Supposedly,Core has experimented with 3 distincly different control schemes for this game,and still insists the one we played with is not the final.Boy, we hope that's not true,because the present analog setup is tremendously awkward. Press lightly on the right analog stick, and Lara will slowly walk forward; apply a tad more pressure,and she darts into a full run.As a result of the rough speed transition, we dropped poor Lara off more cliffs than we care to admit. Worse still,there are no plans to allow old school gamers to use the traditional digital controls introduced in the 1st game.Say's Core,"We've introduced a new control system because one of the biggest downfalls of the previous games was the difficulty of the controls. We're not dumbing down the franchise, but we listened to feedback and acted upon it.It appears to make the game play more fluidly, is by far more user-friendly." We disagree with Core on that.The current controls reminded of the half-baked analog setup debuted in TR 3,except this new scheme doesn't even feature a quick turn button. It's difficult to navigate the game's many small rooms-Lara can never seem to help lurching forward and banging her head against the edges of doorways-and lining up jumps is a real pain.This is by far our biggest concern.If the controls aren't tightened up,the finished game won't be much fun.
Eidos has made a big deal about wanting to playtest the hell out of the game before releasing it to the public.Hopefully,enough beta testers will complain and these kinks will get worked out.""We wouldn't rush out to preorder the disc just yet.This is a big ,ambitious game crammed with glittery visuals and intereting play mechanics.But if Core's not careful,The AOD just might collapse under it's own weight. In particular, the controls desperately need fixing. For now,we'll wait for the review build with our fingers crossed.