Three years have passed since the lovely lady Croft has graced our televisions and monitors with her angelic jumps and unmatched pixilated beauty. This time around she brings with her a great new story continuing the adventure from previous games, new tricks and traps to figure out, crisper graphics and higher poly models. Unfortunately it seems that three years just wasn't long enough as this latest chapter in Tomb Raider universe was shipped with more bugs than a crate of fruit from Guatemala.

As with previous Tomb Raider games, you get the chance to travel to various places around the world and loot exotic locales. Although, in previous games the countries you visited were a little more exotic than the slums of Paris, none of the charm is lost. From nightclubs to the required sewers levels to an insane asylum, the missions are diverse enough from each other to keep the game varied and interesting as it moves forward. The visuals of the game are, expectedly, the best of any Tomb Raider game to date. Every location you visit through out the game is convincingly detailed and has an atmosphere that fits it perfectly. Characters models throughout the game have excellent animations and Lara herself is much more defined and even has a little jiggle in her jell-o now, if you know what I mean.

Sadly, all the jiggle in the world can't make up for the frame rate loss experienced during many parts of the game. The total loss of frames experienced is appalling and inexcusable and makes those times play through in slow motion. With one enemy on the screen inside certain large rooms, the game would suddenly turn to a crawl in speed until the enemy was taken care of. Other times in the game an enemy would react to being shot two second after you fired at him even though the signs of blood were right away. The slow downs and frame rate losses are experienced throughout the entire game, from beginning to end and on one occasion even caused the game to freeze up totally.

If you are new to the Tomb Raider series then chances are the controls will drive you absolutely insane for the first little while. Tomb Raider games have never been known for their excellent, or even good, controls and Angel of Darkness keeps the track record consistent by not improving on them at all. Jump, die, and load. Jump, die, and load. This is a chant that will be going through your head as you plummet off a cliff face for the tenth time in a row when trying to make a tricky jump with the dreadful controls. A new playable character is introduced in this chapter named Kurtis Trent. A mysterious fellow who follows you around for the first part of the game but becomes and intricate part of the story as it evolves, but as you switch to him, he also comes with the same controls. Another new feature included is the ability to choose what you say to characters during cut scenes. What you say to them does have an affect on the game to a certain degree, where as you may anger someone to the point of killing you for saying the wrong thing. It is an interesting addition and it gives Lara more personality then in previous games. Also new to the series is the inclusion of strength upgrades. These are rewarded at certain times when Lara does physically demanding activities. This may have been a good idea on paper, but the way it is executed in the game is just an excuse to have you run around and solve another less rewarding puzzle. When you do need an upgrade, Lara will let you know by telling you she can't make a jump or open a door. The upgrade needed to pass these parts is never far away and when you do receive the upgrade, you are not told or shown any indication of how long it lasts for.

With the frame rate loss and controls aside, the most disappointing part of Tomb Raider: AOD is the game crashing. I can honestly say that I have played more games than I can count on consoles and the number of times they have crashed all together I can count on one hand. TR: AOD however, during the eight hours or so length of play from start to finish, crashed a total of five times and this is not counting when the frame rates dropped to zero and froze. The fact that you can save your game anywhere instead of having to find the save point as in previous Tomb Raider games does give you some grace, but crashing when you haven't saved in a long time would be enough to make someone shut off the game and not bother turning it back on.

Fans of the series will find the controls just as they left them years earlier. But over all, TR: AOD was unfortunately and all too obviously rushed to completion, even after the numerous delays. That is, if you can call it complete. Tomb Raider: AOD has a great story that looks greats and has more than enough action that will keep you entertained if you will take the time to learn the control and get past the swarm of bugs.