Ahead of the release date for the remaster of The Last Revelation, Chronicles and Angel of Darkness, I wanted to finally finish the last classic Tomb Raider on my list. Chronicles has managed to elude me for years despite having fully completed every other game in the franchise.
I still have a very vivid memory of seeing the game on sale in WH Smith in Falkirk, and little Indi holding back tears because at that point I genuinely thought Lara was dead and that was the last game. Little did I know there were 3 more games to come (not including the first reboot - Anniversary), but hindsight is a wonderful thing.
The game opens on a stormy afternoon at Croft Manor, as Lara's friends gather to tell stories of her adventures to remember their dead friend. After the events of the Last Revelation, she was thought to be buried under several tonnes of collapsed pyramid, no thanks to Werner Von Croy. You join Lara on four different adventures this time - to retrieve the Philosopher's Stone in Rome, making sure the Spear of Destiny doesn't fall into the hands of a Russian oligarch, exorcising a demon from a remote island near Ireland and stealing the Iris from Von Croy Industries. It plays like a clip show, serving to flesh out Lara's illustrious adventuring career.
The levels all have their own feel. The Rome levels feel a lot more like classic Tomb Raider - gathering historical artefacts and making men look like fools while doing it. The submarine levels have a bit more stealth, more of an infiltration. Ireland features a baby Lara without her guns and lacking common sense. The Von Croy Industries level changes the game considerably. It is playing the last set of levels here that I can see them beginning to shift what Tomb Raider could mean.
Even the gameplay changes in these levels. There are stealth sections, there are precision aiming sections using a new gun with a proper scope, there are laser puzzles using infra red goggles and, horrifyingly to me, you are stripped of your unlimited ammo pistols. You can see the beginnings of the vibe adopted in the much reviled Angel of Darkness. (I didn't think it was as bad as all that, but I do understand the complaints.) The bit I hated most though was Zip. I hate him. If I could have shot him through the comms I would have. Arrogant little shit.
However, Zip wasn't my biggest barrier to completing the game. The last level in particular - Red Alert! - was incredibly buggy, even 25 years down the line. I encountered a game breaking bug maybe... 5 times because I had dared to save in the wrong spot. Luckily, Stella of Tombraiders.net had a great walkthrough that helped me get through the bugged sections a little more easily. Read the guide before you start Red Alert! if you're motivated to try out the classic version ahead of the remaster. You'll save a lot of time. Or, I guess you could wait until the 14th of February. Not long now.
Chronicles is definitely a sort of transition game for the series. You can see Core Design spreading their wings a little and testing out concepts. The path to Angel of Darkness with the VCI levels is clear. It's really interesting to see, and I do feel vaguely guilty about having left this game so long to complete. I suppose late is better than never though.
At this stage in the game however, if you want to play Chronicles I would wait. The bugs in the last level are no joke and surely to heck they will have been fixed in the remaster. Not to mention to play the classic version at the moment you need to do a bit of fiddling with settings on PC or dig out a PS1/Dreamcast. I enjoyed the game, and it was nice to complete classic Lara's saga finally. Zip can absolutely do one though. Shove your criticisms up your arse.
Screenshots taken from RaidingTheGlobe because my Steam wouldn't take them. Much obliged!
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