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they all stink

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 11
Date: September 16, 2001
Author: Amazon User

i hate tomb raider the plot is sooooooooooooooooooooooo stupid you dont even get to do enything but i think this is so stupid ireally hate tr cronicles and all the other ones

Tomb Raider: Levels to Boring for The Other Games

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: July 26, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Tomb Raider Chronicles brings out the worst aspects of all the Tomb Raider games. The level design is quite basic, and the graphics seem to be too pixilated or dark at times. The game becomes increasingly boring as play through. One of the most enjoyable aspects of the 4 other Tomb Raiders games were the boss battles, which took some level of skill to defeat. In this game, there are few bosses, with the biggest and baddest of them all being a three headed snake/dragon creature, which pales in comparison to the likes of the T-Rex from Tomb Raider 1 or the Giant Firebreathing Dragon in Tomb Raider 2.:Spoiler: The final boss is the worst yet, being an android with no special abilities whatsoever, just a gun, and he want to shoot you. Its not a giant Mech Android with rocket launches and pulse rifles, its a little humanoid android with a gun. Not a lot of fun to beat if youve played some of the previous bosses from the past Tomb Raider games. This games seems to take quite awhile to beat, but thats just because nothing makes sense, and it leaves you with a feeling like you wasted your time, effort, and money.

Awkward Controls, Frustrating Camera...

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: July 28, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Tomb Raider: Chronicles (TRC) features the lovely Lara Croft in her many adventures from Rome to a U-Boat to a high-tech tower complex. The game has one of the most awkward controls and frustrating adjusting camera angles since Danger Girl (that's a cheap game, and one should buy it simply for the art inside and NOT for the game or gameplay!). Anyway, one will keep on falling and falling...etc. and continously get blindsided by enemies for the most part. Additionally, Lara still moves like a tank with feet, instead of having fluid and sly movement. However, the stealth in the latter levels in particular is a welcome addition, being spoiled by the Metal Gear Solid series. The puzzles aren't too difficult, but they are very physical-oriented as opposed to mental-oriented (like Eidos' Fear Effect). The cinematics are okay, but they are rather short. My two favorite levels on this game is the U-Boat/Russian Base level and the Tower: Level 13 level. Both of these are reminiscent of Metal Gear Solid. Otherwise, this game is definitely for fans of Tomb Raider previously, but for newbies, definitely rent before you buy.

not the game i like

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: January 12, 2001
Author: Amazon User

At fisrt, I thought this game was quite good. Not bad graphics & storylines.I didn't know how sad it really was! After literally a day, i got so bored with it, i dared not look at it. It was slow, hard, and in my opinion, gave Tomb Raider's good reputation a bad name. For the 1st 3 levels óf th game, you're forever stuck in greek side streets, then when u actually get out, it gets much harder & just as boring. Considering it's the last Tomb Raider, i think they could of made big improvements. Nothing compared to Tomb Raider: Last Revelation

An overall fun, if flawed game

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: January 09, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Longtime gamers remember Tomb Raider for a few things: blocky levels, millions of switches, and that feeling of being really, really lost. In their latest and last playstation resurrection of the series, Eidos addresses many of the gamers' complaints. While far from perfect, Tomb Raider Chronicles offers up a varied 20+ hours of mostly switch-free game play.

Chronicles shines in many areas. The first thing that most people will notice is that Chronicles looks and sounds extremely good. After three or four revisions to the game engine one would expect a nicely immersive environment. And while the ambiance in Chronicles would benefit greatly from more music, the segways that are present really heighten the mood.

The good graphical engine used in Chronicles is complimented by good characterizations and a nice variety in levels. Every two or three hours, when you have completed three more levels, you are taken to another time in Lara's life, another set of missions, another set of objectives, and different dangers. This variety is a welcome change of pace for a Tomb Raider game, hardly ever slipping into that feeling of "been there, done that" which the series is known for. One scene Lara is avoiding a crane arm on a nuclear submarine, the next she is a little girl swinging over gaping chasms on a deserted island. And while Chronicles lacks an overarching plot, the variety of game play situations this type of narrative allows as well as good short storytelling and characterizations will more than keep any jaded gamer's attention span.

Unfortunately despite all the polishing Eidos has put into Chronicles, it's luster is greatly tarnished by a few extremely frustrating problems. For one, the camera seems to love Lara's high-rex, mit-mapped face. This can be troublesome when you are trying to see the jump in front of you. Anytime she faces away from a wall, or walks into a tight corridor, expect to keep tapping the camera button to see anything. After so many years, they should have it right. Furthermore, the player never feels like he or she actually is Lara. Thanks to some overly precise controls, she can turn slowly, jump only at designated steps, etc. This worked perfectly in the old Tomb Raiders, which were all about careful jumping. But Chronicles isn't, and her tremendous turning radius and her extremely slow sidestepping make the experience feel like driving a school bus.

