This adventurous lady needs no introduction but, being a woman, all of which who love attention (don’t worry girls you can hit me later) I am going to give her one anyway! Lara Croft is by far is a worldwide known character within the gaming industry and is also argued to be the favoured and most popular female hero too. It was in 1994 that the world became victim to the addictive gaming console known as the Sony Playstation. As one of the debut titles released with the console, Lara was seen by all and from day one she had gripped her talons of adventurous woman hood into the players of the gaming market. With her and of course the other knew established names, such as Crash Bandicoot, the Sony Playstation then went on to sell over one million units by only the next year of 1995.
With the Nokia N-Gage it was this same tactic that they tried to go for when they enlisted the help of Eidos Interactive and Core Design to create a Lara Croft title to be released for the launch of their new game deck. Although this worked to a degree, it was not only by this title alone that the Sony Playstation had such a high selling rate and what Nokia did not realise is that if they had a crap, massive taco looking game deck, then people might be put off. Even if they had Lara posing nude holding only the N-Gage across her, well you know, then it still would not draw the crowds because at the end of the day it would still be naff.
However, now with the new release of the N-Gage QD, it looks as the Nokia are on a roll, as not only do they now have an excellent game deck but also more killer, exclusive, titles that are set to be released soon.
Another obvious point as soon as you pop the little game into your N-Gage is that you will notice that the game is an exact port of the original title on the Sony Playstation. It appears to be different in no way.
Take control of Lara as she sets off on the search for an ancient relic known as the Scion, an artefact from the fabled city of Atlantis. There are fifteen huge levels in this explosive full on adventure game, including South America, Greece, Egypt and Atlantis to name a few. The story of Lara Croft as a whole is a well-known and very appealing one. When she was younger, her father, an archaeologist like herself, was killed. Since then, she herself has become the adventurer in search of the old and lost corners of the world. Although since this original title was released, there have been many others that have gathered more followers of the female hero, this was where her career all began.
When you find yourself at the title screen of the game, those new to the series will be able to do the all-famous assault course to learn what moves this girl can do. This mode gets you adventuring through Lara’s mansion, having to complete tasks that will teach you all of the basics that are needed to play the game and become the top explorer. Simple manoeuvres such as rolling is what they start you off on but then there are harder tasks of jumping to other ledges and learning to grab the edge and pull yourself up.
After you think that you are up to the challenge of going off in search of the legendary scion, then start a game and get ready for the adventure of a lifetime!
The game starts you off in a network of caves, which finally lead you onto your first ruins to explore, filled with basic enemies and puzzles to get you warmed up for when the going really gets tough. These of course are not yet hard. The enemies are wolves and bears. However, if you do not pay attention and keep your wits up then you will get a bite or two from the wild animals. The wolves are the faster of the two and usually attack you in groups of three. Firing fast with your dual pistols and jumping this way and that to keep out of the reach of their sharp claws will kill them quickly and keep you out of harms way. The same applies for the bears but be extra careful with these as one hit from them can cause serious damage. To dispatch of your enemies, you have a variety of weapons, handguns, uzi’s and a shotgun just to name a few. Along your route, as said, are the puzzles you need to complete to advance within the ruins. Many of these first ones are simple tasks of pulling levers, pushing blocks or finding the key to open a certain door. However, when you advance within the levels, these puzzles become harder, forcing you to use your knowledge in order to work them out.
From there, your adventure and epic journey throughout the world truly begins.
The main, stunning aspect to this game, is that it is full 3D on a handheld device, which is, as yet, a new feat in the way of mobile gaming. At first many would think that the graphics are terrible on such a device and yes, although they are not exactly up to the standard of next generation consoles such as the Xbox, Playstation 2 and Gamecube, it is amazing. Sony themselves have tried to come up with a way of playing such high quality games on the go by introducing a portable screen to be attached to the console but Nokia have been able to go that one step further and produce high quality games on their game deck. The two games compared are identical in looks.
The character models of not only Lara herself but also the animals and other people within the game are detailed and 3D. You can see their facial expressions, the snarls of a wolf and the blood spurts when you fill them full of lead. At times they can look a little disfigured when the camera is at a certain angle of they are half in a wall but most of the time they are stunning.
The world is also in complete 3D. All of the amazing locations that you will visit in the continents are all designed with such realism that you would believe they actually existed and that you could go and adventure in them yourself to see what hidden artefacts you could find amongst them. From the dingy and snow filled caves, to the desert lands of Egypt, they have not missed a single thing out and for a game of its time, it is obvious why it was given so much credit.
From gun shots, to howls, to Lara grunting in pain as she runs into a wall, this game has all of the sound effects needed to create a realistic atmosphere within the game. With the sound power of the N-Gage being of such a high performance anyway (the original supporting MP3 and FM radio, whilst the QD, although it does not have these features, is still of a good power) the quality is clear and crisp.
Each of the levels you visit has its own unique ethnic sounds. There are many locations within the world that you travel and each one of them have their own people, animals and other things that need to have sounds for the game. It opens up the whole world to you for you to experience it through the game in a way that, back then, no one had experienced.
There is only one small problem. The controls are the same as that of the original but of course the layout is different because you are pressing numbers and not control pad buttons. However, it is all pretty much the same. However, there is one small problem when you press forward to walk, she keeps on going, even when you take your thumb off of the control. Now, you may think at first, oh why is this guy complaining, but you will soon come to realise the frustration yourself. The amount of times I have been running along a ledge, or jumping onto a platform, you fall and fall until you cannot fall no more and when you cannot fall no more, its when you hit the floor and die or fall into water and you have the climb the ruins all over again.
Tomb Raider is an amazing, action packed puzzle game for those who have a love for the ancient world and hunt for artefacts long gone. For the feat that it defeats of being on a handheld device and of such good quality graphics, sound and gameplay for one of its size and power capabilities, it is a true title that all will be hooked on. I do not know the amount of hours that I have spent playing on this game and there are still more levels to complete. It is a definite buy and a game that is no way dead and gone.
Tobias Rowe
