The year is 2003, and a left-for-dead-in-Egypt Lara Croft is framed for murder. As she investigates events spiral ever-more out of control leading her to dilapidated clubs, suspiciously empty Perisian backstreets, and the odd warehouse.
Yeah, hardly what you’d expect from a Tomb Raider synopsis is it?
Depending on which side of the fence you fall, Angel of Darkness may not get much better for you: Angel of Darkness is a game dogged with problems – bug-ridden and somewhat aloof in its storytelling, it’s unsurprising it’s been such a heavily criticised game. It is, however, a game that would be better described as a ‘marmite’ game: chances are you’ll either love it or hate it. Though even people that love it often admit to its shortcomings.
While the controls are passable, certain aspects like Lara’s superhuman ability to turn anywhere from 90-180 degrees on stairs can be thoroughly frustrating. AoD’s camera angles can also be unfortunate at times, leaving you unsure as to where the hell Lara is and confused as to what directional buttons you should press.
The slow pace at which Lara moves can also prove difficult: practice makes them easier to deal with, but if you find yourself wanting to move anywhere quickly, and quickly immediately, you can forget it. Despite her ability to turn around at shocking speeds, it can take her an age to start running.
But to give the game its dues the franchise was moving with the times, away from the square-based controls and design (that if memory serves were already being criticised as being stale). Given time it could have been something revolutionary for the franchise.
As such, gameplay feels like it was quickly cobbled together: most of the puzzles are fairly simplistic push-and-pull/duck-and-dive/fetch-and-use affairs requiring little to no thought, and Instead of providing you with better weapons you get to upgrade Lara through mindless tasks like prying a lock off a metal cupboard. The latter is seemingly forgotten for most of the game.
Even a puzzle involving levers and sliding blocks is a linear affair.
Then from out of nowhere you’ll be struck by a boss where you’ll get stuck, the only solution usually being to find a guide or ask online for ways to use the game’s bugs to your advantage.
This, coupled with the controls, can make for a game that seems to drag on for much longer than it should have done.
The thinly strung plot doesn’t help – there’s no denying that there is a plot. It’s just so convoluted and stretched out over barely-there puzzles it can be difficult to follow. However it’s arguably one of most Tomb Raider-esque aspects of the game (once you overlook the rather non-Tomb Raider setting): it’s Tomb Raiders' own take on a religious, if not somewhat obscure, being. Just as Tomb Raider’s dealt with Atlantis, Area 51, Dragons, Egyptian Mythology, The Grim Reaper, The Headless Horseman and a fair few more.
The plot is another case of “if there’d been more time”: more time would have probably meant better puzzles and a better way of integrating and dispensing the story. And probably without the need for Lara to make grand expositions, either. For a game that was meant to be the first of a trilogy, though, it makes decent use of what’s to hand.
Perhaps the biggest sticking point of AoD was Kurtis Trent, a mysterious man with a shady past that – ultimately – you don’t know but find yourself controlling instead of Lara. Another element of gameplay that stuck out as being there for no reason, and ultimately added up to more plot that made no sense and more frustration.
If Lara’s controls were passable, his were abysmal at best. He moves slower than Lara, takes longer to get moving, and any saving graces he may have had were cut from the game. In return for loss of speed and control, Kurtis should have come bundled with powers allowing him to see things he wouldn’t otherwise be able to and a rather neat-looking glaive-type weapon called the Chirugai. And yes; you'd get to use them outside of cutscenes.
Both of these are covered briefly as a way to move the game along. The list of abilities cut from Kurtis is shocking. Yep: another case of “if there’d been more time”.
And here’s where ‘hate marmite’ meets ‘love marmite’, if only briefly, with the KTEB: Kurtis Trent Estrogen Brigade. That’s right: he has a fan club.
- All in all it’s a rushed game that is quite a departure from previous instalments. If you take the time to install all of the patches a fair percentage of the problems are solved (complete with uber-shiny floors and a guy having an actual head instead of just eyes), it’s a playable game with a good premise. But the Time Monster apparently ate most of what would have made it a good game.
The Bottom Line
- Install all of the patches you can find
- Approch the game assuming it's an unfinished game
- Take some time to become accustomed to the controls
- When you get to La Serpent Rouge, enjoy some bangin' tunez m8! 8D