Tomb Raider: Anniversary
has been released to mark ten years since the original
Tomb Raider,
although that came out in 1996 so it's actually eleven years, but then when does a woman ever tell the truth about
her age? :)
Back in the time of when we first met Lara Croft, she takes you back through the wondrous forests of Peru,
the outstanding architecture of Greece and having the sword of Damocles fall on your head when you got a task
wrong, the incredible structures in Egypt such as the ability to jump around the Sphinx - as well as going
inside - and the Lost Island, which you begin, yet again, by having no weapons and your first task is to find
them, not least the Dual Pistols so you're at least able to defend yourself!
Tomb Raider: Anniversary:
Getting to grips with the Grapple
As in the original game, you're looking for the four parts of the Scion and the first thing you're able to do
before heading off is to check out Croft Manor which has some basic tasks for you to perform and is worth a
look if you're totally new to this series. As you run about you'll see there's a number of different small
pieces of text to read but the concept does get old quickly and you will end up skipping them. That said,
hopefully you got chance to check out last year's
Tomb Raider: Legend,
on which this game uses the same graphics engine, and totally gave a wide berth to 2004's
Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness,
which totally denigrated the franchise. As they tried to revitalise the series, they almost ended up in
destroying it.
As with Legend, there's also the odd cut-scene that requies intervention by pressing 'A' or 'B' or
other buttons when it tells you, similar to the old Dragon's Lair arcade game or
Shenmue,
which makes for something a bit different as it's a feature rarely used. That said, it's sometimes used in
conjunction with a new feature called the 'Adrenaline Dodge', which is where constant shooting at an enemy
will increase their rage as they take a lot of hits in a short space of time, such that a red circle will
briefly appear on the their head and a shot fired at that moment will usually kill them instantly (- unless
it's a boss where it'll just help in your battle to sort them out).
Tomb Raider: Anniversary:
Wolves vs. Artificial Intelligence - No contest!
Something else new is that a Lara almost falls when making a jump and you need to press 'Y' to maintain your
grip, otherwise you drop down to your probable death - or at least get a big hurt, this addition to the
combination of buttons when jumping really doesn't help gameplay and can just end up being confusing.
And ammo feels more scarce than it used to. However, if you die in a scene as a result of not being able to kill
something, when you come back you'll have a full quota of your current weapon.
When the Tomb Raider franchise first began, the brief words - sometimes just "No" as the latest key you
found didn't fit the lock in front of you - were spoken by Shelley Blond, last seen on TV in the first
episode of the last series of Channel 4's Peep Show, being dumped by Jeremy until she gave in to
accepting a threesome. For Legend, Lara has a lot more to say and is voiced by Keeley Hawes (aka Zoe in
BBC1's Spooks, and will also be in the DI Alex Drake, alongside Philip Glenister's Gene Hunt early next
year in Ashes To Ashes, the 1980s spin-off from Life On Mars).
Tomb Raider: Anniversary:
Getting the three cogs part 1
The graphics looks fantastic in this update, such as when waterfalls 'bounce' off Lara as she walks underneath
and at other outdoor locations rushing water smashing against rocks is a treat to witness. Movement is a lot
more fluid while moving the boxes and other things about compared to the original came and while the image can
look a bit blurry on occasion, that serves to mask out any jaggies, even though those should've been sorted
out in a next-gen version of the game. There's some neat touches such as when Lara breathes out cold mist
from her breath in Peru, and if you turn her to face you while stood close to a wall, the camera zooms in for
a close-up... and doesn't she look a honey :)
All that said, in addition to obvious glitches here and there, the camera angles aren't great at times (see the
shots being fired directly at the raptors in the T-Rex piece) and it could still go some to catch up with the likes of the recent
Assassin's Creed. There's
and there's poor AI existent in this game as wolves just run into a wall, even though you're pounding
lead into their brain...
Tomb Raider: Anniversary:
Getting the three cogs part 2
There's also superb DD5.1 sound with fantastic directional effects. Not only does dialogue come
from all speakers depending on the way you're facing, but if you happen to turn round so Lara's
facing you as you play, then shoot a gun or use your grapple device, you'll hear it behind you.
I completed the first game on both PC and PSX (or PS1 as it later became known - the original Playstation,
anyway) and things came on a lot with Tomb Raider: Legend and this doesn't properly capitalise on that.
Overall, Tomb Raider: Anniversary is a bit of fun but, despite the dolled-up graphics
and improved gameplay, but it doesn't cut it as a full-price title when the plot is obviously an old one, but as
I upload this review the game on Xbox 360 is £24.98 from Amazon, which isn't a bad price, and all other
formats can be accessed above.
Tomb Raider: Anniversary:
Camera angle problems, Killing the T-Rex & Getting the three cogs part 3
GRAPHICS SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC PLAYABILITY ENJOYMENT
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