But the most frustrating part of the game is how difficult it is to interact with objects. I can't tell you how many hours I've lost because the manhole I had to crawl down or the handle I had to yank off didn't respond to repeated button presses. I figured it was just background and moved on. Hours of aimless wandering later, the strategy guide would tell me to go back and do the exact thing that I had already tried to do. This one flaw takes a huge bite out of any overall enjoyment of the game that one might derive. Knowing full well that I had to steal a coin from an underwater demon, and having plenty of time to swim to it, it still took nearly ten tries to actually be able to pick it up. If I didn't know that was the objective, I would have dismissed it as background and moved on.

Despite its flaws, Tomb Raider Chronicles manages to be an overall fun, if frustrating, experience. Hopefully the next generation of systems will give Eidos the power to do something truly unique with Lara, and solve all of the control issues. In the interim, Chronicles is the best Tomb Raider has to offer, and by now you should know what that means.

Unsatisfiying; mediocre

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: November 01, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Being the last one of the franchise for the PSX my expectations were quite high.But let's face it.Tomb Raider Chronicles was just a dumb idea.To start things off your first "world" is Rome a kind of copy of TR2 the level in Venice.Talk about dull.The second one which I admitted was a bit fun was the Russian Base pluging dogs and men full of hot lead...for like, 3 hours.Then I got overly befuddled and got extruciated at the bad lighting.The next one I JUST HATED.It's just like the TR4 training levels where you're teen lara with no weapons.The last one was fun!It shares the whole stealth stuff from Metal Gear Soliad sniping sleeping guards or workers who continue to crouch and say"Don't shoot" at the sight of Lara's gun.Overall its just like some demo, it was fun for a while then it just when from fun to...kaput.Take my advice, save it up for a worthwhile Final Fantasy or something like that.

Great graphics, poor gameplay...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: May 16, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The first time i played TR Chronicles for the PS1, i found it not that interesting. Face it, the Rome levels are just not that exciting. I played and beat levels 1 & 2, then attempted 3, unfortunatly, it took me 2 weeks to figure out how to beat level 3, it was WAY too hard. And that's just one of the many things that make TR Chronicles fall short of being one of the best in the series. OK, so there's alot of pros, Lara can now interact more with the characters around her (instead of just shooting a weapon, she can now bash people over the head with crowbars & stuff), she can now open and search file cabinets for various items, and she can kick down doors (which she could do in TR Last Revelations but it's still a cool move). In addition to new moves, there are 4 massive adventures to be explored. But as with all pros, there must be cons, and unfortunatly, the cons are major. My first complaint is puzzles (particulary timed-puzzles) being WAY too hard. I couldn't complete level 3 in Rome (Colessium) for 2 weeks because of the timed-puzzle in the middle of it, i almost tried to give up on the game in all, but after i beat the Colessium, i found it not so hard. In adventure 2, which takes place on a Russian Submarine (personally my favorite adventure of the game), Lara must get onto the sub, dive under the sea, and collect the Sphere Of Destiny (i think that's what its called). Not only is the storyline fun, but you have alot of fun exploring the subs many levels and areas, but once again, a con came into play. I found the Deep Sea Dive level incredibly difficult, and it took me awhile to collect the Sphere and escape back to the sub. Adventure 3, takes place on a haunted island in Ireland, i really just didn't like this area, not only is it boring, but it is so dark its hard to see what your doing. Finally, Adventure 4, which takes place in the VCI Headquarters, is a partly fun adventure. But even with its cool graphical images of a high-tech city, its really difficult to complete the 3 levels involved (espicially since you on have the HK weapon). On level 1 of VCI, i found it difficult to get the Iris at the end, but luckily, i found a cheat (not too much of a cheat) where you can press the button, sideflip left, flip backwards, then press and crawl like your crawling off a ledge, you will go through the glass!! It took me awhile, but after that helpful little clue, i completed level 1 of VCI. Level 2 of VCI, Escape With The Iris, is incredibly difficult (espicially since you have no weapons), i found all the portions with the elevator shafts and that slide where you half to jump and swing off two poles very difficult, i could barely complete this level. And the final level, Red Alert!, it is almost IMPOSSIBLE to complete shooting range #2, it took me 45 to 50 times to complete this one obstacle. Pretty much, i found TR Chronicles a cool game graphics wise, but gameplay is very difficult and sometimes annoying, if you want an all-out fun TR game that still has cool graphics, check out TR2 or TR3, just remember this one is just a sample of what will be on TR6: THE ANGEL OF DARKNESS for the PS2 & PC, coming soon!

