Tomb Raider: The Prophecy Review (no fat)

Game Description

Searching for stones and treasures, does that sound familiar? Yes, you have to search for three mysterious pieces of earth in addition to the Black Stone, which holds the answer. Lara’s fantasizes of magical powers while she’s traveling around the mountains, Wolf’s Fang Peak to be precise. This is another typical journey for Lara Croft!

Tomb Raider: The Prophecy Gameplay

There are three different guns you can find: the Uzi, pistol, and golden gun. They aim automatically, otherwise shooting would have been rather difficult. All Lara’s old moves, flips and hopping from side to side reside in this version. You can also make large leaps, hang on limbs, and of course jog and stroll at a steady pace. There aren’t a large variety of enemies, just the usual dogs and then some smarter mages and spirits. The only movement that’s missing from previous games is tumbling are you hit the ground.

There are loads of trinkets and nice bits to find. It will definitely keep you busy. All the usual puzzles and riddles are around the tombs to be solved. There are health packs and ammunition along the way to pick up. You can also use a speed boost to get the upper hand on enemies while you’re spreading fire from your Uzi. You can take down the wizards with some dual pistol action and pop the wolves with a shot from your golden gun (…you’ll become a firearms expert soon enough).

Tomb Raider: The Prophecy Sights and Sounds

This game looks great even on GBA, everything is smooth and fluid to capture your excitement and interest. The camera perspective is similar to that of GBA RPGs. You will be surprised at how large the chambers and caves are, every nook and cranny holds a hidden clue. The enemies, again, don’t surprise you much -- as they’re always the same thing -- but the way you travel through the game is more exciting and visually appealing.

Of course there’s not really any music, like previous adventures of Lara’s. You get to listen to all the soft footsteps, moans of the enemy, and all the age-old gears and traps that you can set off. Ambience can be the best way to get you into the environment and it works well even on the handheld format. One drawback however is the use of 2D techniques to create a pseudo-3D environment which makes it difficult to ‘feel’ the depth.

Tomb Raider: The Prophecy The Technicalities

There are 28 different levels to hop through, including three huge tombs. As far as saving your progress, the game includes a save system based on passwords. The camera angle helps to give the game a three-dimensional feel, even though it’s 2-d. You can hold the L button and make huge jumps across caverns, or you’ll fall into a pit of impaling rods.

Tomb Raider: The Prophecy Summary

Don’t know what’s up with the golden gun, they’re starting to rip off James Bond not…maybe a Bond vs. Croft game is on the cards. A few more weapons, and maybe a few more enemies to spice things up a bit is what this game needs.

The Prophecy is great for all previous Tomb Raider fans that want some of the action on a handheld system with surprisingly good graphics for the handheld. Of course there are not too many distinctions between the handheld version and older versions. You hit a switch, move an object, find an item and keep repeating the process over and over. But then again, you cant expect too much more from a handheld.

Ubisoft has done well with the transition to Gameboy Advance, though the PC versions is definitely better. But whenever you’ve got to sit around and wait for something, this is the title that can keep you occupied.

For GBA owners, the game is definitely an effective diversion with a compete Tomb Raider experience (…at least, as complete as things can get on a handheld), but The Prophecy probably is not a system seller game… wait for something special to award that status.

Tomb Raider: The Prophecy Cost

Tomb Raider: The Prophecy currently retails for $24.99US at the time of writing.