The final levels, which I understand are set in Atlantis but in fact are set in some creepy pyramid on an island which appears to be constructed from living flesh, were a step up in difficulty from the previous ones. The biggest change came from the enemies, who were more aggressive, more in number, and required more bullets to dispatch. I moved away from using my standard pistols, to a combination of the Uzis and the Magnums – the shotgun seemed a bit useless, with long reload time and poor aiming – in order to prevent enemies getting too close. The tactics I’d used before (of finding a ledge to stand on) no longer worked, with enemies who could throw fireballs and shoot, and others who flew around the room. They were horrible things too, seemingly with no skin, just flesh and muscle.
Of the levels set in Atlantis, the first was relatively normal. At the end of the Egyptian levels Lara was captured and escaped by diving off a cliff, and it turns out that she’s lost all her guns (but for some reasons still had some ammunition). To find her weapons you had to explore some mines, finding three fuses which were needed to lower a suspended building containing pistols. With pistols equipped, the mines led (via lava rivers, concrete mazes, and underwater tunnels) to three human enemies: a cowboy, a skateboarder, and a bouncer, each using some of Lara’s guns. The skateboard fight was very tricky to start with, until I found a passage I could take to come out on a ledge above the level, where I could wait for him to skate past and get shot multiple times.
Armoury reclaimed, I set off for Natla, who was using the scion thingy in the pyramid. I caught up with her and she unleashed a big enemy which I initially thought was the game’s end boss, until I killed it first try (somersaulting from side to side put me out of reach, and I could just shoot it many times). I then had to continue through the pyramid, finding a route back to the scion for me to destroy it. The levels became increasingly icky, with pods growing on the walls which burst to release enemies as I approached them. I’m not entirely sure what the cutscenes showed, but eventually I found Natla in a room at the top of the pyramid, and I fought and killed her using my favourite tactic of running away and finding a ledge to shoot from. Being shot to death wasn’t enough; she woke up and I had to do it all over again.
With her dead again, all that was left was for Lara to run away, through a pyramid which was shuddering and collapsing (but not actually collapsing; this wasn’t a timed run). A few nasty jumps nearly had me throwing the controller in frustration, but I got out in the end – Lara swam out to the boat and took off just as the island exploded.
As a game, it’s aged, but only in that other games have taken the same sort of formula and made it more fluid to play. The way that the platforming is almost puzzle-like at times remains very clever, and the game’s pacing is really well thought out. I don’t think I’ll be going back to find all the secret areas, nor find more efficient routes through the levels – but that’s mainly because I’ve got Tomb Raider II waiting for me.
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