Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness

The story is brilliant, real-time, and, like they said, dark. The puzzles are simply wicked (bravo that) and Kurtis Trent, possibly the coolest bit player ever. [Aug 2003, p.68]

What brings this otherwise masterful game down most are the handful of surprising glitches found throughout the levels. From unactionable actions, to floating shadows, Angel sometimes looks a bit like a beta, which is both saddening and surprising when coming from a company like Eidos.

The pedestrian pacing of the early levels, the fiddly controls and the fearsomely flighty camera still means that if you have played the entire series from day one or if this is your first encounter, Lara has certainly seen better days. [Playstation 2 Max]

Has a great story that looks greats and has more than enough action that will keep you entertained if you will take the time to learn the control and get past the swarm of bugs.

Excellent visuals and audio with pretty much the same feel. Lara’s transition from the 32-bit world is a reasonably smooth one, despite the few troublesome quirks in the gameplay.

Forgive me if my assessment of the game doesn’t jive with popular opinion, I actually kind of enjoyed the game.

The game appears to be a little confused as to what it is. Action, adventure, stealth and puzzles all play an equal part in The Angel Of Darkness. Core seems to getting unsure what to do with the franchise, either that or the developer is simply trying too hard.

Numerous bugs and glitches, some superficial and some serious, as well as a cumbersome and often frustrating control scheme seriously hurt the game, making it considerably less enjoyable than it could have been.

If you’re able to overlook the awful controls, the unintelligent enemy AI and shifty camera, the game’s great story and fantastic locations will draw you in every step of the way.

For now Lara will continue to be a hot chick in a bad game. The only thing done right in this game was graphics.

Attempts to make several bold steps forward in both gameplay and immersive story design. While it nails the story aspects perfectly there is still just a bit too much of the old Tomb Raider showing through the seams.

This action/adventure suffers from sloppy controls, unwieldy camera angles and frame rate issues that can slow the game to a crawl.

A big, huge game of half-baked ideas. There’s a ton of gameplay and a pretty interesting story here, if you’re willing to deal with bugs, control problems, and lots of loading screens.

Throw in the fact that she barely walks up to a decent jog and that the effect of the changing camera angles can make controlling her a chore. Just getting her to line up for a jump or to a ladder can be painfully frustrating.

It's 2003, yet I'm still stuck turning six hidden gears in order to open one friggin' door? That's just archaic. Games like "Deus Ex" and "Eternal Darkness" have proven that puzzles don't have to be ridiculously monotonous. [Aug 2003, p.90]

The game fails in nearly all of the gameplay areas -- control is awkward and miserable at best, combat is pathetic, and stealth is infantile in its implementation -- leaving only Lara's mainstays, exploration and puzzles, intact.

Painfully average... With the trial-and-error gameplay, lack of very much innovation, and the occasional annoying bugs, it might just require more patience than you have. [Sept 2003, p.36]

While this game has some glimpses of the past greatness of the Tomb Raider franchise, Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness is so full of glitches and other frustrations that it's hard to enjoy.

Whilst we found ourselves forgiving Lara for moving like a 7-ton dumper truck and Core for basically realising that their new ideas weren’t quite cutting it, we can’t say the same for the bugs that rear their ugly heads all too often - we’ve simply lost count of the number of times we’ve had to reset our Playstation2 because Lara has got stuck in a wall yet again.

This game certainly isn't breaking any new ground, neither have the past few that came before it.

Darkness' [control] scheme is more ponderous than ever and feels like it was designed by 10 people who didn't get along. [Sept 2003, p.128]

It lacks the polish and quality necessary to make it a memorable experience, and despite the developers sincerest efforts to shake the series’ stigma as cash-in games, this title is an unrewarding experience.

Despite its new look, fairly interesting storyline, and a bucket load of new moves and features, this game is fatally flawed by the completely revamped control system which makes it a nightmare of frustration.

Controlling Lara is like a dream - that one where you simply can't get to where you want to go fast enough, no matter what you try. [Sept 2003, p.74]

The visuals, sound and even the gameplay itself hold potential, but almost every aspect of the latest Tomb Raider feels incomplete.

You're going to get stuck, regularly, without remorse. And the main reason you'll get stuck is the terribly unresponsive controls' unholy alliance with the drunken camera that render the proliferation of tediously precise jump puzzles much more of a challenge than they should be.

An unfinished, bug-ridden game. Blame Core for being too ambitious. Blame Eidos for shipping it too soon. But don't blame us if you buy it.

Given the heritage, and the burden it carries as a flag-bearer for videogaming, it's appalling... The biggest issue I have with it is that the controls are atrocious. [Sept 2003, p.90]

It is an absolute shame that the controls are such a beast, because there are many interesting elements in the game.

The camera almost never points where you need it to, Lara moves erratically even as simple tasks like opening a drawer require precise maneuvering, stealth mode is buggy, and opponents are all too easily dispatched in crude combat. It's a real bust.

This is the sort of eternally frustrating bottom-barrel dreck that makes people break gamepads, monitors, and kneecaps (don’t ask).

To top it all off, not only is AOD almost unplayable when it's working, it's also plagued by a host of glitches that will make you glad that you can save the game at any point... An early contender for "Worst Game of the Year."

At times, maneuvering Lara is like steering a battered shopping cart; Lara often takes a half second to react to commands. [18 July 2003, p.82]

This has got to be THE WORST CONTROL IN THE HISTORY OF THIRD-PERSON ACTION GAMES.

Eidos and Core Design have a debacle on their hands. Angel of Darkness is by far one of the worst games I have ever played. The control, slowdown and glitches are so crippling that the game is honestly, barely functional at times.