Tomb Raider II: A Great Sequel

A while back I reviewed the original Tomb Raider and I loved it! Now, while it took a while longer, the logical next step was to review the second game in the series - Tomb Raider II: Starring Lara Croft. The reason this review took a bit longer to get to is that I had a few...let's call them missteps, along the way.

Production of Tomb Raider II was a Tad Rocky

When it was released in 1996, the original Tomb Raider was a huge hit and it wasn't long before the publishing company - Eidos Interactive - greenlit a sequel. A sequel which was already in production before the release of the original game.

The team at Core Design brought a lot of unused ideas to the table and many of the features of the first game make a return. This made things a bit easier as they knew what they could do with the hardware at the time. Unfortunately, the production wasn't all smooth sailing. The production period was 6 to 8 months and was later described as a 'prolonged crunch' by the developers.

Tomb Raider II was released for Windows and PlayStation on November 24, 1997. It was greeted with positive reviews all around and is still a popular entry in the series.

The Plot

The plot of Tomb Raider II follows Lara Croft's search for the dagger of Xian - a magical dagger which can be used to turn its owner into a dragon - yes, really. Obviously things aren't as simple as that, however, as Lara isn't the only one looking for the dagger.

She's competing with an Italian mob boss and his cult/organization. Her trip takes her around the world dodging traps, solving puzzles, and, of course, killing bad guys.

What's Great about Tomb Raider II?

For starters, let's look at the soundtrack. It's fantastic! Unlike with the first game where the music only played during cut scenes, the music of Tomb Raider II is constantly going. Riding around in the canals of Venice with a cool tune in the background is great. This is also the first game in the franchise that allows you to drive vehicles which is really cool - even if the controls were a bit awkward at first.

The level design is just as good if not better than the first game. There's a lot more variety as far as the levels go; they all have their own sort of puzzle-solving elements to them but they're far more interesting than some of the first game's levels. There's still a bit of backtracking to certain places in the level, but it's nowhere near the amount of backtracking in the previous game.

The tutorial level at Croft manor has seen a major revamp and is a bit more complex which adds a lot of variety to the gameplay.

What isn't so good about Tomb Raider II?

Much like the previous game, I didn't really have many problems with Tomb Raider II. There are, however, three aspects to the game that I want to discuss.

1. The learning curve
2. The story
3. The final boss fight

First off, the learning curve for Tomb Raider II is steep in comparison to the first game. The first game gave you a chance to figure out the controls and ease into the gameplay - with each level getting harder as you progressed. Tomb Raider II basically throws you in at the deep end and leaves you to float. This isn't necessarily a problem, unless you're crazy enough to try playing this as your introduction to the classic games which, quite frankly, I don't know why you'd do that to yourself.

As far as the story goes, and you could make the same argument for the first game's story, it's a bit on the 'meh' side of things. It's not bad, but there's a lot of wasted potential to be seen. There's nothing really substantial to the dagger of Xian. We know it's a magic dagger and that's it. Likewise, we don't really know anything about the game's antagonist - Marco Bartoli and his cult - apart from the fact that they want the dagger for obviously nefarious reasons.

Building on the previous point, the final boss is a tad underwhelming. Say what you will about the final bosses in Tomb Raider I, but at least they were a challenge to beat largely due to the environments in which they were situated. Tomb Raider II's final boss fight sees you approaching Marco Bartoli's corpse before it turns into a big yellow dragon and starts belching fire. There isn't really a problem with that per-se but it lacks the oomph of the previous title's fight with the Atlantean mutant.

You're in a large, open chamber with a few openings that drop into water pools. There's no risk of missing a landing and falling to your doom. Now, granted, a fire breathing dragon is a problem by itself, but here's the thing; after a few tries you quickly figure out what works and what doesn't.

Overall, a Solid Sequel

Overall, Tomb Raider II is a solid sequel. It has its issues but it's a great follow up to a great game and I'm looking forward to discussing Tomb Raider III when the time comes.

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you guys next time! Take care.