Tomb Raider II vs Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness
Tomb Raider II is an action-adventure platformer game from Core Design (1997) while Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness is an action-adventure game from Core Design (2003).
Quick answer: Tomb Raider II has the higher Metacritic, 53 to 49.
Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness
What each one is
Tomb Raider II is filed under Action-Adventure and Platformer. In contrast, Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness under Action-Adventure.
The second instalment in the Tomb Raider series invites you to join Lara as she travels around the globe to retrieve a precious artefact before it falls into the wrong hands. The legendary artefact, the Dagger of Xian, is said to give its possessor the power of a fire breathing dragon.
Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness is a 2003 action-adventure game developed by Core Design and published by Eidos Interactive for PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Windows. A Mac OS X port was developed by Beenox and published by Aspyr the same year. It is the sixth instalment in the Tomb Raider series, acting as a direct sequel to Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (1999) and Tomb Raider: Chronicles (2000). The storyline follows Lara Croft as she attempts to clear herself of being the suspect of her former mentor Werner Von Croy's murder while investigating the activities of a black magic cult. The gameplay follows series tradition, with Lara navigating platforming environments while incorporating stealth and character growth elements.
Story, characters and reception
Plot
Lara Croft is searching for the Dagger of Xian, a magical weapon once used by an ancient Emperor of China to command his army; by plunging the weapon into its owner's heart, the weapon has the power to transform its bearer into a dragon . Having tracked the Dagger's chamber to beneath the Great Wall of China , Lara is accosted by a member of the Fiamma Nera, an Italian cult obsessed with the Dagger. Before killing himself, the cultist reveals that his… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Tomb Raider II received positive reviews from most critics. At Metacritic , which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100, the game received a score of 85 for the PlayStation version based on 13 reviews, which indicates "favourable reviews". The majority commented that while the differences from the original game are relatively small, Tomb Raider was a strong enough game that these differences and the consistent execution were enough to… (Wikipedia)
Plot
The Angel of Darkness follows on from events in Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation and Tomb Raider: Chronicles , where Lara Croft was presumed dead. An unspecified time later, Lara arrives in Paris at the request of her former mentor, Werner Von Croy, who was tasked by a man named Eckhardt to find a set of artifacts known as the Obscura Paintings. The city, and Von Croy, are gripped with fear over a serial killer the press has dubbed the "Monstrum". (Wikipedia)
Reception
Sales Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness received strong initial sales, mostly driven by an aggressive advertising campaign. The game reached 6th place in the UK Top 20 sales charts, but dropped to 13th by the following week. The game's PlayStation 2 version received a "Platinum" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 300,000 copies in the United Kingdom. (Wikipedia)
At a glance
| Tomb Raider II | Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness | |
|---|---|---|
| GamingPickz Score | 7.2/10 | — |
| Steam rating | Very Positive (87%, 2,360) | — |
| Critic aggregate | 53/100 | 49/100 |
| Price | $3.49 | Unknown |
| Install size | — | — |
| Steam Deck | unsupported | Untested |
| Released | 1997 | 2003 |
| Developer | Core Design | Core Design |
Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.
Tomb Raider II vs Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness, point by point
Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.
Genre and premise
Tomb Raider IIAction-adventure platformer gameTomb Raider: The Angel of DarknessAction-adventure gameWhat each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.
How it plays
Tomb Raider IIAdventure, Action, Female ProtagonistTomb Raider: The Angel of DarknessNo descriptive tagsThe tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.
Reception
Tomb Raider II ✓Metacritic 53Tomb Raider: The Angel of DarknessMetacritic 49Metacritic's critic aggregate, from the game's Wikipedia reception where it was never on Steam.
Content and scale
Tomb Raider II2,360 reviewsTomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness—Reach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.
Price
Tomb Raider II$3.49Tomb Raider: The Angel of DarknessUnknownRead live from Steam and subject to change.
Tomb Raider II takes 1 of the marked rounds to 0. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.
Which to pick, by what you want
- The better reviewed of the two: Tomb Raider II (Metacritic 53)
Where they differ
AdventureActionFemale ProtagonistClassicSingleplayerThird Person
Tags players apply to one game and not the other.
Difficulty and who each is for
By the tags players apply, Tomb Raider II is demanding, for players who want a challenge. Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.
Accessibility features
Steam store pages declare 0 accessibility features for Tomb Raider II and 0 for Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness. A declaration is a floor, not a review.
If you like one, also try
Common questions
How different are Tomb Raider II and Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness in scope?
Tomb Raider II has drawn 2,360 Steam reviews. Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness lists little scope data.
Is Tomb Raider II or Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness better?
Neither carries enough reviews for us to score it reliably, so we do not call a winner. The table above shows what each does have.
Which is cheaper, Tomb Raider II or Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness?
One or both do not have a current listed price, so a straight comparison is not possible. See the table above.
Should I get Tomb Raider II or Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness?
Tomb Raider II has the higher Metacritic, 53 to 49. It also depends on what you want: the "which to pick" section above calls out which is cheaper, lighter on storage, better on a Steam Deck and the safer bet by weight of reviews.
Do you rank one above the other for a fee?
No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.
Related comparisons
All comparisonsHow we compare, and what we will not do
The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.