Now, before you all go biting my head off, I have just as much of a right to post my feelings on something I don't like as you do. So remember that when you want to leave a passive-aggressive or snotty, hateful comment on my journal. I love all the Tomb Raider games, and I've played them all, but at the same time, I have just as much a right to state my opinion as the next guy, whether you agree with them or not. So if your a die hard fan of a game I happen to critique, grab a tissue or something, or see a therapist. I don't want to hear any whining, so go ahead, I don't bite...much.

Anyways, this is something that I have been wanting to do for a long time. Quite awhile ago, on the Tomb Raider forums, there was a discussion on big disappointments that have happened in the games of Tomb Raider and a discussion about what they were and how the new game could improve and help us to "forget" these issues. These were my choices.

Note: If you don't want a long read, and you aren't a huge fan of Tomb Raider, it's best you don't read this and skip this journal.

Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation: (1) No mansion, and (2) I sometimes found the controls to be a bit buggy in some areas, (i.e. I had to collect something to continue the next level, but I had no idea where it was at, or it wouldn't show up at all). (3) Also, the ending was atrocious. I know that Core originally was planning to kill off Lara to end the series, but it was so obvious that the fanbase was so large, they couldn't. (4) I also was severely disappointed that the entire game took place in Egypt. Lara's always been about exploring more than one area: (i.e. TRI - Greece, Peru, Egypt, Atlantis. TRII - China, Tibet, Italy, etc.) I was so tired of the same nonsense over and over, the same sort of scenery. (5) Jonnell Elliot's voice is like nails on a chalkboard for me. She sounds like a child who's whiny as hell. Judith was a far better choice for Lara; mature and confident and didn't have such sarcastic humor, but a dry, witty sense of humor.

Tomb Raider: Chronicles: (1) Found it to be a bit repetitive in the sense that, it seemed they were just trying to show how badass Lara was from the get-go, when we already had quite an idea of how amazing she already is. It was almost like they were trying to prove to fans both new and old that she is the best tomb raider ever (duh).

Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness: (1) Buggy as hell. Period. There were far too many glitches. In fact, out of all the games I've ever played, TR related and non-TR related, AOD is one of the buggiest games I've ever played in my gaming life. There was almost something always going wrong in the game. And people blame that Eidos forced Core to push out a game quickly for profit and that's really not entirely true. They took three years to make that game and look out it turned out. (2) I felt like I was solving some murder mystery, not tomb raiding. This is Tomb Raider, right? So we should do a majority of tomb raiding. I'd like to think that makes sense. Instead, I'm (Lara) framed for a murder, interrogating suspects, bartering with people to get things and information. This is Lara Croft. She doesn't barter, she doesn't interrogate. More likely to blow your damn head off if you don't cooperate. More than half of the game I'm asking, "Do you know a Louis Bouchard?" Seriously? (3) The story was interesting in itself, to a certain degree, but it was far darker than Tomb Raider ever surrounded itself with. For one, the Nephilim race story has been far over-told and used and I found the story to be inconsistent from the beginning. (4) I found Kurtis Trent to be a terrible ally, and a weak character in general. He always seemed to act like he was better than Lara, when it's really clear who's the bitch and who isn't. The story would of been better without him. (5) The lines that were supposed to be witty from Lara were so forced, I actually thought she was going to vomit. Lara doesn't have to say much to get her point across. Once again, the humor from TRV and TRIV returned, but worse by ten-fold. (6) They never explained how Lara survived such a death-like (you'd think, right?) encounter in TRIV. We were all just like, "Um...didn't she die? How the hell is she alive?" instead of answering a simple question. We then found out later how but not through the game like it should of been told.

Tomb Raider: Legend: While I actually thought that Crystal did a pretty good job revamping the series to a certain degree (and the obvious number of sales agree with me on that one), they are few things that bugged me. (1) Lara's always been considered a sex symbol, from back to the triangular boobies in TRI. However, it seems if they tried to make her the "James Bond" of raiding, the icon and woman that every man in the world wants to be with. Guys already know that Lara is sexy, you don't need to try and amp up the sex appeal more. They tried to do that obviously for one example in Japan with the dress they decided to slice and dice. (2) Far too short. I think the game would of done better had the game been longer and added a little more to the story. I finished the game in one sitting and was disappointed that it was over so quickly.

Side Note: Funny thing is, everyone complained about Legend Lara being 'Barbie Lara', but adores TR:AOD Lara's look. They say she had too much makeup on in Legend, and AOD didn't...? C'mon now, let's be honest with ourselves, magenta bright lipstick and dark heavy mascara and eyeliner on AOD Lara isn't makeup? The difference between Legend Lara and AOD Lara is that Legend Lara was tanner, that's it. If you're going to be hypocritical, at least do it honestly.

