections. Every. Single. Time.

Level Design:

The levels are labyrinthine - and not in a good way. Now, the previous three games had long levels too, but it's worse here than it was in Tomb Raider III. It doesn't help that this is the longest of the games thus far clocking in at a whopping 35 levels. For context:

• Tomb Raider I had 15 levels.
• Tomb Raider II had 18 levels.
• Tomb Raider III had 19 levels.

Note: these are just for the main games, not the expansions.

The Last Revelation has almost twice as many levels as the other games in the series, and that works strongly AGAINST it. The levels themselves, in addition to being long, are so convoluted that it's almost not even funny. As nice as they are to look at, the amount of backtracking kills the novelty pretty quickly. You're supposed to feel good about completing a level, instead you feel tired.

The geometry of the levels are deceiving too, which doesn't help. Why? Well, it's difficult to judge distances and angles for jumps and manoeuvring which makes things frustrating. Jumps are hard, but swimming - something that was fairly easy before - is also made harder because you can easily get stuck against a wall or some other part of the level geometry.

Objective Conveyance:

Let's build on the previous point, shall we? This game is terrible at telling you what you're supposed to do and where to go. Seriously, how the blazes did anyone get things done without a guide. You almost have to have either pre-arranged knowledge of the levels or a guide available to get through it.

That extends to the puzzles of the game. The puzzles in this game are ridiculously obscure and frustrating. You're supposed to feel good about solving a puzzle, not stupid. Sadly, that's exactly how you feel and it doesn't help that the game will occasionally punish you for not solving a puzzle correctly.

I had to rely on Stella's Tomb Raider Guide for help several times just to get through a level. If you need to rely on a GUIDE to get through a level, something is seriously off, wouldn't you say? This is particularly frustrating when you realize just how simple and, in some cases, obvious the solutions are.

Those Blasted Beetles!

Do I even need to explain this? Every so often, if you're not careful, you'll unleash a swarm of scarab beetles. These things are a menace, they chase you around, do massive damage and can't be killed. So, you have to run like hell, try to trap them and then carry on.

Later, you'll encounter a kind of flying beetle which will knock you off of ledges - typically into bottomless pits...

The Ending...

The ending is a mixed bag for me. The first bit is, frankly, underwhelming. Instead of one last major boss fight, you end up having to run away and trap the game's main antagonist in his tomb. The level becomes a sort of obstacle course to navigate while trying to avoid damaging energy blasts (don't ask, just go with it).

Once you climb out and Set is trapped you run for the exit avoiding traps and falling rocks. All this culminates in the final cinematic where Lara is trapped as the tomb collapses around her - seemingly killing her. Now, while I'm not a huge fan of the first half of this section, this final cinematic ending is really well done and I'd even go as far as saying it's a fitting end for the character in a way.

Lara is an adventurer, and there are significant risks to her life while she's travelling. Dying while on an adventure in Egypt...yeah, I'd say that's a good way for her to go out. Wouldn't you?

In Conclusion

In conclusion, I don't know how I feel about Tomb Raider: the Last Revelation. See, there's a lot going for it, the music, visuals, story, these things are great. Unfortunately, the confusing level layout, poor objective conveyance, and a tutorial that can't be skipped work against it in a big way.

I also can't say the game is necessarily bad, just...flawed. It's kind of like...burned toast. It's edible but it doesn't taste too good. Ultimately, the Last Revelation is a decent adventure with a great ending. Is it worth your time? Well...yeah, but keep in mind you WILL need a guide to get through much of it and it will take the patience of a saint.

Play it yourselves and draw your own conclusions. Thanks for reading, I'll see you again in Tomb Raider: Chronicles....Yay.