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Review
Lara hires a helicopter to set her down in the Antarctic, a rather expensive ride which leaves Lara with just 62.7 Billion (£) left in the Croft Mansion coffers to spend on future missions. This is assuming she paid up front, as both the chopper and its pilot sink upon landing. Lara grieves just long enough for her to holster her guns and then it's time for business. As previously stated, we are in Antarctica now, the game's token snow section, prominent in all Lara games bar TRLR. Predictably enough, it's snowing.
To up the ante for this the game's hardest section, we now cannot venture into the water lest we risk death by hypothermia. Standing above the water doesn't affect you at all. We know this because Lara is dressed as if contemplating a nippy autumn afternoon in the Lincoln shopping arcade. No gloves. No scarf. No bobble hat. No leg-warmers. No hot water bottle (Well, I'll let her off with that last one). Our surroundings are sharp, glacial cliff faces, steep rock-walls, and...errr....snow - Tons of it. "Oh, get on with it, Scott!"
The level is split into two halves, the first involving the retrieval of a speedboat from an abandoned ocean liner, and the second trying to get the speedboat through a gate. The ocean liner is about fifty times smaller than the one in 40 Fathoms, thank god, yet annoyingly manages to be about five thousand and fifty times less clever. Get inside, flick a few switches, shoot a few men, and then you’re good to leave again. The intention on behalf of the developers here is quite clear ; get the player out of this area before they stop to realise there is no way that liner could have come to rest where it is (It is surrounded by cliffs).
(Penguin 1 - "Oh s***. Here comes Croft".
(Penguin 2 - "Leg it!")
(Penguin 1 - "I can't. I can only waddle!"
Antarctica Part 2 is the stronger section, despite feeling at times like a white version of Nevada Desert Part 2. There is complexity, spectacle, and intrigue aplenty. Most memorable is the appearance of what Lara later goes on to describe as "Brundle Fly", a strange reference to the 1986 version of horror movie The Fly. It is an abomination brought about from an experiment-on-human gone wrong. It can't move very fast (Even Winston would beat it in the 100metres), but it does choke up that annoying poisonous fume last seen in Madabu Gorge. Oh, and it also wears one of those orange lifeguard jackets from Baywatch. However, if you ask me, Gena Lee Nolan and Yasmine Bleeth did the jacket far more justice. (Neteru reliably informs me those are the names of actresses from Baywatch, btw. I would never watch such trash ).
There isn't all that much else to talk about really, unless I really do have to lambaste the absurdity of TR1’s "mishmashers" being regurgitated in the form of wind-affected doors. Thugs and dogs provide much of the challenge, along with monkey-swinging and hunting around for that coveted crowbar. I can’t imagine this will be many people’s favourite level in the game. It's fairly short once you have the speedboat and get your bearings around the Brundle-camp, and it’s definitely missing a large killer polar bear in order to spice things up. Standard, safe, no-thrills, satisfying yet unspectacular raiding 7/10.
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Scores
Best Part - Riding the speedboat, depressingly.
Worst Part - The inside of the ocean liner is a bit uninspired, if we’re honest.
Secrets - Only three, but they're hard. #2 and #3 involve you frantically paddling around in the water whilst your purple health bar evaporates.
This level is most like - Tibetan Foothills, but that level was better.
Gena Lee Nolan - Hotter than Antarctica, that's for sure.
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(The tale of Grandpa Croft's escape from the Titanic was legendary)
Thankyou to my trusty assistant, Pic-Nick, for the pic
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