Tomb Raider II: Recap

Welcome to my recap for Tomb Raider II, which will follow pretty much the same formula as my recap for the first game;  namely, posing myself questions lifted from Jeremy’s 30-Day Tomb Raider Challenge and Stella’s adaption of the same challenge (as well as some of my own).

Favourite / Least Favourite Level

Obviously Venice is the best level in the game (and, indeed, the world) for completely objective reasons that are in no way tied to my feelings of nostalgia and a series of vague dreams I had when I was ten.  Speedboats!  Classical music!  Door textures!  It's perfection in a .TR2 file.  Tibetan Foothills is another great level, due in no small part to the inclusion of the snowmobile (with an accompanying theme song that’s almost as good as the speedboat’s one).  Of course, Lara’s Home, while not technically a level, is a excellent take on the traditional training area and really fleshes out the concept from its fairly brief predecessor.

Awarding least favourite is a lot more challenging.  Discarding levels that are pretty much one-trick ponies (The Dragon’s Lair, Home Sweet Home – both could be considered “bad” due to their shortness and lack of exploration), I suppose one of the water levels will have to suffice, simply because there are too many of the bloody things.  I’m going to say Wreck of the Maria Doria; it’s not awful, and it looks really good in some places, but it was a bit of a disappointment compared to how I remember it, and I seemed to enjoy the other sea levels a lot more.  Oh!  Except The Deck.  In fact, pretty much same-goes for The Deck.  So, those two.

Favourite / Least Favourite Enemy

Despite originally awarding him the “most irritating enemy” award, I’m going to backtrack a little and rename flamethrower man as my most favourite enemy, because he was a little different from the other human enemies (the rest being your common ‘shoot-it-or-hit-it’ variety) and used sparingly enough to be challenging rather than an incredible hassle.  Getting on the wrong side of him is the equivalent of near-instant death, so you have to be a little more strategic when dealing with him.

My least-favourite enemy is the yeti, because I BLOODY HATE YETIS.  They make scary yelling noises and spend most of their time stomping around deep, dark pits which Lara is often forced to visit thanks to some game-progressing item.  Also, they just stand there crowing after they kill her after Lara dies until presumably the end of time.  Talk about bad winners.

Favourite Weapon / Least Favourite Weapon

Once again, Uzis reign supreme because they’re fast, loud and deadly.  Grenade Launcher takes a close second for sheer novelty value (it’s raining body parts!).

There’s enough weapons now to warrant a “least favourite weapon” category; naturally, this honour goes to the harpoon gun, which rarely hits the target and haemorrhages ammo.  It would seriously be more useful for Lara to arm herself with a knitting needle.  It’s not even worth removing the thing from its holster.

Favourite Puzzle

Is it me or are the puzzles a lot more action-dependent in Tomb Raider II, compared to the first game?  Many of them seemed somersault-based, and my brain is finding it hard to differentiate between what was an actual puzzle and and what was just general bouncing around.  The only one that really stands out is timed door at the end of Venice; I think figuring out how not to get blown up constitutes a brain-teaser.

Puts that fire puzzle in Palace Midas to shame, doesn’t it?

Favourite Music

Venice Violins.  Please note that this particular category extends beyond Tomb Raider II to encompass “every piece of music ever recorded”.  Why hasn’t Nathan McCree been knighted yet?

Favourite Scene

It was a tough decision, and the plane-crash scene – where Lara looks mildly inconvenienced when her plane has a crisis of confidence somewhere over Tibet – almost had it, but eventually I decided that the crown should go to the jeep-jacking FMV:

Also, Hitman’s in it!

Scariest Moment

I thought it was going to be the giant spiders’ nest in Temple of Xian, but no, it was this place:

Namely, the dark yeti-pit in Catacombs of the Talion.  Thank goodness for flares (and Uzis).

Most Emotional Moment

Nothing particularly upset me in Tomb Raider II, except maybe that brain-damaged shark I murdered.  Once again, we’ll have to turn to our old friend nostalgia and just gesture in Venice’s general direction.  Ah, Venice.  I probably would have been a well-adjusted, non-Tomb Raider obsessed woman if it wasn’t for you.

Favourite Outfit

Ooo, the creators really took the opportunity to play dress-up Lara with this instalment.  Five outfit changes feature:

Clockwise
from top left:

Classic,
Home, Underwater, Nightdress,
Cold Weather(!).

 

 

 

 

All have their merits (and her ‘hanging out at home’ clothes are a 250% improvement from the first game), but ultimately I will opt for the cold-weather outfit worn in Tibet, an outfit that seems to be at odds with itself: a cosy-looking jacket paired with a pair of shorts that were barely worth putting on.

Favourite Way To Kill Lara

Yetis put on a fairly good show of removing Lara from the mortal coil, but, as we’re all aware, I hate yetis.  So I’m going to ignore them in favour of Floating Islands’ spearmen and their economical murder-weapon-cum-cooking-utensil approach.

