Tomb Raider: Chronicles (PlayStation) Review

Those old (and geeky) enough to remember some inside trivia, the developers were bored to death with the franchise, so it's no wonder that they designed this written-on-the-knees piece of software. It's still a Tomb Raider game, it hasn't really changed that much… but something feels different. For starters, it begins after The Last Revelation, where Lara Croft is supposed to be dead; therefore, instead of getting to experience her new epic adventure, there are four smaller quests from her past, thus the 'Chronicles' in the title.

Maybe due to the larger emphasis on the plot, and the multiple in-game cut-scenes that go along with that, this journey has turned out to be the most linear yet, so forget about exploring a vast, open-ended world, and get ready to solve puzzle after puzzle, and pull off challenging acrobatic #1 before challenging acrobatic #2, and so on. The laziness in terms of level design is even more obvious by the fact that all the new moves introduced in previous titles will rarely be required, which makes this feel more like a tech demo for the owners of the level editor that's included in the PC version.

The actual missions are a diverse bunch. The first offers the typical tomb raiding/spelunking the series is known for, the second is like Tomb Raider II - more into shooting than puzzle-solving, the third is quite the spooky ride, but nothing special in terms of gameplay, and the fourth offers a little bit of surprisingly well-done stealth tactics for a game that was as far from Metal Gear Solid as possible.

Unfortunately, as a whole, Tomb Raider: Chronicles is disappointing. It's too small, too linear, and the division of the adventure into four smaller ones deprives this from the epic Raiders of the Lost Arc vibe of the original title, and, as a result, doesn't finish the franchise on PlayStation as gracefully as it could/should.