What was speculated to be a cash grab from the get-go was all but confirmed by the Dreamcast version’s haphazard port, Davies stating, “Eidos practices some corporate necrophilia by exhuming her corpse and exploiting her legacy.” This was not a game that looked like it belonged on the console, despite Smith’s earlier claims. While Tomb Raider IV had been reviewed in light of it being a five-month-old game on 32-bit hardware ported to a much more powerful machine, the fact that Chronicles was less optimized for the Dreamcast than its predecessor broke even the most dedicated of fan’s trust. Though ODM dedicated three pages to the review, and snuck in plenty of fanfare regarding Croft’s history (fitting, amid the game’s funeral setting), writer Dylan Davies was blunt in his criticism. The game was reviewed in the next issue of ODM, scoring 6/10. Chronicles was not only the final game Core Design would build in the classic engine, but it would be the final Tomb Raider game fans would get to play on SEGA hardware. In fact, another exclusivity deal with Sony was in the works, and the Dreamcast would have left store shelves long before the game’s ( The Angel of Darkness) development was complete. Smith coyly stated they were looking at the Dreamcast for the next title, but wouldn’t commit. While the promise of improved visuals and more cinematic gameplay sounded good, writer Alex Huhtala did press him as to when we would see that true next generation Tomb Raider Core Design had been talking about. In the ODM preview, Smith hyped Chronicles to be the most cinematic game in the series to date. Optimistically, the preview stated, “This time, Core plan to make the game look like it belongs on Dreamcast.” It seemed Core Design wasn’t deaf to fans’ complaints however, it would soon become evident they didn’t have time to care about them either. On the other, fans felt slightly let down that Tomb Raider IV on the Dreamcast had been such a half-baked port. On one hand, it was nice to see Core Design commit more games to SEGA’s console. In ODM #14, the game was previewed with both fanfare and skepticism. Despite Smith’s wavering commitment to the console, the fifth game in the franchise, Chronicles, was ultimately confirmed for the Dreamcast.
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