Since then Eidos Interactive has become a fantastic supporter of the Dreamcast, and came to the conclusion that porting TR4 to the console could be a profitable option. And can you blame them? Unfortunately, for whatever reason (it might be a fair guess to assume because of the fiscal quarter ending at the end of March) it seems that the port of the game was rushed to the machine, and this has resulted in a glut of problems that plague and bring down the game as a whole.

In this adventure the game starts out with Lara at a younger age – 16, to be exact. The first level is basically a training mission that has you following Professor Werner Von Croy around and learning the basics of the game. Nearing the end of this section the Professor and Lara will set off a trigger that ends up leaving the Professor to die, and Lara can do nothing about it. Later on the plot picks up with the mature, older Lara that we all know and love (or hate), and soon it all turns into a story of Professor Werner Von Croy entering back into the mix of things again, and Lara having to save the world from an impending apocalypse that she instigated.

One of the most glaring problems comes in the form of the visuals. You would think that with some more powerful hardware the developers would be able to eliminate the problems that existed in the versions on less capable hardware, and perhaps even include some new features to further the enhancements. The Dreamcast version’s resolution is higher compared to the PlayStation title, and filters have been added to eliminate pixelation and other little nuisances. Somehow, though, these fixes have resulted in adding slowdown in certain environments that, surprisingly enough, were not present in any other version of the game. Even in relatively simple looking areas that look like they should not be taxing the DC at all result in the entire game toppling down a couple of notches. There has even been some fog implemented that is used both as an environmental effect, but also in sections where it isn’t necessary, which stems the idea that the engine powering TR4 is having a little trouble.

The complaints with the graphics are almost nothing compared to the glaringly odd control scheme that has been developed. Apparently the people behind this conversion had some trouble adapting to the fact that the Dreamcast has fewer buttons available on its controller than the PlayStation or PC, and boy did they do a piss poor job of attempting to put something together. Instead of utilizing the analog pad to allow various degrees of sensitivity so that pushing slightly would walk and pushing with full force with run, to walk you have to use the analog pad and to run you have to transfer over to the directional pad. Who was the goof who came up with that idea? The rest of the control scheme works fine enough, but the entire running and walking thing had me scratching my head.

Besides what has been mentioned, Tomb Raider IV on the Dreamcast is the same game that was found on the PlayStation and PC last year. It features some extremely expansive Egyptian-inspired environments that are actually similar to the tomb raiding aspect that was found in the original game, but was lost in its subsequent sequels. The levels created are huge, and one level can take literally several hours to fully explore. The developers, thankfully, gave the option to save whenever you want during a level. Other than the actual exploration aspect, certain gameplay fillers between stages such as riding on various vehicles are tossed in every so often. I found that keeping the vehicles under control was a bit of a pain and navigating the given courses was a bit difficult, but nevertheless it was nice to see some type of diversion there, rather than nothing at all.

Chances are you have heard about and played the Tomb Raider series before. It all comes down to one of three things: if you enjoyed Tomb Raider before, you’ll like this; if you didn’t like Tomb Raider before, you’re definitely not going to enjoy this latest incarnation. If you have never tried out Tomb Raider before, however, this is a good version of the game to take Lara around for a spin.