Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness... anyone played? (1 Viewer)

[Derrik Draven]

I have to admit, I'm too chicken shit to give it a spin. Besides, I'm not done with Mace yet and KOTOR is coming out within a month and when it does, I'll have zero time for Ms. Croft.

Still, reading an interview with one of the developers, he indicated that the engine is designed for many more Tomb Raiders to come. He even mentioned PS3, PS4...whatever Sony has next in store.

...perhaps the next one will have the control issues solved?

 

[Dave F]

If anyone needs a walkthrough...

I rented the PS2 version while waiting for the PC version, and I don't see what all the fuss is about. There are some oddities and bugs, but it's certainly not a pile of crap like the advance word has been. It's a pretty decent game, actually. Decent graphics, a good story, and 16:9 support.

The much maligned controls aren't that bad. A little sluggish, and they are based on camera angle, which is weird. Certainly not a showstopper.

I miss the tomb exploration and puzzles though. In the original game, it was great walking into a breathtaking new area on a regular basis.

My biggest gripe is the constant loading of levels. Streaming levels would've been sooo much better. In Paris, there are places where you can load a new section, run 30 seconds, and load a new section. A hard drive would've been very useful here.cough...Xbox cough.

-Dave

 

[Chris Flynn]

Great Job Eidos!

I just came back from EBGames with my brand new copy of Tomb Raider : AoD, and it doesn't work!

Installs fine, I get the opening Eidos movie, and then... nothing.

Tried reinstalling it, same problem. Messed around with video settings, nothing. Changed some sound settings, nothing.

Well, the pictures on the box look nice.

I guess I should list my system specs, just in case.

P4 3.0GHz
Asus P4C-800 Deluxe mobo
1GB PC3200 DDR SDRAM
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
SB Audigy 2 Platinum

All with the lastest drivers and everything.

 

[Dave F]

I swear, PC games never work right out of the box anymore. Maybe the inevitable cracked exe will fix this game too...

-Dave

 

[Greg O' Connel]

A friend of mine rented this one, and I had a chance to play it. Played for about 1 minute in the training level before there was a glitch and Lara got stuck inside a staircase. Couldn't get her out, no matter what I did. Sorry, Eidos, if you couldn't get the freakin' training level to operate without a glitch, I'll take my $50 elsewhere.

 

[Dave W]

I picked up the PC version of Tomb Raider AOD yesterday and it's already corrupt and no longer works. After initial install it ran once but Super-Ass-Slow so I exited out of the game to adjust the settings for better performance but no luck initially. After turning the "Post Processing" setting to ON instead of HIGH the game seemed to play normally but only one time. Since that last time, I cannot get back into the game... Loads up fine, gets to menu fine, but when I try to load my game or start a new game it locks up Hard (requiring a reboot). :frowning:

To compare against the PS2 version, when I was actually able to play it - it did look very nice graphically (Higher Res, AA and AF, Etc), sound and voice-overs were excellent and the menu interface was well designed but a little cumbersome, such as having to select Exit twice from the menu ring to actually get out of the game. The camera and controls were a little "jerky" but not that bad... I will be taking this one back though as $50 is just too much to spend on a game I can't play when stuff like KotOR is just around the corner.

 

[Scott_lb]

Dave,
How do you purchase games, open them, and then return them after playing? I've read many posts where members do the same thing, however, whenever I have tried to return an open game in the past they NEVER want to take it back. How do you do so, and where do you purchase from?

 

[Dave W]

Hey Scott,

I always buy at Electronics Boutique as they are one of the few places that allow returns (even opened box) within 10 days. Personally, I've never had a problem returning a game there as long as it was within the 10 day limit and I kept my receipt.

Also, in regards to the above problems I listed, I should give you guys my system specs:

Athlon XP 1700+
512mb RAM
ATI Radeon 9500 Pro
On-Board sound

Tomb Raider did play pretty smooth on this rig (the little that I was able to play) after changing that "Post Processing" setting.

 

[Peter Manojlovich]

Great Job Eidos!

I just came back from EBGames with my brand new copy of Tomb Raider : AoD, and it doesn't work!

Installs fine, I get the opening Eidos movie, and then... nothing.

