Author seancarslake

Tomb Raider Chronicles – The New York Levels

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The whirlwind adventure that is ‘Tomb Raider Chronicles’ comes to a dramatic finale as Lara Croft dons a leather catsuit and infiltrates the high-security Von Croy Enterprises building in New York City, or rather Jersey City – if the positioning of the Manhattan skyline in the distance can be used as a marker.

I should explain the geography a little here, as I was quite keen to learn the exact location of where this adventure was taking place. With the World Trade Centre featuring prominently in the background whenever our heroine positioned herself close to a window overlooking the river, I thought it would be interesting to use this view to pinpoint where this fictional building was supposed to be.

Now, I’ve never been to New York City so correct me if I am wrong here. If you logically follow the three photos above – factoring in that the building Lara is standing in is a little further back from the river – then I think a reasonably accurate location for the Von Croy headquarters would be somewhere within the yellow circle on the map.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that not only did the developers keep the World Trade Centre in the remastered version of the game, but actually enhanced the view to a considerable degree. Whenever I entered a room with a window, I often stayed there for a while to admire the scenery; and sometimes would use the zoom to scan up and down the skyline.

But I should now move onto the story itself, where Lara’s mission is to break into the high-tech building and steal the powerful Iris artifact. Easier said than done!

Standing in Lara’s way are dozens of armed security guards, laser traps and machine gun turrets that are motion sensor activated. Fortunately, there are a few employees who are not as good at their jobs as some of their more trigger-happy colleagues – like old mate in the screenshot below.

Like every other level in this game, these chapters play out more along the lines of vignettes rather than expansive, complicated missions as seen in previous Tomb Raider titles. However, keeping the areas brief and the pace moving at a decent speed does have its advantages – and there were more than enough tricky puzzles, dangerous opponents and difficult stunts in these levels to satisfy most fans.

Having stolen the Iris at the end of the first chapter titled ‘The 13th Floor’, the next stage is the aptly-named ‘Escape With The Iris’ and begins with Lara having to disarm herself in order not to set off the deadly sensors in a scene reminiscent of ‘Total Recall‘ – see photo below.

Having to deal with armed guards without any weapons to fire back at them was a little testy at times, but some of the cloths and bottles of chloroform left lying around the place certainly came in handy. Exactly why these items would be found in the executive’s offices is a little beyond me, but I’ll take any help where I can get it!

I should also point out that the decor of the building reminded me of Nakatomi Plaza in ‘Die Hard’, and I suspect the game designers were heavily-inspired by this film – and that includes when Lara is crawling through the ventilation shafts.

The final level of the game is titled ‘Red Alert’ – and is all about Lara’s quest to gain access to the rooftop helipad in order to escape the building. This time around, there are some truly formidable foes – including a crazy helicopter that blasts machine gun rounds through the windows whenever Lara comes into view (see photo below).

There are two cyborgs hunting Lara down as well, and both are extremely difficult to kill. The first one needs to be electrocuted by flooding a room with water and then shot up a few times, with the second cyborg needing to be trapped and then gassed. Both mechanical men hold one half of the escape key, so Lara cannot get away until these villains have been dealt with.

Once you combine the key, it is a simple matter of backtracking to the exit and opening the door – where the game ends with a cut scene of Lara escaping on a hang glider.

Overall, I thought that some of the puzzles and jumping tricks featured in these levels – especially in the elevator shafts and broken stairwell – were some of the hardest to pass through in the entire game. In fact, I’m going out on a limb here and will say that the Von Croy Building was the most difficult of all the locations featured in ‘Tomb Raider Chronicles.’

For those old enough to remember the original PlayStation game from 2000, it was a shame that back then the final level was ruined by numerous bugs and glitches – where one false save in the wrong place meant you had to start the entire stage from the beginning. If I recall correctly, there were doors that wouldn’t open and missing grappling hook ammo – meaning that the ‘Red Alert’ level was impossible to pass. The good news is that all of these issues have been sorted out in the remastered edition.

