Tomb Raider 3 - Elixir of life Review

Anannya Sen ’s Review

More of the same. Great graphics and engaging gameplay. If you liked Lara 1 or 2 then you will like 3. Nothing new but for completists sake, it??s the end of the plotline.

Lara 3 continues the story where Lara 1 and 2 left off. Lara is searching for who her mysterious employer is and why she was sent to get the artefacts that she received from the last two games.

The graphics are the same as Lara 1 and 2. They still look nice and the backgrounds are a different style. You??re in a castle this time and so there??s a nice light blue background to the walls. There are no windows in this castle so you don??t get the effects of seeing a background through any windows. There are different enemies here, attack dogs and killer robots which are well animated. If you??ve played Lara 1 or 2 there??s nothing new here.

The sound is also the same, there are tones for shooting, dragging the blocks and when you perform actions. Still no tune but it was the same in Lara 1 and 2.

The controls are again as simple as the previous versions. Use the directional pad or key pad to run and jump upwards. Down will duck and pick up items when you??re standing over them. The action button will jump sideways, or perform your actions (shooting or using computers). There is no abseiling or hand gliding element in this version which was a bit of a disappointment.

The playability is as excellent as the last two. I think that if you haven??t played Lara 1 or 2 you will find this very challenging. As it is, the game is tough, but the experience of playing the first two games helped me a lot. The puzzles are a bit harder and the levels are a bit larger. Lara is trying to find out who her employer is, so you are making your way through a castle. There is no artefact to find, but this means that the items you collect have specific uses. A nice touch is the fact that you can go onto the website and get more detailed descriptions of the items you pick up in the game. The game is similar to the console version and you have to run, shoot, climb and interact with the environment. In this version there are computers which move blocks and unlock areas as well as lifts which take you to different parts of each level. There are also moving floors, electrified floors and gas vents which can hurt you. A lot more things to deal with than the previous two versions. It was a lot of fun and I played it through to the end.

The lastability is excellent if you have not played the previous versions. The game is tough to complete and the autosave feature is a real bonus. There are the same 15 levels and the last few levels are quite hard. There is no difficulty setting as the game is pitched just right for a good learning curve. There are a few more health items on the later levels as the obstacles can be quite tough. The levels are large and may take you several attempts before you get familiarised with the layout and can complete the level. Also, the running plotline comes to a conclusion and confrontation which is a nice touch.