Tombraider is the first of it's kind on the playstation.  A 3rd
person 3D adventure/platform/shoot'em up.  It has been compared
to Supoer Mario 64, but it's a very different feel.  More adult,
harder edged and in some cases scary.  There's nothing
like the sound of a giant rat, gnawing on your leg to raise the
hairs on the nape of your neck :o)  I've been playing it since
I got it on Friday night.  The *whole* weekend.  I have no
life :O)  So far I'm one level away from the end of the
2nd world in the tomb.
Graphics Aztec World:    8.5
		this is only after seeing the graphics in Roman
		world.  You think these are good wait until
		you see world 2.
Graphics Roman World:	9.0
		Oh my god, wait until you see the amazing, God Room
		and Cistern Levels.  The sense of scale is incredible.
		The programmers have implemented a fantastic sense
		of depth.  When you stand by a ledge and look
		down you really feel your hundreds of feet about the
		ground.  Awesome!  The have a really clever shading
		algorithm that has to be seen to be appreciated,
		that completely avoids pop-up by shading the
		backgrounds up from darkness.
Graphics Overall: 9.0
		As has been mentioned.  There is glitching on some
		of the rendering.  Especially when you walk into
		objects;  Sometimes the camera angle is suspect,
		but lots of use of the look key allow you to 
		make up for it.  Occasionally movable blocks
		get this weird grid affect near the base, that looks
		like a cheese grater, and your character appears to
		sink into the blocks, but overall the engine is
		superb and very fluid.  On very complex levels
		Like the cistern, you get occaisional slow-down
		in the rendering, but this is with full water
		effects and the beautiful and detailed scenary.
Animation:	9.5
		This game has some the best animation I have
		ever seen in an interactive video game.  I read
		somewhere that none of the movement was motion
		captured!  Gods! they have great animators at
		Core.
Music+Sound:	8.0
		Sounds affects are almost scary.  When a
		wolf comes jumping at you, to the howls
		of pain as you dispatch the foul critters it
		all makes you spine tingle.
		Only spot music effects, but they add tension.
		They're spooled directly from the CD and sometimes
		they're not appropriate.  It might have been
		better if they'd been context based as in Resident
		Evil, but the CD audio quality is excellent and
		atmospheric, with very a indiana jones feel without
		being plagaristic.
Control:	9.0
		Core has implemented a fantastic context based interface
		that rivals some of the best Japanese efforts.
		This is how console games should be done!
		I've played the PC version briefly too and it
		works exactly the same way on there (but not
		as nice looking without acceleration).
		While the ring based object selection interface
		may be inspired from Final Fantasy, it is well
		implemented and does not interfere with gameplay
		and becomes very natural to use in a short period.
		The best thing about the in game control is that
		it's 100% consistent.  It doesn't require the
		agility of a chimpanzee to use and you always
		feel as if you've accomplished something rather
		than being frustrated by poor control implementation.
		It's a joy to use.
Gameplay:	9.0
		The gameplay is awesome.  The people who designed the
		levels deserve much credit.  They are inventive,
		challenging yet not too frustrating.  Puzzles
		tend to be logical and rewarding to complete.
		It's all been carefully paced and is not frustrating.
		I haven't yet been stumped by a show stopper and
		any time I do get stumped it's usually something
		I overlooked right under my nose.
		One of the things I liked was that after
		initial loading there never appeared to be
		any further disk access even for scenes where
		you are shown a door being opened somewhere else.
		That gave it a really fluid feel.
		Kudos to the programmers for leaving dead bodies lying
		about too.  It really adds to the atmosphere.
		Perhaps the most annoying thing I've discovered
		so far is that in certain sections in the
		Roman world you are attacked by the enemy
		tombraider and you are not allowed to kill him even
		if you will him with enough lead to stop a rhino.
		Oh well, I guess the plot is more important than
		satisfaction.  Tip: just hurt him enough to make
		him go away.  Don't waste precious ammo on
		him.
Depth/Logevity: 9.5
		Well after 20+ hours of play, I'm still at it.
		I would have to say that I've gotten good
		value for money.  The learning curve is
		just right.  Easy to get in to and then
		more rewarding as you push Lara to do
		crazier and crazier things in pursuit of
		one more secret.
		It's the fantastic level design that keeps you
		playing.  After a while jumping and leaping
		can get a little dry, but wanting to see the
		next challenge is what pulls you along like a donkey
		after a carrot.
		I think the replay
		value has also been very well
		implemented.  After completing a level you
		are free to do it again and this time with
		style.  I still haven't discovered all the
		secrets and some of them are so devious...
Overall:	9.0
		Core Designs console background is obvious.
		The *know* how to design a console game.
		They've taken elements from some of the best
		designed games in the world and created a
		something which is a shining example of how to do it
		right.  This is what Crash Bandicoot should
		have been.  It's awesome!
yanfali@corp.hp.com