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Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (1999)
Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation Geforce Now Review
Tomb Raider (1996) featuring Lara Croft was carried over from doodle to computer screen by Toby Gard, and would later exploit a slew of game sequels, comic books, merchandise, and film castings with big stars like Angelina Jolie (Girl Interrupted, 1999). By the late nineties, Eidos Interactive had just deployed Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (Crystal Dynamics, 1999), which had nearly put Tomb Raider to shame. Thus, Jeremey Heath-Smith and his brother Adrian at Core Design had already hired a new team to reassemble their outdated Room Editor to replicate the competition. As a result, Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (1999) was released just several months after and is most notable for its peculiar level design. This year marks Tomb Raider's 25th Year Anniversary, and NVIDIA Corporation, in collaboration with Square Enix, have recently added The Last Revelation to their GeForce NOW service.
For their fourth Tomb Raider game, Core Design retained the archaic grid system from previous Tomb Raiders to maneuver Croft. In The Last Revelation, players will continuously pull levers, leap over chasms, and move crates as before. However, Core Design challenged themselves by implementing Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver into Tomb Raider's formula. The Smith brothers insisted the series return to its roots given that Tomb Raider III: Adventure's of Lara Croft (1998) had Croft jailbreak a High Security Compound in Area 51. The Last Revelation is set exclusively in Egypt with traversal hubs implemented into Room Editor, and that means Croft must backtrack to levels shes already visited to solve the bigger puzzle. This poses new threats, as the A. I. is tweaked so that skeletons à la Army of Darkness (1992) and ninjas straight out of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) can mimic most of Croft's moves. Admiringly, Core Design introduced a rope swinging mechanic, that you might remember from Pitfall (1981) on the Atari 2600. This would definitely become another staple once Toby Gard regained the series for Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend (Crystal Dynamics, 2006). Whereas in Tomb Raider III, Croft swam with crocodiles in the sewers of London and raided a Masonic Temple in Aldwych, she finds herself more at home in The Last Revelation with even more crocodiles, but this time at The Temple of Karnak near the Nile River. Later in the game, Croft visits Cairo during toxin-like overcast in perhaps the most menacing set of Tomb Raider levels by Andy Sandham. Thankfully, Croft sports a R75 to speed through an Armageddon, but sadly without Sean Connery in its sidecar.
The original Tomb Raider featured scores by Nathan McCree, whose compositions typically consisted of choirs that would cue when Croft approached an awe-inspiring landmark or solved a complex puzzle. For The Last Revelation, Peter Connelly makes his mark on the series with grandiose Egyptian melodies and still alluding to McCree's playbook. Also, The Last Revelation was proposed as the series finale, which is probably why Connelly's main title theme is so beautifully melancholic. Much of his score is heavily influenced by The Mummy (1999), which came out the same year as The Last Revelation. Overall, Connelly mimics a variety of exhilarating Egyptian instruments over McCree's heavy use of choirs, and this is a nice change of pace for Core Design's fourth Tomb Raider entry.
At this point, the series had already peaked, and Tomb Raider III featured a much higher difficulty that only the series veterans could appreciate. The Last Revelation elevates the former by channelling Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver to provide distinct level design and stunning visuals. Core Design had pushed their antiquated Room Editor to its limits in what was supposed to be their last game headlining Tomb Raider. With NVIDIA Corporation and Square Enix having just re-released The Last Revelation for the GeForce NOW service, there is no reason not to revisit this classic.
Tomb Raider: Underworld (2008)
Underworld stands on its own by capturing the essence of the original Tomb Raider and bringing back the classic characters
By the end of The Last Revelation, Croft was merely left for rubble and in Chronicles, just a slew of memories. Thus, Murti Schofield was hired by Core Design to rewrite the series. The result was Angel of Darkness, in which Schofield opted for a gothic renovation of Tomb Raider inspired by both noir and Blood Omen. At the start of AOD, Croft is the accused in Paris for a murder involving her mentor, Werner Von Croy. At this point in the franchise, AOD was deemed a commercial failure and Schofield burned most of his manuscript as a result. Once Crystal Dynamics took over the franchise they would not continue with Schofield's proposed sequel, The Lost Dominion. Instead, they hired Croft's original creator, Toby Gard to consult them in reimagining Croft for Underworld, in which both Gard and Eric Lindstrom were nominated for their writing.
