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...And Stay Dead!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 6
Date: February 08, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This is a game only for members of the Tomb Raider Fanatics Club. If you remove all the hyperbole and wishful thinking. This game is just another rehash of the older, CHEAPER, Tomb Raider titles.

Sure, you have new weapons and some new moves but it all adds up to the same thing: A big yawn! The game's clipping problems and crazy camera angles made things even worse. People who gave this game a good review must have been in a very magnanimus mood, or they must really enjoy ogling Lara Croft's enormous "guns".

It's time for Eidos to stop milking this cash cow and deliver something different to the gaming public.

Why?

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 12
Date: April 21, 2001
Author: Amazon User

It's amazing how popular the Tomb Raider games are. While the first one was great, and revolutionary for its time, all the four sequels are rehashed abominations with no new ideas that just don't cut it when compared to any decent modern games. Why these games continue to sell is a mystery. Can it be true that people can't look past Lara?

TOMB RAIDER CHRONICLES

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 39
Date: December 11, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I GAVE THE GAME ONLY ONE STAR, BECAUSE I HAVE NOT OPENED THE BOX IT CAME IN. I ORDERED THIS ITEM FOR THE COMPUTER BY MISTAKE; I SHOULD HAVE ORDERED IT FOR PLAYSTATION ONE; SO NOW I HAVE TO RETURN IT, FOR MY SON DOES NOT HAVE A COMPUTER AT HIS HOME. MY GOOF UP, NOT ANYBODY ELSES.

Bad ending

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 5
Date: June 16, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is not bad for an older game. Not as good as other TR games. The biggest problem is that on the last level, there is a bug that makes it almost impossible to finish the game. Well I suppose I got 90% of the game...What's going on with Aspyr!?!?

SHORT AND NOT THE BEST! LEVEL EDITOR IS HARD!!!

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 10
Date: February 15, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Wow game over in under 2 days?!! 4 Levels? Eidos come on!!! T-3 Was great. T-4 was long challenging and Great. Chronicles was over so fast. The levels were so easy, only two hard areas I had to use a walk through on.Graphics are like in the old T-2, Not improved. Few new moves like opening a draw Searching shelves and the tight rope you use 2-3 times. Al;so you get to pole vault 2-3 times. O ther than that the game is so fast its over before you know it. Nice game if the price was under $10.00. Its more like a demo... I have had misc. Demos that were larger than the full version of Tomb Raider Chronicles! Like I said its a short game with small levels. No big bonus if you find all the secrets either. Just silly screen shots. I would tell others if you want a better challenge and larger levels get T-4 Or T-3. Chronicles does come with a create your own level editor... Please whats the challenge in that. You will know where all the secrets are... Really the program is simply hard and frustrating to work and the screen size you need is large. Even on my great monitor the text is small. i spent several days making a level then gave upo. too time consuming and once if i ever finished it it would be no fun because i created the level so i would know all the traps ect. Really i felt ripped off when i finished the game. Maybe if it was $5.00 then i might be worth it. Eidos pumped up the game so much it blew up in their faces.

Too many bugs!

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: December 05, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Okay... the first few levels were fun, especially the level with the teenaged Lara in one of her first adventures. However, "Red Alert" has so many bugs in it that I finally gave up playing in despair. I've never given up on a game before, but this was finally more frustrating than fun.

Decent Gameplay, But Extremely Short!!!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 25 / 30
Date: November 23, 2000
Author: Amazon User

There's much to praise about this latest Tomb Raider adventure, the last in the TR series (next year Eidos/Core will begin TR Next Generation, a game that will be markedly different and feature other playable characters). Chrnoicles features new moves, vastly differing locales, and innovative gameplay. The adventure, divided into four areas, begins in Rome and combines the Venice-like sequences of TRII with the classic archealogical feel of the original. From there it's off to the Sunken Submarine levels where Lara, James Bond-like, must infiltrate a Russian military base and stowaway herself onboard a sub. A fifteen-year old weaponless Lara then explores the mysteries of a haunted forest (probably the weakest area in the game). Chronicles then ends with a Matrix-like adventure in a highrise building where Lara, sporting a black leather catsuit and visual headgear, must use stealth to escape with a prized artifact.

The innovations are quite wonderful--there's an extreme depth suit for underwater exploring, chlorofoam soaked cloths for sneaking up behind and taking out unsuspecting guards. The game, which is very much in the mold of the Last Revelation, is wonderfully cinematic. The music, in particular, helps create mood.

There are some serious problems with this game, however. Like Last Revelation, some of the puzzles seem kind of arbitrary. In other words, whenever I was stumped (which wasn't too often because the game is fairly easy, another drawback) I'd eventually find a solution NOT through logic or brainpower but through trying anything and everything until I was succesful. Put simply, some time after TR II, Core ran out of great puzzle ideas and have resorted to annoying trial-and-error style gameplay. Sadly, though, trial and error don't make for fun gaming.

