Tomb Raider IV: The Last Revelation (1999)

Can't find the motivation to finish this game. I quite enjoyed the first half of the game to be fair, but the more I play it, the more it becomes a tedious, interconnected mess of massive levels branching out into many different directions. So you'll spend hours at a time working on different sections of levels, and then inevitably, you've missed a key item to progress and now you're having to backtrack through each any every one of these massive areas with multiple pathways trying to find said item. I've enjoyed the puzzles so far though, they are quite challenging and well thought out. To this point, I've played for 22 hours, and I think I'm actually getting quite close to finishing the game. But at the 20ish hour mark I finally caved and started consulting a guide to follow occasionally to at least know I'm on the right path, and have got the right items. But after doing that for a couple levels I lost motivation and thought nah this clearly isn't fun at this point.

Just finished playing through this game over on my Youtube channel (link at end for anyone interested in seeing a gameplay sample before buying) and so here are my thoughts.

Overall, I enjoyed Tomb Raider IV: The Last Revelation. If you've played Tomb Raiders I-III, then you know what sort of gameplay to expect here: the usual puzzle platforming based on levels using a 'grid' layout system, where certain jumps and moves will get you to traverse a certain number of 'squares'. So nothing particularly new or different to the previous games in this regard. Visually, the graphics are slightly touched up compared to the previous titles. Sound design is also fine.

In terms of what is new, one thing to note about TRIV is that some of its levels aim for an almost 'open-world' feel. What I mean by this is, there are certain parts of the game where some of the levels interconnect with one another, meaning there will be times where it isn't always a linear path forward. Instead, you'll find yourself exploring a level, finding entrances to other levels, exploring those, finding that certain ones need certain items to progress, thus forcing you to backtrack and re-explore other areas for said items. What this does mean is that there will be times where you have to be patient and take things slowly. This may not be to everyone's taste, and I'll admit that throughout my own play-through I was leaning very heavily on a walkthrough to point me in the right direction so that I wasn't wasting time.

In terms of storyline, TRIV is also somewhat different to previous TR games in that it is mostly set in Egypt (with just a couple of levels at the beginning). Lara is on a mission to prevent a terrible force from wreaking havoc on the world (that's the best way to describe it without being too spoilery). Decent enough, though maybe not my favourite.

On another note, a lot of reviewers tend to say that this is apparently when the original TR franchise began to slide downhill after TRIII. That's not to say TRIV isn't good on the whole, but I can definitely understand why people might say this. The thing is, back in the day the devs were putting these TR games out year after year - the original Tomb Raider came out in 1996; TRII 1997; TRIII 1998; and TRIV 1999. And the truth is that the gameplay hadn't really changed all that much across the franchise, so I can see why some players and critics back then may have started to regard the franchise as starting to show signs of staleness.

But, all that aside, I still think TRIV is worth trying if you enjoyed the previous TR games. So yes, I recommend it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZHFpt6zqOQ&list=PL05Yc3_TEBpP0G0_GdX0SSL2Uysrp9CRL&index=1&t=358s

Sand, sand, sand, This game feels like when you get sand in your shoe. The constant yellow tone does in fact not make you happier , sorry Van Gogh.

Black screen...

The Last Revelation offered some drastic changes to the gameplay compared to the three previous instalments. First of all, apart from the intro level, the entire story took place exclusively in Egypt. I think the designers wanted to go ‘back to the roots’ and reduced the number of fights, this time there were significantly more puzzles to solve. The introduction of multi-part levels (in which Lara had to run back and forth between areas) proved to be quite frustrating for me, then as now. This makes the game much more difficult than it already is. Some of the puzzles are so absurd that I gave up unnerved and would never have gotten any further without online tips. Lara was given the opportunity to swing on ropes (poorly implemented, this led to unwanted jumps to certain death more than once) and combine objects in her inventory (equally clumsily implemented). The decision to include features that were neither explained nor clarified, but were absolutely necessary to progress, made the game quite frustrating at times. I also miss the variety of locations, at some point I could no longer see the desert setting. In the end, after beating Seth, I was glad to have finished this game. It had a few good ideas here and there, but all in all, the game only degenerated into hard work from the middle on. Iconic locations like in the past three parts were sought in vain, with the exception of Angkor Wat and the short, action-packed train ride.I know that many veteran Raider fans consider the fourth instalment to be the ‘real last’ of its kind. For me, however, it is still the weakest of the old Lara era in terms of presentation and story. Still pretty good though and quite a challenge. All your skills will be tested.

one of the best tomb raider games there is

good

best tr game ever!

