Tomb Raider for N-Gage

Eidos Interactive was one company during 1996, a time when game consoles were seeing some of the best sleeper hits of all time, that released a ground-breaking platform game that made incredible steps forward in action adventure. It was called Tomb Raider. Tomb Raider is a third-person view platform/puzzle/action adventure in which you play one incredibly attractive british anthropologist named Lara Croft. She's someone who always loves a thrill and upon hearing of an incredible treasure known as the Scion of the Ancient Tomb of Qualapec, she decides to take up the opportunity to make her discovery of this soon-to-be archaeological finding.

Tomb Raider is a free-moving platform game in which you are allowed to move at your own pace through 15 incredibly vast 3-D levels, searching for the lost scion. Of course, you're not running everywhere looking for a scion. The entire beginning of the game is dedicated to simply just trying to move forward and get out of each level. Along the way, you'll swim through water, jump across big gaps and chasms, and use plenty of ammunition to kill all kinds of wild animals that have an agenda to rip you apart.

In each level, you'll have to solve many different puzzles, meaning you'll spend a lot of this game just searching for things you need to progress on. In a certain area of each level, there may be, for example, a door that's locked, upon which you'll need to find a hidden lever somewhere which opens it up. The game is often easy on the player by always showing a little movie that shows exactly what each lever and switch just did. This keeps you from wondering for hours where in the heck you should go or what that mysterious "opening" sound was.

There are also a few moments in Tomb Raider where you'll have to get your heart-rate up and move with the pace that the game forces you into. There are falling, unstoppable boulders (a la Indiana Jones), falling waves of molten lava, and you have to be ready for these events or you'll die and have to start again from the last save point.


Tomb Raider was an absolutely incredible gaming experience on the Playstation and Sega Saturn simply because everything about it was wonderful. Its fast fluid 32-bit graphics boasted amazing detail in everything you saw around you, it was tough challenging combat with the numerous wolves, bats, bears, alligators, and other creatures you would come across in the lusciously beautiful interactive worlds, the storyline was incredibly cinematic and interesting as Lara found out the true capabilities of her enemies, the secret behind the ancient technology, the secrets of the past, and her own inner strength. It was like watching an incredible Indiana Jones adventure, but LIVING it as well! The question is, has the pure thrill of Tomb Raider been translated to the N-gage perfectly?


N-GAGE? WHAT'S THAT?: Well, if you're reading this review you probably already know that N-gage is the critically acclaimed (and sometimes misunderstood) phenomenon from Nokia; a high-quality cell phone, an mp3 player, FM radio, realone video player, with tons of extra minor features as well, not to mention a 32-bit polygonal game device. The N-gage was brought to the public in Fall of 2003, featuring Tomb Raider, amongst a few others, as it's first game.


SO IS IT A GOOD TRANSLATION?: To those mega superfans of the original Tomb Raider game, I should tell you that graphically, this game is perfect. To date, Tomb Raider remains the most graphically impressive and lightning-fastest polygonal adventure on N-gage. Brilliantly translated from the Windows version, this tiny Tomb Raider MMC card is home to all 15 vast, huge, massive levels of the original, complete with all the original gun shots, animal whines, and dinosaur roars. As far as gameplay goes, there's absolutely nothing new here. Just that classic game we all love.

One key difference of course is that the full motion video cutscenes were not added to this pocket version and were replaced with storyline word-reels that come up like credits, with a high-resolution slide show of pics from the original game's cutscenes. I expect that kind of thing on the Gameboy Advance, but not the "superior N-gage"! It's decent and acceptable. The real thrill is in the game, not the cutscenes. But this is rather lame because the N-gage was absolutely capable of completely recreating the original Tomb Raider game! The N-gage can perform video cutscenes using it's Real One player, the musical score of the game could have been easily integrated into the game, even if it would have been in mono. The reason they didn't go the extra mile to make it 100% true to the Playstation game was obviously time. The N-gage game library had to rush things to make it to stores for its October 2003 release so little things like that were left out. It's such a shame. N-gage's beginning game library could have been AMAZING! All the right titles, but not made completely right.

But anyways, N-gage has also made incredible NEW features that enhance the game, particularly the ability to save your game quickly and swiftly at whatever place you are standing in the game. This improves on the style of the original where you could only save in certain parts of each level where a save point "jewel" was hovering. The game of Tomb Raider is so hard at times and requires lots of split-second decision making that saving wherever you are is a nice improvement.

Lastly, N-gage is a cell phone with online gaming in mind. The N-gage Arena was available in its infancy at launch and is featured in the Tomb Raider main menu. While not offering true live mutli-player gameplay, the online Tomb Raider gamer board shows the best ghost times for completing levels in certain times. Players can play against each others records and earn their places at the top of the score board for some real recognition.


IS THE SCREEN REALLY TOO SMALL?: Get this......no. It's not. The N-gage screen offers a strikingly high-resolution structure which makes playing the game quite pleasantly easy on the eyes as long as you keep it close enough to your face. Also, with the release of the N-gage QD model, players have been given an all new, much brighter screen which makes Tomb Raider look as gorgeous as it could possibly look on a portable device. Quite frankly, this game looks just as stunning as it did on the playstation.

THE CONTROLS ARE WEIRD AREN'T THEY?: I did however realize that the controls of N-gage are quite questionable. On the playstation, we had four key action buttons on the front, four trigger buttons by our index fingers, an analog joystick and an eight-directional flat keypad. With a control setup so efficient, we have to wonder how we're ever going to enjoy Tomb Raider using a numeric keypad.

Some people thought that this would be another Atari Jaguar mistake (confusing button layout with numeric keypad), but the N-gage buttons have never once been a problem for Tomb Raider, due to ingenious action key placement. The 8 button draws and puts away your guns. The 6 button makes you somersault on the ground. The 2 button brings up your inventory. And button 4 is your action button. This format is in a diamond shape like the playstation controller and is really easy to learn and get used to. Now, the 5 and 7 buttons are raised above the other number keys because they're the action buttons. The 4 button (action) is right next to the jump key (button 5) so grabbing ledges is swift and sure. The 7 key is your walk button and is also right near your action button so your always ready to grab a ledge when near an edge. Button 1 and 3 are side-stepping, and the 9 key in the bottom right corner of everything is your look around button. The great thing about Tomb Raider that some people don't notice is that you never have to be using more than 1 button at the same time. So once you get used to the button layout, it's really user-friendly and not at all a problem for me.


SO IS IT WORTH BUYING?: How can you go wrong? Since the N-gage is defunct, you can easily get a copy of Tomb Raider on ebay now for very cheap. Usually below $10.
And c'mon, do I have to spell it out for you. THE WHOLE GAME OF TOMB RAIDER ON YOUR CELL PHONE! That's a dream come true right there.

Well, anyways, the N-gage was very smart to release a game like this as a launch title. And I simply am astounded at how great it looks. I have actually made my way to getting it so much later now instead of back then. Seeing the price today, I'm glad I waited. But I can't believe that titles like Call of Duty, Red Faction, and even Ashen have such difficulty moving as graphically amazing as Tomb Raider. I can't understand what they did to pull this first game off so well. Whatever the reason, you'd have to be a fool to not own this one if you have an N-gage. It's just a great title. And now on my little cell phone? That simply makes my DAY!