Despite the craftsmanship that went into AOD, Crystal Dynamics diverted from what Schofield initiated in favor of bringing Gard back to the series. Some of his concepts would resurface again in Underworld such as burning down the Croft Manor at the start of the game. For Underworld, Crystal Dynamics used the Legacy of Kain technology to sway foliage in Coastal Thailand, whereas Core Design rendered a blizzard wrecking over Prague with their broken game engine. This did not contribute to Eidos Interactive's expectations at their attempt to tie-in AOD with The Cradle of Life. Likewise, both Gard and Lindstrom prevented another catastrophe by borrowing from the films. The first film had Croft invested in the research proceeded by her father, Richard Croft. This is carried over into Underworld, but this time Croft uses her fathers studies to investigate her mother who disappeared in the Norse underworld of Helheim. Moreover, Gard brings back several of his characters from his original including the wicked Atlantean Queen, Natla and her doppelgänger who now resembles the darker iteration of Croft in AOD instead of bacon.
Sneaking and posing as Solid Snake was a change of character in AOD. Additionally, maneuvering Croft was made even more awkward with broken mechanics that was rarely reminiscent of the original. Eventually, the player would discover the Tomb of Ancients beneath The Louvre. However, much of the game was spent conversing with characters in a Parisian Ghetto via dialogue trees straight out of The Longest Journey. Crystal Dynamics reverted Underworld back to Gard's original intention with traversal environments that made steering Croft more fluid, especially by reintroducing her sprinting ability and motorcycle last seen in The Last Revelation. The QTE's and on-rails vehicles in Legend resonated with the series origins on the Sega Saturn, yet Tomb Raider was never an arcade game and thankfully this ideology is restored for Underworld. In redemption, a tailoring system is implemented that allows increased difficulty and options to hide all the in-game prompts making for a more challenging experience.
The score in the original Tomb Raider consisted of choirs by Nathan McCree that would cue when a new puzzle or vista was discovered. This formula is replicated again for Underworld by the BAFTA winner, Troels B. Folmann in collaboration with the Emmy nominee, Colin O'Malley. Also, their score alludes to the orchestrated tone featured in AOD, which was composted by Peter Connelly, Martin Iveson, and performed by The London Symphony Orchestra. The classical throwbacks in Underworld sound phenomenal, especially the hymn that echoes just before Croft platforms across some ancient ruins in Coastal Thailand. Furthermore, Jonell Elliot's more brash portrayal of Croft in AOD is toned down in Underworld by the award winning actress, Keeley Hawes. Her performance resembles the characterization presented in the original game along with Angelina Jolie's portrayal in the films, thus making Hawes more in line with what Gard had envisioned.
Due to the commercial failure of AOD, Schofield literally burned the game's manuscript, which inevitably prompted Crystal Dynamics to reboot Tomb Raider with Gard as their consultant. To make up for Schofield's proposed sequel, Eidos shoehorned novel adaptions such as The Amulet of Power by Mike Resnick, but ultimately it was Gard's decision to start fresh with a reimagining of his character. However, some of Schofield's concepts did resurface in Underworld with Gard and Lindstrom using their depiction of a darker iteration for the series. They examined Croft's portrayal in AOD and applied this to Underworld's reimagined doppelgänger who now serves as Croft's alter-ego. It was a bold move for Crystal Dynamics to value Gard's industry experience having worked on Tomb Raider and Galleon with Paul Douglas. In retrospect, Underworld stands on its own by capturing the essence of the original Tomb Raider and bringing back the classic characters, even without a big-budget film to compensate for its success.