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| Tomb Raider 3: The Lost Artifact - Premier Range (DVD Packaging) |
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My least favourite Tomb Raider.
I have all six now, and this is the one I never feel in the mood to come back to.
For those who dont want any spoiling: dont read ahead (although I think this is fair of all game reviews).
My first gripe is the story. Due to the nature of the game (choose the middle three zones in your own order), theres no place to fill you in between zones. So the storyline, for sixteen levels, stays the same. Youre picking up some artifacts and giving them to a bloke. Only then, three levels from the end, do you actually find out whats going on.
Over the six games, Tomb Raider has its fair share of over the top enemies, ridiculous storylines etc, but this one does have to take the biscuit. Maybe if they introduced it as the game went along, as with 1, 2, Last Revelation and Angel of Darkness, itd be more believable. Still, every time I think about it I wonder what the writers were thinking.
Then theres the small matter of level difficulty. Now, Im all for a challenge. If I wasnt, theres no way Id be playing any Tomb Raider games. But putting Temple Ruins, one of the hardest levels in the game, if not any TR game, as the second level (after the stupidly simple Jungle) is ridiculous. Again, this is due to the zone-mixing thing. The levels couldnt get increasingly harder as the game goes along, as theres no set order, so the hard levels are plonked in higgledy-piggledy throughout the game.
Both of these things make it feel very, very disjointed. That, along with the fact that some of my all time least favourite levels are here (Madubu Gorge, Lost City of Tinnos), make it easily my least favourite Tomb Raider.
Of course, it has its graces. The gameplay is as delightful as the others (with the exception of Angel of Darkness), the graphics are beautiful, and some of the levels are among my TR favourites (Aldwych and Crash Site the two that spring to mind).A lot of fans seem to love this game, so perhaps its worth trying. Who knows? Personally, Ill probably not play it from start to finish again.
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Darker than the first two but disappointing in many ways
The obvious weakness is the storyline. Not just that its implausible, but that its so badly presented and if you stop playing for a few days, you simply forget what youre meant to be doing. The story is darker and more interesting than the first two games, and thus it leaves more of an impression on you.The good points: excellent weapons and even more moves, though the harpoon gun is only ever needed about twice. Vast, detailed levels, but less interesting puzzles than the first two. Being able to select the order in which you do the scenarios is a good thing (NOTE: ALWAYS do Nevada first, as thats where you get your weapons stolen, and you dont want to lose every piece of ammo you carefully picked up in London and the Pacific!!! You dont get them all back!!). The vehicles are good, particularly the quad bike. The abandoned tube station in "Aldwych" has to be the 2nd best TR level ever. In fact all the London levels are really good: dark (in both senses of the word), scary and full of tricky mazes. The later Antarctic levels are truly bizarre, but pleasantly weird and scary. Oh yeah and the last boss is superb!, a well thought-out idea. The bad points: poor and uninteresting selection of enemies, though perhaps more believable (eg in London you fight crows instead of dirty great tigers). Voice acting is cheesy. Finding the alien artefacts should be made to give you some special abilities, like, um, levitation?!?!?! Its just so disappointing to pick up the things and not be able to do anything with them. The green healing crystals (though useful) are just silly. No explanation of where they come from (in the PS version I think they are save points, but in the PC you can save anytime so they had to think of a new use). Other points: if youre really clever, there are shortcuts that can get you past much of two of the more boring levels (Thames Wharf and Madubu Gorge). Whether the designers put these in for testing purposes and forgot to remove them, or left them in to reward smart players, I dont know.
Theres a secret level available if you can find all the secrets in the game. Never managed it myself!
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TR3
I got a playstation and games from a friend who got a ps2, and in the bag was TR3. I got TR2 a while back on PC and loved it, so i couldnt wait to try this one. The graphics amazed me, and the new guns are so cool. Its a lot more scary than the other two, darker. The quad bike is really cool, but can be hard to drive. All the other vehicles are really fun. I love the way you can do it in any order. The final battle is the most terrifying ive seen yet, and ive got both of the ones leading up to this. I just need to get it on PC, because i cant do the controls on PS, i just press all the wrong buttons! Definitely get it, but if youve got one of the others on PC, get a PC one if you can, and the other way too.
Brilliant, im still shaking.
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CD/DVD Tower - PSX2
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"I love watching DVDs and listening to music on the PS2, with the sound station on full. The problem is that I have no-where to put the disks!" That all changed when I bought the disk tower. It has a sleek design which fits both 8 and 12cm CDs and/or DVDs. Along with matching the PS2s colour scheme,..
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CD/DVD/Memory Card Carry Case - PSX2
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The case is very nice and is adequately sturdy, but I have to say, whats the point? Why would someone want to carry their PS2 around with them? (unless theyre going to play it during their lunch hour.) The product is good, but without a purpose. All I have to say to the designer is, "Nice try, but i..
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Baldurs Gate - White Label Range (DVD Packaging)
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Baldurs Gate is a near-perfect adaptation of the classic table-top role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. Six separate races and eight core character classes, from which the player can create a completely original character, are available. The game world is well painted and players are free to explore this wonderfully textured game environment in any way they see fit, all against the backdrop of a thoughtfully conceived and versatile plot. You begin the game as a young orphan liv..
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Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines - Premier Range (DVD Packaging)
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Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines places you in the command of one to six soldiers (known as, naturally, the commandos), all with their own sets of skills, strengths and weaknesses. The game defies standard real-time strategy conventions by eschewing such typical features as resource accumulation and unit creation. Pyro Studios and Eidos Interactive, in changing the way real-time strategy games are played, have moulded Commandos: BEL into a far more tactical and strategic game than its..
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Sony DVP-NS300 Black DVD Player
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The DVP-NS300 is Sonys entry-level DVD player, but still boasts the comprehensive set-up controls of the more expensive models. It also carries Sonys TV Virtual Surround and a Block Noise Reduction system to improve picture quality. On professionally encoded modern DVDs the effect of this is negligible, but it does help with some of the early DVDs which were poorly encoded, helping to reduce artefacts. The first thing that strikes you about this player as you pull it from its box, is that it ..
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