As a kid, Tomb Raider was the second game I got for the Game boy Color. I loved playing Tomb Raider III for the Sony PlayStation, so obviously when I saw this game for the lying in the store shelves, I begged daddy to buy it for me. But that was over 10 years ago, so naturally I didn’t remember much of it before I saw this game in the Retro Game Room here on Vizzed.

I decided to play it again, and oh boy. Eh, it isn’t bad. Here’s why:

The Graphics

First off, the visuals are really nice. The animations are very fluid and detailed (Lara’s running animation even has that womanly trait where I won’t go into detail much seeing as this is a family site), and Lara and all the animals are rendered in very high quality, a difficult thing to accomplish on the Game boy Color. Obviously this couldn’t have been done much better on the Game boy Color, but to be honest, I didn’t expect much better for one of the last Game boy Color games, made in 2000. The cutscenes, however, don’t look quite as good. These consist of slideshows, showing pictures in which the story is told. They look really blurry, and while it is still unique to see something like this on the Game boy Color, it doesn’t look as nice as let’s say, Alone in the Dark, also on the Game Color. Last off, there’s a glitch in the HUD that occurs randomly when using an item or when Lara takes out her pistols. This is slightly irritating, but simply making Lara holstering her pistols again should solve this glitch.

The Sound

This is so disappointing. There’s nothing really wrong with the music that plays in the cutscenes, and the SFX actually sound quite nice. The gunshots sound pretty real; picking up med kits makes Lara heave a very clear-sounding sigh; and the overall sound that the animals make sound very authentic. It’s too bad though, that there is zero music at all during gameplay. And that ruins the whole immersion that I could have had with this Tomb Raider game. Would it kill us to have a little background music while playing? If music really was too much to ask for, at least give us some ambience sounds like in the console and PC games because I’m positive that this game could have pulled that off. Also, there are no sound effects for important things such as saving your game. The first time I saved my game, I had no idea if I was doing it right, because when you press ‘A’ when highlighting ‘yes’ when it asks you if you want to save, you hear nothing. You just return to the gameplay. I just assumed that the game saved my progress, and luckily, it did. But some way for me to confirm that I saved would’ve been great.

The Addictiveness

Meh. I made it through about halfway the story before things just got so redundant that I quit, and I don’t plan on getting back to it before long. This game is quite big for a Game boy Color game (I’ll get back on that in the Depth paragraph) but still, it’s all so straightforward. There are a couple of nifty things Lara can do though. When Lara is holding her pistols, she automatically locks on to the nearest thing that’s trying to kill her. This is pretty neat, and it works well too. When Lara is on a climbable wall, she can jump backwards, towards another ledge. This game definitely utilizes Lara’s athletic abilities to her extend, which is nice. You can really be Lara Croft, on a Game boy Color. That’s pretty impressive. But still, it only kept me entertained for so long until I got bored.

The Story

The story is just your Tomb Raider standard, although still pretty well-written. Lara learns of an artefact with mystical powers, hidden away in a deep uncharted ruin. She sets out to find the artefact, but she accidentally unearths some kind of demon. I won’t say more, that’d be spoilers. Like I said, the game’s plot holds nothing new, but not a lot of people play Tomb Raider games for the plot.

The Depth

I must say, for the amount of stuff that fits in a Game boy Color cartridge, this game is quite big. There are lots of places to go, there are even secret areas here and there and the game rewards you greatly for finding them by placing med kits and other special items in them. That is what I love most about video games that too little modern games have nowadays: rewarding exploration. Other than that, and that there are multiple ways to get through a level, there isn’t much more to Tomb Raider for the Game boy Color. But the amount of secret areas you can discover is impressive, to say the least. Oh, and there are a couple of weapons you can acquire throughout the game as well.

The Difficulty

This is one of those games in which you make the difficulty. The way in which you play the game determines on how much of a challenge this game will become. You can easily breeze through it, but you may miss out on items such as med kits and weapon pickups. But it’s not like the game will get impossibly hard if you do. No, the main thing that makes this game a challenge is the awkward controls. Lara can be downright clumsy at times as well. When you accidentally hurl yourself into a wall (for the so-maniest time) when you meant to jump towards a ledge, she’ll fall flat on her butt. In what Tomb Raider game will you see Lara fall on her butt when you screw up? Anyway, the awkward navigation makes this game quite a challenge. In a bad way.

I wouldn’t say this game is bad, I mean, it’s playable and the amount of secrets you can uncover makes it feel like you’re ‘raiding a tomb’. Furthermore, the visuals and animations are something to be really proud of. But then again, this is the thing that stands out about Tomb Raider for the Game boy Color, and when graphics are the things that stand out from all the other aspects of the game which are only decent, you know you didn’t give enough attention to the important bits. It’s just too bad, because this could have been a really good game. Now, it’s only decent. This game is playable in the Retro Game Room. Play it if you have some time to kill.

Pros:

-         Very fluid animation

-         Lots of rewarding exploration

Cons:

-        The levels lack of music or ambience sounds

-         Navigation is awkward.