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Tomb Raider: Kot Adventures in Lost Civilisations
THREE dimensional games are growing fast in the PC games market today. Castle Woflenstein 3D by id software, was probably the first to take gamers by surprise. At the time of it's release, there were no other 3D. smooth moving, action games available to the little people' who owned a Super Nintendo or Genesis system.
Shortly after, home gaming systems began to drop in sales as PC's began a slow, but steady climb. To combat this, the companies who designed home game systems went to work. To bring the arcade home', seemed to be the sorry cry from most of the companies. But we wanted all those fabulous arcade games that could not be played on the mere mortal home systems. Fighting games were fun for a while, but still nothing NEW. We wanted 3D! As much as we could swallow at once.
Finally with the release of the Sega Saturn. Sony Playstation. and now the Nintendo 64. they have really caught our attention. 3D games are popping up everywhere. The PC market skyrocketed in sales last year, and not just because of business applications. the internet, and making Christmas cards, but because of games — thousands of games! There are more games currently available for the PC than for the Sega Saturn. Sony Playstation, and the Nintendo 64 combined.
The catch to this is simple. Either buy all the systems available to play the best games on the market or buy one system and keep your fingers crossed. But now that plan is less sketchy, with multiplatform releases of hot'011 the press games. What the hell am I talking about? Here's one new game that is multi-platform and it combines arcade action with 3D texture mapping, and even some of Ilie puzzle solving we've all come to appreciate. It's Tomb Raider.
Tomb Raider, by EIDOS, is what you've all been waiting for. If you haven't yet heard a friqid utjer itd nMi*!of you
■ ■
■ combines.the.jetoncjpCS' of Fade to Black s third person 3D movement. Quake's texture mapping. Indiana Jones' story line, and the action of all three. You play as Lara Croft. a world renowned archaeologist and pampered British aristocrat. At tne age of 21. her plane crashed in the Himalayas. As the only survivor, she learned how to live on her wits (we don't know if she ate her friends). Two weeks later, she came upon the village of Tokakeriby. and was changed for life.
She no longer could stand the thought of going home to the suffocating atmosphere of upper-class British society. She only felt alive while travelling alone. For the eight years that followed, she travelled the globe and acquired knowledge of ancient civilisations. Her fam-
ily eventually disowned her and she turned to writing to fund her trips. She published travel books and detailed Journals of her exploits of ancient sites and civilisations. Now she searches in an almost forgotten realms of intrigue and danger for a lost artifact.
The controls in Tomb Raider are incredibly simple. There are 9 controls aside from character movement. These controls give players a myriad of possible actions in the game. The buttons : Action — use this button to pick up items, pull levers, shoot, grab ledges and any other possible 'action' in the game. Draw/Holster Weapon — as described. Jump-used for jumping forward; backflips, 'and' .sideflips' jiist push the ‘^Wfck intW^nesifetl dlrec
• Hon. Lookhold down the . • look button' and use the'jqy-stick to have Laura look in that direction. Roll-used to do a quick roll and turn around.
Walk-for walking instead of normal running mode; character will not fall off edges while 'walk' button is pressed. Inventory-used to access found items: new weapons, first aid kits. keys, etc. The last two buttons are side-step left or right.
All of these controls are invaluable. For example, while running, push the walk and jump buttons together and Lara leaps into the air and does a forward roll upon landing. The jump button is used to swim and dive deeper. Before you begin your adventuring, visit Lara's mansion from the main' menu. There you will be taught all the main controls
in the game by Lara herself, including some very helpful hints on how to run. jump, and grab onto far away ledges.
The graphics in Tomb Raider are GOOD!!!! There are very few texture mapping mess-ups considering the phenomenal volume of the game. From all of Laura's moves to all creatures encountered, the movement and realism is fantastic. The caverns and lost temples are beautifully renderea. The water has an incredibly realistic and disorienting feel. The sound is also a rare treat. Instead of an annoying soundtrack. EIDOS implemented sound effects. Echoes, short drumbeats. and environmental sounds were used. The creatures encountered will stir those magical sounds of fear with their howls and footsteps. Surprise is the key element in Tomb Raider which makes it so enticing.
The creatures in Tomb Raider are beautiful. They could have done a bit more work on the texture mapping of enemies, but I don't think it's that important in a game of this calibre. The beauty is in the movement. Almost fluid, the wolves, bears, and the bats of the first level have a "feeling” of realism. They even sound real, making odd noises and grunts as they try to devour your flesh. The real treat and was at the end of the first level. I climbed down into a "Land of the Lost"’ of sorts and I heard a creature approaching. I readied my weapons and when I looked. I almost fell out of my chair! A hungry ve-loceraptor let out a horrifying scream and charged for
the kill. My first instinct was to get the hell out of there! I ran, flipped, dodged, and shot like my life really depended on it. After disposing of two of them. I quickly surveyed the silent valley as I healed my wound. I began to run forward, guns ready and felt the adrenaline pumping in my veins ... "C-mon! Bring Em On!!!". As I turned the edge of a clearing, my eyes popped out of my head and I nearly wet my pants. A HUGE (and I mean HUGE!!!!) Tyrannosaurus Rex leered down on me and began to charge. About face!!!! Run!!! Tomb Raider is filled with chills and thrills to keep you craving for more. Spiked pits, baboons, lions, panthers, alligators, freaky skinless things, and enemy mercenaries are just a few.
Overall, Tomb Raider is a fantastic adventure with nonstop action and puzzles. I think that it's one of the reasons why games even exist. It's my favourite game to date and I'm sure you'll agree when you see it. Phenomenal Graphics and Superb Sound Effects Hot adventuring in lost civilisations One of the best games of all time!!
Footnote : Hey gals and guys if you've gol internet connection. you can download the free shareware version of this game from this address : "http:// www. game-revolution. com/but watch out. although the compressed Zip file is only about 5 megabyte it can take hours to download. Plus you gotta have a Zpplugn7. exe to view and save the Zip file. Zpplugn7. which is a plug in filter, is also available at the same site for free (for 30 days! After 30 days, they say it will not function anymore). You have to have the Zpplugn7. exe installed in your hard drive (that is C:/ or D:/). By the way. it will take between 10 to 20 minutes to download this one.
If you have Norton Commander to back you up (Norton protected Recycle Bin/Norton utilities/etc.). don't bother to download Zpplugn7 (cause you have Pkzip programme in that case!), all you have do to. while downloading, is specify your plugin filter's path. If you doritcund the filter in time. doB% Abot$er. Save the download.
The internet runs on a myth that it is cheap and the most efficient way to transfer data. Wrong!! Americans are now suing the America Online for failing to give them the service they had earlier claimed to give. In our case, the modem speed hardly matters. If you have a 28 KbPS modem or a 14.4 KbPS one, you can never expect a download at the constant maximum speed! In fact, it is amazingly slow! Instead of 28 kb per second, you should feel very happy if. ever, you can download any data at the speed of 2.8 kb per second (I never got anything above the speed of 1.4 KbPS. I swear!). So if you want to download „ anything, keep handy Tk.
300 to bribe your dad. You'll need it when the bill comes.