Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. (help, get involved!)
Any material not supported by sources may be challenged and removed at any time. This article has been tagged since December 2006.

Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness

Developer(s)	Core Design
Publisher(s)	Eidos Interactive
Release date(s)	June 20, 2003
Genre(s)	Adventure
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Teen PEGI: 12+ CERO: Ages 15 and up
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2, PC, Mac
Media	CD-ROM 2
Input	Control pad, keyboard

Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness is the sixth game in the Tomb Raider series, and is the sequel to Tomb Raider: Chronicles. It was developed by Core Design and published by Eidos Interactive. The game was originally released in 2003 for PlayStation 2 and PC. The storyline follows Lara Croft as she is hunted across Europe, accused of murdering her former mentor Werner Von Croy.

1 Storyline
2 Gameplay
- 2.1 Main Characters
- 2.2 Sub-Characters
3 Levels & Game Progress
4 Reception
5 Trivia
6 External links

[edit] Storyline

It has been suggested that Monstrum be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Accused of the murder of her one time mentor, Werner Von Croy, Lara becomes a fugitive on the run. Following notes left by Von Croy, Lara ends up in a race to recover artifacts before the secret alliance whose destiny it is to take over the world and revive a fearsome biblical creature known as The Nephilim.

Pieter Van Eckhardt is the main villain in Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness. He was a 15th Century evil alchemist who created a powerful weapon called the Sanglyph. To keep the Sanglyph safe, Eckhardt split it into five pieces and hid a piece behind a painting he created, depicting evil images.

Eckhardt grew ever more evil and powerful through alchemy. He eventually created an order known as The Cabal which consisted of an alliance between five powerful alchemists including Eckhardt. He eventually prepared to resurrect an extinct cross-angelic race known as the Nephilim which is the reason why he created the Sanglyph. He believed that using the Nephilim he would gain power over the world. Because of his intentions, an order called the Lux Veritatis was born to stop Eckhardt and the Cabal. The other members of the cabal eventually were all murdered by Eckhardt to retain the secrets they held. The Lux Veritatis acquired the Periapt Shards, ancient weapons of light that were used to make the Nephilim race extinct in biblical times. The three shards were used against Eckhardt who became trapped in a state of paralysis. The Lux Veritatis led by Brother Obscura sealed Eckhardt in a deep pit and he was left there for 500 years. The seal on Eckhardt would only last if the three Periapt shards remained combined. Brother Obscura then confiscated the five paintings that contained the pieces of the Sanglyph. He painted religious images over the evil ones and hid each painting separately at hidden locations throughout the land. The paintings were christened the Obscura Paintings. A copy was made of each painting. These copies were known as the Obscura Engravings. Each copy contained an encoded map to the location of the original painting.

During 1945, something happened and one of the shards became separated from the other two. It is a possibility this happened because of an event linked to World War II. Eckhardt was free and he escaped the pit which he had spent the last 500 years in pain. He vowed revenge against the Lux Veritatis and revived the Cabal and based it in his hometown of Prague. The new Cabal became devoted to hunting down any members of the Lux Veritatis. Eckhardt also managed to obtain the Periapt shard that had been separated from the other two which still remained in the possession of the Lux Veritatis. He hid the shard in his old laboratory, deep underground beneath the Strahov, the HQ of the Cabal.

After he hid his shard, Eckhardt and the Cabal set out to reclaim the five Obscura paintings, in order to acquire the Sanglyph. By the time Lara had become involved in the plot, the Cabal had already attained three of the five paintings. Eckhardt then hired Werner Von Croy to find the last two. Von Croy did learn of the location of the fourth painting beneath the Louvre from the Obscura engravings, but he never informed Eckhardt, because by that time, Von Croy had learnt of the true, evil side of Eckhardt. Although Von Croy was murdered, Eckhardt was not responsible.