More troubling, however, is the fact that this game is EXTREMELY short. I payed $44 for Chronicles because I exptected it to be a full game, the length of Last Revelation, say, but Chronicles is only slightly longer than the Gold titles, yet it's twice the price. There are only fourteen sections in Chronicles (covering four locales), but they're not--following the style of Revelation--necessarily full levels, the types of levels we all know and love from TR 1-3. One can easily beat this game in three evenings. Needless to say, very disappointing!

Still, if you're not at all money conscious, this one's worth picking up only because at times it's still a hoot to play. There's also a Level Editor included with the game, for those who wish to design and create their own TR levels, but you need to be fairly computer literate to use it. It's probably a good sign that Chronicles is the last game in the TR canon, because Lara's beginning to wear out her welcome.

Good, but still disappointing...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: January 09, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I've been a fan of the Tomb Raider series since the original game, and compared to parts 1,2 or 3, Chronicles is really quite good. Unfortunately, it comes in on the coattails of "Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation," and that's a tough act to follow. Whereas "The Last Revelation" (TLR) presented an epic story with a huge world to explore, "Chronicles" offers a series of mini adventures that basically amount to what could be considered a compilation of expansion packs. I won't sum up the plot here, since the other reviews already do that, but I will say that having a series of mini adventures is both positive and negative-- on the positive side, there's more variety in this game than in any of the previous TR games (with the possible exception of TR3.) On the minus side, none of the adventures really leave you feeling fulfilled the way TLR did.

Chronicles is easier than the previous games. Combat is far less frequent, and the fights are easy when they do occur. You won't die countless times trying to solve the same puzzles. You also won't get killed by traps that spring from nowhere. Unfortunately, despite Eidos' claim to the contrary, the game is significantly shorter than TLR. So, with the difficulty toned down, you can get through most of this game in just a few evenings.

The difficulty is raised considerably, however, when you reach the final levels in Von Croy's tower block. The last level is downright frustrating. Not only are you attacked by machine gun toting androids and heavily armed helicopters, you also have to deal with the fact that the designers opted to skimp on the availability of medpacks.

The level editor, which is included with the PC version, is a great toy for TR fans. Although it takes some work to make a decent level, it's great fun to tinker with. It also adds an incredible amount of life to the product. With the relatively short and unremarkable gameplay of Chronicles, the game itself seems like an add-on... I got far more enjoyment from the level editor.

The Best is Not the Last in this Case

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: January 18, 2001
Author: Amazon User

While I enjoyed this game, it is not the best of the Tomb Raider games. Chronicles has a fairly good storyline, and Lara is placed in many different settings which are quite different from previous games. All of this makes for a fun game. However, there were some serious problems with the PC game.

First, the last few levels has some serious bugs. If you save your game at certain points (especially in the "Red Alert" level) bugs pop up. For instance, at certain points in the action, I saved the game, and went on to the next door, or window, or whatever, attempted to operate the door (i.e. go through) and the door would not open (a door that I had just previously went through. There are bugs in "Red Alert" zone with the Cyborg in the water room that caused me much grief.

Second, the very last portion of the game is way too frustrating. There are an extreme minimal amount of med packs, and Lara is getting pelted by a Helicopter, Cyborgs, and security guards. This makes the game too challenging (to a point of being ridiculous) and takes the fun out of the whole thing.

Third, in the "Red Alert" level, the second shooting range (to get to secret # 2) is way too difficult for the PC. It took me forever to shoot all the moving targets with the keyboard of my computer (Not sure if it is any easier with a joy stick).

However, despite the frustrations that do arise here and there, if you make it through (with all the secrets found), you get to see some pretty interesting things with the credits (I won't ruin it for anyone interested in attempting this feat.) The game itself is pretty fun, but some of the things mentioned above make it too downright frustrating at times, and when these moments arise, the game looses it's quality and enjoyment. Overall, I would get the first four Tomb Raiders, and leave this one back on the shelf, at least until they update it and work some of the bugs out.

Tomb Raider: Chronicles

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: December 02, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Tomb Raider Chronicles is the fifth Lara Croft adventure game created on the TR4 built engine. Compared to TR4 it is a very short game. There are thirteen levels with four adventures set in Rome, Russia, An Ireland adventure with 16 year old lara and the final adventure in the Vci headquaters building. The graphics are quite dated. The storyline is good and the gameplay is very good and not as hard as TR4. Challenging puzzles with no annoying false paths, But the boss levels are very hard. Level design is good and not in hub layout so no confusing backtracking. Each level has three secret golden roses and if you find all of them you will be given special access. The controls are the same and still not perfect and as usual no difficulty option. Compared to the fourth game chronicles has a very good and less confusing gameplay but it is very short and looks like an expansion pack to TR4 than a brand new Tomb Raider game.

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