Conclusion

The original Tomb Raider – as ground-breaking as it was – seems almost conservative compared to its ambitious little sister. The first game sent Lara spelunking round various underground location, so TR2 takes her from the top of the Tibetan mountain ranges to the bottom of the ocean. TR1 provides handguns of varying power; TR2 adds rifles, harpoons and grenade launchers into the mix. TR1’s Lara has to walk everywhere (in game, at least), while Lara 2.0 has gained a driving license and gains access to a couple of vehicles to wreak havoc (and wreck gondolas) with.

This is all to be expected, of course. Tomb Raider I was testing the water with the concept, and its success meant that Tomb Raider II could really take the plunge. Unfortunately, in its haste to plus-one everything, some defining qualities from the first game got left on the wayside, the two main examples being lack of puzzles (I mentioned above that I couldn’t really remember any in particular and I’m pretty sure that’s not just my terrible memory) and a diminished sense of isolation. The latter isn’t exactly a bad thing – the player doesn’t need to experience the same feeling of tomb-exploring solitude when they’re in the middle of European city, do they? – but it did somewhat diminish the Lara vs. The World trope into something more like Lara vs. Loads of Bad Guys, By Herself Until The Cavalry Eventually Decide To Turn Up (Not That They Ever Do, But That’s Beside The Point).

How much you miss the seclusion from the first game depends on the player - I actually find it slightly less nerve-wracking to explore a place that should technically be “peopled”, even if they are all thugs – but the puzzle thing is probably more objective, for it really was a big part of the first game. I for one could have happily swapped a few henchmen for something like the gold-bar conundrum in Palace Midas.

But these flaws are forgivable in the face of the rest of the game, which is truly excellent. I don’t think it’s one of those elusive “better” sequels, but it certainly doesn’t disgrace the series and can proudly stand shoulder-to-shoulder with its elder sister.  In short; it’s still awesome.

Home Sweet Home

Right, now we really are at the end.  Or, too be more specific, the epilogue.  Core Design, in a stroke of characteristic genius, decided to return to the awesomeness that is Lara’s humble abode, toss in some weaponry and a few moving targets, switch on “night mode” and let the fun commence.  It’s the perfect way to wind down after climax of the game; it’s like the video game equivalent of tea and an after-eight mint.

Having spent the past few weeks plundering ships, defacing temples and ensuring her place on Venice’s Most Wanted list, Lara finally has the Dagger of Xian and has returned home to relax by a roaring fire and study her prize.

However, the late Marco Bartoli’s remaining henchmen are pretty upset by how things have turned out and have driven to Lara’s home to seek their revenge and reclaim the dagger.  Aided only by a shotgun and a few thousand shells, Lara must protect herself and her home from the onslaught.

 

The afore-mentioned roaring fire.  Or, alternatively, Lara has so much excess gold that she’s decided to set some of it alight.  No wonder people hate the decadent upper classes.

 

Just look at the size of that bed compared to Lara.  I’m surprised she could get up onto it without a step ladder.

 

While Lara admires her pretty new toy, the Fiamma Nera have managed to bypass Lara’s front gates and have parked their vans haphazardly over the driveway.

 

Lara moves swiftly to the massive cupboard by her bed, wherein lies a solitary shotgun and a boatload of ammo.

 

The one time Lara could probably use a cup of tea and that doddering dust-cloud of a butler is nowhere to be seen.

 

Halfway through the level, I realised that I was wasting the opportunity to listen to one of the greatest pieces of music ever recorded whilst simultaneously shooting bad guys (“to hell!”).

 

There’s something about this van that screams “cute”.  I think it’s the comical little wheels.  It’s like that obese internet seal with the blue bucket.

 

After a suitable about of time and people have passed, the man I like to call “Mr Twin Shotguns” enters the scene – a name that I realised half-way through battle was something of a misnomer, seeing as he’s actually just a slightly less-ugly version of Giant Revolver Guy.

 

Her home goon-free once again, Lara opts for a quick shower.  Somewhere in 1997, millions of porn-starved adolescent pulses begin to race.

 

“Don’t you think you’ve seen enough?” Lara scolds, disappointing many pixel-based erotica fans and providing me with a default signature line for the next fifteen years.  Then she takes up her shotgun shell and blows the camera away.

 

And that’s the end of Tomb Raider II.  And look, the game gives us our final statistics!  Using a calculator and a vague memory of GCSE Mathematics, I figured out that my shooting was roughly 80% accurate and and my average level time was 56 minutes and 28 seconds.  How’s that for some fun facts?

I will be posting my Tomb Raider II recap sometime in the near future and then we’ll be moving on to Tomb Raider II: The Golden Mask.  See you soon! :D

The Dragon’s Lair

So it all comes down to this; The Dragon’s Lair.  The final stage in Lara’s pursuit of the Dagger of Xian, a quest that has led her to China, Venice, Tibet and even the darkest corners of the ocean floor.

And now she just has to murder a dragon and wrench the dagger out of its still-beating heart.  Should be simple enough.

The finale itself is pretty short.  It’s basically a chain of three rooms, in varying sizes, each containing a different type of enemy to ward off.  There’s not much room for the fancy acrobatics Lara’s relied on in recent levels, but there’s plenty of opportunity to get ammo’d up and kill some bad guys.

