The premise of Chronicles is in interesting one. Lara Croft is missing and presumed to be dead. As family and friends grieve, they recollect Lara's adventures, and so begins a stage by stage look at Lara's previous accomplishments.

There are a few new things that Lara can do this time around. She can performing tight-rope walking and monkey swing from bar to bar. Tight-rope walking makes situations very anxious-ridden as players try to balance Lara when she leans too far to the left or right. The monkey swinging is just another way to get form place to place and doesn't really add anything to the gameplay.

Lara's story opens on the streets of Rome and involves the usual puzzle solving, item finding, and occasional shootouts. There really isn't anything that starts the game off with a bang or grab the attention of Lara's fans. Although combining a scope with a revolver to blow a gate lock off was a cool idea.

Chronicles revolves around a good variety of locations. Lara starts on the streets of Rome, a submarine, and features some young Lara levels. The sound in each level is complimented by occasional blares of instrumentation and superb environmental effects. Core has done a great job in creating aurally convincing locations from the sounds of water dripping to the popping noise of Lara's weapons.

The worst part about Chronicles is Lara's clunky controls. Lara can perform a lot of actions, but the most basic one of running and turning has been sorely neglected in the series. Lara can run in a straight line but has to stop on a dime to turn. This makes her character stay at a stop and go pace that makes it a struggle for players to move her around.

The latest Tomb Raider game is adequate but nothing players haven't encountered in previous installments. The game feels like old-hat and the limited gameplay changes have the Tomb Raider series making a small leap in improvement.