Tomb Raider: Underworld There were so many chances that TRU could of exceeded expectations, but it fell to a horrifying flop. (1) Lara going to hell to salvage closure about the disappearance of her mother. Alright. Sounds cool enough. Wait, the description of Nefilheim, Helheim, and more according to Norse mythology are far more intricate and detailed than TRU gave them. I didn't ever feel like I was in a realm of hell, except maybe briefly in Xibalba, and Xibalba could of been way better. The Mayans according to the Xibalba land of the dead, was way more frightening and nightmarish than TRU made it out to be. While I did enjoy the underwater scenes in the Mediterranean and the lushness of Thailand, it was far too linear; something that the early games didn't need, and thrived without it. (2) Again: Way too short. I finished the game in one sitting, just like TRL. (3) While I understood why Natla could of been involved in the game to a certain degree, I don't think it was necessary. I was tired of her in the first game, annoyed by her in TRA and beyond irritated with her in TRU. Natla, Natla, Natla. This is Tomb Raider, not "Natla Raider". While I understand the importance of good enemies and story-bending antagonists, at this point, it was just too much. (4) "Thor's hammer Mjolinir was powerful enough to level mountains...". Really? Cause all I did was electricity there and a smash or two there. Thor's hammer could of been implemented so much better, in so many ways in both combat and as a tool. Yes it was the key to Helheim, yes you had to have it with Odin's ritual, but it could of been used in puzzles, destroyed buildings on top of enemies, but no. I felt like a less, far lesser version of Cole McGrath from inFAMOUS when I used the hammer. (5) The enemies in Underworld were a joke. I easily defeated the tigers. I harpooned the sharks with a blink of an eye. I blew up the spiders in Valhala and Mexico. I jumped so hard that apparently I could break the bones of a thrall, which usually in Norse mythology, only gods could do, but okay. It was a pathetic excuse of an array of enemies. (6) Since they wanted to surround the story around her mother, they could of made the "reunion", so to speak, much better. It wasn't emotional at all for me. In fact, I was more like, "That's it?". It was a bastardization of what could of been when Lara found her mother again, thrall form or perfectly fine. If you are going to surround the game around a central plot point, at least when you get to the climax, make the players be either severely shocked (if it's bad) or speechless. By the way the game was turning throughout the entire time, I could tell where everything was going.


If you noticed, I didn't list the first three games of Tomb Raider because I honestly didn't see anything really wrong with them enough to critique or mention. And I didn't list Tomb Raider: Anniversary, because while it was substation to Crystal Dynamic's trilogy, it's still a remake of the original, therefore, keeping it within the same field to a certain degree as Tomb Raider I (1996) [basically same story, a couple things different, basically the same layouts, characters, etc. Not worth critiquing because I'd have to critique TR1, which doesn't need it.]

The whole point is this and I'm pretty sure any decent fan of Tomb Raider knows this: If the new game doesn't pull through and do a fantastic job, we most likely will not being seeing Tomb Raider in games anymore. No developer (and they are business nowadays, be honest) wants to pick up a dying or already dead franchise. We all know that the games are great and that Lara Croft is awesome, but it will be besides the point after a certain standard of making money doesn't happen for Crystal or Eidos/Square Enix. Look what happened when Core Design ruined AOD: They went out of business, the same could really happen to Crystal Dynamics and now that SE holds the rights to Eidos, who holds the rights to TR, they can drop the series quite easily, with no skin off their back, even though at the moment, they need the game to succeed since they lost so many sales with FFXIII.

The jist is this folks, let Tomb Raider be known to any gamer you know. Let them know it'll be a great game. I know some of you have your panties in a twist because it's a origin story, and "Wah! Lara's not a raider anymore! She's a whiny teenager!". Seriously, think for a bloody second. This is to get everything going again, if people thought about that ahead of their whining attitudes, they'd see that and not whine in the first place. If the game does as good as it needs to, the next game will follow up with Lara being a badass once again. And who knows? It could be mind-blowing (either this one or the one afterwards). We just don't know yet.

My question to you all is this: What's a couple things that have been disappointing to you in a series you enjoy? It can be books, games, movies, whatever you're a diehard fan of, that got ruined in your opinion. Please try to leave your comments (if you leave any) coherent and organized. I'd like to read opinions, but I can't if the sentences are all jumbled up and hard to catch a grip on.

And for anyone of you that are spitting out bitterness from your teeth and mouth for me voicing my opinion, three words: Get, over, it. Simple as that. Many people have voiced their opinions about the stuff the love/hate, and I don't go jumping on their toes for it. Have some maturity, and dignity for yourself. If you still can't do that, and you feel the need to cry, I'll just report your comments as spam and you can deal with deviantART and explain why you're a whining, immature spammer. Not my problem.

Anyways, folks, that's it for today. I'm surprised I got this long to type to you all. Phew!