 

The start of the level and it’s a relief to see that, unlike last time, we’re not immediately thrust into battle with the big bad boss.

 

I have nothing to say about this image other than I thought it was pretty awesome.

 

After battling her way through the first room (spearmen), Lara finds herself in a dimly-lit area, facing the possibility of a painful death via…uh…being frowned at?  Seriously, that is the stance of a man that has pretty much given up with trying to stop her.

 

The first thing I thought when I saw this pick-up was that one of the cultists had laid an egg.  I need to stop playing Minecraft.

 

I wouldn’t get too complacent, the dragon behind this door certainly ain’t as friendly as the one on it.

 

Lara finds Marco Bartoli lying on a slab and celebrates with a head spin.

 

Angered by being shown up on the dance floor (and because he’s got a enchanted blade rammed into the ol’ ticker), Marco turns into a dragon and starts trying to cook and/or eat Lara.

 

It took a few thousands rounds from the Uzis before I finally gave up and used the easy-sneaky method from Stella’s walkthrough.  Hey, it isn’t cheating if Lara didn’t have to draw a flare and do a little dance for it.

 

At last!  The Dagger of the Xian of ours.  And hey, look, there’s a spare one still stuck in him in case we lose this one.

 

Plucking the dagger from out of the dragon’s underbelly causes the whole thing to melt, leaving a skeleton that is no doubt going to bamboozle some palaeontologists at a later stage.

 

The dagger successfully recovered, Lara makes a break for freedom.

The Dagger of Xian stowed safely away in her backpack, Lara makes a hasty exit from the temple, which is starting to fall down around her.

You really wouldn’t want to look down an alleyway and see this coming towards you.

Lara reaches the surface just as a massive explosion rocks the temple and throws her hurtling into the air.

Wheeeeeeeeee!  This is even better than spring-boards.

Lara falls to the ground and passes out, while the continuing explosion devastates the surrounding area.

After an involuntary nap, Lara wakes up and finds that she’s inadvertently blown up part of the Great Wall of China.  Hey-ho, there’s tons of it left.

Her work done, Lara heads for home.

Aaaand that’s the end of Tomb Raider II.  Nearly.

Floating Islands

Well done to Core Design for not opting for a more whimsical level name; Floating Islands is what it’s called and floating islands is what it is.  Well, that and floating enemies, floating temples and floating random pieces of neon-green jade - in fact, pretty much the only thing that isn’t acting like it’s been injected with industrial-strength helium is Lara herself.

Marco Bartoli has beaten Lara to the Dagger of Xian, and has attempted to utilize its dragon-transforming abilities by stabbing himself in the heart.  Refusing to give up just yet, Lara follows his body as Marco’s goons carry it away.

After all the thrills of the last level, starting out in Floating Islands seems strangely serene, probably because this is the first time in a while Lara has been able to stand still without incurring the wrath of various spike-laden implements.

 

Of course, all this serenity and peacefulness can’t last for long.  Floating Islands is the level that introduces the flying warriors, massive tanks of men that each wield a sword the size of small boat.  As if this wasn’t enough, they all seems to be sporting some kind of rocket-powered footwear (very ancient Chinese-y, I’m sure) and can take to the sky at will.  It’s fairly easy to kill them in the air, because they move rather slowly, but a couple of times I didn’t notice them flying about and got a rather unpleasant surprise when they decided to use Lara as a runway strip.

 

Believe me, you don’t want one of these bad boys on the ground with you.  Seriously, look at the size of that sword.

 

Once defeated, the warriors turn into statues and explode, which is a shame, because I wouldn’t have minded a pair of those flying boots.

 

Still, the flying warriors are like irritating little bats compared to their more numerous cousin, the spearmen.  What they lack in flying skills they make up for – and then some – in almost every other aspect.  They’re fast, strong and have a fondness for impaling Lara on their spears like she’s a marshmallow.

 

This is a pretty awesome site, when you come to it; a pretty little bridge in a picturesque setting that leads to a big temple that seems to be on fire.

 

Oh, hey, it’s a zip slide!  Haven’t seen one of those for a while.

 

One pleasant moment inside the temple is when this curtain lifts to reveal three spearmen.  Like they’re a prize or something.

 

I love this picture.  M16 versus Spears!

 

Fire: a perfectly viable building material.

 

Eventually, the level gets bored of acting like there’s any chance it wants you to escape alive and plunges you into a room filled to bursting point with spearmen and a new breed of Bartoli’s henchmen, who can throw cursors knives with deadly accuracy.

 

This happened far more frequently than I would want to admit.  Note how Knife-Throwing Guy looks kind of upset about it.

 

Lara takes a moment to salute one of the knife-throwers as he’s blown to smithereens by one of her grenades.

 

She indulges another guard in a spirited game of peek-a-boo between rounds.  Stop fraternizing with the enemy, Lara!

 

Pictured: overkill.

 

And that’s the end of Floating Island.  We’re nearing the journey’s end now – just two teeny little levels to go.