Chronicles Appreciation

[fallenangle]

Originally Posted by Caesum

Zip was such a cool character, it's a shame he didn't come into more things. I'd have appreciated it a lot.

Only just seen these comments about "Zip".

Really, really..........................REALLY?

The character was/is at best a tokenistic cliche that borders on the racist and is without any doubt deeply annoying.

Its the sort of character TV, film and latterly game makers put in to tick the racial diversity box: the educated, tech-savvy, possibly gay, but still street smart black guy who has a quip for every situation and never shuts up.

They're still doing it even now 20+ years on.

Gaming specific: thinking about it I can't recall any modern game worthy of note in the action adventure genre I've played or know about which features a black NPC let alone a black or distinctly 'ethnic' primary hero or heroine that doesn't rely on black cliches.

Even the brilliant GTA: San Andreas and a whole host of other, lesser 'gangsta' themed games are guilty of that.

There was PS1 et al: Shadow Man (1999) and its less good PS2 only "2nd Coming" sequel with Michael LeRoi based on the black comic book character. Worthy as they were for doing this the games were very much rooted in voodoo culture, another cliched, if previously untapped, black cultural theme.

After that the only other game I can think of was Mucky Foot studio's PS1/DC Urban Chaos. It featured Darcy Stern a black, female detective. It received a lot of hype because of this.

Worthy yes but the game was mediocre, an interesting idea, on paper, a cross between TR and GTA. But it pushed the technical capabilities of the PS1 beyond its limit and the DC version was not much better affecting the gameplay.

[Caesum]

Bless your pure soul baby you made my day with this response

[Ringtir]

Originally Posted by fallenangle

Only just seen these comments about "Zip".

Really, really..........................REALLY?

The character was/is at best a tokenistic cliche that borders on the racist and is without any doubt deeply annoying.

But every character on the Core era is a cliche, specially on Chronicles. I feel It as part of the fun of the games, everything doesn't need to be so serious, is just fun and over the top action.

I don't believe that anyone would criticize Snoop Dogg for being too cliche about his skin colour.

[michaeldt]

I never thought of Zip as possibly hommasexsuelle

[Sat42]

Originally Posted by fallenangle

After that the only other game I can think of was Mucky Foot studio's PS1/DC Urban Chaos. It featured Darcy Stern a black, female detective. It received a lot of hype because of this.

Worthy yes but the game was mediocre, an interesting idea, on paper, a cross between TR and GTA. But it pushed the technical capabilities of the PS1 beyond its limit and the DC version was not much better affecting the gameplay.

Just play the PC version of Urban Chaos (available on GOG).

[fallenangle]

Are the draw distances better? That was the main problem with the console versions; I remember the driving elements were made almost unplayable because everything would disappear into blackness if it was more than a few car lengths away from you.

[Sat42]

Originally Posted by fallenangle

Are the draw distances better? That was the main problem with the console versions; I remember the driving elements were made almost unplayable because everything would disappear into blackness if it was more than a few car lengths away from you.

Well, I haven't touched the console versions so the only thing I can say with certainty is that with the PC version the resolution is obviously better (up to 1024x768 native, which is fine for a game with that aspect ratio if you still have a 5:4 monitor - I have one just for old games); I'd also be surprised if the PS1 version has real-time reflections. The draw distance is limited but (again on PC) I never found it to be particularly problematical, not more than with the first Tomb Raider games. For me, the driving experience was fine - the hardest challenges came from specific scenarios when fighting on foot and being forced to restart the whole mission if you die (no saving in-mission).

[fallenangle]

I use one of my two Dell SE177FP 5:4 monitors all the time with one of my desktops for just such retro gaming purposes. They're good for TR and any other retro-game you can get running.

I'll certainly put getting PC Urban Chaos on my gaming 'to do' list. But after having finally saved up enough for a used PS4 which has about a dozen games I've been desperate to play, including Rise of The TR and Shadow Of The TR, that is likely to be my primary gaming focus for the foreseeable future.

[Sat42]

Cool yeah for me having a 5:4 monitor is just indispensable.

[thabani33]

One thing that is not appreciated about this game is that it's the first game that introduced the radio communication between Lara and her colleagues. This feature went on to become the staple in the series from here onwards.