Tomb Raider 6:
The Angel of Darkness

• Part 1 - Paris,   Experts Walkthrough (includes the maps)
• Part 2 - Prague, Experts Walkthrough (includes one map)

• Controlling Lara's Moves
• Review

• Paris Ghetto Internal map
• Louvre Galleries Level map
• Hall of Seasons deadly Basement map
• Sanitarium Level Map (not in the walk through)
• Maximum Containment Level Map

Definitive, detailed & fully dressed TR walkthroughs: - Stella's Tomb Raider Site

REVIEW of Tomb Raider (6): Angel of Darkness

    I really cannot recommend this game anymore. It is just too tedious and has too many problems with the game controls. The first time I played the game I rated it A- because it was new. The second time I rated it B- and I do not plan on playing it again. The controls are very dependent on timy camera angle adjustments, but the game takes camera angle control away from the user at all the critical moments, sometimes right in the middle of a particularly bad move. It is hard enough to make her turn, run, jump and catch at right moment without the camera angle screw ups. I know they can do better. The game Primal uses the same basic controls but without all the problems.

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    This installment of Tomb Raider is a good game and an improvement over Tomb Raider 5. I will play it again and will buy the next installment when it comes out. I still like Tomb Raider 2 and 3 the best. This one is about equal to Tomb Raider 4 though not quite as good.

    The game is adequately long. I had 30 hours of videotape of my playing when I was done (helps me write the walk through), which means I probably spent about 45 hours actually playing.

    The story is significantly different. The earlier stories were adventure fantasy combined with various amounts of action. Lara was usually on an archeological search and had to keep from killing herself and had to fight off the bad guys. This story is more mystery fantasy combined with some action. Lara is trying to solve a murder and has to keep from killing herself and has to fight off the bad guys. Lara's attitude is a bit nastier too. To sum it up, the story is a little darker, which makes the title appropriate.

    Playing Tomb Raider is mostly about controlling Lara so she doesn't die. In fact, when my wife is going off to play, her comment is, "I'm going to go run Lara around for a while." That pretty much sums it up and there is plenty of controlling Lara in this installment. There are new moves and improvements on the old moves. But many of the moves are picky about how they are done and the new controls and camera make it difficult. The other two major facets of playing Tomb Raider are exploring and taking on the villains. Those are pretty much the same.

    So what are the problems? Well the controls are atrocious compared to the old system. They are analog on the PS2, instead of digital, and the camera does not stay locked behind Lara. The camera makes it difficult to figure out which way she is going to jump, literally, unless you manually reset it behind Lara, if the game will allow it. The analog controls make it difficult to make tiny adjustments of position. But I got used to it reasonably fast and, if I had never used the old system, would probably not be mentioning it.

    Another problem is the fact that the whole game takes place in close quarters (mostly a city environment) making all the moves tight. There are no big open spaces to just run and practice moves. There are also no vehicles to drive around like mad and just have fun. I missed the open spaces and vehicles a lot and I miss running Lara around her mansion to practice the controls.

    To briefly sum up the problems, I'd have to say finicky moves and tedious play at times. To sum up the game in a few words, it is fun, I give it an A-, and it is worth the money. Buy yourself a copy.

SciFiOne. Content sharing and copyrights.3/24/06 - Information.