I will now present a few comparison screenshots – with the 2025 version on top, and the original from all those years ago featured on the bottom. I will pick the ones that best highlight the improvements made for the newer game.

I would rate ‘Tomb Raider Chronicles’ as an enjoyable – but lightweight – entry into the series. To be honest, after the Rome and Russian Submarine stories, the chances of me rating this release highly were not looking good – but the second half of the game set in Ireland and New York were quite strong and got it over the line.

I still think this remains one of the weaker Tomb Raider games, and with the exception of the Hydra fight in Rome and a rope swinging trick in the Ireland levels, I did not come across too many frustrating hurdles during my progress. There was the odd timed-switch run and one-off challenges here and there, but it felt like there were a few extra seconds afforded to these sprints when compared to similar tests in earlier titles.

At times, the narrative did feel more like deleted scenes or excess adventures that had been slapped together hastily to create a full game and cash in at the height of Lara Croft’s popularity – which would have been at around the turn of the century. But as I mentioned above, the second half of the game featured some good storytelling and unique surroundings, and it’s always better to finish strongly than to fade away.

My final score for this game is a handy 6.5* out of 10.

*As with all the other remastered Tomb Raider titles, the work that has gone in to update and modernise this game has been brilliant to say the least – and this certainly adds marks to the final score.

All screenshots are courtesy of Aspyr, Crystal Dynamics, PlayStation and Google Maps.

I watched ‘Superman’ – and it was okay

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James Gunn’s ‘Superman’ was released in cinemas last week to mixed – yet in some ways consistent – reviews and has been vigorously broken down and analysed on numerous online channels and podcasts over the past few days.

I managed to catch a session of this movie yesterday and approached it with an open mind – not wanting to be overly-critical, but also not setting my expectations too high.

This is not a great movie; nor is it a disaster. In fact, a lot of the praise that this film has received can be justified, and likewise so can the flaws and weaknesses pointed out in some of the negative reviews. But overall – and this is my own verdict here – I would describe this reboot of Superman as being all over the place and a bit of a mess, yet it turned out to be a fun movie that I found quite likeable.

Without giving any elements of the plot away, I will tread carefully and provide an honest appraisal of what I experienced from this movie. Toward the end of this article, I will put up a spoiler warning and then offer a few more detailed remarks.

I will start positively by saying that David Corenswet was excellent as Superman. He looked and acted the part, but I think the way the film was written meant that his charm and charisma took a little while to shine through. But eventually it did.

Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane was also well-cast, as was Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor – but I don’t think the super villain’s part was penned as sharply as it could have been. The ideas were alright and some of Luthor’s schemes were decent, but the fast-paced screenplay often didn’t allow his moments of evil genius to settle before moving on to the next scenes.

In fact, this a common criticism of James Gunn, mainly around moments of gravitas or emotionally-heavy exchanges in his films, in which he overuses levity – often in the form of a weak joke or some type of slapstick – to underline the scene. To be fair, this style can often work well in a film and it’s great to make the audience laugh – but it is not as effective as often as Gunn thinks it is and many times in this movie he fails to let these character-building scenes slow down a little and run their course.

You may have read similar criticisms in other reviews, and these are legitimate gripes. But to me these issues were a minor disappointment and fit nicely into my ‘it could have been better’ overview of this film. Whilst I think that Gunn overplayed the use of jokes in this movie, it was not a deal-breaker for me – for it was clear that his vision for Superman was aimed at a younger audience.

There has also been a lot of negative talk about how bloated and overflowing this film is with other meta human characters, such as the ‘Justice Gang’ and Luthor’s goon squad featuring Ultraman and The Engineer, not to mention the mysterious ‘Hammer of Boravia’ – but I’ll have more to say about this chap later. The main criticism that has been echoed around the internet is that it is hard for Superman to be the star of his own show with all these other powered-up folks running around, which is a fair call.

This all boils down to Gunn’s decision to start the movie right in the middle of a shit storm – which it is revealed was partly Superman’s fault – and simply pile all these characters into the story at breakneck speed and allow the audience to figure it out as it plays along. Sometimes jumping into the deep end works (note: ‘Pacific Rim’) and sometimes it doesn’t, but I am of the view that James Gunn set things up satisfactorily and there was ‘just’ enough continuity and reasoning to explain each rapidly-moving jump to the next.