Lara found the two remaining paintings which Eckhardt then reclaimed off her before retreating to his old laboratory under the Strahov. He then started to finish what he started five hundred years ago--reviving the Nephilim race. The Cabal had retrieved the last Nephilim specimen from Turkey: a Nephilim body which had been nicknamed the Sleeper. To revive the sleeper Eckhardt needed body parts, which he harvested from the victims he killed using his glove. During a final confrontation in his laboratory with Lara, Eckhardt starts the process of reviving the Sleeper. He battles Lara using the Sanglyph, but he is eventually killed by Karel, his right-hand man in the Cabal, who stabs Eckhardt with the third Periapt Shard right in the forehead. Karel revealed himself to be the last surviving/living Nephilim and that all the people who have helped Lara died at his hands to avoid the destruction of the Sleeper. Lara decided to put and end to it by using Eckhardt's glove upon the Sleeper thus destroying it and possibly Karel. The rest of the series would've explained whether or not Karel succeeded to escape and bring back the Nephilim from Cappadocia, Turkey.

[edit] Gameplay

Much like the 5 Tomb Raider games before it, The Angel of Darkness is a 3rd person action-adventure-puzzle game that stars Lara Croft as its main protagonist.

The player controls Lara as she traverses through the 29 levels by exploration, maneuvering carefully across traps, through the game's levels, and solving puzzles to progress.

Lara's new moves include a back-flip, a small hop, stealth, army-crawling, rolling out of the crouch position, hand-to-hand combat and the "super-jump" that can be performed whilst sprinting.

In The Angel of Darkness, unlike other Tomb Raider games it is sometimes necessary for Lara to acquire a strength upgrade to manage to clear certain jumps.

An "RPG" element was added to the series with the introduction of the player being allowed to choose what Lara says to the people she talks to, such as by asking kindly, bribery, or threats.

[edit] Main Characters

Lara Croft: Accused of the murder of her one time mentor and rival, Werner Von Croy, Lara became a fugitive on the run around Europe.
Kurtis Trent: The second playable character, Kurtis Trent is looking to avenge the death of his father, Konstantin, grand master of the Lux Veritatis. Kurtis is the last of this enigmatic order.
Werner Von Croy: Lara's former mentor. He is murdered by the Monstrum at the start of the game.
Louis Bouchard: A man involved in dark dealings in the Parisian underworld. Owner of the nightclub 'Le Serpent Rouge', currently closed due to a number of deaths among the staff, believed to be linked to The Monstrum.
Pieter Van Eckhardt: The Black Alchemist, leader of the secret organisation, The Cabal, based at The Strahov Fortress in Prague. He appointed Werner Von Croy to recover five artifacts known as the Obscura Paintings, thought to have alchemical power and linked to dark arts.
Joachim Karel: A corporate mastermind based in Paris, investing in Cabal and recruitment whilst protecting their interests worldwide - he also holds a dark secret...
Kristina Boaz: Survivor of a plane crash, head of Corrective and Remedial Surgery at the Strahov Psychiatric Institute in Prague.

[edit] Sub-Characters

It has been suggested that Mademoiselle Margot Carvier be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

Mademoiselle Margot Carvier: An academic historian conducting an archaeological dig at the Louvre Galleries in Paris. A colleague and friend of the late Werner Von Croy. Later murdered also by the Monstrum after a conversation between her and Lara to retrieve Von Croy's Journal during the game.
Thomas Luddick: A journalist in Prague. He gave information about the Cabal and a Strahov Fortress security pass to Lara Croft. He is later killed by Pieter van Eckhardt.
Marten Gunderson: A forces provider for anything from basic security to invasions. Working for Pieter Van Eckhardt. He is the one leading the siege at the Louvre.
Daniel Rennes: A pawnbroker back in Parisian Ghetto, specialist blackmarketeering. Gets killed by Pieter Van Eckhardt.
Anton Gris: Boxer trainer, friend of Louis Bouchard. He owns a boxing studio (set inside a church) which doubles as an entrance to Louis Bouchard's underground lair.
Janice:a "lady of the night" with information that is a tremendous help to Lara.

[edit] Levels & Game Progress

[edit] Paris

Lara meets with Werner in his Parisian apartment before he is murdered in front of her. Now a prime suspect, Lara lays low in the back alleys, finding adventure in the most unlikely places: a nightclub called Le Serpent Rouge and the famous Louvre Galleries.

