Everyone’s favorite adventure babe is out for her third go-around on the PC. This time the lovely Lara Croft ventures to India, the South Pacific, the Nevada Desert, London and Antarctica. Although the game boasts assorted new weapons, Tomb Raider III is much more of a puzzle-solving, platform-jumping title a la Zelda 64. Basically, you have to go from point A to point B, which involves running into blocked passages, searching out switches, and then going through the newly opened door. TR III really has an addictive element to it. Often I would sit totally clueless for minutes at a time trying to figure out what to do next, and although frustrating, the gratification of figuring out the puzzle kept me progressing through the game. Fret not, those who love to discharge their PC weapons: when you do stumble upon enemies, Lara engages with her basic pistols or other weapons you find along the way, such as a shotgun, Desert Eagle, Uzi, MP5, rocket launcher, grenade launcher and harpoon gun. Lara automatically aims when she sees an enemy, so the battles basically consist of you avoiding the enemy while holding the Fire button down. This is a little blah, but it doesn’t detract from the game. One feature you’ll grow to love is the ability to save at any point in the game, which will be explained next.
So far, so good, right? If TR III had done the above right, you wouldn’t be able to stop playing. But unfortunately, one major thing hinders that: control. It is dreadful. Lara is incredibly klunky with her movements. First off, to get her to walk, you have to hold a button down while moving her; otherwise, when you tap back, she does a half-jump, and if Lara is standing on a small platform, she falls to her death. The control problems are hard to describe, but let’s just say I’d be going through the game fine and then hit an area where four or five precise jumps had to be made, and I had to save and reload the game in excess of 50 times just to complete it. Obviously some of this is my fault, but judging how far to jump and where you’re going to land is a trial-and-error affair. Also, the camera often does the jumps no justice, because there’s no way to set it directly behind her; you can Look around, but once you let off the Look button, the camera goes back to the side or wherever. Needless to say, jumps will be missed and Lara will be attacked by enemies you can’t see.
Tomb Raider III’s graphics are pretty cut and dry. Nothing incredibly fancy here, nothing to be mad about either. Most of the graphics are composed of many polygon squares about as tall and wide as Lara on-screen, which gives everything a blocky feel, and the lines between polygons are blatantly obvious (even on the water). Although everything looks flat, the environments are detailed well and are meant to look 3D from a distance.
The sound in Tomb Raider III is pretty non-existent, which is a shame, because what little music is heard throughout the game is very good. The tunes are very laid back and fit the game well, but most of the time you hear silence. The sound effects are basic: gunshots, animal noises, and different sounds for footsteps depending on what Lara is running across.
Tomb Raider III has a great premise, but the controls make it so frustrating that you’ll want to move to another game. Lara will just have to sit on my prestigious computer shelf for the time being.
