Summary
- Lara Croft’s influence peaked in the ’90s, but declined after commercial disappointments like Angel of Darkness.
- Aspyr’s remastered collection of Tomb Raider games received criticism for darker lighting, poor controls, and nonsensical RPG elements.
- Angel of Darkness remains largely unchanged in the remaster, indicating a ground-up remake may be the only solution to fix it.
Lara Croft is one of the greatest protagonists to ever be rendered in polygons. Her effect on the video game world in the late ’90s was electric: few mascots but Mario can claim to have enjoyed the mainstream popularity that Lara Croft did at her peak. For a short time, Lara was everywhere: on magazine covers, on U2’s tour posters, in music videos and television advertisements, and even on the silver screen, played by Angelina Jolie.
Regardless, these classics remain beloved by veteran raiders and have become legendary in the Tomb Raider community for their at-times nonsensical decisions. Here are some of the most egregious ones.
8
Lara’s Magical Dress Change
The first episode of Chronicles opens with a gorgeously animated FMV. The cutscene shows Lara attending a party in fancy dress, when suddenly she runs across some thugs. After a chase sequence rivaling the one in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Lara ends up on the wrong side of town.
As soon the gameplay starts, you’ll see Lara wearing her classic tank top and shorts. How did she change her outfit so quickly? Where did she get it from? She wasn’t carrying a handbag. Is she a magician as well as an archaeologist?
The FMV cutscenes were animated by ExMachina, who also worked on Final Fantasy 9.
7
Cairo Is Empty
Due to hardware limitations, Core Design was unable to convey the gravitas of The Last Revelation’s climax. Naming a level City of the Dead and adding a green skybox doesn’t cut it: the city feels completely fine apart from how empty it is. The only people Lara runs into are the regular enemies and exactly one allied soldier.
Going off the historical census, Cairo had a population of 13 million in 1999, the year The Last Revelation takes place. Where is everyone? Did they see Seth’s swarm of bees and decide to go on vacation in a neighboring city?
6
Enemies Can’t Hear Lara
The final episode of Chronicles is its most challenging one, with multiple stealth sequences that show a clear Metal Gear Solid influence. Lara goes through vents and sneaks up behind enemies for quick kills.
Related
9 Action Games With Surprisingly Good Stealth
It’s fun to have options, and these action games let you try your hand at stealth.
Proper stealth mechanics weren’t implemented until Angel of Darkness; in Chronicles, guards won’t be alerted unless you’re in their line of sight, no matter how much noise you make – and Lara has some really loud footsteps. No matter how much you run, jump, and roll around behind guards, they’ll ignore you.
In Chronicles, enemies can apparently see through their feet, as Lara ducking inside a vent makes no difference to her being spotted.
5
Exercising Her Arms Makes Lara’s Legs Stronger
In its own way, Angel of Darkness is one of the most revolutionary video games of this millennium: an third-person action-adventure title incorporating RPG elements, predicting the direction the entire industry would shift towards within the next two decades.
Yet this was still early days, so the RPG elements make no sense. If Lara pushes a box around, it somehow makes her able to jump higher. These are two completely different muscle groups. We wish it was like this in real life: it would make going to the gym so much easier.
4
The Voices In Chronicles
It’s been admitted by Core Design’s development staff that they were completely burned out when they made Tomb Raider: Chronicles, and it was essentially a collection of levels cut from other games that nobody wanted to work on.
Nobody except the voice talent, apparently. These guys were having a blast. They ham it up as much as possible. Larson sounds like a Texan doing a parody of a Texan. For what it’s worth, Jonell Elliott turns in a typically high-quality performance as Lara, the only character who sounds like she’s taking things seriously.
3
Pierre Dies
Classic Lara’s characterization grew increasingly callous in later games, culminating in this moment where she essentially makes her rival Pierre walk the plank. It’s downright cartoonish how she keeps feinting about whether she’ll push him off a high ledge. Rather than show some mercy and retain her human element, she actually does it, too.
Related
10 Biggest Retcons In Gaming History, Ranked
Here are some of the biggest retroactive continuity changes that we’ve had to endure in gaming so far.
Here’s the kicker: this is a prequel to the original Tomb Raider, and Pierre is alive and well in that game. In case you’re wondering, Pierre didn’t simply survive the fall: writer Andy Sandham admitted that they forgot.
2
Lara Doesn’t Listen To Her Younger Self
The Last Revelation opens with Lara accompanying her mentor Von Croy into a Cambodian tomb. Von Croy decides to remove a treasure despite Lara’s protests. Lara feels that they should show these tombs some respect, seemingly unaware that her series is called Tomb Raider.
The very next level, however, a grown-up Lara does the same thing as Von Croy by removing an ankh piece inlaid in a sarcophagus in an Egyptian catacomb. This isn’t just tomb raiding, it’s straight up grave robbery. Von Croy’s mistake simply broke his leg; Lara’s mistake causes an actual world-ending evil to be unleashed. Lara, did you not play through your own prologue chapter?
1
How Do Those Skeletons Move?
The skeleton enemies in Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation are among the creepiest. While they’re not deadly, they do spend a lot of time chasing after Lara and being nuisances. They’re immune to bullets too, so there’s no need to waste ammo on them.
The only way to get rid of skeleton enemies for good is to get a headshot using a scope, blow them up using a grenade, or throw them off ledges.
We’re willing to accept that these skeletons have been reanimated by some supernatural force. Where we draw the line is their complete defiance of biology and physics. Bones cannot move by themselves – they can only act as fulcrums for muscles. No matter how spooky-scary a skeleton is, it is impossible for it to move by itself.