Habiendo el recopilatorio de los rework/remake de los seis primeros, esto ya no merece la pena ni de oferta!

Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation Review

Overall Rating: 5/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Graphics: 4/10
Story: 9.6/10
Music and Sound: 9/10
Personal enjoyment: 6/10

Oh boy, if I thought Tomb Raider III's difficulty was bad, then this game is on a whole other level. The Last Revelation is a bit harder to review objectively. While it certainly does some things better than its predecessors and arguably innovates more than the previous two games, it also takes a massive step back that, in my eyes, prevents it from being called a true "improvement."

Alright, let's get into the nitty-gritty. The series formula of exploring tombs, solving puzzles, and fighting enemies remains largely the same, with a decent balance between the three categories. However, my gripes with the gameplay largely come from the puzzles, which are much, much more difficult this time around. Oh yes, I bet you didn't think it could get worse than Tomb Raider III, huh? The puzzles in The Last Revelation are cumbersome and frustrating. I spent hours on some of these puzzles before eventually giving up and resorting to using a guide or YouTube walkthrough. Some of the solutions to certain tasks were so obscure that I genuinely stared at the screen, flabbergasted, asking myself, 'How is anyone supposed to solve this by themselves?' Combine this with the lack of indication or markers of what is and isn't an interactable object, and you have a puzzle experience that's nearly impossible to solve by yourself. This directly affected my enjoyment of the game as I feel like without guides my playtime would have been an extra 100 hours.

I also didn't like being in one location for the entire game. I wouldn't have a problem with this if the environments were diverse, but sadly that's not the case. This game takes place strictly in Egypt, and therefore all the levels are inspired by Egyptian tombs and towns. Again, I wouldn't have an issue with this if the levels were at least diverse in appearance, but all the levels are yellow, brown, or beige, and are very heavily themed around ancient Egypt. As a result, a lot of the levels felt very samey and kind of clumped together in my memory, with little to be able to distinguish them from one another.

The one thing I can say this game truly improves upon is the graphics and the story. The graphics have been given a major update with more realistic terrain, drastically improved lighting, and better character models. Lara's model has been given yet another new look that makes her joints look less blocky and features more detailed. All the models now have facial animations, making it look like their mouths are actually moving when they talk, for example. The story and writing also take center stage here, with more focus on the ongoing narrative as well as the inclusion of more cutscenes and camera flybys to give the game more of a cinematic feel. However, I hated the ending where Lara 'dies.' It was clearly a cheap way to try and end the franchise, and within the story, it just felt underwhelming and lacked thought.

I have very mixed opinions on Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation. While the graphics and bigger focus on the narrative are commendable, the game's shortcomings unfortunately balance out its improvements. Even in areas where it genuinely tries to innovate, like the ability to combine objects or having multiple different ammo types, these efforts aren't enough to save it from being a boring and frustrating experience. I wish I could give it a 'neutral/mixed' review instead of a 'Not recommended,' to be honest.

this game is very hard and not for anybody without patients. Overall though the game is a 10/10

A Tomb Raider game set entirely in Egypt, what isn't there to love?

Incredible how they managed to push hardware limitations and create something like this during its development time. Comparing this to Tomb Raider 1, they improved so much each game and kept building on each entry in the series. Interesting story, new mechanics and incredible level design. Despite the improvements, it is also sort of a downgrade from Tomb Raider 1, 2 and 3. While this game focuses on actual tomb raiding and more puzzles, it is also it's flaw and hardest aspect of the game. Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation has puzzles that spread throughout different locations. If you miss a key item, you basically just screw yourself over with backtracking across several level sections, and most likely with wasting a lot of time just to find and figure out where you essentially messed up. Loading screens between sections add to confusion in puzzle solving. I get that they could not load whole level due to limitations at that time, but by seeing a loading screen when entering new area and giving it a new name makes you think it is another level and you have finished the previous one, when in reality it is just a part of the same big level and you might have to go back to either find something you have missed or to progress further in the game.