Would I have preferred a little more time for the characters to develop, a touch of plot clarity, and perhaps some moments to build a solid platform in which to propel the film forward? Yes, of course – but I was somehow able to overlook these basic storytelling flaws and ended up enjoying the film. I guess if I was to offer up an explanation for my leniency, then it would be that the overall charm of this movie had somehow won me over.

The visuals and aesthetics were bright and colourful, the jokes – when on point – were good, the performances all around were convincing, and the overall story was serviceable.

Therefore, I’m going to be a little generous here and give ‘Superman’ a six out of ten. I found it to be a very likeable movie; a risky take on a well-known and established superhero – one that I don’t think James Gunn was able to pull off completely.

However, I can’t go any deeper into my assessment of this film and offer a more detailed critique without mentioning spoilers, so consider this a fair warning for those who are yet to watch ‘Superman.’

**** SPOILER ALERT ****

Judging by what I wrote above the warning notice, it is safe to assume that I enjoyed the movie and was quite fair towards James Gunn’s treatment of such an iconic IP such as Superman. But it’s important to note that I described my final score as being a ‘generous’ six out of ten – when in truth if I was marking this correctly should have given it a five.

Again, I must underline that I liked this film, but it lost some serious marks over a number of issues – with the treatment of Superman’s true parents Jor-El and Lara topping the list. That entire scene regarding their damaged message, and it being interpreted in such a diabolical manner may have worked as a plot mechanism, but to not be debunked as a Luthor hoax at the end of the film and allowed to stand as fact was a serious own goal and a betrayal of Superman’s origin story.

The ‘Justice Gang’ worked okay for me, and I liked Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner. Mister Terrific was a cool superhero and I don’t think he was bigger than Superman in this movie as other critics suggest. I couldn’t get my head around Hawk Girl, though – and if one of these extra superheroes could have had a spell on the sidelines to help ease the clutter then I would have nominated her.

The ‘Hammer of Boravia’ came and went in an instant, yet was able to beat up Superman twice in the first ten minutes of the film before never seeing him again. I was hoping for a rematch at the end of the movie, but a scene inside Luthor’s control room clearly showed Ultraman being the man underneath this mysterious villain’s mask.

Now onto the humour, where – like much of the film’s content – it felt like it was thrown against a wall in the hope that some of it might stick. That does sound a little harsh, but that was exactly how hit and miss some of the gags were in this film. For example, I laughed aloud when Luthor’s guys released the baby Kaiju out of its box and made an offbeat remark as the tiny creature scurried away – along the lines of “Don’t worry. It will get bigger.” I thought Green Lantern knocking out the Boravian tanks with a giant middle finger was also pretty good. On the flip side, Superman’s robots were unfunny and the monkeys tapping away on the keyboards were a wide miss. I’m neither here nor there with Krypto, but the appearance of a drunken Supergirl at the end of the film to collect her dog was totally dumb.

Another scene that I would describe as ‘misplaced Gunn wit’ was the bizarre sequence where Superman and Lois are having a deep discussion in her apartment whilst the ‘Justice Gang’ are battling a giant alien outside the window. Seriously, would Superman sit there talking to his girlfriend instead of helping the other heroes fight the creature? I think you know the answer.

This film easily could have been a seven or an eight out of ten, had James Gunn toned down his style of movie-making and his trademark quirks – if only as a mark of respect for such a famous character as Superman. I think he could have satisfied both the younger and older demographics had he tightened things up a little and showed some more restraint with his liberal splashing of attempted comedy in almost every scene.

So, I’ve had my say – and I must admit that this was a very difficult film to review, but I hope that I have done so fairly and in an objective manner.

Again, ‘Superman’ gets a six out of ten from me – despite its flaws.

And as an end note, if I was to compare it to the other blockbuster film released this month – ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’, then James Gunn’s ‘Superman’ wins hands down!

