Quite frankly, Tomb Raider 3 is my least favourite out of the three Tomb Raiders. Even though it has some strong elements like multiple paths, overall it’s the same ole, same ole – nothing innovative here other than gaining access to more vehicles and more outfits to discover. Yet it’s still a decent game however for new comers to the series, it’s definitely the hardest. Well, like the other two Tomb Raider games, there’s bound to be an expansion pack and lo and behold, an expansion did arrive…two years later. Heck, it arrived after the latest Tomb Raider, Revelations and this time you have to buy the expansion, even though it’s using the same engine as in Tomb Raider 3…two years ago.
Titled Tomb Raider: The Lost Artifact, takes place immediately after when Tomb Raider 3 left off. Searching the corpse of the late Dr. Willard, Lara discovers an urgent telegram instructing the doctor to visit Scotland to pick up the fifth meteorite artefact, which happens to be the Hand of Rathmore. I have no idea what’s the significance of this artefact other than transforming the holder to a higher being rather than some arachnoid creature. So off goes Lara to visit Scotland. Of course there are other locations as well however I won’t spoil this for you.
The game has six levels to complete and each location consists of two. Obviously Scotland takes up the first two and it’s actually quite decent to romp through. The locals certainly feels a lot different comparing to the other Tomb Raider games and if you are astute enough, you can even spot Scotland’s famous water creature, Nessie. Sadly, once exiting Scotland, the game tumbles downhill quite fast. There will be a sense of déjà vu and granted that there are some newer textures however, the entire game feels like you have already done this in the previous Tomb Raider games. It even brought across the same background music and ambience sounds – at least Core Design could have made more music considering there’s a price tag attached to it.
It’s very difficult to recommend this game unless you are a dedicated fan, or wanting to complete the first three games in full circles. Because there’s a price tag attached to this, the game could have benefit more with up scaled graphics or additional sounds – anything, but sadly, nothing. It really feels like Core Design had a couple of levels that didn’t make it when Tomb Raider 3 was released therefore package the ‘leftovers’ and tagged it as ‘The Lost Artifact’. Whatever the reason may be, I am disappointed with this expansion considering the last Tomb Raider, Revelations was only released a couple months prior with better visuals, controls and sounds – not cool at all.
31/12/14
Final Score: 4 / 10