The story of Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness might be one of the heartbreaking in videogame history, although I don't think many people see it that way. It saddens me to see something so set up for success, so fresh in an aging series in serious need of a facelift, end up like the final product that we have today, which remains the lowest rated main entry in the series thus far. Angel of Darkness was in development hell for 3 years, and Core Design wanted Angel of Darkness to be different. They wanted it to compete with other successful titles such as Metal Gear Solid 2. Eidos wanted the game rushed to the market in order to make sales. And unfortunately, they got what they wanted: Angel of Darkness was commercially successful, but a buggy, broken, unfinished mess.

This is why it's such a shame that Angel of Darkness ended up like it did. There's evidence everywhere that this game is unfinished. Every addition to the game feels half-assed. There's elements like sneaking which you never have to use at all, ever. You can just as easily run up to guards and shoot them in the face. Taking out guards in sneaking mode requires them to be still and you behind them, and most of the time they're mobile so there's just no point. Hand-to-hand combat is again, more trouble than it's worth. Sprinting moves you faster but serves no purpose at all, unlike in previous entries. The infamous RPG elements in which Lara gets stronger by pushing boxes or kicking open doors could easily be removed entirely, and replaced with keys and switches. Collecting valuables and items to sell and purchase weapons and the like only appears once in the game, at the start, so for the rest of the game you're carrying around useless artifacts like rare records and vintage wine. Combat is also quite poor, and hampered further by the controls, which I'll cover in an entirely seperate paragraph.

Tank controls usually refers to a control method in which the player character moves forwards and backwards by pressing up and down, and turning by pressing left and right. Here, it seems that tank controls has been taken too literally, as Lara now has to accelerate from a snail's pace walk into a jog, and by the time you've started jogging, she sluggishly pulls to a halt and stands still for a couple of seconds. Vaulting objects and ladders simply requires Lara to stop next to them and press forward. Most of the time the game understands what you're doing, but other times Lara will just do a 180, vault over a railing and fall to her death. Vaulting from a crawling position back to standing (ie, crawling out from a vent) requires you to hold down walk and forward, which took me ages to figure out because it just made no sense. Looking requires you to be still and holding down the Sprint button. Combat changes the control system from tank into generally three dimensional movement, but your character will flail about like a moron, and the sudden change from tank to free movement generally means you'll run straight into your adversary and take unnecessary damage.

Let's not forget the bane of all banes in this game: the bugs. Lara will fall through solid surfaces, fail to grab onto ledges, will run forward diagonally in aiming mode if you press left or right, bump into ledges that lead to her inevitable death, manage to hang from a ledge from a standing position, but then not be able to get back up, and can run faster sideways on stairs than she can on a flat surface. Quicksaving works the majority of the time, but don't rely on it too much, especially in the final boss battle. The game will crash in some levels depending on what video settings you're using. Textures clip through each other, the camera clips through pretty much everying, halls of mirrors appear on just about every level, unfinished 3D objects only look right from one angle, cutscenes will play music but sometimes not sound or dialogue, items will randomly multiply in your inventory (I had 28 Periapt Shards at one point, even though there's only 3 in the game and they're key items), scripted encounters sometimes fail to spawn (the Cleaner proves irritating to most unlucky users, but thankfully I didn't run into this) and countless other bugs make their unwanted appearance. The Steam overlay freezes the game and alt-tabbing doesn't work most of the time. It's such a damn shame, because despite all the quirks, the engine is actually pretty solid, and with just even an extra month of time to work out the kinks, it could've been far better.

So what's good about this game? Thankfully, there's just as many good things as there are hideously broken things. It's aesthetically pleasing on all fronts. Environments and textures are incredibly detailed and far more believable than the previous five games. Character models could do with a bit more work, but they still look great. There's tons of graphical tweaks in the game's launcher, meaning that this game can look far better than its PS2 counterpart. The soundtrack is awesome, and the best in the series since the first. But by far the best thing is the plot. It's very well executed and genuinely emotional. Lara's transformation into a more cynical, badass and resilient heroine is a welcomed change to the one dimensional Lara from the previous games. In fact, the whole style of the game has undergone this change. Gone are the days of "wow this item is legendary artifact I must go to interesting country #4 and retrieve it to stop hackneyed villain #56 from using it for their own ends", and in its place is a muder mystery, horror-themed dark trek through Europe's criminal underworld and a cult who uses it as a front for their own plans. It's engaging and definitely the high point of the game, even if a lot of it was cut for the final release. Secondary characters have a lot of depth and you actually care about them.

And the gameplay itself isn't that bad, once you get used to it. You learn to control Lara soon enough, even if it is a hassle. You still raid tombs, however scarce they are, the puzzles are pretty good, the environments are varied and refreshing (again, a lot of these were cut), and at least it's something different from fatigue that's set in after five years of the same thing. Dealing with the bugs becomes just another enemy to deal with, and the game still works. Just think of it as a beta! With all the crappy Early Access games flooding Steam nowadays, you can easily just imagine that Angel of Darkness is simply another one that will never be finished!

