Tomb Raider II

Ancient legends speak of an artifact, the Dagger of Xian, capable of turning them into a dragon whoever plunged the dagger into their heart. So much so, that it became the tool in wars thousands of years past. At the beginning of the Qin dynasty, Chinese Emperor Qin Shihuang, uses this to command his army, leaving devastation and destruction in his path.  The ancient monk warriors of Tibet fought against the emperor's tyranny and army, struggling to remove the dagger from emperor's heart.  As the battle continues, the dagger is removed by one of the monks and the emperor's dragon-flesh melts away, leaving nothing but bone. With their emperor dead, the Chinese retreat and the monks return to the Temple of Xian underneath the Great Wall of China, to place the dagger where it can never be used again.

 In modern time, landing near the Great Wall, explorer and adventurer, Lara Croft, seeks the truth behind the dagger's stories and legends.  When she is able make her way to the dagger's resting place, she finds that not only is the key to the door's mechanism lock missing, but she is ambushed by an Italian thug, claiming to work for a man named, Marco Bartoli. The thug continues to speak to Lara, stating that he surprised she is here, seeing as she 'doesn't seem to have monk's blood' (referring to the monks who originally hid the dagger). He goes on to say that only one who truly believes in the dagger, will have the ability to change into a dragon. Before Lara can say or ask anything else, he pulls out a canteen, apparently full of poison and immediately dies. Hesitant to just waltz in the front door, Lara finds a computer near the now deceased henchmen's hideout. While looking up information about Marco Bartoli, she finds that his residence is in Venice, Italy.

  Lara decides to travel to Venice in search for answers and after Marco, who seemingly is after the same prize as she. As her journey continues, she discovers that Marco is a mob boss in the Italian mafia, who has cultivated a cult based on the beliefs and lore of the Dagger of Xian. When she finally finds Bartoli, he is on an airplane about to travel to an oil rig in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Lara sneaks on board and eavesdrops on a conversation between Bartoli and one his clan members. They speak about their excavation of a sunken vessel, the Maria Doria, and how it will help them to recover the dagger. The member is doubtful of Bartoli's plan, pushing Marco into a violent fanatical rage, with the airplane diving nose-down. Lara's eavesdropping session comes to a halt as she falls over boxes into the cargo hold while the clan member struggles to regain the steering of the plane. After quickly gaining control again, he quickly apologizes for doubting Bartoli. Lara draws her guns as she hears Marco leaving the cockpit, but is attacked from behind by one of Bartoli's thugs and, her world goes black.

   With a headache and found to be on the oil rig, locked up with no weapons, Lara escapes the room and makes her way through the rig. As she travels toward a non-submerged submarine, she witnesses a battle between what looks like to be an age-old Tibetan monk and Bartoli's thugs. Lara attacks and kills the henchmen, saving the monk. He says that he is Brother Chan of the Barkhang Monastery of Tibet. He goes on to claim that he must be dead and she is his guide to his next reincarnation. Lara uses his confusion and asks him what he is doing there and what the story is with the sunken vessel that Bartoli is so interested with. He claims that he is only trying to protect the dagger and fighting only because time's have demanded the monks to intervene. He goes on to say that the liner which was sunk, belong to Marco's father, Gianni Bartoli. It had been sunk by the monks many years ago because it carried an artifact called the Seraph. The monks were so desperate to keep the dagger safe that they took the Talion, the key to the dagger's room, and hid it in their monastery in Tibet. The Seraph, however, is the tool used to reach the Talion. During the conversation, Lara changes into a wetsuit, determined to reach the Seraph before Bartoli. The monk also warns that Marco is dangerous and psychotic like his father, obsessed with the dagger and will stop at nothing to get it. Still believing he is dead, he asks Lara where she is taking him, and before she can answer him, Chan is shot by Bartoli twice. Lara traces the gunfire and an all-out gun battle ensues between herself and Bartoli. Behind cover, Lara sees the submarine that is going to recover the Seraph, is diving rapidly. She quickly jumps into the water and grabs hold to it's railing. Submerged into the ocean, she hangs on for dear life whilst attempting to conceal her presence. While holding her breath, she accidentally gives away that she is a stowaway and the clan member controlling the submarine, tries to ward her off. He ends up crashing the sub and now, underneath forty-fathoms deep, Lara must find the vessel quickly before her oxygen is gone.

