JS> Yeah, I guess it was TR2. You know, I played it for the first time the 
 JS> other day (having never played the first), and while 
 JS> it was a good game, I really didn't like the controls. 
 JS> I also didn't particularly like the fact that i died 
 JS> about 50 times just to beat the first board. I thought 
 JS> it might be something i would wanna buy, but i don't 
 JS> think so now. Lara Croft is so overexposed, it's 
 JS> nauseating anyway. Anyway, I'm anxious for the release 
 JS> of the Dural. I will definately buy it if it gets good 
 JS> software support because the specs look great. I think 
 JS> it will get plenty of good games too. I heard Messiah 
 JS> was gonna be on it.
  I think your experience has been soured somewhat.  The controls are indeed 
complex, but you CAN get used to them - and once you are, it's actually quite 
nice.
  That would also explain your bad experience with the first level.  You've 
never played Tomb Raider before; and like most other sequels, the game 
assumes that you have.  That usually means greater difficulty.  I've tried 
the PC demo (which, presumably, isn't the first level of the game), and I 
actually found it a bit easy.
  As for Lara, I don't think her being "overexposed" really presents a 
problem.  The only reason she's like that at all is because, as I understand 
it, Core wanted a character who was DEFINITELY female.  There is a logical 
flaw, though.  She's occasionally in winter environments, and yet the only 
extra protection is a bomber jacket!  Whatever happened to pants?
  Back to the Dural.  Yes, it should have Messiah, and that's definitely a 
good thing.  Not in that it's a guaranteed hit, but that it will definitely 
show off the system's performance potential.  Characters are made up of as 
many as 580,000 polygons, and are tesselized (reduced to a logical-looking, 
fast-running poly count) in real-time.  On a Dural, this will probably mean 
that a character up close will be undistinguishable from the pre-rendered 
models you'll probably see on the box.
--- Maximus 3.01
---------------