|
| |
|
|
After the recent disappointment of the latest outing for Lara Croft on the PlayStation 2, we were pleased to see the original game, the one that started it all, was due to appear on Nokia's N-Gage. At this years ECTS we had a good look at this portable version of Lara, which includes everything you remember from playing the game on the Saturn or the PlayStation all those years ago.
Tomb Raider on the N-Gage features all the shooting, exploration, and puzzle solving that made the game, and the game's heroine part of gaming history. Lara must find the Scion, which is an ancient relic from the legendry lost city of Atlantis. The N-Gage version of this classic features fifteen huge levels that span the world from South America, Greece, Egypt to Atlantis. The game runs in full 3D, but has fairly low frame-rate, but this is expected for a portable version of Tomb Raider. The controls are responsive, if a little awkward after using a duel-shock controller, but everything you would hope for in a port of the original game is here, the only drawback is the screen size or to be exact the screen shape; and that is something that applies to every non-Tetris style game for the N-Gage. If you are unfamiliar with the screen shape of the N-Gage have a look at our screens below of Tomb Raider running to see what we mean. The gaming screen for Nokia's device is just about the opposite of widescreen, with the screen much taller than it is wide. This means that on some games, including Tomb Raider, it's difficult to see what is directly to the left and right of your character, which we can see will lead to some very frustrating deaths. Lara does have a good view of the ceiling though!
An additional feature for this port is the ability for a downloadable Assault Course, which will let yourself and a friend compete against each other. This mode displays a ghost image of the player and you have to try and better each other's time and effort. Tomb Raider on the N-Game is defiantly one of the most impressive games on the N-Game so far, the audio is also intact from the PlayStation original, with footsteps echoing and weapons fire blazing, although to our disappointment we did not hear any of Lara's trademark grunts.
Overall we were very impressed with Tomb Raider on the N-Gage, and we recommend having Lara in the palm of your hand - if you can afford the hefty price of the N-Game itself. If fact at a whopping £220, what level can you get Lara Croft to before you're mugged of your new mobile phone/MP3 player/FM radio & games machine?
John Grothier
|
|
| |
| |
Go Back To Main Page 
Go To Top Of Page