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Review
Tomb Raider dramatically changes direction in this daytime murder spree set down back alley Venice. Take away the keys and the doors and you’re basically left with one great big semi-urban drive by shooting only done by boat. From the very opening moments, when the level’s first dog objects to Lara invading the same alley it wees in, our fiery heroine pulls no punches and takes no prisoners. Henchmen die and henchmen fall, albeit not always convincingly. If TR was a western, Bartoli’s baddies would all clutch their chests after getting shot and pointlessly keel over into the canal. As it is they seem far more content with falling down where they are and thrusting their heads through the nearest wall. This presumably being some kind of Italian Mafia outlet we’re dealing with, what we’re seeing adds a whole new meaning to the myth of being made into a concrete block and added to the M25.
It would be easy for a cynic to argue that Venice takes Lara out of an action/adventure game and places her in a straight shoot-em-up. But that isn’t really the case. What difference does it make if you’re shooting thirty humans each level as opposed to thirty gorillas, or thirty rats? Well, none from my point of view. Obviously things would be different in real life, but we’re not in real life. As long as the puzzles and the brunt of the game-play remain true, I don’t care if Lara is trashing gondolas in Venice or microwaving bunny rabbits in Papa New Guinea.
Having said that, it also has to be pointed out that the human enemies in TR2 don’t have anywhere near the same personality and sense of individuality as their predecessors. This is largely because you only have to fight six people in the original game – Larsson, Pierre, Natla, Woody, Skater boi, and that black dude. In TR2 it quickly becomes necessary to throw more baddies at Lara than you could possibly find the time to create. So, only a select few have been created with a view that these ‘sprites’ are contracted for repeat appearances throughout the game. Core aren’t exactly subtle in going about this. Two of the white shirted thugs quickly pop up in the same scene together. They’ve even got the same speech patterns, namely the ability to go “Hey”, “Ugh”, or something else inaudible. The rest of Bartoli’s mob are no better either. For now, the days where TR villains had their own little comments are on a temporary leave of absence.
The repeat appearances from the same villains remind me of a game I used to play down the arcade in the early nineties. It was called Vigilante, and featured a small Michael J Fox type beating up all these thugs as he walked down the street. There were two types of thug that crossed you on the level I played. One was a big burly lad wearing a white T-shirt. The other was a big burly lad showing off an all-Denim look. The former required one kick/punch to knock him out, and the latter needed four. It’s not a dissimilar situation from TR2, where the white shirted guys always have a bat and the guys with masks always have guns.
Anyway, of perhaps more significance in a Venice analysis is the use of the boat. This is the first time Lara uses a mode of transport to get around in a TR level, and commendably it turns out to be just as integral to the puzzles as it is to the game-play. The trick you have to work out with the mines is an absolute 24-carrot diamond. And If The Great Wall can claim to have the best secret in the series, I’m pretty sure in my own mind that Venice can claim to have the best puzzle. This is the kind of problem solving situation I’d like to see brought back in AOD. There are only so many switch/block/key situations one man can be bothered with. Taking the level’s first boat through the lock is also a part that gave me mental satisfaction. Yes I know it was easy! But at least it amounted to more than just flicking a switch and driving your boat through a doorway.
Utter the word Venice, and you get an image in your head of the kind of street crowds seen in Moonraker, or Indian Jones’ and the Last Crusade (Doh!). So where are the crowds here? Everybody’s a hood! In fact you’d have to deduce from this that “Venice” takes place out in some industrial backwater where nobody resides but gangsters. Perhaps the industry in question is something to do with chemical waste? The water’s green enough. But if there aren’t any honest to goodness civilians on Bartoli’s turf, why do his goons all use silencers? Lara’s less subtle form of gunfire would surely alert any nearby cops as to potential trouble anyway. So why use them? I’ve also noticed a copious amount of dirty washing hung up around the level’s canals, which suggest to me that there are in fact some civilians nearby. Perhaps they just run (or swim) into their houses when they hear the first shots ring out? I could certainly imagine the following scene taking place…..
(Picture the inside of a living room somewhere in the level)
Father : Mama Mia!! That sounded like gunfire. Mayor Bartoli said something like this might happen. Listen son, take your mother upstairs! I’ll close all the shutters.
Son : But dad! My Lazio top’s still out there on the line
Father : Bugger your top! Now get upstairs.
One lazy aspect to the level is the way the interiors have been designed.. Each Venetian house, hut, and shed Lara wanders into is empty! There’s no furniture, no light bulbs, no nothing. What are these places supposed to be? It’s as if the smart Alec behind the Mine puzzle thought “Hey, I’ve cracked it with this puzzle. No need to stretch the imaginative muscles any further in this level. I’m moving onto Bartoli’s Hideout”. He’s right of course, which is annoying. I’d have loved to have noticed such a discrepancy back when I first played the game. Criticisms are kind of null and void when you only notice them on your fourth trip through the game. Tomb Raider 2 wasn’t designed with the ‘4th play’ in mind.
Looking back on what I’ve written, I think I’ve been misleadingly more hostile towards Venice than is deserved. You’ll see from the score below though that I truly consider this level to be the stuff of greatness. It’s a work of art that would fetch more from an auction than one of Bartoli’s paintings. It’s excellent stuff. And the music is a delight. I’ve no problem in admitting that I sometimes run the boat backwards and forwards over the same spot so I can hear the piece again. And thank bloody god Pavarotti’s appearance fee for this game was too hot for Core to handle. The John Rhys Davies lookalike that he is would surely have devalued its undoubted appeal. He might also have insisted his old “Just one Cornetto” hit was somehow implemented into the Opera House level. Heaven forbid 9/10
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