Tried reinstalling it, same problem. Messed around with video settings, nothing. Changed some sound settings, nothing.

Well, the pictures on the box look nice.

I guess I should list my system specs, just in case.

P4 3.0GHz
Asus P4C-800 Deluxe mobo
1GB PC3200 DDR SDRAM
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
SB Audigy 2 Platinum

All with the lastest drivers and everything.

Well, there's your problem, you're overspeced. The game took a look at your system, and went, "We are not worthy!" and refused to play.

 

[Greg_S_H]

Doubt if I'll buy this anyway, but how does the PC version control? With a mouse, like Heretic II/Rune/Alice/etc., where the camera is basically always at your back and it controls like a third-person FPS, or is it more like the latest Indiana Jones game, where the mouse seems to control the camera independent of the player character?

 

[Dave W]

I wish it had controlled more like Alice...

Mouse controls left/right character movement - not camera :frowning: I couldn't get the mouse to control camera even in "freelook" mode but, as mentioned earlier in post, I wasn't able to play it much. Other than that it controls like the older TR games:

Arrow keys for movement, Shift key to toggle walk, Space Bar for weaps, ALT key is jump, CTRL key for Action etc...

 

[Greg_S_H]

Ugh. Unless I'm on a console with a game like Zelda, I only like Alice-style controls. I'm glad I had little interest, because I'll definitely skip it.

 

[Dave F]

You can set the mouse to control camera, rather than movement. I don't remember changing anything, but my mouse controls only the camera.

From cheacking some forums, it sounds like disabling EAX can solve some issues. I've got it running, but it seems a little slow, but that may be the game. The PS2 version felt slow too.

It's interesting comparing this to the first game. TR1 was a huge leap in graphics. It was one of the first games to support 3D cards, but looked fantastic even without it. This release is definitely behind the times in the tech department. It looks ok, but not spectacular, and requires a pretty hefty system to get to that point. If they intend to use this engine for the next few games as they have stated, the next few games are going to look like sh*t compared to games released at the same time.

I've got it running on a p4 2.5ghz with a geforce ti4200 and it runs ok so far. I'm building an amd 2500 / radeon 9500 this week, so it'll be interesting to compare performance. I've read that this plays much better on AMD's for some reason.

Ok, I feel the need to toss a compliment after that bitching, so I'll commend them on not using some performance-hindering disc-checking verification. *scowls at EA*

-Dave

 

[Jeremy Anderson]

Runs great on my Athlon 2200+/ti4200/Audigy machine... but God, could the controls suck any more? I tried mouse, keyboard and my Gravis Aftershock. It's just so awkward that it's unplayable. I quit trying during the first training mission and played Star Trek: Elite Force 2 instead.

 

[Scott_lb]

Dave,
Hmmmm... interesting. I've read a previous post a few months back where someone (more or less) said the same thing about EB's returning policy. Anyway, I shortly thereafter purchased "Bloodrayne" which I didn't like and tried to return. I informed them about the policy that I read here (10 day period) and the guy behind the counter told me that that "policy" isn't valid. After all, what't so to stop someone from buying a game, beating it within the ten day limit, and bringing it back again and again? It does make sense to me, however it also remains interesting that everyone else seems to be successful in returning games there while I cannot. Arrruggghhh!!!!

 

[Allen_Appel]

EB changed their return policy recently for just that reason. Now, you can return a game only for the same title, in other words if it doesn't work, you can exchange it for another copy. I guess enough people were using EB as a rental store that it was affecting their bottom line (I'd put more blame on their only $5-off used titles policy). The manager at my local EB bends the policy sometimes, but I do so much research and so rarely buy a bad newly-released game that I don't have many stinkers. The clerks at my local Gamestop always tell me I have 7 days to return what I'm buying, but I've never asked exactly what that means.

 

[Dave W]

Hey Scott,

Maybe I'm just lucky like Allen and the store is bending policy for me then... All I know is that I did return Tomb Raider at the EB where I bought it and did not have any problems. I do buy all my games there and even a few DVD's so maybe they are easing the policy for me somewhat but, I've never been told the policy was changed or anything. Oh well, best policy on this game is to avoid it anyway