Tomb Raider: The Lost Artifact

Pros • Jumps aren’t impossible • Pace is very good • Tightly designed levels	Cons • Some camera placement problems • Some clipping
Bottom Line Like a pre-VIP Pamela Lee, Lara’s back in “all her glory” in a sequel to TRIII that benefits greatly from the mistakes of the past. No one should expect any Tomb Raider game to be a radical departure from the previous titles, especially if it’s billed as a sequel to an earlier sequel. What The Lost Artifact does do is improve on key elements of gameplay that only someone who has worked on the series could offer. Developed by Eidos using the Core license and technology, TLA features architecturally complex levels with lots of connectivity and location-sensitive camera work that really refines the experience of playing a good third person action game. Six new levels and several costume changes feature Lara performing her standard gymnastic routine of running, jumping and shooting, with only a few block pulls in between. At half the cost of a “real” game (at least in North America), a definite must-have for fans to pass the time until the next would-be challenger dares compare herself to the queen.

When Lara Croft first appeared in a video game four years ago, she was an instant success and appeared on the cover of virtually every computer game magazine in the world. Developed at Core Studios in Europe, Tomb Raider and its sequels featured Lara running around different locations in her skin-tight hot-pants, changing outfits and shooting at pretty much anything that moved. Many games since have compared themselves to Lara and tried to duplicate what she seemed to accomplish in only her first attempt, but none have come close. In recent memory, Drakan tried to balance exploring with combat but stumbled because the levels were too big and the dragon too powerful. Crusaders of Might and Magic was billed as a “Medieval Tomb Raide”’, which is sort of true because playing the game was a form of torture. Even four years later if you want to play 3rd person, Lara’s the girl to play with.

The latest installment, Tomb Raider: The Lost Artifact is actually a sequel to TRIII featuring 6 new levels. Beginning immediately after the 3rd sequel ends, we find Lara picking dead Willard’s pocket and discovering a telegram with the location of a missing artifact buried beneath Willard’s Scottish castle (or is it Willard Scott’s castle?). For those of you who don’t remember playing the game, it really doesn’t matter; the story stands on its own. Tomb Raider III is largely regarded as the least popular of the series and was criticized on many fronts, but happily, Lost Artifact is nothing likes its predecessor. Bundled as part of Tomb Raider III Gold in Europe, TLA has been released as a separate package in North America at about half the cost of a full game.

The levels are tight and twisty with lots of gates and windows showing places you’ve already been or have yet to discover. This is a great mechanism for giving the player an idea of what is to come and increases the fun factor by putting the next goal in plain sight, with (seemingly) no way to get there. The levels are described as “massive,” but I found them a little shorter than some of the TRIII or TRIV levels. The camera is used a lot more here, pulling back at key points for wide-shots of places to go or of sinister-looking guards lurking around the next corner. There is some backtracking, but it’s minimal and usually involves Lara coming out into the middle of an area she’s already explored. Secret areas are no longer small little rooms or crawl-spaces but big open areas that may contain mini-puzzles as well as enemies. The developers claim this enhances the replayability of the game but, chances are, if you didn’t find a secret the first time through, it’s unlikely you’ll find it on the second.

Eidos has done some great work packing in lots of little extras too. Without giving anything away, if you need help finding the truth behind the loch ness monster check out the forums at http://www.tombraiders.com. The puzzles are mostly jumping and climbing and some item collecting (save often!), but they flow very well together and you’re never left wondering what to do next or have to run around aimlessly looking for a ledge to climb. Also, there’s less dependency on locating artifacts to progress through the levels. At the end of level 2, for example, I didn’t know where the Cairn Key was (it’s on the table in the map room), but was still able to complete the level without it.

The baddies are your standard Tomb Raider foes and some new skins appropriate for their location are a nice change, but don’t expect to find the answer to the age-old “what’s under the kilt” question. They execute a few new moves, like ducking behind blocks, but aren’t any more challenging than usual. That’s fine though because Tomb Raider never has been a shooting game. There’s just something about firing a pair of Uzis into a hell-hound that’s very satisfying.

Since it is the Tomb Raider III game engine, The Lost Artifact suffers from some of the same problems as the earlier game in terms of graphic inconsistencies, but manages to overcome them by providing a refined style of play that benefits greatly from the mistakes of the past. The designers admit to being big fans of the series and checked the forums for things that gamers complained about or praised in the previous titles. And just like watching an old episode of Baywatch (with a pre-breast reduction Pamela Lee), certain “modifications” made to Lara’s character for TRIV are still fully intact in the Lost Artifact. I guess there are some benefits to using old technology.

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