Rating: 4/5

The GOAT when it comes to menu screens to fall asleep to, you'd wake up to a gorgeous soundtrack and the camera flying over Lara killing mummies and it'd never get old. The tank controls take a bit of mental readjustment but the muscle memory *will* come back with a bit of practice. I spent the first level running into walls but by the sphinx it felt natural again. I just love how many different kinds of jump there are in the game and how precise it feels compared to most modern action-adventure games who use single button presses and contextual animations. I like both but one definitely feels more rewarding.

Tomb Raider fans are fascinating, they love to look into every goofy little nook and cranny to find a misaligned texture with bilinear filtering which is practically a pixel hunt (needed for progression not a secret) in the style of Doom and Quake's "wall humping" (which would be reserved for secrets), but the moment the lightest bit of backtracking a la Metroid/Zelda/Castlevania is introduced or some lateral thinking is involved that's too much. It's like when you get asked to sort through someone's wardrobe because they forgot to pick something out for their journey and they are waiting for you in front of the house, but you forgot the layout of your home. Really, you're getting lost in bite sized levels' general layout, but finding an obtuse ladder or hole is fine?

100% recommend TR4, easier to get into than 2 and 3, more similar to 1. Needs a guide about as much as the other games, though honestly I would say less, resources are plentiful and enemies are tolerable. Progression mostly makes sense, which by comparison to the original trilogy, means it makes a lot of sense. Main issues I would say are some modern Windows + hardware bugs, and 2 game logic bugs which either require a pixel hunt or loading back to an earlier save. Really well done trope-y Egypt game.

Controls are awful, and the game doesn't tell you what buttons do what. Also, pressing keys besides the ones mapped to a control crashes the game. I would avoid the game if you aren't already very familiar with it.

They should give me a deal on the remastered ones they are making as I have bought all of the Tomb Raider game and can only play the ones that have mouse support.
Tomb Raider 5 wont even play so I can give it a bad review.

Get to see the real Lara Croft when she was Young. The 2013 reboot is not her real origin Story not the real Lara Croft ether. play this game to see her Real Backstory. The original trilogy forever!

Tomb Raider IV is good game that pains me to say isn't fantastic. The reason behind this is there is a large list of improvements over the previous, that make the game worth playing:
-better visuals (still dated, but that's part of the charm)
-strong music (especially when in the jeep)
-vehicle controls are tighter making their missions very fun to play ( a huge improvement over that god-awful kayak level in the previous game)
-more mobility options like rope swings & jump-to-catch levers
All of this said, the thing that drags this game down is paradoxically an improvement as well. The chapters are comprised of multiple levels connected to each other making a near seamless transition between levels that really adds to the experience of the game. But with that, comes a lot of backtracking, confusion and frustration due to the goals of the levels being horrendously unclear. I hated how much I had to consult a guide or a walk-through for something that no sane person would ever find. This really dragged the experience down for me because the start was so strong that I was so genuinely excited to play it again, but when this issue started to come up I was beginning to dread playing it.
With that in mind, I still recommend this game to anyone who (like me) wants to experience them all and in order, because I still enjoyed playing it. which is the most important thing in the end, and with the puzzles being a joy to solve, I cannot wait to start the next one.
(HOPING THE ISSUE OF CONFUSING OBJECTIVES IS IMPROVED ON IN GAME V)

I LOVE THIS GAME ITS THE BEST GAME EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this game makes me horny every time lara grunts

So much sand in this game I can hear it shout "Lisan al Gaib"

I hate this game. I strongly hate the tank controls. Its so clunky and annoying when trying to interact with stuff like levers. The voice acting and story is actually nice, but i haven't gotten far because of the SHITTY TANK CONTROLS. Y'know i wouldn't mind the tank controls if this game supported CONTROLLERS. HOW DOESN'T A PLATFORMER HAVE CONTROLLER SUPPORT?? IT WAS MADE FOR A CONSOLE! I can't be bothered playing this on pc. Will give it a second chance when it gets an update like tomb raider 1-3.

