Tomb Raider: Chronicles
Developer: Core Design
Publisher: Eidos
System: Dreamcast, PlayStation, PC
Release Date: November 2000

The Story
In Chronicles, Lara Croft is missing and presumably dead. You may wonder how you play a dead character when the supernatural isn't involved, but it's relatively simple: You play Lara in flashbacks. After her memorial service, several of her friends gather at Croft Manor to recount tales of her adventures, which you then play. One episode places her in Rome; another on a Russian nuclear submarine, hunting for the fabled spear of destiny; another in the moors of Ireland; and another still in a fight against the storyteller himself.

Dreamcast Version

Dreamcast Version

Dreamcast Version

The Gameplay
The Tomb Raider series easily walks the genre line between adventure and puzzle games, leaning heavily toward puzzles and in some cases toward menial tasks. Pushing blocks around and shimmying from ledge to ledge is as commonplace as breathing air in the Tomb Raider world, and in all the promises of "newer, better" with each version that's been released, all we really wanted was something truly new to do. Tomb Raider: Chronicles is closer, at least, to the promise of the next phase.

PC Version

PC Version

PC Version

Apart from shoving blocks and wiggling around the environment, Lara uses stealth this time around. While it's not on par with what you'd find in Tenchu or Metal Gear Solid, it works well to make the Tomb Raider school of gameplay more interesting. Lara has a crowbar, for instance, that she carries in her pack. She uses this to knock out enemies she sneaks up behind.

PlayStation Version

PlayStation Version

PlayStation Version

What Tomb Raider: Chronicles lacks in overall innovation, it makes up for in graphics. Tomb Raider: Chronicles, even on the PlayStation, is a good-looking game--better than those that have preceded it.

Show me the next-generation Tomb Raider