Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - The Angel of Darkness

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Description

Help Tomb Raider's famous heroine, Lara Croft, save the world from the forces of evil.

As the game begins, Lara wakes from a stupor. Recalling what she can of the past few hours, she remembers walking in on a killer after discovering the body of Von Croy, her friend and former mentor. She must make a hasty escape from the authorities who blame her for the crime. Determined to discover the fiend responsible, Lara eventually uncovers an evil plot that could cause the destruction of mankind. If the reincarnation of the "angel of darkness" is allowed to happen, the world is doomed!

The game environment is set in the somewhat distant future. You'll lead Lara mostly in 3rd person perspective, travelling to various locales in Europe. Explore sewers, cemeteries, warehouses, factories and cities. A multitude of NPCs will be encountered, both in the form of friend as well as foe.

Angel of Darkness introduces new stealth and close-combat moves - ducking, sneaking and hug-the-walls walking. Lara must build her skills by performing action sequences. You'll have her running, dodging, performing flying leaps and platform jumps, shimming along walls and cables, as well as moving boxes and other obstacles around. Advancements are achieved with strategically placed power-ups. Collect weapons and ammunition, artifacts and money.

You'll also play Kurtis Trent, a new male counterpart, for several "levels". Although Kurtis gets in Lara's way when she first meets him, he eventually becomes an ally when they realize they are both working towards the same goal.

Screenshots

Promo Images

Trailer

Alternate Titles

• "古墓奇兵：暗黑天使" -- Traditional Chinese spelling
• "古墓丽影：黑暗天使" -- Simplified Chinese spelling
• "Tomb Raider VI" -- Common name
• "Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness" -- GOG.com title
• "Tomb Raider AoD" -- Common abbreviation
• "Tomb Raider 6" -- Common name
• "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - Ангел Тьмы" -- Russian spelling
• "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - מלאכית האופל" -- Hebrew spelling
• "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - L'Ange des Ténèbres" -- French title
• "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - El ángel de la Oscuridad" -- Spanish title

Part of the Following Groups

• Console Generation Exclusives: PlayStation 2
• Green Pepper releases
• PlayStation 2 Greatest Hits releases
• PlayStation 2 Platinum Range releases
• Protagonist: Female
• Setting: City - Paris
• Setting: City - Prague
• Software Pyramide releases
• Tomb Raider series
• Video games turned into board / card games

User Reviews

Worth playing ... despite its flaws!	Windows	Jeanne (76329)
Here we go again...	PlayStation 2	tantoedge (20)
The wait is over and it was sooooooooo worth it!	PlayStation 2	jason laible (2)
Classic Tomb Raider reprised.	PlayStation 2	Haiku (10)

Critic Reviews

NowGamer	Macintosh	Dec, 2003	7.6 out of 10	76
GameCola.net	PlayStation 2	Jan, 2004	7.2 out of 10	72
PC Action (Germany)	Windows	Jul 25, 2003	70 out of 100	70
4Players.de	Windows	Jul 04, 2003	68 out of 100	68
ComputerGames.ro	Windows	Sep 01, 2003	66 out of 100	66
GameSpot	PlayStation 2	Jun 23, 2003	6.5 out of 10	65
GameZone	PlayStation 2	Jul 28, 2003	6.2 out of 10	62
GameSpy	Windows	Jul 09, 2003	52 out of 100	52
ITavisen	PlayStation 2	Jul 25, 2003	3 out of 6	50
Withingames	Windows	Aug 13, 2003	1 out of 5	20

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Trivia

Copy protection

If you do a full install of the game, you can play it without needing to have the game CD in your CD drive. The game's readme file even explicitly mentions this. This is an unusual display of trust (or perhaps it's just resignation) in today's copyright paranoid times.

Development

Even though the game was developed by a UK company, it suffered numerous delays and release date changes and was eventually released in the UK after the USA.

German version

In the German version, all blood effects were removed.

Movie

Sometimes synergy works, sometimes it doesn't.

When the second Tomb Raider movie had a weak opening at the box office, Paramount studios was quick to point the finger at Angel of Darkness. In an interview with Reuters, Wayne Lewellen (President in charge of Distribution) said:

"The only thing we can attribute that to is that the gamers were not happy with the latest version of the 'Tomb Raider' video game, which is our core audience"

Angel of Darkness came out one month before the movie. Had it been the other way around, perhaps Eidos could have blamed the game's numerous bugs and glitches on the film.

Reception and sales

Core planned to release two more Tomb Raider games based on AOD's engine. However due to it's lukewarm response, Eidos halted the production of the next TR game. In fact, Eidos shocked everyone when they announced that future Tomb Raider games will be developed by Crystal Dynamics, which seemed odd as Lara Croft was seen as a British icon.

Even though AOD received alot of bad press it still managed to sell 1 million copies.

On January 13, 2004 Angel of Darkness (PS2) has won the Gold-Award from the German VUD (Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland - Entertainment Software Association Germany) for selling more then 100,000 (but less then 200,000) units in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Awards

• 4Players
  • 2003 – Biggest Console Disappointment of the Year (PlayStation 2)
  • 2003 – Biggest PC Disappointment of the Year
• GameSpy
  • 2003 – Car Crash of the Year (PC)
• GameStar (Germany)
  • Issue 04/2009 - One of the "10 Most Terrible Sequels" (It omits the challenging jumping sequences but adds stupid level design and introduces useless new features, e.g. the RPG and stealth elements.)
• Computer Games Magazine
  • March 2004 - #2 Worst Game of the Year 2003
• Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland
  • January 13, 2004 - Gold Award (more information in the "Reception and sales" section

Information also contributed by Alan Chan, ClydeFrog, Kartik KHANE, PCGamer77 and Xoleras

Related Web Sites

• Angel of Darkness Walkthrough (This walkthrough is featured on The Discworld site)
• Chris van Zyl's Walkthrough (Solution Guide for the PC version)
• Crapshoot (A humorous review on PC Gamer)
• Making of (A making of article by EDGE (2011))
• On Her Own Again (An Apple Games article about the Macintosh version of The Angel of Darkness (December, 2003).)
• Playstation 2 Walkthrough (Solution by Jeff McAllister)
• Stella's Tomb (Good resource site with a full list of the Playstation 2 cheat codes and how to use them.)
• Tomb Raider 4U (Fan Site includes information, faqs, a forum and more about this game and all of the previous Tomb Raiders.)
• Tomb Raider Chronicles (Excellent resource site for files and information about Angel of Darkness.)
• tombraidergirl's walkthrough (Walkthrough of the game along with hints, cheats, and other information.)