Tomb Raider: Unfinished Business

Also known as Gold, Tomb Raider: Unfinished Business is an expanded version of the original first game. Back in the day, Tomb Raider was pretty different from what it is now. In the past years, the series has seen a complete overhaul.

The main character has been completely redesigned, and the game style has changed a lot. Sure, it needed a redesign just as an update, but the core idea of the character changed.

Tomb Raider was one of the first adventure titles of its kind, innovative ad full of adventures. So it only made sense that the game would need a redesign to be as original and innovative as it used to be. But here we will talk about Unfinished Business, all the way back to the roots of this.

About the game

This title is not a completely new and original game, but just as previously mentioned, a "complete version" of the original title. This means that the title includes the original full game and two new chapters. Making up to four entirely new levels.

They place the two new chapters in Egypt and later on in the Lost City (Atlantis). All kinds of weird adventures are to take place there, in the Shadow of the Cat (Egypt) Lara goes to the city of Khamoon, where she enters the Temple of the Cat, an unexplored temple dedicated to the goddess Bast.

Once done with all that tomb riding, she heads to the Lost City of Atlantis, the remains of this city holds some dark secrets. Now she has to finish off the remnants of the Atlantean army. And keep them from taking over the surface world. So this adventure is a pretty serious deal as you can see.

Better than the original?

Since it is an expanded version which includes the original and more content. It is better than the first one in every way. There's no other way to look at it, however, there's something else to consider. The game launched close to the release of Tomb Raider III. This means that there was a much newer game in the series out there. And not only one, but two, and the upgrades are noticeable.

The good thing is that you could get new content for the first game. And it was even better if you've never even played the first game, since everything would be new then. Still, since it launched after the third title, it means that it would be popular and sell well. And it was the very first time they released the game for the Macintosh platform.

Review

Everything good about the original release is still there, sadly most of the bad things are still there too. The new content makes the game worth it again, but it is mostly if you've never played the first game at all

• Graphics and Visuals: The visual aspect was great for its time, and while it didn't get old with much grace, at its original release it was good.

• Gameplay: The camera usually was a bit of trouble, but overall the controls were simple. Not too comfortable, but not completely bad.

• Sound: The great original soundtrack is still in there, as well as some new pieces that are just as nice as the older ones. So it's a win in this aspect, the sound effects, however, are not that great

Tomb Raider blew everyone away when it was released in late '96 with its groundbreaking 3D visuals and combined elements of adventure, platform and action gaming. On top of this, the mass of labyrinthine levels took an age to complete. So after spending last Christmas guiding Ms Croft through the superb sequel, it was slightly odd going back to where it all began - and initial impressions were not good. Without the included 3D patch, the graphics are comparatively horrendous - even on a P2-233 it's a jerkathon in hi-res mode. Despite the readme file stating that there are patch drivers for ATi and Trident cards, further inspection reveals an empty directory - great! However, with a 3D card Lara runs, leaps, swims and shoots as smoothly as you could wish for. It's a credit to the programmers that the graphics impress as much today as they did 18 months ago.

Gameplay wise, Tomb Raider is as keyboard-smashingly infuriating and smugly satisfying as ever, and the will to progress once you get into the game is irresistible. For those who have TRII but not the original, Unfinished Business will prove to be money well spent, as not only will you already have a feel for the game, you'll also have mastered the tricky controls (make sure you have a programmable joypad). Gushing praise aside, the body count in the original is seriously lacking, with a lot of running around empty levels, and the auto aim facility still gets on your tits as much as we'd like to get on hers. Still, it's Tomb Raider, and with four extra levels and a Lara Croft desktop calendar, it's excellent value.