Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness

Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness is an action-adventure game, the sixth instalment in the Tomb Raider series, acting as a direct sequel to Tomb Raider Chronicles and The Last Revelation. It was developed by Core Design and published by Eidos Interactive. The game was released in June 2003 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, and December 2003 on Mac OS X, and was the first Tomb Raider title to be released for the PlayStation 2. The storyline follows Lara Croft as she attempts to clear herself of being the suspect of her former mentor Werner Von Croy's murder while investigating the activities of a black magic cult.

The game's development began three years before release. The intention was to create a different game from previous entries in the franchise, one that could compete better with newer action games and fully exploit the potential of the sixth generation of gaming platforms. It was also planned to be the first in a new trilogy of Tomb Raider games released for the new generation. However, development was fraught with difficulties, which led to the game being delayed twice and numerous planned sections of the game were scaled back in order to meet deadlines.

Despite selling 2.5 million copies worldwide, Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness received generally negative reviews from critics; while some praise went to its narrative, critics faulted the game for its poor controls, camera and numerous technical issues. In the aftermath of the game's release, the planned trilogy of games was scrapped, and development of the franchise was transferred to Crystal Dynamics for the next entry in the series, Tomb Raider: Legend (2006).

Gameplay

Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness, like previous Tomb Raider games, is a third-person action-adventure puzzle game. Players control the main series protagonist Lara Croft through the majority of the game. The majority of Lara's basic moves are carried over from the previous instalment, such as walking, jumping, climbing, swimming, crawling, swinging on ropes and standard gunplay.[3] Her new moves include a small hop, army-crawling, hand-to-hand combat and a "super-jump" that can be performed while running. Lara can also sneak up on enemies and perform stealth attacks, flatten herself against walls and peer around corners.[3][4][5] Lara's ability to sprint, present in the three previous entries in the series, is only available when the player opens a cabinet containing gas masks in the 'Galleries Under Siege' level.[6] Her weapons arsenal is also modified from previous games, featuring new weapons such as a K2 Impactor stun gun and upgraded versions of weapons like the shotgun.[7]

Unlike previous games in the series, Lara has a stamina meter which depletes while she is performing bouts of climbing: if the bar empties before reaching her destination, she falls. The rate at which the meter decrease slows if the player performs special actions that increase Lara's strength. These actions are also necessary to progress in many of the levels. The game incorporates elements similar to a role-playing game, whereby Lara can talk with various NPCs encountered throughout the environments and choose what kinds of answers to give: early in the game, these answers will directly affect her progress through the story.[5] The game also features a second playable character, Kurtis Trent.[4] Initially appearing to be an antagonist, he becomes controllable by the player late in the game. He features mainly identical moves to Lara, and his sections of the game are more based around combat.[5]