All photos and screenshots are courtesy of DC, Warner Bros and various online sources.

Tomb Raider Chronicles takes a creepy turn!

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I remember playing these levels twenty-five years ago when ‘Tomb Raider Chronicles’ was released on PlayStation One, but I don’t recall them being so macabre. I refer of course to the eerie adventure set on an island off the Irish coast, featuring a teenage Lara Croft.

Taking on this flashback story with a young Lara creates an interesting dynamic, and is different from the rest of the game – with no weapons available and the surrounds being very dark and gloomy; requiring a degree of stealth and cunning to pass through.

The opening chapter is titled ‘Gallows Tree’ and Lara is quickly introduced to a ghoul hanging from a branch with a hole in his chest where his heart had been cut out. Quite sinister for a Tomb Raider game, right?

The freak show doesn’t end there though, as Lara is forced to contend with deadly imp creatures who follow her around and will lash out if she allows them to get too close. I should mention that these little monsters are called ‘changelings’ in the official guide, but I shall refer to them as ‘imps’ – as I never witnessed them change into anything.

The next stage is named ‘Labyrinth’ and features some truly scary supernatural entities; from floating apparitions to sword-wielding skeletons. As I played along, I became convinced that there was a scene in this level where Lara is chased by a large monster, but this did not eventuate – proving that my memory remains a little foggy with regards to this game. Perhaps I got mixed up with a different Tomb Raider title?

However, like the ‘Gallows Tree’ chapter, the atmosphere and mystical settings here are fantastic – and the remastered edition adds a few extra macabre details to certain backgrounds, which I will point out when I post the side-by-side comparisons later.

The labyrinth that the level is named after is a series of rotating wooden bridges and it wasn’t too hard to find a way out – but to add a little more difficulty, a few fiends crawled out of crypts to attack Lara just when it felt like she was safe. Fun times for all!

The third and final level is ‘The Old Mill’ – featuring some challenging rope swings and tricky jump sequences – all of which my ageing reflexes struggled with. As far as bad guys go, we have a Demon Knight, an evil underwater mermaid-like creature and a cameo appearance from a group of deadly imps.

In the end, Lara defeats both foes by firstly tricking the sea hag into a cage, and then beating the Demon Knight by reading out a passage from an ancient bestiary.

Overall, the Ireland adventure in ‘Chronicles’ was a refreshing change from what we normally expect from a Tomb Raider game. Not only did the young and inexperienced – as well as unarmed – Lara Croft add an extra degree of intrigue to the story, but the disturbing surrounds really set this apart from the Rome and Russian Submarine levels featured previously.

As I mentioned earlier, the developers really went to town with the remastered version and added a number of well-placed additions to the scenery. I have selected some of the better comparison shots below – with the 2025 game featured on top and the original PS One displayed on the bottom. I think the first screenshot is the best and most imaginative, with that ‘thing’ under the sheet being an unnerving ‘improvement’ – luckily it was only there for show.

Having made it three-quarters of the way through ‘Tomb Raider Chronicles’, my honest assessment of what I have experienced so far is a game with very short levels that I have had little to no difficulty passing through. That being said, I enjoyed the Ireland adventure a lot more than the previous stages, and in a strange way got a kick out of the weird and wonderful things that were going on as the story progressed.

So, it is now onto the final stages – set in the Von Croy building in Manhattan – where the original game featured a bug that essentially made it impossible to progress. Apparently, this newer version has ironed out such problems, so we’ll find out soon enough.

‘Tomb Raider Chronicles’ is part of the second remastered Tomb Raider Trilogy and is available at the PlayStation store.

All screenshots are courtesy of Aspyr, Crystal Dynamics and PlayStation.

Tomb Raider Chronicles – Rome levels

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Released back in 2000, ‘Tomb Raider Chronicles’ is the fifth installment in the adventures of Lara Croft, and structurally is very different from the previous games. By this I mean that the story is set out as a series of flashbacks – or mini prequels – as told by associates of Lara during cut scenes that connect the overall game.