Level 1: Parisian Back Streets
Level 2: Derelict Apartment Block
Level 3: Industrial Rooftops
Level 4: Margot Carvier's Apartment
Level 5: Parisian Ghetto
Level 6: Le Serpent Rouge
Level 7: St. Aicard's Graveyard
Level 8: Bouchard's Hideout
Level 9: Louvre Storm Drains
Level 10: Louvre Galleries
Level 11: Archaeological Dig
Level 12: Tomb of the Ancients
Level 13: The Hall of Seasons
Level 14: The Breath of Hades
Level 15: Neptune's Hall
Level 16: Sanctuary of the Flame
Level 17: Wrath of the Beast
Level 18: Galleries Under Siege
Level 19: Von Croy's Apartment

[edit] Prague

Lara hunts for clues in the apartment of an affluent art dealer, known as Mathias Vasiley, who was recently murdered by The Monstrum.

Level 20: The Monstrum Crime Scene

[edit] The Strahov Fortress

Stronghold of the evil organization behind The Monstrum killings, also located in Prague. Lara gains access through a blundering journalist, desperate to expose the organization. The Strahov Fortress is made up of different areas, including a bio-research facility, an underwater research facility, a mental institution (the only Tomb Raider level to be played from another character's perspective) and a secret tomb called The Vault of Trophies. Physically it is a large industrial complex and appears to be fronted by some kind of transport operation.

Level 21: The Strahov Fortress
Level 22: Bio-Research Facility
Level 23: The Sanitarium (Kurtis)
Level 24: Maxiumum Containment Area (Kurtis)
Level 25: Aquatic Research Area
Level 26: The Vault of Trophies
Level 27: Boaz Returns (Kurtis)
Level 28: The Lost Domain
Level 29: Eckhardt's Lab

(Kurtis) means the player will handle the Kurtis character on that level.

[edit] Reception

The highly anticipated sixth installation in the series proved to be the most ambitious yet, with new graphics and an involving storyline. However, The Angel of Darkness proved to be the worst-received game in the series, with widespread disappointment among fans of the series. The game was heavily criticized for numerous bugs (although these were not evident on all systems), drastically different controls from previous releases and a poor gaming structure.

The overall result signalled that the development of The Angel of Darkness had been rushed, despite numerous delays in its release; difficult-to-overlook plot inconsistencies (or leaps) and frequent continuity errors also belied an end product with significant 'cuts' from the original design. While it was not the first (or last) game to suffer such abridgement, the results in the game as it shipped were especially jarring and confusing. Most detracting was possibly the final encounter between Lara and the overall perpetrator, who share a confusing level of recognition--without it ever being previously established that either even knew of the other.

Fans also complained about the lack of actual tombs in the game as the majority of action takes place in large urban environments, as well as the abandonment of Lara's trademark akimbo pistols and other aspects of the series (although dual pistols are amongst the hidden features that never made it to release, they can be used with cheats).

Despite these criticisms however, many fans appreciate the complexity of the game's story and characters, and it has become the most popular Tomb Raider game in terms of fanfiction.

The amount of criticism the game provoked caused the series' publishers, Eidos Interactive, to replace developer Core Design with Crystal Dynamics who developed Tomb Raider: Legend. Core had developed each game of the series since its inception.

An interview with members of Core Design in the August 2006 issue of Edge magazine saw the developers claim that the game was rushed to release by Eidos in order to meet quarterly financial targets, despite it not being completed.^{[citation needed]} As a result, large sections of the game (particularly in Paris) were drastically cut down in scale or removed entirely in order to meet the deadline, and playtesting - of the control system in particular - was truncated.

[edit] Trivia

Jonell Elliott once again provided Lara's voice, although the tone is slightly different to previous games, perhaps in line with Lara's revised character.
If the player enters the Willowtree Herbalist area from the Parisian Ghetto and waits there for a few seconds, music will be played in the background from the shop in another game by Eidos Interactive and Core Design, Ninja: Shadow of Darkness.
An iDVD was released in 2006 called Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Action Adventure and follows the AOD storyline.
Unlike the previous games, Angel of Darkness doesn't allow you to use dual pistols, however PC players are able to hack the game to allow them.