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.
For the first entry of the week, we strap on our hiking boots, grab our compass and pack up our pistols as we venture into the PSOne Classic adventure romp, Tomb Raider: Chronicles.
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Developer: Core Design
Region(s) available: Europe
Price: £7.99
Tomb Raider: Chronicles marked a crucial turning point for nimble archaeologist adventurer Lara Croft upon its release in 2000. Aside from the fact Croft mania was rapidly waning, the game also marked the series’ last installment on Sony’s trusty gray box of tricks prior to making its dismal debut on PS2 with Angel of Darkness. Indeed, Croft’s lucrative annual adventures were well and truly kaput. With Lara apparently brown bread [Editor’s Note: To the non-Brits, that’s ‘dead’] following the events of The Last Revelation, the developers instead turned to a retrospective offering for its PSOne swansong. Set against the backdrop of a pair of Croft’s lifelong chums having a nostalgic chinwag on a dark, stormy night, players assume control of the spunky heroine in flashback form, as the old codgers reminisce over a collection of previously untold adventures.
Chronicles documents four bite-sized tales: a trip to Rome, a spooky outing at Black Isles, an underwater adventure in a Russian sub, and a jaunt through a high tech New York complex. Being dead hasn’t stopped Croft from upping the acrobatics, though, with our heroine sporting a couple of extra fancy tricks up her sleeves since her Egyptian excursion. Specifically, the lanky lass can now balance on beams, swing about on horizontal bars and perform a fancy flip while crouching, making gallivanting about on precarious rooftops and cliffs a far more diverse experience. Lara’s arsenal has also been beefed up with the inclusion of a meaty Magnum, MP5, and grappling hook, with backpack management once again confined to Revelation’s merry-go-round-style inventory ring. Vehicles are conspicuously absent this time around, however, save for a nifty underwater contraption Croft uses to infiltrate a submarine.
Incremental though they may be, these additions help add a bit of spit and polish to an otherwise knackered — but admittedly still enjoyable — series paradigm. Chronicles remains a quintessential Tomb Raider extravaganza, with each of the four stages offering a welcome sprinkle of diversity in terms of aesthetics and gameplay. For example, Rome is your bog standard platform-hopping, enemy-bashing effort, while less formulaic Black Isles plonks you in the shoes of an unarmed teenage Lara, with combat elbowed out of the equation in favor of more puzzle-based antics. Believe us when we say you’ll grow to despise those pesky imps, though.
As series tradition dictates, each stage is packed with secrets to unearth, which eagle-eyed Tomb Raider veterans and completionists alike will no doubt pursue with ravenous tenacity. Still, we’re a little stumped at Sony’s somewhat arbitrary scheduling for the Euro PS Store; TR1 is already up for grabs, so why not follow chronologically like our friends across the pond? Surely TR: Chronicles would have been far better suited to the US PSN, where gamers can already download the first four games. Perhaps we’re nit-picking, but nonetheless, we hope the rest of Croft’s Indiana Jones-inspired antics make a running-jump to the PAL store sharpish.
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Join us tomorrow as we once again go gallivanting Inside PlayStation Network.