The first of these ‘trips down memory lane’ is of a caper that took place in The Eternal City, which appeared to be heavily inspired by the Venice levels in ‘Tomb Raider II’.

This story arc is broken into three chapters; the first of which is titled ‘Streets of Rome.’ So, let’s check it out…

Design-wise, the game looks good – and the 2025 remastered edition is a marked improvement on the original release from twenty-five years ago.

But one of the things that was ‘off’ about the Rome location was that there was no one else around – besides a couple of rogue dogs – and anyone who has visited this city would know this is impossible. It’s not only the desolate surrounds that are incorrect, but the audio as well; as Lara is exploring in the vicinity of the Colosseum – where there would be thousands of tourists and a ton of traffic – yet distant bells and the odd bird are the only sounds you can hear.

The opening level is a short one, and is little more than cobbled lanes and courtyards with the odd switch to be pulled. This area plays out as a maze, and you find yourself running around in circles until the pathway to another section is discovered.

This short chapter concludes when Lara encounters two old foes in Pierre and Larson – both of whom she would later kill in the original Tomb Raider game – before the story quickly moves on to the next stage.

‘Trajan Markets’ is where the story starts to get interesting; opening up a mysterious part of Rome where mechanical monsters, hordes of rats and deadly statues await!

Again, the layout is very maze-like, but there are a few ‘touristy’ highlights of note – without the tourists, of course.

‘Trajan Markets’ eventually turns the full circle and ends where it began, with Larson once again ambushing Lara outside of the temple door visited at the end of the previous stage. However, this time around there is one noticeable difference – that being, the mechanical hydra clunking into life to defend the entrance.

I couldn’t help but think Tomb Raider had ‘jumped the shark’ with these deadly robots – I mean, who built them and why? How did the hydra heads move from above the door to the ground below?

In any case, after an epic battle against this metallic, flame-throwing fiend – the temple door opens up to reveal the entrance to the next level.

‘The Colosseum’ is the third and final chapter in the Rome story – featuring some impressive torture chambers, underground caves and battles against ancient gladiators, lions and more lethal statues coming to life.

But I have to point out again that there is no way these types of shenanigans could be going on at the Colosseum in broad daylight without any tourists being around.

The Rome levels were a breeze to get through, with the only major delay being the fight with the hydra. On the whole, it was probably a little too easy and the areas to explore were quite limited – but on a positive note it was well-designed and the aesthetics were good.

As always, I like to present a few split screenshots to compare the difference between the original PlayStation game from 2000 to the remastered 2025 edition – with the new version on top and the old graphics being on the bottom.

The Rome levels of ‘Tomb Raider Chronicles’ were a little hit and miss for me, with the limited area on offer and ease to pass through being the biggest issues. I also can’t get my head around choosing a busy city like Rome as a setting and expecting us to believe that the place was deserted.

However, I do recall playing the original game all those years ago, and accept that there are far more difficult levels to come – so to have the opening story being light on challenges is perhaps not such a bad thing.

‘Tomb Raider Trilogy Remastered – IV, V and VI’ is available at the PlayStation Store.

All screenshots and images courtesy of Aspyr, Crystal Dynamics and PlayStation.

Wow! This was 35 years ago – and I was there!

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The date was June 24th, 1990 – and the occasion was Tasmania vs Victoria in a State-of-Origin match played at North Hobart Oval. The only reason I found out about this anniversary was through social media posts from the Tasmania Devils AFL team – who were reminding everyone that today marks exactly thirty-five years since that famous day.

And it was such an emotional moment in Tasmanian history that the local television channel failed to spell ‘origin’ correctly when presenting the final scores!

But as I mentioned in the heading, my seventeen-year-old self was actually there at the game. In fact, I was standing behind the goals at the bowling club end – and I have indicated my approximate location in the screenshot below.

The television coverage is too blurry – being of VHS quality – to pinpoint me exactly, but I would have been hard to spot even if the footage was clear and sharp. This is because I would have blended in amongst those around me with my mullet hairstyle and Japara jacket – both being Tasmanian fashion statements at the time!

