If there's one thing I can say about The Last Revelation, it's that it surprised me greatly. I'd be lying if I said that my expectations weren't low for the fourth entry into the immortal Tomb Raider series. No Croft Manor? No Judith Gibbins as the voice actress for Lara? No inventory ring? No musical score by the awesome Nathan McCree? No locking Winston in the freezer? All these charming little things from the previous games that up and left with The Last Revelation had me thinking that I would be quite disappointed with Core Design's next foray into the adventures of Indiana Jane and the Breasts of Enormity. It's not often that I like being proven wrong, but I can happily say that The Last Revelation surpassed my expectations and proved why I can't keep myself away from this excellent series.

While it is sad to see the previously mentioned elements missing from this installment, the gameplay itself is still the stellar, straight-forward and damn fun formula players have grown accustomed to in the last three games. Lara returns with all her previous manouvres, and a few new ones to boot, including rope-swinging, shimmying around corners and pole-climbing. Nothing groundbreaking, but hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. The Last Revelation has seemingly taken a few pages from Resident Evil's book. There's a largely increased emphasis on puzzles and riddles, some of which are quite complex. This is a well thought out departure from Tomb Raiders 1-3, in which pretty much every puzzle boiled down to "find keys to open this door so you can open that door to get that key to pull this switch". You can also now combine certain items and vision-based items such as binoculars and scopes are frequently used. Some weapons also have multiple ammo types which is a lovely added touch.

The Last Revelation is also the most accessible game in the series since the first. I loved the slow but steady learning curve of the original release, and I found it irritating that in the second and third games, Core went kind of ballistic with the difficulty, throwing all kinds of cheap deaths here and there and ruining the pace accordingly. The Last Revelation is quite easy compared to its predecessors, but thankfully the challenge once again builds up as you get used to controlling Lara once again. Later on in the game, you gain access to hub-like levels and backtracking between areas adding some welcome open-world and exploration elements. Fans may be disappointed with the reduced difficulty though, and I find this understandable. Secrets are a cinch to find, and there's so many items jam-packed into Lara's tiny backback, I'm surprised she can even stand up, let alone monkey swing, drop-hang onto a crevice, crawl, 180, backflip mid-air, catch a rope, swing back and forth, jump pistols akimbo slaying infernal bats, sprint and dive-roll inbetween rotating circular blades.

The game is also fantastically long. The earlier entires opted for a smaller amount of levels, but these levels were insanely large and sometimes overly complex. This time, due to their reduced size and the addition of backtracking, combined with the ever-changing environments leads to a far less boring and cumbersome experience.

Apart from the first two levels in Cambodia, which serve as a tutorial, the entire game takes place in Egypt. The Tomb Raider series is well known for its varied locations, with Lara often globetrotting to retrieve her beloved artifacts, but even with only one major set-piece, the game never gets boring. The choice to have a single primary location for the setting helps keep the game more cohesive, and it makes the plot flow together much easier. Yes, the story is still not Pulitzer Prize worthy, but it's entertaining and far more involving than the previous games. It's great to have an antagonist who has some sort of depth and character.

Peter Connelly is no Nathan McCree, but he does a pretty swell job on the soundtrack. As long as we still have some form of the original theme, I'm content. Jonell Elliott also provides a great voice for Lara, although I did prefer her more mature tone that Judith Gibbins provided in previous installments. The Tomb Raider engine is showing its age at this point, but Core continues with its stellar level design and intelligent workarounds to ensure that levels remain unblocky, despite the engine's limitations. FMV sequences are heavily improved from past entires, but the animations are still kind of robotic.

What else can I say? I was so pleasantly surprised with The Last Revelation, and I think you will be too. Tomb Raider 2 and 3 felt more like expansion packs, but The Last Revelation is truly the sequel to the original masterpiece. Core has basically perfected their formula at this point, and I can only hope that Tomb Raider: Chronicles follows suit. It's definitely the best since the original, and I would even go as far to say that it surpasses it.

4.5/5

TLR is well known as Core Design's swansong. That one last good title they made before releasing the godawful Chronicles and Angel of Darkness.

Tomb Raider the Last Revelation takes place in one singular location rather than different parts of the world. While that might seem like a downside, the design team actually implemented it very well. The game gradually branches out and becomes heavily non-linear. With the player returning to prior maps to solve newly found puzzles. They also added a map editor, and since the 90s hundreds of maps have been published online

Add to that a great story that keeps your attention and genuinely challenging puzzles. Delight yourself to the Last Revelation, ultimately the last great Tomb Raider game.

