That story begins in Paris, where Lara is talking with her mentor Professor Von Croy. While discussing a set of paintings believed to have otherworldly powers, the good doctor is shot dead. Paris' finest assume Lara is to blame, so Lara must navigate the streets while avoiding the authorities during her quest to clear her name, which now coincides with finding out who is after those paintings and why.

First things first: Angel of Darkness is home to the most interesting story of any Tomb Raider game. Lara herself actually shows some emotion in the game and seems motivated for reasons other than the obvious. Not everyone needs or is interested in a story that gives the main character a reason to do all this exploring, jumping and puzzle solving, but the dialogue and cut scenes in this game pull it off anyway. For Tomb Raider, that's definitely a new direction.

The early stages are, as usual, the best place to get comfortable with the controls. In this case, getting comfortable may take the entire game because if Lara was clumsy to control before, they've found ways to make it just a little bit worse. Instead of pressing an action button to climb up a ladder or crate, Lara will do it automatically. But she'll only do it if you have her aimed perfectly at the object. Being forced to target some things in the game just right makes some of the most basic trips from point A to B a real chore.

There are also a few new moves, like a sneaky walk and a peak around corners. The peak around corners is particularly awkward, but it works when you have to use it. The stealth elements in the game don't become the core of the game, so the fact that they're a bit shallow compared to other games isn't surprising. This isn't Splinter Cell, after all, and it's not trying to be. This is Tomb Raider with a little bit of sneaking thrown in, and it works fine when it comes up.

Another new wrinkle is that Lara talks outside of cut scenes and you have actual dialogue choices. Lara hasn't had in-game conversations before and this adds a level of interactivity that just wasn't in the previous games. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that your choices for dialogue make much difference in the story. Also new is the chance to play the game as someone other than Lara. Her new friend, Kurtis Trent, is yours to control in a few areas. And while his brief adventures involve a little more combat than Lara's, he controls exactly the same way.

On some levels it will be necessary for Lara to jump a little farther than she normally could. In these cases, you'll hear Lara say she's getting stronger as she explores the area and it's painfully obvious that soon she'll be ready to finish the level because she's getting in even better shape. Adding a level of skill progression, as seen in role-playing games, would have taken the Tomb Raider series in an interesting new direction. The character improvement in Angel of Darkness, however, is far too contrived to be considered an improvement. It doesn't even occur unless there's a painfully obvious reason for it, and that makes it look like Lara's strength training is simply a ham-fisted approach at forcing the player to explore the whole level before finishing.

Music and environmental sounds are all nicely done, and the inclusion of digital surround sound support makes everything better, as always. Over the years, though, it seems Lara's become more and more like a professional women's tennis player. She grunts and screams louder than ever and after almost every little thing you ask her to do.

The graphics in Angel of Darkness go from very nice, when viewing the vast, detailed cityscapes, for example, to downright criminal, when the game slows down to a crawl. I can excuse a lot when it comes to slowdown-I've come to expect at least a little of it when playing a game with dozens of people on the screen. But this is bullet time without the bullets. It doesn't happen constantly, but it happens a little too often. There's also more graphic violence and gore than other Tomb Raiders, fitting with the darker tone of the story told here.

Apparently the gaming public has gotten past their fascination with Lara and her tombs to the point where simple add-ons to the previous game won't cut it. Remember the buzz of the first few sequels? "Oooh, in this one you can get in a boat!" It seems Lara's slow progression has finally caught up to her, because while this game certainly isn't breaking any new ground, neither have the past few that came before it. Angel of Darkness is an adventure game with lots of exploring, some fighting, many puzzles, and decent graphics-just like all the other Tomb Raider games.