The game showcased a number of local footballers who had moved interstate to play for AFL clubs on the mainland. Some of these players included Doug Barwick, Paul Hudson and Shane Fell* – who are pictured above.

*Fell was not a born-and-raised Tasmanian, but met the eligibility requirements to represent the state – and just so happened to be one of my favourite players at the time.

The Victorian squad – whilst containing great players such as Gary Ayres, Chris Langford, John Longmire and Tony Liberatore – was in truth considered to be their B team. I believe their strongest side was playing a match against South Australia that same weekend, and featured superstars like Gary Ablett, Tony Lockett, Dermott Brereton and so forth.

However, the Victorians did consider the game against Tasmania to be serious enough to have the legendary Ted Whitten make the trip to Hobart. Seated next to him is David Parkin – who was no slouch himself – with another heavyweight of the game in Ron Barassi also present.

Below is a shot of both Whitten and Barassi reacting after being heckled by the crowd. On a side note, the kids who have snuck into the frame remind me of ‘Village Of The Damned‘ – creepy!

The ground was absolutely packed – and the atmosphere was incredible – with an ‘official’ attendance of 18,600. But I reckon a few thousand more strolled in when the gates were opened and free entry was allowed at three-quarter time.

Remember that I mentioned Japara jackets before? Well, I can count as many as five in the last photo, including the guy standing at the back.

The Tasmania Devils AFL club uploaded a highlights video to their YouTube channel, and it’s worth checking out. Watching it again really brought back some memories, and I’m sure it would be the same for others who were at North Hobart Oval on that famous day.

For those reading this article who aren’t from Australia and are unfamiliar with this football code and our sporting culture, it’s still worthwhile having a look at the video – if only for curiosity’s sake.

See link below.

Screenshots courtesy of ABC. Video courtesy of Tasmania Devils AFL YouTube channel.

The ‘Doomsday Plane’ – routine or conspiracy?

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This Boeing 747-E4B that is operated by the US Air Force was the highest tracked plane on Flightradar24 today. The reason why is because this is the so-called ‘Doomsday Plane’ – rumoured to take off in times of war or potential danger, and keep safe various national security secrets and protocols while remaining in the air.

Right away, I would point out that it makes no sense for a plane on such a mission to be easily followed on a public flight tracking app. I mean, if I can see it – then so too could every enemy of the United States.

All that aside, perhaps we should look at what the aircraft actually did today – where it began its journey and where it ended up.

At around 5pm local time, the plane took off from Barksdale Air Force Base in Shreveport, Louisiana. You can determine this from the first screenshot – with Shreveport clearly named and the abbreviation of ‘BAD’ for Barksdale.

The flight then travelled east and performed two square-shaped laps of a large area covering parts of North Carolina and southern Virginia, before continuing its journey north toward Chesapeake Bay.

The plane dropped altitude in readiness to land, as seen by the colour change in the flight path. In the above screenshot, it is positioned over Baltimore and appears to turn west to perhaps then fly south – possibly on its way to Washington DC.

As soon as the plane landed, the destination then popped up on the screen – being Andrews Air Force Base (ADW) in Maryland, not far from Washington.

The ‘Doomsday Plane’ was airborne for four hours today – but what do we make of this? Was it ordered into the air and told to stay there until it was given permission to land? Does this explain the laps over Virginia and North Carolina – waiting for the threat to pass – or was it some type of exercise? Or is it a decoy plane for Air Force One?

In any case, for those interested in this kind of thing – it is easy to download Flightradar24 or any other flight tracking app, and then search for ‘ORDER01’ to see if it is on assignment. Personally, I think that if this really was a ‘Doomsday Plane’ then none of us would be allowed to know its location at any given time – so I lean toward this flight being some kind of routine mission or exercise.

But I could be wrong…

‘The Blind Date Ball’ has arrived

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It’s that time of year again – when I offer yet another entry into the world of literature.

‘The Blind Date Ball’ is technically my tenth book, but I don’t really count ‘Lockdown Driver Wanted’ in that list – so I consider this to be publication number nine.

