We get some narration of Croft's father, talking about how the Scion could be a library to rival that of Alexandria, and how he'll use it to find Amelia. That's a Legend reference, might not remember her name, but I remember what happened. Lara still makes the litterbug joke. Well, its 2007, so it isn't as much of a dead giveaway that the company is British...because Crystal Dynamics isn't.
I'm of mixed feelings as to whether or not this is better or worse than the original. Reloading weapons with ammo is a bit confusing, the number on your right is your total ammo, the number on the left is the number in your gun. Reloading doesn't take ammo out of the right, it just increases to the max it can hold, and each shot drains both.
Lions out of the blue, fitting this area. Well, they look better, then again, I didn't know if they were lions or cougars. Either I'm using this shotgun really wrong or its a complete piece of crap, takes me 6 shots to take out both of them.
Pierre no longer shows up to fight Lara, instead he sneaks around and taunts her in a cutscene. He talks of her compulsion and how Natla doesn't trust her, something of an acknowledgement of her new negative traits. He gets the drop on her, but decides against it. Probably expects Lara to do all the work like in the original. Not digging his new look, being bald doesn't suit him.
At first this seems like it captures the spirit of Tomb Raider's go anywhere design, but it becomes apparent after falling down that this is just more of the same. Go through a predetermined path of ledges and jumps. Perhaps this is true of the original as well, but because the design made this less obvious, you weren't just going through the only path available to you, it seemed better.
The path out is fairly clear after playing around on the pillars. There's a pressure plate on the ground, which opens a door on a balcony. There's a globe on the opposite balcony, knock that down to open the other door. There's a locked door to the globe, and next to it is this puzzle. The pressure plate resets it, and each of those points is something Lara can shoot. Its not that tricky to advance, just follow what you see on a strange door, which opens after shooting the matching points, which shows another group of points you have to shoot. There's an artifact behind a door showing another grouping of matching points, which I guess you're supposed to figure out correspond to where you have to shoot. I guess because I got it through the door.
Continuing, this area really lacks the finer touches that made the original's Greece so nice. This is basically just a continuation of the puzzle you solved to get in here, open the door, shoot a couple more lions, then drag the globe to open another gate. Down a spinning staircase.
Straight to the great shaft with the four mini-sections. At first I thought they simplified this to just a series of levers, but no, this is the same deal. Mind you, instead of bats being placed under ledges, they pop out whenever you open a door, which I don't like. Thanks to having to use the grappling hook in some places to open paths, this might be more clever than the original. At least if the game could learn to grab things when I have the grab button held down instead of allowing Lara to plummet down to her death. Its getting tiresome seeing Lara ragdoll upon hitting the ground.
Hephaestus, when I manage to get there, reminds me of nothing I have seen before in Tomb Raider. I don't even remember Hephaestus, did they change one? There's a weird gate that doesn't open when you pull the switch, instead you climb up ledges to a small corridor. Inside it seems, you don't use the gate either, you use the lever to open the gate, then taking advantage of a ledge there, you jump to the corridor you got in from. Then I spot the lightning rod. Well, I can't complain too much, because I too, complained that they named it Thor. This set is easier to understand, because you just need to avoid the raised platforms while pressing the pressure plates. That opens the door.
This part is quite different. There's still a hammer, but its there for turning blocks into statues. In turn, you put the statues in three holes in the middle to open a gate. This was tricky, because I kept getting the impression that you were supposed to use the block to reach somewhere, despite the game's insistence that Lara couldn't possibly climb up any of these rooms. Turns out the hammer, which I thought would just instantly kill Lara if she jumped on the pressure plate, is slow enough to allow her to get off and to allow her to climb on top. There's an artifact on one of the roofs, as well as some shotgun shells, which I can now use and a large medikit.
Next up, Poseidon, which is presumably the same as Neptune. Still the bizarre door that you can't actually enter, with the entrance and exit being the same as the exit from the last one. Then some rats, too small to get a screenshot of, and the pool. Of course, because Lara lacks the lung capacity she used to have, some changes have occurred.
Instead its a puzzle where you have to change the water level in a room to reach the key. And the first thing I do, completely by accident, is obtain another artifact after pulling an underwater lever...because it turns out I'm just supposed to climb up. No, the real puzzle is to free a raft underwater, then move said raft so it'll allow you to reach the one spot you can't otherwise go at the top to climb into a hole on top of the locked gate containing the next key.
Its far more annoying in this version to climb back up then it was in the original, so next I go after Damocles, spotting an artifact connected to Atlas on the way. On the way to Damocles there's some block puzzle which nets you a couple of medikits. The gate inside Damocles, meanwhile, is annoying, you have to use a block from the upper hallway to block the gate from going down, it won't stay open with Lara on it. This was annoying, because you can't always climb on top of it, so I assumed you had to cause it to fall in such a way that it fell so it was shorter than its longest side.
