Tomb Raider 2 (PC, 1997)
Graphics-7.5 Sound-8 Control-6.5 Challenge-7.5 Story-6.5
Level Design-7 Frustration-8.5 Fun-7 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-7
+
Vehicles (motorboat, snow scooter; can break and accelerate)
Flares to light up dark areas (can also throw them)
Some interesting puzzles (altering water levels, can have the monks aid you against the mobsters in the late game - hard to pull off since you can't easily switch targets though, the boat jump timing puzzle in Venice, rig platforming puzzles, underwater level beginning)
Some new weapons (m-16, grenade launcher, harpoon gun)
Some control improvements (do a 180 flip in mid-air and underwater, weapon and med pack hotkeys (PC only), manual swan dive)
Very functional visuals for the most part
Higher res than the console versions
Pretty well realized atmosphere (good sound design with music changes from silence to foreboding ambient to hectic for encounters or certain events, makes you feel isolated and vulnerable)
Some cool encounters (yeti, dragon)
Decent cutscenes in-between missions (pretty dated 3D models and animation though)
Control and sound options
Skippable cutscenes
Nice tutorial (voiced tour around Lara's house and garden; except it doesn't show how to fight or pick up items)
Many hidden items and rooms
Some new level gimmicks (spring board)
Fairly varied death animations
No loading screens (takes a few seconds per level on consoles)
Less grainy/pixelated textures and model edges than on consoles
Hotkeys for the saving and loading menus (F5-F6)
More stats displayed after beating a level (time taken, secrets found (displayed as dragon statues here though and without a total number - there are 3 per level), kills, hits, ammo used, health packs used, distance traveled; no ranking though)
New gear sometimes shows on Lara's model
Longer draw distance outdoors
Better variation
Somewhat improved voice acting and dialogue
More detailed models
Better lighting effects
Hidden t-rex boss fight
Italian mafia/cult theme
Some sequence breaking via curved jumps around walls
Levels are a bit more focused
Auto-targeting is a bit less overpowered here (it's still OP though)
Some dodgeable projectile attacks
Final/epilogue level taking place in Lara's house/the tutorial level (the mafia breaks in and you kill them)
Some memorable locations
+/-
Somewhat short draw/viewing distance indoors (horizons become black) - sometimes adds to the atmosphere and feeling of isolation
Somewhat exaggerated voice sfx when perfoming acrobatics or taking damage
Have to manually draw your weapons
Linear structure (the game is made up of separate levels with one goal/exit each)
Fairly large exploration-based/maze levels (find keys or switches to progress)
Save anywhere with multiple slots - really helps with tedious platforming segments but makes the game a lot easier as well
Some delay when jumping (see PoP, Another World etc.)
Auto-sliding down slopes
Can't choose not to kill enemies and animals
Can't eat animals
Female protagonist (cartoonishly sexualized body, strong and independent behaviour, comes from a rich family)
Need to check Lara's head to see if she's targeting something (though it would go against the minimalistic UI it would've been useful to be able to turn on targeting boxes for targeted enemies or have the game lock on with the camera like in OoT)
Can't crouch nor crawl
Unlimited ammo for the default weapon
Fall and crash damage (you die completely if you fall something like 10x Lara's height)
One can occasionally see items through walls
Can't punch enemies
More of an action focus than in the prequel
Levels don't feel like real places for the most part
One hit deaths from fire unless you can find water
Some unavoidable damage (guns hit instantly, countered with a lot of med packs)
No knockback for enemies nor for Lara
In-game gfx settings and fps display (F1-F4, better to use the setup though)
Can look around while moving and shooting but not keep steering Lara while you do
-
Still no maps
Slow sidewalking and shimmy (sideway climbing) controls
Slow surface swimming
Very slow block pushing
The scooter breaks too easily
Limited jump controls (somewhat unresponsive jumps (simply touching the button quickly won't always register unless you were already running)
Fixed jump height and length (can steer a bit in mid-air though) - the latter generally works well with the platforming segments though)
Somewhat stiff (partly hitting a wall or object when jumping or swimming stops Lara as if you hit a wall in front of her with her entire body) and at times buggy hit detection (try jumping forward when standing in front of an object or wall, the fire at the end of level 1, enemies can sometimes move through opened doors, the dragon can move its head through giant pillars)
Somewhat slow turning controls and you can't flip while staying in place
Can't adjust the camera angle properly in some situations
Can't look down in mid-air (could've been solved by either letting you do so if you were already moving when the look button is pressed while keeping you in place if you stood still before pressing the button or by using the twin analog controls)
The game is too picky about positioning when pulling switches/picking up items/grabbing onto bridge ledges and the ziplines (breaks flow)
Sometimes can't grab onto and climb even a slightly angled ledge while you can stand on other angled ledges (the awnings in level 2),
Lots of dead space (and you can't sprint) and some dead ends
No difficulty options
Some trial & error (sometimes the game won't properly show the effect of pressing a switch, wreck level trap door floor switch, avoiding various traps - level 1 has a long string of traps towards the end which are very hard to pass on your first try, some secrets, hard to see that you can climb on the book ledges, hard to spot certain small switches, enemies in narrow spaces or appearing right after you jump to a platform or as you're swimming towards one, some points of no return)
Can't replay beaten levels or move backwards from the current level to the previous one
Can't cancel animations caused by falling longer than Lara's height or running into a wall
Can't examine stuff like the computer at the end of level 1
No reward for the opera house boss fight since your weapons get stolen
Some tedious segments (too many tight jumps, multiple switches in a row, parts of the opera house level, long ladders, too many block puzzles in the wreck level)
No invincibility time
Overly harsh hit detection around some objects and in tight spaces when jumping
Some backtracking (level 3, )
Bugs:
-The balcony parapets in level 3 sometimes aren't solid
Level Design-7 Frustration-8.5 Fun-7 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-7
+
Vehicles (motorboat, snow scooter; can break and accelerate)
Flares to light up dark areas (can also throw them)
Some interesting puzzles (altering water levels, can have the monks aid you against the mobsters in the late game - hard to pull off since you can't easily switch targets though, the boat jump timing puzzle in Venice, rig platforming puzzles, underwater level beginning)
Some new weapons (m-16, grenade launcher, harpoon gun)
Some control improvements (do a 180 flip in mid-air and underwater, weapon and med pack hotkeys (PC only), manual swan dive)
Very functional visuals for the most part
Higher res than the console versions
Pretty well realized atmosphere (good sound design with music changes from silence to foreboding ambient to hectic for encounters or certain events, makes you feel isolated and vulnerable)
Some cool encounters (yeti, dragon)
Decent cutscenes in-between missions (pretty dated 3D models and animation though)
Control and sound options
Skippable cutscenes
Nice tutorial (voiced tour around Lara's house and garden; except it doesn't show how to fight or pick up items)
Many hidden items and rooms
Some new level gimmicks (spring board)
Fairly varied death animations
No loading screens (takes a few seconds per level on consoles)
Less grainy/pixelated textures and model edges than on consoles
Hotkeys for the saving and loading menus (F5-F6)
More stats displayed after beating a level (time taken, secrets found (displayed as dragon statues here though and without a total number - there are 3 per level), kills, hits, ammo used, health packs used, distance traveled; no ranking though)
New gear sometimes shows on Lara's model
Longer draw distance outdoors
Better variation
Somewhat improved voice acting and dialogue
More detailed models
Better lighting effects
Hidden t-rex boss fight
Italian mafia/cult theme
Some sequence breaking via curved jumps around walls
Levels are a bit more focused
Auto-targeting is a bit less overpowered here (it's still OP though)
Some dodgeable projectile attacks
Final/epilogue level taking place in Lara's house/the tutorial level (the mafia breaks in and you kill them)
Some memorable locations
+/-
Somewhat short draw/viewing distance indoors (horizons become black) - sometimes adds to the atmosphere and feeling of isolation
Somewhat exaggerated voice sfx when perfoming acrobatics or taking damage
Have to manually draw your weapons
Linear structure (the game is made up of separate levels with one goal/exit each)
Fairly large exploration-based/maze levels (find keys or switches to progress)
Save anywhere with multiple slots - really helps with tedious platforming segments but makes the game a lot easier as well
Some delay when jumping (see PoP, Another World etc.)
Auto-sliding down slopes
Can't choose not to kill enemies and animals
Can't eat animals
Female protagonist (cartoonishly sexualized body, strong and independent behaviour, comes from a rich family)
Need to check Lara's head to see if she's targeting something (though it would go against the minimalistic UI it would've been useful to be able to turn on targeting boxes for targeted enemies or have the game lock on with the camera like in OoT)
Can't crouch nor crawl
Unlimited ammo for the default weapon
Fall and crash damage (you die completely if you fall something like 10x Lara's height)
One can occasionally see items through walls
Can't punch enemies
More of an action focus than in the prequel
Levels don't feel like real places for the most part
One hit deaths from fire unless you can find water
Some unavoidable damage (guns hit instantly, countered with a lot of med packs)
No knockback for enemies nor for Lara
In-game gfx settings and fps display (F1-F4, better to use the setup though)
Can look around while moving and shooting but not keep steering Lara while you do
-
Still no maps
Slow sidewalking and shimmy (sideway climbing) controls
Slow surface swimming
Very slow block pushing
The scooter breaks too easily
Limited jump controls (somewhat unresponsive jumps (simply touching the button quickly won't always register unless you were already running)
Fixed jump height and length (can steer a bit in mid-air though) - the latter generally works well with the platforming segments though)
Somewhat stiff (partly hitting a wall or object when jumping or swimming stops Lara as if you hit a wall in front of her with her entire body) and at times buggy hit detection (try jumping forward when standing in front of an object or wall, the fire at the end of level 1, enemies can sometimes move through opened doors, the dragon can move its head through giant pillars)
Somewhat slow turning controls and you can't flip while staying in place
Can't adjust the camera angle properly in some situations
Can't look down in mid-air (could've been solved by either letting you do so if you were already moving when the look button is pressed while keeping you in place if you stood still before pressing the button or by using the twin analog controls)
The game is too picky about positioning when pulling switches/picking up items/grabbing onto bridge ledges and the ziplines (breaks flow)
Sometimes can't grab onto and climb even a slightly angled ledge while you can stand on other angled ledges (the awnings in level 2),
Lots of dead space (and you can't sprint) and some dead ends
No difficulty options
Some trial & error (sometimes the game won't properly show the effect of pressing a switch, wreck level trap door floor switch, avoiding various traps - level 1 has a long string of traps towards the end which are very hard to pass on your first try, some secrets, hard to see that you can climb on the book ledges, hard to spot certain small switches, enemies in narrow spaces or appearing right after you jump to a platform or as you're swimming towards one, some points of no return)
Can't replay beaten levels or move backwards from the current level to the previous one
Can't cancel animations caused by falling longer than Lara's height or running into a wall
Can't examine stuff like the computer at the end of level 1
No reward for the opera house boss fight since your weapons get stolen
Some tedious segments (too many tight jumps, multiple switches in a row, parts of the opera house level, long ladders, too many block puzzles in the wreck level)
No invincibility time
Overly harsh hit detection around some objects and in tight spaces when jumping
Some backtracking (level 3, )
Bugs:
-The balcony parapets in level 3 sometimes aren't solid