It is available for free on KDP Select, otherwise the kindle edition costs around the price of a cup of coffee. The story itself is a direct sequel to 2022’s ‘Nine Mile Beach‘, but can be read as a standalone novel.

I must say that if you are easily offended – such as being triggered by Trump hats and so forth – then this book might not be for you, as there are numerous slurs, derogatory terms and misogynistic themes contained within. In fact, the title was going to have ‘A Misogynist’s Tale’ added to it, so that might give you a better idea of what to expect. Personally, I don’t think it’s that bad, but I have to put the warnings out just to be sure.

‘The Blind Date Ball’ is currently available at the Kindle Store – see link below.

The Socceroos are on their way!

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In the early hours of this morning, the mighty Socceroos beat Saudi Arabia 2-1 in Jeddah to secure their berth at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

While not as nail-biting and exciting as the penalty shootout against Peru four years ago, I’m glad that this time around they qualified via the direct and easier path.

A special shout-out goes to coach Tony Popovic, whose record stands at 5 wins, 3 draws and 0 losses. To be honest, it was a little up and down at times, but he got the job done!

The final table shows that Australia qualified by two clear games and vastly superior goal difference, but there are a few interesting things to point out here.

  1. Bahrain – who finished last – managed a total of 6 points, of which 4 of those came courtesy of their two matches against the Socceroos.
  2. Indonesia secured 4th place – and passage through to the next qualifying round – which is a massive achievement for them, and note that they won 3 matches during this difficult stage.
  3. China flop yet again – finishing 5th – and were eliminated from the competition.
  4. Japan were almost unstoppable in this group, but the Socceroos had their measure – holding them to a draw in Tokyo and beating them last week in Perth.

This is six successful qualifying campaigns in a row! Bring it on next year!

All photos courtesy of Football Australia and various online sources.

I couldn’t beat Tomb Raider III, so I picked on the butler instead.

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‘Tomb Raider III’ is the only game in the series that I could not finish. I came close-ish though, as I made it all the way to Antarctica, but could not pass beyond the mine cart level.

So, if the prime version of myself couldn’t win over twenty years ago, then there’s no chance of me performing a miracle this time around! As a result, I have little choice but to bypass the third Lara Croft adventure and move onto the second remastered trilogy.

But not before having a little fun in the Croft Manor level…

Enter Lara’s butler – a loyal but rather elderly chap – who follows his boss around the mansion while rattling a tray of crockery and letting off the occasional fart. Because he moves so slowly – as opposed to Lara’s speed and agility – it is possible to use this physical advantage and do all sorts of mean things to this fellow, with comedic results.

To be fair, changing into army fatigues and a helmet – plus having a target on his chest – whilst standing around the shooting range is asking for trouble. Lara can open fire on him if she chooses, but he will successfully repel the bullets by using his tray as a shield. He does eventually fall to the ground, but within seconds the old man will get back onto his feet and literally dust himself off.

The other prank you can play on the butler is to lure the fool into the freezer room, before leaping over him and locking him inside. When Lara reopens the door again to check on her faithful servant, she discovers him a little worse-for-wear.

I tried this a few times, and on one occasion the butler merged into the door before freezing, giving him a T-1000 appearance.

I made a short video of my bullying of the butler and you can check it out here.

As I recall, ‘Tomb Raider III’ is a pretty good game, especially the Nevada and Area 51 adventures. But even before reaching the final levels in Antarctica, there were some rough challenges – mainly in the London and Pacific Island stages – that were extremely difficult to navigate. There is no way that my fifty-year old reflexes can get through this game.

So, it’s onto the next remastered trilogy for me – five months after the game was released, but better late than never.

Screenshots courtesy of PlayStation, Crystal Dynamics and Aspyr.

Tomb Raider II – Golden Mask bonus levels.

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Despite being a Tomb Raider aficionado – going back to the original PlayStation games – I never played the extra levels offered on the PC versions until now, almost thirty years later when they were added onto the remastered editions on PS5.

A few weeks back I attempted the ‘Unfinished Business’ levels at the end of the first Tomb Raider game, but it ended in disaster as I could no longer tolerate any more Atlantis stages – and quit in a rather un-Australian manner.