The swords are more subtle this time, at least until you spot the key. That's going to be a QTE, isn't it? I search around, spotting several ledges, and going by previous artifacts, means there's going to be one here. But it looks like I'm not getting it until after getting the key. Its not a QTE, you just jump out of the way before Lara gets flattened. Yeah, flattened.
What I assumed were holes the swords went into on the ground are holes swords come out of. So, spikes, because Eidos wanted a T game and you can't impale people, even bloodlessly, Lara just bounces off spiky objects. Which would be fine if this otherwise worked like it did in Tomb Raider. Lara bounces off spiky objects even if you just walk into them, it hurts her. Lara can't even go into one if it doesn't pop in and out and if she can climb up. The swords above are even more of a joke than they were in the original, because if you play this right you'll never even see them fall. Otherwise its normal, except the one time I want to jump back from a wall run the game decides Lara can go sideways at all times. When I finally completed the jump, I fell down, not just once, but twice.
Atlas is very different. Its just a single corridor with a pit and a run-up to a giant globe. The enter, you push a rotating lever so a bridge is formed, jump across before it folds back away. The key is beneath the globe, with two targets on either side. Shoot them, and the path to the key is opened...after the globe starting going towards you. To get away, you ahead of time pull a switch above you, which pops up a pole Lara can go across. You can't reach the lever while the globe is heading after you, not enough time. After this both the key and an artifact are there for the taking. I also handily take an artifact back in the center.
Opening the gate is far more simple here, each key has its own easily distinguishable color and there are no enemies. Not even Pierre. Onto The "Coliseum". Not an easy word to spell, but couldn't this game by professionals afford a spellchecker or a dictionary?
More rats. I'd like to be using the shotgun now, since the game is giving me more ammo than I'll ever be able to use, but shotgunning rats? Overkill. Big underwater tunnel, then some room where slaves once were. More navigating ledges. Then I spy something that looks like the "coliseum".
They're a boss? A cutscene starts, but no QTEs. This is basically the same as everything else, except...
One got stuck in the wall. Not very threatening. So, the "coliseum". Its a lot smaller horizontally than before, but a bit taller. Pierre mocks Lara for a moment, because if he shoots her he isn't going to get the Scion. More climbing, leading to a lever which opens another door in the central area. Two gorillas and two lions. No, not that impressive. At least now I know to wait for a bullseye to appear after dodging though.
This leads to another small prison area, only one that leads nowhere. I spot a medikit on top of a crate and a crate that can be pulled on top of another one...only to discover it was a key. To an area in the balcony that was on the end of the original level. We're really blazing through this one. That leads up, to the top of the roof.
Getting to the other side is easy, but I spotted an artifact below one of these roofs and I want to get it. Turns out its incredibly simple, just swing from the second designated hanging section. I return, and proceed on top, as I'm about to continue I notice something off to Lara's left, looks like magazines, I think. Well, it can't hurt. It can't, because its .50 caliber pistols. Fifteen rounds each for a total of thirty, so while it was showing two magazines it was really giving one. I guess I just missed the first shotgun, not that it would have mattered any. I spot the shadows of something other than Lara for once, and continue on, not shooting some bats with the .50 cals, but itching to try them.
And its King Midas's Palace. Its just right there. We're REALLY blazing through Greece, they basically cut out the entirety of one level and most of this one. Three gorillas, the most dangerous fight yet. They make it so obvious you'd have to be blind to miss what you have to do here, four slots and one is already filled with a gold bar. Three exits, two doors on each side and a pool. The right switch opens the left door and so I go.
This seems to be wholly original, because there's a switch that causes a bunch of pillars to rise. Step on one, and it slowly falls, with some activating ones further ahead. There are three areas to reach, one containing an artifact, one a lead bar and one a relic. To get the relic, you need to push a crate in a crack in one pillar. I just thought I wasn't being fast enough, that puzzle is much too clever for this game. Back to the center.
Curiously, two gorillas pop up, but I decide to use one of the lead bars ahead of time. It opens up something in the pool. Okay, I was wrong, guess I have to go somewhere else. It is in fact, above the statue, though the lever back there actually opens the door to the right as I entered.
Why, its a pillar with a bar of lead in it. Perchance, do I have to tear it down? I don't mind that too much, but I do mind how goofy this is as an obstacle. Really, a fence? Even I could get through that, you're telling me that Miss "Spinning Around a Pole" can't? Blah.
After killing another gorilla and lion, I spot the most obvious grappling hook locations I've seen. You know, in the original that was a surprise. I go back upstairs, checking that I didn't miss anything, and return. After removing them, the pillar falls down...and out pops a lead bar. I check that the way back isn't collapsed, looks like there's something important here.
Firstly, I go right, grabbing a piece of stone and climbing up to a large medikit. I jump around a bit higher until I wall run across a dedicated point. I further climb up, get a checkpoint, and wonder what's next. Its to jump onto the center pillar, slide down and jump off. From here its simple reaching...a small medikit. I have to admit, I wasn't expecting that one. More gorillas back in the hub, and onto the last area.