   Lara finds her way to the vessel and discovers an air pocket, but Bartoli's men are already there and excavating the site. They try to stop Lara from recovering the Seraph but she manages to hold her own and dispose of the henchmen. She manages to reach it before they do and leaves the Maria Doria. After surfacing and returning to the oil rig, she hops on one of Bartoli's planes and heads to the Tibetan mountains. Once in Tibet, the plane starts to run out of fuel and before Lara can do anything, it begins to halt. Trying to avoid the inevitable crash, Lara straps on a parachute and pops open the plane's cockpit overhead and pulls the parachute's string, flying backwards, while the plane slides into the mountains and crashes. Stuck on foot and in the cold, she heads through the mountains and finds the secret Barkhang Monastery that brother Chan claimed to be from. When she arrives however, the monastery is being attacked by Bartoli's men. Lara helps the monks fight and in return, they allow her access into the monastery. After going inside, she uses the Seraph to recover the Talion but is attacked by the monstrous, and huge guardian that the monks have put up to protect it. When the beast dies, she takes the Talion and leaves the monastery. She finds that Bartoli and his men have reached Tibet as well. In the darkness of night, she steals one of the jeeps the goons arrived in. A chase ensues and Lara manages to get away and heads back to China.

  As soon as she arrives, Lara makes her way back to the temple door she had found only days prior, and puts the Talion into the key hole. A mechanism turns the key and it slowly opens, and Lara walks into the darkness of the temple. The temple is full of many traps and even leads to an other-wordly area of floating jade islands. Unfortunately though, during Lara's time in the temple, Bartoli manages to get to the dagger with his cult and performs a ritual ceremony. Much to Lara's horror, he stabs himself with it and is carried away by his clan. Witnessing it all, Lara jumps down after the ceremony and heads to the once dragon's lair. Cautiously making her way inside, she finds Bartoli's body, but all it not as it seems. As she approaches, his body quickly transforms into a raging, golden dragon. A terrible battle of life or death pursues Lara as she dodges the fire that comes from his mouth. After a staggering and long fight, Bartoli falls and Lara quickly removes the dagger, and just as the emperor had so many years ago was reduced to bone, so too becomes the fate of Bartoli. The walls start to give way around her from the battle Marco and she had participated in, and the temple begins to collapse. Barely escaping the explosions, she is flung out of the exit, knocked unconscious, while a part of the Great Wall is blown up. After awaking, Lara sees the damage that has been caused, stretches and heads back home with the dagger. When night falls, her mansion's alarm goes off. Bartoli's men, seeking revenge for the death of their leader, siege upon Lara's home. After defeating them, Lara finally is given the chance to relax. She walks to her bathroom, setting the shotgun down she used during the attack and starts to undress. She then looks at the camera and says, "Don't you think you've seen enough?", picks up the shotgun and shoots the player.


RELEASE DATE: 1997
MUSIC COMPOSER: Nathan McCree
PLATFORMS: PC and Playstation


ARTIFACT(S): The Dagger of Xian
LOCATIONS OF LEVELS: China, Italy, an Offshore Rig, Tibet and a sunken ocean liner.
CHARACTERS: Marco Bartoli, Brother Chan
ENEMIES: Spiders, tigers, Great White sharks, snow leopards, yetis, human goons, vultures, hawks, and more.
WEAPONS: Dual pistols, shotgun, automatic pistols, harpoon gun, rocket launcher, M16 rifle, uzis, grenade launcher.
NEW FEATURES: Climb walls/ladders, roll-jump, flares, dynamic lighting, hair-style braid, new outfits, and new vehicles: snowmobile and motorboat.


♦ Tomb Raider II sold over 8 million copies world-wide.
♦ A braid was added to Lara Croft's hairstyle. So now during both gameplay and cutscenes, she had one, unlike her predecessor.
♦ Judith Gibbons was the voice of Lara Croft in Tomb Raider II: Starring Lara Croft and also returned as Lara in the third game in the series.
♦ Due to the major success of Tomb Raider II, Lara became so famous, that she starred in U2's tour, PopMart, as an icon.
♦ After Tomb Raider II was released, Tomb Raider II: Gold, came out for the PC, complete with the original game and five added on levels.
♦ Like Tomb Raider, Tomb Raider II became part of the 'Greatest Hits' line of Playstation.