User Reviews (1 - 11 of 97)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

NOT TOMB RAIDER in any sense of the word

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 16 / 16
Date: May 22, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Wow, am I gullible. I read all the other bad reviews about slow game play, glitches, and an awkward Laura. I thought, no, it can't be that bad; after all, it's Tomb Raider, and they've all been a lot of fun. Big mistake. First, the levels are boring! No surprises at all, and while there is a lot of area to explore there isn't much going on at all. There are about 1000 doors that don't do anything, so I'm stopping at all these pointless doors. There are also several timed puzzles where you only have 30 seconds or so to do something, which was fun and challenging in the previous episodes, but with such lousy controls its frustrating as heck to make her do what she needs to do.
Second, the controls are horrible. Laura does a few new things, like climb things by herself, but its annoying not helpful. The movement is slow, even on a fast computer, like driving a car with both front tires gone flat. You press the button and wait around for her to start moving. I have noticed that if you start moving forward while trying to turn, she starts off walking, which is horrible when trying to line up a jump.
Third, it looks like the developers went to great length to do away with the square world Laura was living in before. The result, however, is that you never know if you'll make a jump, and the vertical distances are horribly distorted.
Fourth, the camera is unbearable. When Laura is close to a wall preparing to leap to another ledge, for example, it's very common to be looking at the top of her head. There are numerous times when the camera won't realign on its own or even if you try to force it. More than once, I was looking at Laura from the front, and the camera was on the ledge she needed to jump to.
Fifth, the glitches are embarrassing. If car manufactures tried to get away with shipping a product that worked okay most of the time, people would freak out and manufactures would be scrambling to improve the product or just go out of business. Laura stands in mid air, gets stuck to walls, and when I try to quit the game, half the time it hangs and I have to power down and restart. I know its possible to make games without glitches.
Like the other reviewer I found myself screaming at the computer. If the game were fun, it would be easier to forgive the glitches, but its just boring. It's just going through the motions, not playing. Please, buy it used if you have to own it, but don't say I didn't warn you. The one good thing is that you can play from the hard drive. Makes me wonder why so many are available used, hmmm?
Thanks for reading

Please do not buy this game.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: September 05, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is simply dreadful.

It is riddled with bugs. The controls are infuriatingly hard to use. (Walking upstairs in a straight line should not be a challenge, but Eidos have managed to make it so.) The new gameplay features range from the humdrum (chose one of three lines of dialog, none of which make any difference) to the downright embarassing, such as the "strength upgrades" that you get for pushing a crate along a floor, and which are necessary before Lara can make a crucial jump. The graphics are pretty, but are no better than average.

The story line is deeply contrived. Events do not follow any internal logic, but happen because the game designers wanted to put the player into a particular situation. (AoD is not the first game to have done this, but the overall lack of verisimilitude makes the plot's deficiencies all the more obvious.)

I enjoyed previous titles in the TR series, and bought this game despite some of the poor reviews. "Even if it's not perfect," I thought, "it's still Lara."

I can see now that Eidos were relying on this attitude to sell a deeply inferior product that falls well behind the current state of the art.

Tomb Climber returns!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: October 21, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I don't know if it is just me, but did the reviewers of Angel of Darness play the same game I did? They spoke such blasphemous and awkward words such as "Best game,-EVER" "A+" "Better than the others". WTF? What I shall share with you now must be kept a secret from the other "amateurs" and those on this review site that have only played six games: Tombraider 1,2,3,4,5, and 6, - as to not offend them or hurt their feelings in any way. Let me tell you folks, this is one of the WORST games I have EVER played. The PC Gamer review of 54% didn't stop me. The millions of copies of Tomb Raider: Angel of darkness at your local Electronics Buttique for $4.99 - didn't give it away. I alone decided to defy the critics because the game was so indiscriminatly cheap and the box cover was so goodlook'n pretty; in essence I was determined to play the game quite simply because Tomb Raider 1 and 2 were two of the best games I had ever played in the past. But now, I want my five dollars back.
Looks can be deceiving. Tomb Raider is enriched with fantastic, impressive looking scenes that would make even the most hardened gamers gape in awe. Fire and Brimestone careen through the air and delve into the burning chasms below. Caves are dark and spooky - lighting, shadows, and special graphical effects have never been better. To anyone who has only played a few several games or is playing Angel of darness as their first Tomb Raider game, the interesting gameplay elements of the Tomb Raider series will certainly interest anyone - at first. Beyond the pretty pictures and the gameplay elements that made Tomb Raider popular, this game reeks of boredom, anger - which will conclude in the breaking of your beloved keyboard, and did I mention that all you ever do in this F#$king game is CLIMB? What ever happened to ya know - Raiding? Gone are the AI, the enemies, the purpose of actually playing a tomb raider game. There is about 100 enemies in this Entire 30 hours of excruciatingly long gameplay. It seems the creators thought the series had more than enough bad guys, so for every bad guy they left out of the game they included a surface to climb, mount, spin, traverse, jump and grab, pull, push, shove, and lean upon. It is true, you will climb and jumb upon one million surfaces in this damn game. Thats all there is to do. Ladders, crates, and barrels - the full enchilada. Shouldn't a game contain more? Lara herself, can't do what she used to. Instead of jumping around the place like a crazed monkey, she pauses every time she lands. Every time Lara takes off she starts with a walking prowl before she speeds up to a run - I hated this when an enemy was on my tail.
What happened to the reason a person plays a game in the first place: the gameplay? The fun? Not in this one guys. Oh and lets not forget how much times you will load a saved game if you do decide to play this shoddy game...Thousands. Lara goes through these "powerups" or leg enhancements that power up her jump. You will have to locate these powerups by pushing, jumping, or climbing on certain random unidentified surfaces before you can proceed. These powerups impede your process, and they are more of a hastle than a benefit. Every time Lara powers up her legs she can jump farther. Unfortunately for close jumps you have to account for the new powerups hence you will fly right over the surface you need to jump upon and into the conveniently located chasm on the other side. There are millions of chasms, might I add. And lets not forget the "consolizing" of the new series. Enemies disapear when you kill them. Ammo appears when your out. All 3 bosses need to be shot to pieces, but its kind of dumb when you run out of ammo and have to run over to the "ammo appearing centers" to continue your gameplay. Last but not least, the horrible monster toward the end, the prototype Boaz. You can only switch targets by pressing the roll key - give me a break: This boss and many other situations in this game highly aim toward the purchasing of the angel of darness guide, because many puzzle solutions and ideas are so ridiculous that the gameplayer will start second guessing what they are meant to do, because the puzzles and bosses are so poorly made. The final problem has to do with bugs. The game makers took a batch of bugs out of the oven and they are feeding us some of the worst bugs since the Tomb Raider: Chronicles. Luckily, after various loads and reboots, and bomb threats, it is possible to make it through the entire game.
Despite my disappointment of this sorry game, I did have some fun "looking" at the game, and the first half of the game is better than the second, because the story helps. But quite frankly no one really wants to be playing this game, they do it because they have loved the Tomb Raider series ever since it started in 95 and they can't let the memory go. But the original makers moved on a long time ago. And after the last four shoddy titles of the series (especially this one) I will never play another Tomb Raider AGAIN. So if you choose to overlook this review and many others, I wish you the best of luck enjoying the "The worst attempt at yet another sequel". Maybe game developers should be playing games like these instead of good examples such as half-life, deus ex, starcraft, and the original Tomb Raider, in an effort to identify and grasp exactly what it is that gamers do not enjoy.

