Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness - Reception, Sales and Aftermath

Reception, Sales and Aftermath

Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness garnered mixed to negative reviews from most critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100, the game received an average score of 52 and 49 for the PlayStation 2 and Windows version, respectively. Reviewers praised the storyline, improved graphics, sound and the environments, while they criticised large amount of bugs, control system, combat system, camera, steep system requirements etc.

IGN gave the game a 5.3/10, remarking "Core's latest baby delivers an excellent presentation, a pretty set of visuals, a sweeping score and, as usual, a game filled with trusty exploration, good puzzling solving and surprise." but continued, adding on "The game fails in nearly all of the gameplay areas -- control is awkward and miserable at best, combat is pathetic, and stealth is infantile in its implementation". GameSpot rated the game a 6.5/10, which indicates a mediocre score, stating "This latest Tomb Raider can be rewarding for those who can suffer through its cumbersome controls, numerous highly difficult gameplay sequences, and occasional bugs. But we shouldn't have to make so many concessions to enjoy a game that seems like it could and should have turned out much better than it did". Furthermore, Paramount Pictures faulted The Cradle of Life's relatively inadequate box office performance on the poor critical reception, and backlash the video game received from its fans. Other media outlets received the game more positively, the PlayStation Official Magazine scored the game with an 8/10, saying "Although some issues with the controls and some bugs, the game is faithful to the series and delivers a true Tomb Raider experience". GamesRadar awarded the game with a 78% rank, commenting "TR6 is a neater, more considered game that offers the expected graphic improvements and sweetens those sequels' harsh natures". But went on, saying "If there was one fault suffered by the series and loathed by even the most ardent Crofter it was the clumsy layout of the buttons. Which makes it all the more shocking that Core have actually found a way to make them worse, far worse".

The head of Core Design, Jeremy Heath-Smith, resigned after the release of the game, with the missed end-of-year release date and the luke-warm reception cited as reasons. The publishing company, Eidos Interactive, took the production of Tomb Raider games away from Core Design and assigned them to Crystal Dynamics. It is possible that the lackluster reception of Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness contributed to Core Design's discontinuance in 2006. Despite the lukewarm reception, sales were strong because of an aggressive advertising campaign. The game eventually sold 2.5 million copies.