I am writing this to fill the empty space, and maybe reach other people that are interested in now 19 year old Gameboy Color games (I'm sure you are out there somewhere).

After playing through the old Tomb Raider games and finally reaching the milestone that is "the Angel of Darkness", the end of the Core Design Tomb Raider games is near. But there are actually two more original Tomb Raider games developed by Core Design and both were released on the Game Boy Color. Because I am a weirdo that actually played all the PC addons (sadly only the first three games had one) I just had to take a look at the first game on the Gameboy Color simply called "Tomb Raider".

The game begins with a cutscene (or rather a slideshow) where a rendered Lara is tasked with finding a stone that could release an evil god, typical Tomb Raider stuff. Since Iliat, the person you are supposed to meet, is missing Lara enters the aztec(?) temple alone. In typical Tomb Raider fashion there is not really much going on storywise and the cutscene slideshows are relatively rare.

Entering the temple you are able to listen to music for a few seconds before you meet your new best friend, the silence. Just like the old games the game relies on ambient sounds and in the early levels there are not many of them, just Lara's steps and annoying squeaky bats. Only the main menu and the beginning of every new area (5 areas in a total of 14 levels) have actual music playing.

Now in the complete silence you have to get familiar with the handheld Lara, a two dimensional one, the game is a sidescroller resembling the look of the old Prince of Persia titles. The controls are rather complex and you will need time to get used to them "B" is used to run, jump and climb and the "A" button is used to pull levers and interact with the environment "Start" opens the inventory and "Select" draws Lara's trademark twin guns (Lara does the aiming for you). It's surprising how many abilities Lara was able to retain in this version, climbing, running, jumping and crouching are easily done and very well animated (Lara can actually shoot while climbing in this game!).

The main gameplay consist of pulling levers, finding keys and to actually find the exit. The game has five areas that have a unique look, but each level in that area has a similar design and it is very easy to get lost or to run around in circles (of course there is no map). Luckily there many save crystals throughout the levels (this game has a battery save and not a password system) and falling into the many spike pits won't set you back a whole lot.

The biggest flaw the game has would be the large amount of damage Lara can receive, enemies and traps (apart from the pits that instantly kill you) do very little damage and you're basically flooded with medipaks. At some point I just ran through most of the traps and just healed myself occasionally. The only weapon in Lara's possession are her handguns and you can choose between three types of ammunition: normal, fast (like a machine gun) and slow (heavy damage) bullets. Normal bullets are unlimited, while the other two can be found throughout the levels. The battles are pathetic, Lara can only shoot while standing still, but since she can tank so much damage you can basically just stand in front of an enemy and take your time.

Summing up: Writing reviews is hard.

Tomb Raider on the GBC is a perfectly fine game, the colors are vibrant, Lara's animations are very well done and her moveset is quite large. But the levels are often confusing, the environment poses no real danger to Lara and you get way way way too many healing items.

It's no masterpiece but a decent game with focus on exploration and a whole lot of climbing, just what you would expect from a classic Tomb Raider game.