Tomb Raider

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 17, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I have played almost all the tomb raider games. From the first through the chronicle. This game was very short. It only had 13 levels. Delivery was on time.

The best and worst of Lara

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 13 / 19
Date: February 06, 2001
Author: Amazon User

The 5th instalment of Lara Croft's adventures, this game unfortunately has both the best and the worst of the entire series.

Essentially a stop-gap to keep up public interest before Lara's rebirth on the Playstation 2 the game is a series of vignettes from Lara's previous career. The graphics are as impressive as in The Last Revelation and Lara is as smoothly animated as ever, picking up the by now obligatory new trick, in this case tightrope-walking.

The first episode is set in Rome against two old rivals. It incorporates the training level into the first level which threw me at first and also one of the secrets is hidden in the training level. Long-time Tomb Raiders will find the Rome levels absurdly easy, easier than the first Tomb Raider that was released.

The second episode, set in a Russian submarine base and then onboard a submarine is about average in difficulty for the series. It features the return of the one of the best TR weapons - the Desert Eagle pistol - but then cruelly takes it off Lara before she gets to do much with it (boo !).

The third epsiode is from Lara's youth and is set on a haunted island on Ireland. I found this ridiculously hard and frustrating. The graphics are dark and hard to make out, the colours lurid. The storyline is a patchy affair which revolves around releasing a 19th century Russian Cossack who has been trapped for seven centuries (how does that work ?). The tasks are annoyingly difficult and to add insult to injury you have to do all three levels unarmed. (Bad Eidos ! Naughty Eidos ! Go to your room !).

The fourth episode is easily the best. Lara goes all Entrapment-like to pilfer an artifact from the office block of her former mentor Von Croy. This is loads of fun with the added bonus that Lara gets to blast away happily with the return of the sublime MP5 from TRIII which, whilst the only weapon she has, can be locked onto single-shot sniper mode, three round burst and full auto (when you absolutely, positively just have to kill every *&%^*@~#*% in the room). More of this please Eidos if you're listening.

Until the release of Lara: The Next Generation, Lara fans will have to make do with the forthcoming movie starring Angelina Jolie. Looks good from the trailer.

SUPER

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: June 15, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game is SUPER! It is one of my favorite video games i've played, if not my absoloute favorite. I acctually havn't been able to play the whole thing because I don't own it(I rented it from a video store for about a week.) But from what i have played I know it's a great game. It starts off with a mamorial/funeral service for Lara(she is thought to be dead). And three of the people go back to the house or mansion were she lives. Her buttler(i think his name is winston), Father Something or other and someone else(i don't know all the names). Then they begin talking of lara's past adventure..... so you play there stories.

The first storie is in rome. It has a limited amount of gunfighting. And a realitivly easy puzzle solving difficulty and amount. It has two bad guys, along with other enamys. It also has the training level in a building in the first level(I should say training area)so it's optinal of training. Basic Level.

The second storie is my favorite. It is set in a russian base and in a submarine. You have Some good weapons(i love the Uvis or whatever it's called). In the first level you are dressed in an amry-camoulflauge-like sute.

The third story is my second favorite(It's acctually my favorite as an adventure game...Storie two is my favorite as an action game). You are a younger lara than in the others(she is the same as in the training level of TR4). She has hid on a boat belonging to father-Whatever. You are on an island wich is haunted by demons and ghost and wierd things called imphs. You don't ahve any weapons or form of defense. The puzzles are rather difficult. I had to use an f.a.q. for the begining of Level 1, Almost all of level two(i figured some out myself) and i still havn't gotten past Level 3. Still it's a very interesting story/level.

I don't under stand the fourth storie very much. all i know is that lara is trying to get in to a building owned by the v.c.i. or something like that(correction. she is allready in the building) i think the mission for the first level is to find the iris artifact(if youv'e played TR4 you know what that is). It has a Hi-Tech desing with Guys in somekind of highly cool battle sutes, robots, Security laser machines(you know like ones were if you walk through them they set of an alarm, Exept these are on moving machine things and they hurt you, ALOT). You also have one weapon with three modes. This level/storie takes alot of stealth.

Alltogether it is one of the best games around. However, If you get it i suggest you find some cheat codes. I will give you the code to go to the second storie(russian base) right here. At the main menu have new game highlighted, Then hold down L1, then, while keeping L1 held down, press and hold down Up, Keeping those held down, press X. You will go strait to The russian base. The third level(Black island, or black isle) Is exactly the same exept, instead of holding down L1 and Up and X, You do L2 instead of L1. The third level cheat is again the same exept for you do R1. You will have to find other cheats somewhere else.

This agme is without a doubt one of the best games ever made. The money is worth it. So Get It.

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