I don't remember this, but I suspect its going to try to be like that one fire pillar area. And then, of course, it proves me right. There's a crocodile in the water, thought they forgot about those guys. This area's tricky. First of all, there's a lever the game hides from you from your vision straight off, you can't go anywhere without it. It raises the pillar on that right series of fire pillars. Jump on it, jump across to the right, pull a lever, which raises a pillar which has a fire pillar in it, so you can reach the other lever, though first you have to dodge a pillar with some flame jets on it. Pull that and then you can reach the final lead bar.
But this isn't all that I can do here, because I spotted a path that doesn't involve this part. Instead it involves a path under one of the pillars. In it is a switch which raises the pillar its on to reveal an artifact. So I climb back up through the expected route only to find that its closed down. Its not timed, instead a pressure plate that you have to step on to reach the first pillar causes it to deactivate...but that's on a timer with just enough time to allow Lara to reach there. Hey, its not like there are any consequences for Lara dying. And that's King Midas's Palace.
Now for the Tomb of Tihocan, it seems to be combined with the sewer level. Which I wouldn't complain about if they didn't remove all the fun stuff from the last level. Don't exactly need to cut this one down when you've already removed half this section anyway. There's more rats and that one part where you move a crate to reach a lever.
Wait, you kept in one of the more annoying parts of the last game? I thought the idea was to make tighten up the level design, even if it came off more like hacking it to shreds, but this makes that idea questionable at best. The worst part, and now its worse, because you can play around with the water level at any time. I'm just not going to enjoy this one from here on out, am I? Oh, Pierre taunts Lara in the distance again.
As near as I can tell, and I'm usually not wrong, Lara has to dump a bunch of crates into the water for reasons that will become clear soon enough. Probably to reach some ledge or another. Crocodiles in the water, completely slipped my mind. Its a funny thing. If you walk on land to try to take them out and shoot, your bullets will not hurt them while they're in the water. Crocodiles not moving, me not hurting them.
I find my answer in the pool, after draining it of course. Crocs take a lot of bullets to kill, not that they're in a position for that to matter. I wonder if they will be. But I figure out the crates, you need them on pressure plates down here for some reason. One plate frees a raft and the other opens a gate whose purpose is not readily apparent. This seemed like it might just be cleverer than the original, until it became clear it wasn't, and was far more tedious.
It basically went something like this, raise water, meet crocs, lower water, lower water at second switch, kill crocs and discover objective, discover you can't climb to either crate just yet, find out there's a path to one crate at full water, fully raise water, lower crate, lower water, move crate into center pool, lower water, put it over plate, raise water fully, ponder raft, raise and lower water trying to get path to pole, realize I can just put raft next to place I can reach second crate, pull raft out of the place it awkwardly landed on and near second crate, raise water, get second crate into water, lower water, push crate into center pool and lower water, push onto second pressure plate, raise water, move raft near far exit, raise water, realize where I need to move raft, raft can't be moved at this water level, lower water level, move raft, raise water level, leave. Whenever I go up a level, even the pool, its a minute long process getting out. Cool the first time, tedious thereafter. I missed an artifact because I didn't spot how to open the other grate in the central pool and I'm not doing it now. I also picked up a set of mini SMG magazines. Twenty-five bullets, so another single magazine despite two magazines in the model.
After another swim through the water, there's another cave. It looks like the entrance to the temple, I think, before I spot it. How will they screw this one up? Underwater is quite simplified, you only have the secret passage to the switch to find. I approach the centaurs and...nothing happens. I get a checkpoint inside the next room and I spot the Scion. Right. Okay, it doesn't take a genius to figure out how they changed this.
Cutscene, Lara approaches the Scion, then spots the Tomb of Tihocan, one of the other Trivumvirat of Atlantis, opens and sees the corpse is gone. Pierre holds up Lara and asks for the other piece. QTEs, Lara beats the crap out of him, but he escapes with Tihocan's piece. He goes out, the centaurs awaken and kill him, but not before he tosses Lara the second piece. Boss fight.
This is tedious as hell. For a start, no damage outside of shooting the centaurs after a dodge. Which wouldn't be a problem, except you need to enrage them twice to get them to charge after you. The first time they activate a ray, which, if Lara has her guns out, even to reload, she turns into a statue and they crush her. Then after stunning them from the charge you only seem to do a tiny amount of damage, at most 10%. Then I notice that Lara can grab their shield with her grappling hook. At which point, you're supposed to grab the shield as they use the stone ray and then blast them. They die quickly when you do this. Admittedly, this is clever, but considering how not clever this game has been, is that really a good thing?
The end cutscene shows the Triumvirat banishing one of their members for maiming one of the others. While we don't know its Natla yet, we do know its the figure in the intro. Next time, Egypt.
This Session: 4 hours
Total Time: 11 hours 00 minutes
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