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Review
A quick quiz for anyone who has yet to play Crash Site - Question; In this level, do you think Lara will be able to use her incredible sixth sense to locate two sets of keys which in theory could be lying anywhere within a 10 square mile radius of deep jungle and more? Question; In this level, do you think Lara will be able to trick a gang of hungry piranha fish into feeding on a dead carcass instead of her? Question; In this level, do you think fifty or more dinosaurs will pop out from a series of black stone walls as if by sheer magic? If you don’t already know the answers, you haven’t played much Tomb Raider.
The absurdities don’t cease there. I was brought up to believe dinosaurs went extinct millions of years ago, yet over the course of her adventures Lara has now stumbled across them in Peru, China, and the South Pacific. Quite bizarre indeed, until you remember she has also stumbled across dragons, mummies, and a talking statue calling “Set”, which can ramble on about stuff without moving its lips (How does it do that?). Anyway, it’s dinosaurs for today, and the latest batch is numerically the biggest yet. Lara will have her work cut out.
She is helped to a point by a bunch of plane crash survivors carrying machine guns, but these guys are mostly useless, and suffer from that common disease among TR allies of not being able to press down the trigger of a firearm for more than a few seconds at a time. Even if one or two of them survive until the level finale, they never get past that. Just accept that they are all going to die and make a note of where so you can pick up their fallen ammo.
Evident in this third dino installmemt, though not in the previous ones, are the dubious presence of baby dino’s. These foot-high, green winged, offsprings of the far greater level threat, attack in packs of six or seven and usually keel over and die in the mere presence of our wanderer from Wimbledon. You almost expect to see Richard Attenbrough pop out of the shadows and shout “Nooo, how could you harm these poor little darlings?” Each scene they attack Lara (if indeed we can label it an attack) has just been mercilously lifted from The Lost World after all, only in that instance, the human prey found it much more difficult to stay alive, too difficult, in fact.
Curious to note that in this recognised ‘mastermind edition’ of the Tomb Raider series, Tomb Raider 3, that class of 98’ graveyard for budding Lara novices the world over, the makers still found time to take one of the more gruesome memories from a light-heartedly made trilogy, and translate it onto the most gruesome of Lara games as being nothing more than a bats-come-out-of-the-rafters incovenience on our ammunition hoards. Even more curious is the way daddy dino remains conspicious by his absence whenever Lara sets back his attempt on breaking the world breeding record by at least several sessions of sexual intercourse, yet pops out of the woodwork not a giant tooth hidden from view when she attempts to steal a bunch of keys. The prehistoric version of Viagra had side-effects relating to a subject’s natural provocation trigger, it would seem. Think about it, Doctor Hammond.
Refreshingly, we do get a chance towards the end of the level to put away our guns and do something a bit more intellectual. Step forward, if you will, the stone room with the two pit holes and multiple inter-changing monkey swing paths (if you have a better to way to describe this room, you know where to pm me!). The positioning of this room in the overall context of the level is flawed, as beyond it is nothing but a conveniant position in which you can leap onto the downed plane, which obviously wouldn’t have been there when the room was first designed. Still, if you overlook this little fact, which you probably would of, the ‘death trap room’ is not only one of the highlights of the level, but also of the game. It’s hard, sure, but it sums up Tomb Raider 3’s policy of bugging the **** out of you at every opportunity, to a tee. Also, I welcome any pitfall in a Lara game that could potentially stop Neteru wheezing through a forum challenge like a madman on dinosaur viagra. So.....
A turgid mire of dino-splat and ultra dense jungle, this will keep you up for nights on end and probably entertain you for just as long. The blast-fest bits are great, and so is the exploration potential (there's no direct route, but it's hard to get lost). Even the piranha feed conundrum, despite representing the type of infuriating anti-logic required to beat the later TR installments, at this stage seems fresh and rewarding. Dr Hammond, I think we're ready to open the park to visitors. 9/10
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