Gameplay Today - Because You're Always Gaming

When you take a look back at 1996's biggest game, Tomb Raider, its apparent just how far gaming has come. Lara's once-revolutionary 3D worlds seem almost archaic next to today's top-tier games, but all that changes when you remember that you're now playing the game on a portable platform.

Of course, we're referring to Tomb Raider for the N-Gage. Nokia's recently-released answer to Nintendo's Game Boy Advance, which also doubles as a mobile phone, MP3 player, radio player and personal organizer, is capable of fully 3D graphics. The graphics on N-Gage bear a striking resemblance to the original PlayStation. This allows many original PlayStation titles to release on N-Gage, and thanks to Nokia's partnership with Edios Interactive, gamers are seeing the first of these ports with Tomb Raider.

For those who didn't play the original Tomb Raider back in '96, the game is an action/adventure title with a heavy focus on exploration. By today's standards, the find-the-key-to-open-the-door game play may seem a little tedious, but most gamers will be able to overlook this old-school design and enjoy the great atmosphere in the game.

Tomb Raider is where Lara Croft first found her virtual feet, and on N-Gage, gamers can play through Lara's debut all over again, complete with her triangular breasts and original short hairdo. As the story unfolds, it's explained that Lara, who'll do anything for a good adventure, takes on a contract from the mysterious Ms. Natla in search of the Sicon artifact, a journey which will take her through Peru's vast mountain ranges, right into the heart of the mysterious Tomb of Qualopec.

This adventure is played out via fully 3D, multi-level, go-anywhere environments, which admittedly doesn't give a developer bragging rights these days, but it did 1996, and in 2003 on a handheld console, it's very impressive. Lara can run about, jump, and draw her pistols (or other weapons which she collects along her travels), shoot, climb ledges; perform a roll which turns her 180 degrees, shimmy and strafe. The game's controls on N-Gage are adapted as well as they could be for the system's button layout; the raised 5 and 7 keys provide easy access to the jump and walk functions, while 4 fires Lara's guns and interacts with objects, 6 tells the heroine to perform a roll, and 1 and 3 strafe her left and right.

The game's controls aren't perfect, though. The main problem, aside from the inherent problems which come with old-school Tomb Raider titles, relates to a new auto-run feature which Core Design implemented in the N-Gage version. When you press up on the directional pad, Lara begins running, and won't stop until you press either the walk key or back on the directional pad. Presumably, this decision was made to put less stress on the player's thumb, but it actually just makes completing many of the game's precision-based jumping puzzles much more difficult. The game should at least have included an option to turn the feature off.

Tomb Raider on N-Gage is one of the first titles to support online functionality via N-Gage Arena, Nokia's online gaming service. Using Arena, you can upload movies of you playing Tomb Raider for the world to see, access information about the game, and play shadow racing. This is undoubtedly the most interesting Arena feature in the game, as you can race opponents' top-times through the game's levels in the all-new checkpoint mode. Once you've downloaded a player's top time, their game play data is played on your N-Gage as a ghost, and you must race this ghost to score a better time through a level. This obviously isn't as engaging as head-to-head, real-time online play, but it certainly extends the game's longevity.

Of all the N-Gage's launch games, Tomb Raider is probably the most visually impressive, although it has some close competition. The game's release creates the new benchmark in mobile gaming graphics. The worlds are made up of fully textured polygons, and the game's characters animate just as well as they did on the original PlayStation. Depending on how closely you scrutinize the N-Gage version, you may find some differences compared with the original PlayStation and Sega Saturn releases, but for the most part the game looks and plays identically.

The sound, on the other hand, is less impressive. Unfortunately, the game seems to be completely devoid of music. While Tomb Raider was never an aurally rich title, its subtle music was the key to the incredible atmosphere that you felt while exploring these ancient tombs when you walked out into a massive new space, the famous, awe-inspiring music would play, or when you uncovered a secret, a few wind chimes would accompany your find. The absence of these tunes does detract from the game significantly. Gamers will also notice that the full motion video sequences from the original game have been replaced with scrolling text, which will disappoint veterans.

If you've just picked up your N-Gage and are looking for a title to accompany your new games console, Tomb Raider is a great choice if you've never played through the game before, or you're happy with the novelty of playing this classic game on your new console. That's because, aside from a few new levels which were cut from the original release, you won't find anything new here. For those looking to impress their mates with fancy 3D N-Gage graphics, the game is a must-have. For everyone else, it's recommended.

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