Let's start by talking about Tomb Raider 4... I played a lot of the CD version from the now-defunct CDExpert magazine...
a different Tomb Raider than the one I played in Lost Artifact 3...

the first reboot of the franchise, the first time I saw Lara as a teenager in the first level!

Lara already knows how to do and execute all the moves, EVEN THOUGH Van Croy "TEACHED" her, so she learned absolutely nothing there!
the story is good, even though it was a game that Core Design wanted to kill Lara off for good because of Eidos' greed at the time
And I stopped halfway through the game before buying the Steam version, and since I bought it... I can have time and finish Last Revelation in a matter of time, even if it takes a while... since it's the longest Tomb Raider in the franchise!
so I do recommend it, especially if you're a die-hard Lara fan!

This is probably one of my favourites in the Tomb Raider-series. Tomb Raider 4 changes things up by for the first time putting more focus on the story. The main focus is still the puzzles and platforming of course, but now there are more mid-level cutscenes and you even get to play as a young Lara Croft. Because of this new focus, the game also feels more dynamic. The first thing that comes to mind is how you get different dialogue if you’re fast enough during the race in the first level.

Compared to Tomb Raider 2 and 3, the 4th game doesn’t expect you to have played the previous games. They even (also for the first time) put the tutorial in the first level and not as a separate option in the menu.

The game also takes a step back and makes you feel like an actual Tomb Raider again as you explore and lets the combat take more of a back-seat.
Exploration is something that you do have to get used to. There’s a lot of times where you will basically hit a wall and need to explore elsewhere before you can progress and it’s not always obvious when this is the case. So I’ll be honest and say that I did look up a few walkthroughs after I had walked around for 30+ minutes without getting any leads on what to do (and it didn’t feel nice, Kevin 🙁).

The levels are also greatly expanded from the previous games. Now there are levels with loading-screens between areas. Previously a loading-screen always meant progress, but not anymore. So if you like smaller levels, this might not be for you.

As usual in the series, the movement is improved once more, but the leap isn’t as big as between the previous games.
There are way more vehicles this time around though and luckily, they feel way better than before. Still not perfect, but very usable.

To conclude:
If you liked the first game, but felt like something to lost with Tomb Raider 2 and 3, this is the game for you. With less combat and more exploration and puzzles, this game hits the perfect sweet-spot.

However, just like with Tomb Raider 2 and 3, you will have to use something like dgVoodoo to play it. There are great resources for this online where you just copy-paste the files.
At the time of this review, they’re making a remastered version of Tomb raider 4 – 6 (I have no information on what will be changed in the remaster), so maybe you should wait for that unless you feel comfortable with tinkering a little before you can play.

Unfortunately as with Chronicles game is poorly supported on PC version controls wise.

good one 👍 10/10 rec

Getting the game to launch in the first place is a challenge, and even after installing community patches it still crashes every 20-30 minutes. It's really not worth the trouble.

Best game ever. I know it's old but the puzzles and story are really great.

Compared to other parts, the game starts.
However, the resolution is so bad that I couldn't play it

The story is pretty engaging, and the puzzles are good, offering a great balance of challenge and atmosphere. It feels like a return to form for the series, with a gripping narrative that adds depth to Lara's character.

One of the best classics! This game was a staple of my childhood✨

Fun--easy to play L-OOOONG GAME 35 levels !! Plenty of ammo and plenty of med packs.
Plenty of climbing,jumping,secret searching 70 secrets in all. Played this many,many, many times. If you have trouble loading what worked for me was to turn off the FMV in the setup screen. Running Win 11. HAVE FUN !!!!
ON TO CHRONICLES FOR ME !!!

so im not going to rate but its very laggy and slow sensitivity but i could not change it,also when i rejoin the screen is black.will be refunding

Took a while to find the right settings to get the game to run without crashing but I finally got it to work. This is one of my all time favorite games in the franchise and it's so nostalgic playing it again.