Bad Eidos, Bad!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: March 28, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Oh. My. God. I remember when Tomb Raider first came out, and my husband and I got it on the original PlayStation. It was great, for 1995. We got Angel of Darkness for our computer, and WHOA! It looked like Eidos had REGRESSED! The animation is choppy, jumps (basically all moves, in general) are hard to control and judge, and I read on a review for the PS2 version that you'd better come to love the phrases "save successful" and "load successful" because that's what you'll do, over and over and over! It's completely ridiculous how bad the game looks and plays. Holy cow, and the Glitches! At one point in the church, if you move Lara to JUST the wrong spot then the game gets stuck on the two boxers in the ring fighting, and you have to reboot the computer to get out of it! This game wasn't even worth the discounted price I picked it up for. Don't buy it, it's a trick...

Angel of Darkness is Straight from Hades

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: July 02, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Yep folks, I'm sad to say the title was appropriate for the origins of the game--Hades. I strongly recommend waiting for a demo, trying the game elsewhere, and/or reading official reviews before even thinking of purchase.

Controls are some of the worst in any game in recent years, and horribly frustrating, even when remapped to other keys. The mouse is simply used to turn Lara, not to control perspective, and camera angles can change unexpectedly, sometimes causing what was "forward" one minute to become something else the next. Get ready for some serious motion-sickness and confusion.

When doing something like running up stairs, even the slightest change in direction (via keys or the mouse) can cause her to instantly go the other way--not good in situations when time is of the essence, and absolutely maddening.

I'll leave it to others to describe how Lara needs to build up abilities like strength and the like as a new feature. Personally, I find this one not even worth trying to finish.

Looks like the months of delays were because the creators knew the game stank. Graphics are improved from previous Tomb Raiders, but nothing can save a game like this that's so painful every second due to horrible controls and camera work at the basic level.

Worst game I've encountered in at least a couple years. Can't recommend except to the most die-hard, curious fans.

PIECE OF CRAP

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 16
Date: November 26, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This is BY FAR THE WORST Tomb Raider. UNPLAYABLE!!!!!!!!! Controls stink!

i've have more fun taking a dump than playing this crap

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: December 08, 2003
Author: Amazon User

what a piece of garbage....just thinking of it is making my bowels move...again....OH GOD, i gotta go back on the bowl!!!! AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do not purchase this game!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 8
Date: January 27, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Let me give you some advice that will keep you from pulling your hair straight out of your scalp... stay away from this game. Don't take just my word for it... alot of folks here feel the same way. Do not listen to those that tell you that all this game needs is a killer machine to run. Believe me, I have a good machine and the controls are still awful! You get tired of yelling at Lara, telling here to get her butt up them stairs! People around you will think your nuts for screaming at the screen. Laura has never looked better, that is true. The graphics on this game are amazing. It's sure nice to look at, that is for sure. But, even if had a ghost of a chance of making Laura go were you wante her to go, you'd still have to deal with bugs, freezes, Laura walking on air, and attrocious angels. Do yourself a favor... stay away.

Angel of darkness is correct

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: August 01, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is the angel of darkness - THe control system is impossible - The menu screens are ridiculous and bulky to manage - I have played all the tomb raider games - This one is near to unplayable - This thing went straight to EBAY - save your money for something good - THE TR people need to do something fresh with this character like send her to space or something - jeez - the franchise is getting old and stale due to lack of innovation and change.

Don't waste your money

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: September 07, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game at a reduced price and still feel like I got ripped off. The controls in the PC version are an absolute nightmare and make what could have otherwise been a decent game horrible. Sometimes you feel like you have no control whatsoever. Good thing two successful movies have been made about this game otherwise EIDOS would've been out of business with this horrendous offering. In fact I'll think twice before purchasing anything with the EIDOS name or CORE DESIGN name attached to it.

Review Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next 

Actions