Personally, this I find the last in the "classic" series that is worthy of mention. By classic I am referring to those developed by Core Design before the franchise was resurrected by Crystal Dynamics several years later. I know Core Design returned a couple of years later with Angel of Darkness but it was already an attempt at trying something new, something that could compete with the then released, modern shooters. In terms of annual releases, it was Chronicles that ended this series. Too bad it was a mishmash of different levels without any coherent story.

Back on track: for many of us visiting Egypt in the first episode was memorable so much so that we loved returning to this location in the 4th instalment. The game now focuses on only this country - we visit cities such as Cairo, Alexandria and Giza. The story is now a bit more personal - Lara is trying to get back an amulet with which an Egyptian god called Seth can be imprisoned in his tomb once more. The mercenaries trying to stop her are actually those of Von Croy, her former mentor.

The game looks better than its predecessors. We still have the tank controls but you can see they tried to achieve a better gameplay here as the developers at the time considered the Playstation version as a setback (from a technological perspective) which was in the main focus during the development phase. With new heroine come new enemies, weapons and movements such as using ropes. Some levels are non-linear (we have to return later) and we can also combine some items in our inventory (which no longer has the ring shape). Lara's home manson was also ditched in favour of a prologue that shows us how to play the game while telling us the story of how close Von Croy and she were back in the '80s.

You might not agree with me on Chronicles but Last Revelation was definitely a great one in the series, something Core Design can really be proud of. I personally did not return to the franchise after this until Crystal Dynamics reinvented the series in 2013. Similarly to my other assessments Last Revelation is a great classic and best purchased in a bundle with the rest of the original Croft episodes.

I don't know who's been hiding first aid kits and grenade launchers behind trapdoors and secret passages in ancient untouched Egyptian temples, but they come in real handy for a casual explorer like myself.

Tomb Raider IV: The Last Revelation continues the adventures of Lara Croft. After a tutorial with young Ms. Croft, we find Lara and a guide exploring the Tomb of Seth in Egypt, looking for the Amulet of Horus. The plot revolves around Egyptian Gods, Pyramids, ancient artifacts of power, and actual tomb raiding! The previous 2 sequels to TR1 WERE enjoyable but TR IV is the one that really gets back to its roots. This game is all about exploring Egypt's tombs and ruins. Lara visits the Temple of Karnak, the Tomb of Semerkhet, the Temple of Isis, and Cleopatra's Palaces - to name a few places. And don't think she's just raiding. The Last Revelation has a very interesting and intense story.

Controls: Same as TR 1-3

Graphics: Definite improvement over 3

Music: All new Egyptian-themed music for IV

Differences from TR 1-3: There is a LOT to explore. Instead of completing an area and moving onto the next, you'll often have to revisit areas - moving back and forth to complete puzzles and solve Egypt's mysteries.

I'm a huge Tomb Raider fan so it goes without saying that I'm recommending this. However, even if you're not familiar with any of the older TRs, if you're an action/adventure fan or interested in exploring ancient Egypt, I believe you'll really enjoy this.

There aren't many adults that don't know about Tomb Raider. TRIV (when compared to TRIII) has advanced lighting effects (volumetric FX, bump mapping), better texture filtration and a new UI. The game is slightly less linear, since at some points you can travel between the levels (almost like open world, eh?) back and forth, the game has 70 secrets (there's no reward for getting all of them, but you get good rewards for each one of them). This time the story focuses on Egypt, where Lara unwillingly sets god Set free. Will you help her to save the world? Also the game has a standalone bonus level called "Times exlusive" which you can download for free.

There's also a widescreen patch that allows you to play in 16:9 and other aspect ratios. You can get it at http://agent077.ho.ua/

In a perfect world this should be played after finishing:
- Tomb Raider (I)
- Tomb Raider: Unfinished Business
- Tomb Raider II
- Tomb Raider II: The Golden Mask
- Tomb Raider III: Adventures of Lara Croft
- Tomb Raider III: The Lost Artifact

I've played this game on Playstation and now, via steam, the PC version.

Excellent story, music, sound graphics and game play. Difficult to find all the secrets with out cheating. But that is the challenge. A sudden ending that, back in the day, had me replay the final level over and over in case I had done something wrong.

5/5 for the fun challenges.

The best Tomb Raider game ever made. I hope Aspyr or someone does a remaster of this along with Chronicles and AoD! :)

When this fourth game came out there was a lot of negativity towards it, and it was well deserved. It was obvious that Eidos was milking the license by putting it out quickly and without major improvements. It's bordering on being boring, but gameplay wise, voluptuous Lara can do plenty of new things, and the new puzzles add a great deal to the game. I did enjoy playing this game back when it first came out. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2569141701 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2549169343

I remembre my childhood through this game, every corner is a memory for me.