Story: Lara went to Egypt and invoked a world-threatening curse and her mentor-turned-arch-nemesis Verner Von Croy is out for the same things that she wants. Travel around Egypt, find artifacts, save the world, gawk at her figure.

All right, I am quite aware that this is a Tomb Raider game. What, you don't think I play Tomb Raider games? Well, not me....my dad plays them and I watch. At least this one has Lara actually raiding tombs, not like the horridly stupid Tomb Raider 3 which had absolutely no tombs to raid. But I digress.

Story: A story's a story. This is Tomb Raider, and I have different standards for it. I definitely don't expect anything within the scope of Vagrant Story or Final Fantasy. You get to see Lara at 16, which I enjoyed. That was the only thing I did enjoy playing. Von Croy, your arch-nemesis and once your mentor, was fine. Nothing special about him.

The ending, however, is pathetic. I think they did it on purpose so that they don't have to make any more sequels. My dad thinks that they'll find a way around it and make another adventure for Lara Croft that my dad will buy eventually. ^^

Graphics: OOH. AAH. I want to go to Egypt. ^^;;;

At least the game wasn't a total waste. The environments were nicely done (to me) and I liked sitting around looking at the architecture. Just one thing: Did ancient Egyptians have lasers?

Oh, of COURSE Lara is beautiful! Her shorts seems to have gotten shorter (and tighter, so you can see her butt!), her braid has grown longer, and you get more gratuitious fanservice shots of her cleavage! Everything a Lara fan could possibly want. However, the people who rendered Lara Croft in FMV mode simply have to be hung upside down by their toes from the top of a 100-metre flagpole. What lady has such thick lips?? Goodness, that was the MOST godawful FMV I had ever seen!

[Breaks out the FF8 FMV to calm herself down before continuing.]

Sound: You have the grunts, the gunshots, the animal sounds, the motorbike sounds, the people dying sounds, the talking sounds, the lasers shooting at you sounds, the sound that you make when you dive into water, the sickening crunch of broken bones....

...music? Yeah, I do recall hearing some tunes. Why do you ask?

If anything, the music in the opening is good. Nice, calming, orchestra-style music, quite fitting with the overall theme. At least it's not that stupid high-pitched Lara Croft theme.

Maybe it's just me, but I seem to have noticed that Lara's voice is different. Gone is the elegant British accent that she had in Tomb Raider 2 (I don't recall her talking in TR3) and is now replaced with a much squeakier voice which I can't seem to adapt to...yet. Otherwise, the voices were nice. Some said that the voice acting was bad; I didn't notice a thing.

Gameplay: Puzzles all over the place. Less enemies. A crossbow with lasersight. Sniping. Jumping. Annoying unkillable enemies. Swinging over a chasm 8 million times from a rope. Driving jeeps and motorbikes. Collecting stuff. Desecrating the tombs of the Egyptian Gods.

A DECENT CAMERA.

Thankfully you don't have to memorize new buttons. I did dislike the rope-swinging thing. Nobody told me I could swing harder with the R2 button! Stupid tutorial! At least I could save anywhere without any worries.

Ah well, it wasn't a complete waste of time. End of topic.

Everything else: I like the opening. Sweeping camera angles of the interior of Egyptian tombs with orchestral music, depicting the overall theme of claustrophobia in this game. Yep, I liked it. Too bad my father kept skipping that sequence.

Verdict: If you like Tomb Raider, buy it. If you never liked Tomb Raider, this one isn't going to change your mind. If this is your first Tomb Raider, buy it. If you're still traumatized after Tomb Raider 3, then *this* is your antipyretic. Just watch out for the ugly Lara FMVs.

Grade: B-

+ The opening is nice.
+ Decent voice acting.
+ You get to use a sniping crossbow!
+ DECENT CAMERA.
+ I doubt you can get jumbled up with the controls.
+ Egyptians have good interior decorators. ^^;;;

- Ugliest FMV I have ever seen.
- Tutorial didn't give a clear explanation on rope-swinging.
- Annoying unkillable enemies.
- Far too many fanservice shots!
- Sometimes you can get lost.
- That is ONE UGLY LARA in the FMV!

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