The digital delights of Sony’s scrumptious PlayStation Network service know no bounds. Aside from letting punters compete in online gaming, stream films, browse the Internet and more, its premier attraction rests in the copious supply of downloadable games ripe for the picking. From PSN exclusives to PSOne Classics, minis and plain old add-on content, Sony’s online space is chock full of goodies battling it out for your hard-earned digital dollars.
Welcome back to another installment of Inside PlayStation Network, where every Monday – Friday we’ll pluck a PSN release—be it new or old—and put it in the spotlight for a thorough dissection. Fancy getting a new PSN game but don’t know what one to plump for? Perhaps this feature will help. Didn’t realize that a game was available in your region until now? We’ve got you covered. Or, perhaps you were musing over what those lucky Japanese folk were tucking into over in the Land of the Rising Sun? You can be sure our coverage will extend to those rare regional exclusives as much as those firmly embedded on the public consciousness.
Today, we take a look at an all-time classic – Tomb Raider.
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Developer: Core Design
Region(s) available: North America, Europe
Players: 1
Before Nathan Drake, there was Lara Croft. For anyone who grew up in the mid-90s, Tomb Raider stood out as one of the defining PlayStation games of the decade, offering at the time unprecedented exploration and visual presentation. The industry was at a crucial stage of evolution at the time, with games making the transition from 2D to 3D, among which included revolutionary juggernauts such as Super Mario 64 and Virtua Fighter. While these games raised the proverbial bar in their respective genres, Lara’s debut outing likewise set the standard for 3D action/adventure games — something which continues to this very day.
Tomb Raider sees our sultry explorer headhunted by posh lass Jacquelline Natla, who sends Lara on a globe-trotting quest to recover missing pieces of an artefact known as the Scion. Miss Croft’s treasure hunt takes to a variety of locations, from long-forgotten cities in the mountains of Peru, a sprawling Greek monastery to the intricately-designed tombs of the City of Khamoon in Egypt. Each stage is packed full of perils, including numerous creatures and an assortment of puzzles and traps for Croft to overcome.
Tomb Raider is a thinking man’s adventure. Unlike latter entries in the franchise, Lara’s original outing is far more cerebral-based than trigger-happy, with a focus on overcoming riddles than filling gun-toting goons with lead. Sure, there’s plenty of foes on offer – including wolves, bats, bears, mummies, raptors, and of course the mighty T-Rex – but the balance between putting your thinking cap on and killing enemies is more pronounced. As always, there’s plenty of running, climbing, and shimmying about, though compared to Uncharted’s platforming sections, Tomb Raider’s scaling is far less lenient, requiring more input from the player, and more than often, some meticulously-timed jumps.
When our nimble archaeologist does have to get down and dirty, however, she’ll do it in style. Lara packs obligatory infinite pistols from the get-go, but can acquire a number of extra fire arms, including a shotgun, magnums and Uzis. Ammo is pretty scarce too, so you’ll have to pick and choose your fights wisely, or at the very least make sure of your trusty dual handguns to soften up a foe before whipping out the big guns. Equally rare are health packs, which can be picked up throughout the each environment, as well as the future Tomb Raider staple of secret item stashes dotted about the place. Indeed, while latter games have adopted and improved upon Tomb Raider’s polished paradigm over the years, Lara’s 1996 classic is still just as challenging and thoroughly rewarding as it ever was. If you want to see how 90s gamers made do without Nathan Drake in their lives, then give Tomb Raider a spin.
Join us again tomorrow for another poke around Inside PlayStation Network.