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Review
The Natla-Mine textures are given a quick polish, in this, the first level of the sequel to TR. The opening levels of the series are one of the few elements that consistently improve game by game. And following on from the rather characterless and unanimously amateur pot-holing session that was Caves, TR2 throws up something of an edge-of-your-settee cannonball run in comparison. It isn’t long before we discover that the graphics aren’t the only things ‘carried-over’, as it were, from the Atlantis levels on the previous game. The gauntlet death-sprint has also come back for a cameo.
Long before that however, you have to get down to the small business of hoisting yourself out of a cave with two tigers and a small pool. I’ve got no patience to sit and judge just how much of a suitable task this is for newcomers. Play the damn training level already! Suffice to say though it’s much more compelling than running through an endless Peruvian mountain being chased by bats and disappearing footprints. The tigers are more convincing too. Gone are the huge cheesy grins and fake roars recorded by the sound engineer after a hangover. The new improved models actually look, sound, and even mate convincingly.
Sidenote 1 – My 11 year old brother (bless him), once tried out this level to see if he’d like the game. Not having a clue about the story-line, he chose one of the load-game moments after dying to give me his own interpretation of what was happening. According to him, the cave Lara starts out in was created from a meteor crashing down from the sky. And the tigers are not tigers like you or I would know them. No. They’re special lava-tigers, created from the lava that spilt from the insides of the downed meteor. Well, who said kids don’t have imaginative minds anymore? I found that funny anyway.
Obviously the sprint past the spikes is the most memorable section of the level. The camera disorientation when you first enter the area can be slightly off-putting. There’s also a lack of movable walls going from right to left. Other than that though everything’s hunkydory. There’s even enough that reeks of Harrison Ford cracking a whip for me to go off into one of my film analogy tangents. It’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom today kids. Now I know that comparing Indy to Lara is neither particularly clever or original. But hey, none of you have probably seen the rare art noir film Grand Theft Automatic Spike and Boulder Timed Run 2 : Trouble in Chinatown, so I might as well stick with something you do know.
Now then, cast your minds back to the Temple of Doom, and in particular to the part of the film where Indy and the Chinese kid are exploring the palace caves. Compare the scene where they’re unknowingly standing on all those insects to the part of the Great Wall where Lara shoots some spiders and then moves a block for the first time in the game. Who thinks it might have been a good idea to have had some non-attacking spiders roaming around on the walls and ceiling? It certainly would have added some extra spice to the proceedings. Or are you of the opinion that TR2’s spider frills were mostly best left to the Temple of Xian. Bear in mind that I’m making this suggestion as a total arachnophobe!
Sidenote 2 – Don’t you think Larsson could do a great spoof of that Chinese kid?
(The following is based on the film scene mentioned in the previous paragraph)
Indy : We’re stepping on something. I think it might be cookies
Larsson : Hmmmm, ya think so Indiana? (Picks one up) Sure don’t feel like a cookie. (Takes a sniff) It don’t smell like a cookie. (Flicks lighter on) It don’t look like a cookie. (Puts it in his mouth). It don’t taste like a cookie. (Some more start to crawl up his leg).OH MY GOD DARN! It ISN’T A COOKIE!!”
Pierre : Le cookie? What is cookie?
Keeping almost the same part of that Indy film in your head, cast your mind forward now to the moving spiked walls at the beginning of TR2. In all my time in control of Lara over the past three years, I don’t think I’ve yet to come across a such a wall that has truly maximised the potential excitement you could get from it. Now I know that not everyone is a fan of the mid-level FMVs that were introduced in TRLR. They do slow the game down a bit. But I think it would be really interesting to see Lara placed in a similar scene (via an FMV or two) to the one Indy and the Chinese kid found themselves in just after the insect incident - trapped in a room, spiked ceiling coming down, and no obvious levers lying around for them to orchestrate a convenient way to get out of dodge. The best thing about that scene from the Temple of Doom was the emotion played out by the lead actors. Wouldn’t it be interesting to see how Lara would react to such a close shave? You wouldn’t even need to have the poor girl straining her acting muscles in a cut-scene if you didn’t want her to. You could just have her talking and verbally fretting over the top of your gameplay for a couple of minutes whilst you the player figure out what to do. Just a thought.
All of the above isn’t to say that I criticize the Great Wall Gauntlet. It was that segment of play that truly hooked me into being a long-running player of the game. I just don’t see the point in ass-kissing the section an entire five years after everyone’s already done it to death. And it’s with that I’ll move onto the rather controversial subject of the zip-wire. Now in terms of gameplay this is a blast. I mean how many other TR moments felt better than sliding down that wire? Not many I’d imagine. I just have to voice a slightly skeptical eye over the timing of the zip-wire’s introduction. One minute we’re trying it out on the assault course, and next thing….*poof*…there it is in the game! How convenient! Thankfully the contraption wouldn’t overstay its welcome as the game wore on. But I did worry at the time.
You actually get punished if you jump straight onto the zip-wire, anyway. If you do you’re missing out on the best TR ‘secret’ of all time. (That’s not just my lazy opinion either. I should imagine it would take a brave man to dispute that) I am of course referring to the conflict down in the chasm. What a gem! There’s the dark climb, the dinosaur fight, the discovery of the grenade launcher #, the second dinosaur fight, and mostly just the general sense of satisfaction you get from squeezing an extra five minutes out of what otherwise is a very short level. Where the second dinosaur appears from is a mystery, but I’m not as picky as to claim that it really matters.
As an opening level The Great Wall sets the scene perfectly for this game. It doesn’t always fit in sync with what’s yet to come, both in terms of gameplay and storyline. But there’s more than enough high quality moments here to qualify it for the all time classics league. I didn’t even get round to name-checking the dramatic swan-dive into the water. Nor did I commend the new sound effects, most notably good when Lara encounters the three crows. Oops. Perhaps as a punishment I should down the contents of one of those little white bottles that give you a sore throat. 9/10
# - Assuming you got the first two secrets
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