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WIRELESS GAMES Wireless Games Reviews Tomb Raider for N-Gage Between this year’s disappointing Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness video game and the unimaginative film series, you’d think action hero Lara Croft would be ready to hang up her thigh-strapped pistols. But she’s back. One of the key launch titles for Nokia’s N-Gage platform is a faithful recreation of the classic “Tomb Raider II” from the old PlayStation days, with a few new tricks thrown into the mix. The good news is that this action/adventure game, simply called “Tomb Raider,” is one of the better (and better looking) N-Gage games at launch. But its finicky controls and unwieldy camera angles can make it a frustrating experience. For the uninitiated, Lara Croft is a beautiful, agile counterpart to swashbuckling archeologist Indiana Jones of movie fame. Lara raids tombs, fights deadly creatures and solves puzzles along the way. This tale follows Lara through 15 or so levels spread over various locales, including Egypt, South America and even Atlantis, as she searches for precious relics and supernatural artifacts. What's amazing about Tomb Raider for the N-Gage is seeing a fully 3-D character and detailed worlds on a small handheld device. But the game’s action is hampered by sluggish speeds. This can take away some of the “wow factor” of seeing Lara running around caves and shooting nasty bats and wolves early on in the game. The N-Gage's vertically oriented screen also isn’t very conducive to this kind of exploration-based adventure. More important is the fact that Lara can be tough to control with the N-Gage's numeric keypad. Because she has a wealth of moves, all retained from the original console game on which the N-Gage version is based, almost all buttons are used in the game. This can take a while to learn, and can sometimes be exasperating. For instance, Lara automatically runs after one button press, which isn’t great if you want her to stay perched on a cliff. Shifting camera angles can also be annoying. The good news is the game can be paused or saved at any time to review the button commands or to take a breather. The game doesn’t feature a multiplayer component, which is a
shame for a machine that supports wireless connectivity, but there
is a “ghost image” option that allows players to download a
friend’s “Lara” to race for best time. It’s a nice addition,
but a deeper multiplayer mode would’ve been more gratifying. |
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