Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Prophecy (GBA)

Starting out in Sweden, the game features a forced-perspective viewpoint which is not quite overhead and not quite proper isometric 3-D. It works very well, though, in enabling the same sort of level design seen in the original games. The control of Lara is generally excellent and despite the radical change in graphic style it still feels like the Tomb Raider of yore. Even the combat is the same, right down to the penchant for including endangered species as enemies.

Of course it goes without saying that if you don't like Tomb Raider you won't like this, since it does absolutely nothing different than the previous titles, but if you're a fan you'll love it. --David Jenkins

A distinct lack of features are what let down an ok game. There are very few types of opponent that can be faced in the game - wolves, skeletons, ghosts, and (err...) floating magicians and thats about it. There are only two kinds of leap that can be performed (a standard one and a running one - so no backflips or sideflips (sadly)), the running one admitedly does look nice but there isn't any need for any kind of skill or timing in the jumps as you can stop in mid-air. It is also a shame that there is no cart save, instead the levels are password protected meaning that a game can't be saved halfway thru a level, this does however allow for an infinite number of different games to be played at once instead of being limited to just a few which is nice.

This game is therefore not one of eidos' best attempts and does not feel like tomb raider. The game may appear quite nice at first but it does soon become apparent that this isnt the best game ever made. With poor graphics, awful sound effects and average graphics this game is definitly one that wont be missed.


Cool   July 1, 2003
6 out of 9 found this review helpful

It may not be brilliant, but it offers alot.
Bad points- You need passwords to continue on to the next level
And storyline is tricky at times
Good Points- Great graphics, sounds, controls, levels.

Buy it!


TombRaider - The Prophecy   April 19, 2003
10 out of 12 found this review helpful

This games appears to have polarised opinions on whether or not it is good or bad. Having never played any of the TombRaider games on any platform I was very surprised and impressed with this game. Given the form factor, I was pleased with the quality of the sound and graphics and felt the playability was pitched just right... difficult enough to be compulsive, yet not frustrating... but not so easy to make it boring.

I thought the game was addictive and good value for money. I'm a busy person and will not waste time playing rubbish. Yet I completed this game and thoroughly enjoyed playing it.


Oh, it couldn't be any worse..!!   March 5, 2003
D. James (UK)
28 out of 35 found this review helpful

Such a waste of an opportunity, and such a shame.
I was hoping for something that could rival the sort of quality that the Gameboy Color "Tomb Raider" game offered (which wasn't too bad at all), but alas, what did I get? This pathetic excuse for a game, is what.
There really is nothing to it... at all. It's top-down / side-on, sort of, basically meaning that you can see the top and sides of surfaces. But the graphics are so utterly flat and unimaginative that its never entirely clear if you can make a jump or ledge, or how far across / down a distance is.
You move Lara around, and its entirely digital. There is no inertia, only start and stop. When you jump distances you can literally stop and start movement in mid-air, completely throwing away any chalenge in the timing.
Combat is utterly abismal. You draw weapons and hold the fire button down whilst walking backwards. Even an attempt to spice things up a bit (by jumping and backflipping over your enemies) often sees you landing on them, facing the wrong way and more in danger that when you started. Enemies are neither varied, nor interesting.
The sound effects and music are completely awful, tinny sounding noises, and disjointed samples completely ruin the atmosphere, and the same bit of repetitive drivel plays over and over when you are in combat.
The entire game appears to consist of room after room of buttons that open other doors, and let you through to the next section. If you die, you start that section again.
Here's the best part though; there is no save function what-so-ever. It does offer you a password system though which lets you restart from the area you last did and almost completely ruins the games portability at the same time. It also makes collecting any weapons or ammo totally pointless as items aren't contained within the password save, and you start with the default set each time you restart the game.
Its a complete and utter shambles, wrapped up in a generic cliched plot, badly scripted, badly implimented, badly designed, and downright terrible.
Don't waste your money on this!