Besides the insane difficulty, my major gripe with the bonus levels in Tomb Raider was that the story carried on through the much-hated Atlantis scenery, and a change in location was desperately needed in my opinion. There would be no such problems with the sequel, for the main game ended at the Great Wall of China, and the new adventure kicked off in the Bering Sea – two very different settings indeed.

I did a little research on Google Maps, based on the design of the title screen, and learned that the place circled in red and named ‘Melnikov Island’ is actually called Amukta Island – and this is where the campaign was to begin!

That was enough to pique my interest, and I immediately jumped into the game – or rather into an icy lake occupied by a Great White Shark.

The opening level of the bonus stages is called ‘Cold War’ and takes place at a remote Soviet base, where mercenaries have seemingly taken over and set out to kill Lara at every opportunity. Despite these orders, most of the goons are unwilling to shoot through wide gaps in bars – even when you stand there like a sitting duck.

We also meet a new kind of ‘frenemy’ in the invisible, Predator-like entities that are first encountered below the base in an icy cavern. These guys operate in the same way as the Barkhang Monks from earlier in the game: – leave them alone and not only will they not attack you, but they will help fight the other bad guys!

Can you see the invisible man that I accidentally shot in the photo below?

‘Fool’s Gold’ is the name of the second stage, and is set primarily in a different section of the abandoned Soviet facility on the island. Once again, the mercenaries are everywhere and come at you with flame throwers and snowmobiles fitted with machine guns.

There are some great scenes here, and the remastered version brings out a lot of the detail. In particular, take note of the Soviet symbolism and propaganda all over the place.

Having shot through this level, the game progresses onto ‘Furnace of the Gods’ where the mystery behind the invisible entities is revealed. It turns out that these chaps are monk-like warriors who transform into humans during this stage, and do a great job helping Lara kill dozens of the heavily-armed thugs running about.

This level is more of a classic Tomb Raider challenge, moving away from the industrial setting of the Russian base, and into an underground area where a river of molten gold flows through cave systems and ancient temples.

The Golden Mask bonus levels are a roller-coaster of different settings – and climates – as we started with an icy tundra, then moved on to a volcanic underworld before emerging back outside into a tropical jungle for the final stage titled ‘Kingdom’.

The main enemies here are dozens of Sasquatches, which are versions of the Yetis we met in the Tibet stages of the main game, only without the white fur. They do attack in great numbers, but thanks to the daylight conditions they are fairly easy to spot and kill, as opposed to their cousins from earlier in the game who preferred to hide in the darkness.

The level does have a few areas where the use of flares are needed, and also features some temple settings where the ancient warriors and mercenaries come to blows once again.

The level concludes with the Golden Mask in Lara’s possession being placed into a mystical puzzle square, after which we get to meet a relative of another monster we fought earlier in the main story.

In WWE fashion, a different version of the bird creature from the Ice Palace in Tibet (with the impressive six-pack) makes a spectacular entrance by walking down a golden ramp and into battle with Lara.

I got a little closer to him this time – just to take a few screenshots – before backing off to a safe distance and shooting him dead with a machine gun to end the game.

Overall, these were pretty good levels and there was a fair mix of locations over a relatively short time span. The recycling of bad guys for the final stage was okay, I suppose – but it would have been better to meet some creatures that we had not seen before. However, to be fair – these were ‘bonus levels’.

To wrap things up, here are a series of split screenshots comparing the 2024 remastered version to the 1997 original – with new on top and old on the bottom.

I suppose the best way to measure my reaction to the Golden Mask bonus levels is to say that I played them all the way through, unlike the Unfinished Business stages in the previous game. There were some great scenes throughout, and some challenging areas to navigate – so I would recommend any Tomb Raider fan who missed out on these additions twenty-five years ago to give them a crack!

As I mentioned earlier, the extra levels for the first three Tomb Raider games come with the Remastered Trilogy that is available at the PlayStation store.

Screenshots courtesy of PlayStation, Crystal Dynamics and Aspyr.