I'm going to end my review by saying that this game was worth it in the end. It made me sad to think of what it could've been had Eidos not been greedy bastards and rushed it. It basically spelled the end of Core Design, of which the CEO resigned after the poor critical reception, and the company itself only released further disappointing casual games until its demise in 2007. It spelled the end of the first era of Tomb Raider. Crystal Dynamics took over and rewarded us with Legend, Anniversary, Underworld and 2013, all of which were critically and commercially successful. Finally, here's a Eurogamer article detailing more about the depressing story of Angel of Darkness, and the awesome community efforts being made to transform it into the game it deserved to be.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-10-12-the-fans-who-would-fix-tomb-raiders-most-broken-adventure

3/5

The story of Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness might be one of the heartbreaking in videogame history, although I don't think many people see it that way. It saddens me to see something so set up for success, so fresh in an aging series in serious need of a facelift, end up like the final product that we have today, which remains the lowest rated main entry in the series thus far. Angel of Darkness was in development hell for 3 years, and Core Design wanted Angel of Darkness to be different. They wanted it to compete with other successful titles such as Metal Gear Solid 2. Eidos wanted the game rushed to the market in order to make sales. And unfortunately, they got what they wanted: Angel of Darkness was commercially successful, but a buggy, broken, unfinished mess. This is why it's such a shame that Angel of Darkness ended up like it did. There's evidence everywhere that this game is unfinished. Every addition to the game feels half-assed. There's elements like sneaking which you never have to use at all, ever. You can just as easily run up to guards and shoot them in the face. Taking out guards in sneaking mode requires them to be still and you behind them, and most of the time they're mobile so there's just no point. Hand-to-hand combat is again, more trouble than it's worth. Sprinting moves you faster but serves no purpose at all, unlike in previous entries. The infamous RPG elements in which Lara gets stronger by pushing boxes or kicking open doors could easily be removed entirely, and replaced with keys and switches. Collecting valuables and items to sell and purchase weapons and the like only appears once in the game, at the start, so for the rest of the game you're carrying around useless artifacts like rare records and vintage wine. Combat is also quite poor, and hampered further by the controls, which I'll cover in an entirely seperate paragraph. Tank controls usually refers to a control method in which the player character moves forwards and backwards by pressing up and down, and turning by pressing left and right. Here, it seems that tank controls has been taken too literally, as Lara now has to accelerate from a snail's pace walk into a jog, and by the time you've started jogging, she sluggishly pulls to a halt and stands still for a couple of seconds. Vaulting objects and ladders simply requires Lara to stop next to them and press forward. Most of the time the game understands what you're doing, but other times Lara will just do a 180, vault over a railing and fall to her death. Vaulting from a crawling position back to standing (ie, crawling out from a vent) requires you to hold down walk and forward, which took me ages to figure out because it just made no sense. Looking requires you to be still and holding down the Sprint button. Combat changes the control system from tank into generally three dimensional movement, but your character will flail about like a moron, and the sudden change from tank to free movement generally means you'll run straight into your adversary and take unnecessary damage. Let's not forget the bane of all banes in this game: the bugs. Lara will fall through solid surfaces, fail to grab onto ledges, will run forward diagonally in aiming mode if you press left or right, bump into ledges that lead to her inevitable death, manage to hang from a ledge from a standing position, but then not be able to get back up, and can run faster sideways on stairs than she can on a flat surface. Quicksaving works the majority of the time, but don't rely on it too much, especially in the final boss battle. The game will crash in some levels depending on what video settings you're using. Textures clip through each other, the camera clips through pretty much everying, halls of mirrors appear on just about every level, unfinished 3D objects only look right from one angle, cutscenes will play music but sometimes not sound or dialogue, items will randomly multiply in your inventory (I had 28 Periapt Shards at one point, even though there's only 3 in the game and they're key items), scripted encounters sometimes fail to spawn (the Cleaner proves irritating to most unlucky users, but thankfully I didn't run into this) and countless other bugs make their unwanted appearance. The Steam overlay freezes the game and alt-tabbing doesn't work most of the time. It's such a damn shame, because despite all the quirks, the engine is actually pretty solid, and with just even an extra month of time to work out the kinks, it could've been far better. So what's good about this game? Thankfully, there's just as many good things as there are hideously broken things. It's aesthetically pleasing on all fronts. Environments and textures are incredibly detailed and far more believable than the previous five games. Character models could do with a bit more work, but they still look great. There's tons of graphical tweaks in the game's launcher, meaning that this game can look far better than its PS2 counterpart. The soundtrack is awesome, and the best in the series since the first. But by far the best thing is the plot. It's very well executed and genuinely emotional. Lara's transformation into a more cynical, badass and resilient heroine is a welcomed change to the one dimensional Lara from the previous games. In fact, the whole style of the game has undergone this change. Gone are the days of "wow this item is legendary artifact I must go to interesting country #4 and retrieve it to stop hackneyed villain #56 from using it for their own ends", and in its place is a muder mystery, horror-themed dark trek through Europe's criminal underworld and a cult who uses it as a front for their own plans. It's engaging and definitely the high point of the game, even if a lot of it was cut for the final release. Secondary characters have a lot of depth and you actually care about them. And the gameplay itself isn't that bad, once you get used to it. You learn to control Lara soon enough, even if it is a hassle. You still raid tombs, however scarce they are, the puzzles are pretty good, the environments are varied and refreshing (again, a lot of these were cut), and at least it's something different from fatigue that's set in after five years of the same thing. Dealing with the bugs becomes just another enemy to deal with, and the game still works. Just think of it as a beta! With all the crappy Early Access games flooding Steam nowadays, you can easily just imagine that Angel of Darkness is simply another one that will never be finished! I'm going to end my review by saying that this game was worth it in the end. It made me sad to think of what it could've been had Eidos not been greedy bastards and rushed it. It basically spelled the end of Core Design, of which the CEO resigned after the poor critical reception, and the company itself only released further disappointing casual games until its demise in 2007. It spelled the end of the first era of Tomb Raider. Crystal Dynamics took over and rewarded us with Legend, Anniversary, Underworld and 2013, all of which were critically and commercially successful. Finally, here's a Eurogamer article detailing more about the depressing story of Angel of Darkness, and the awesome community efforts being made to transform it into the game it deserved to be. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-10-12-the-fans-who-would-fix-tomb-raiders-most-broken-adventure 3/5