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review :: tomb raider anniversary
Tomb Raider Anniversary
Reviewed on: Xbox 360Available on: PC, Playstation 2, Wii, Xbox 360
It seems anyone can be a main character in a game these days, whether they be black, white, Egyptian, or even female. What is the world coming to?
Players: 1 Player
Genre:
Release: 2007-11-02
Genre:
Release: 2007-11-02
Developer: Crystal Dynamics
Distributor: Eidos
Distributor: Eidos
I'll be honest here. I never played any of the original PSX Tomb Raider games. I was able to witness a few in action, and my first impression was that Lara controlled like a horse with rabies. Whether that was a biased opinion or not (a likely scenario, as I hated all things PlayStation and loved my 64), the games sold like hotcakes, and were critically acclaimed for a brief spell - but that quality was overshadowed by "Lara Mania". Thousands of boys and girls alike were mesmerised by the skill and sex appeal of this buxom beauty, irrelevant of game content.
Fast forward to the new millennium, and Lara took a downswing of crappiness. The movies were ass, and games like Angel of Darkness were simply misguided. Then, a few years later, Eidos revamped the series with Tomb Raider: Legend, which was a very, very solid title with amazing playability and heaps of awesome new moves and weapons. The game engine was smooth, and the success of Legend prompted a remake of the original Tomb Raider using this new technology. The game is Tomb Raider: Anniversary, and it is a success both as a homage to the original Tomb Raiding formula, and as a brand new game for a new generation.
Guns don't kill people, people kill people. And wolves apparently.
To kick things off, Anniversary was released on the PS2. A few months later, it received a port to the Xbox 360, which is the console I played it on. The only inherent problem is that it really is just a straight port, with no vividly evident graphical or content enhancements. This is surprising, considering the history of Xbox 360 ports. When Legend was ported from the PS2 to the 360, the graphics were noticeably improved, to the point of being pretty damned impressive. No such luck here, but it looks good enough to avoid any major criticisms. The strong point of Anniversary is the gameplay, which remains uniformly excellent.
Lara Croft is an archaeologist, albeit a far cry from the crusty origins of Indiana Jones and company. In this Tomb Raiding adventure, practically every second is spent delving deep underground in hidden ruins and ancient structures, which is, in essence, what the Tomb Raider series is all about. There are only a handful of levels in the game, including Greece, Egypt and Peru, but each is quite long, and ultimately results in an adventure of approximately ten hours in length. The Croft Manor also serves as a side mission, but it isn't necessary to complete the main game.
In each level, you'll be tasked with solving many puzzles and navigating through labryinthine traps and environments. The puzzles aren't based on inventory items to any large degree - in fact, you'll only need to access your item selection screen a handful of times throughout the game. Most progress involves pulling switches to trigger various mechanisms, and traversing deadly terrain while avoiding traps. Both activities are usually one and the same, as entire rooms, buildings and massive outdoor areas comprise one giant puzzle. Lara hops, skips and jumps her way around to ultimately unlock a single door to the next area.
Lara is the most agile protagonist this side of the Prince of Persia, and the influences from that particular series and quite evident. However, Lara has a style all her own, and controlling her is a genuine pleasure. Take that how you want.
There are ledges, poles, bars and ropes to play with, and the more daring moves are a combination of everything. You can also use the grappling hook to greater effect here, by hooking the rope to a wall and performing a very cool wall run to reach obscure areas. You really feel like an action hero in many sequences, and pulling the moves off within a split second of death is incredibly satisfying. Of course, there are instances where you will meet an untimely demise, but the handy checkpoint system is useful without being cheap, and you will never be stuck on any one area for an excessively long time.
One fantastic scenario example involves a massive room with molten lava at the base, and Lara needs to make her way to the top by activating switches and using the grappling hook. For instance - one switch will activate a timed platform to extend one level above you, and you need to get there before the lever resets. This involves diving straight out over the lava, throwing the grappling hook to a ring on the wall, running along the wall and jumping back out to a bar in the middle of the room. You need to vault from this bar to a sliding platform, and then jump to grab a notch in the wall. From there, shimmy across and jump backwards once more to make it to the timed platform. This is just one example of literally hundreds of unique situations which cause for ingenious use of Lara's inventory and physical arsenal.
There are a number of bonuses to collect in each level, including artifacts and relics. These are actually rather difficult to find and subsequently obtain, which adds a deeper element of exploration. In turn, collecting each will unlock bonus content, including videos, extra outfits and design artwork. The Achievements in the Xbox 360 version are well balanced, and offer a good challenge for those wanting to reach a higher plateau of tomb-raiding expertise.
The story isn't particularly well-presented, because cutscenes are few and far between and the levels are very long. By the time I made it to the end, I had completely forgotten what I was supposed to be doing there in the frst place. The story has something to do with Atlantis, this crazy flying chicks and some weird floating key thing...in any case, I don't really care. I can't help but think I would have enjoyed the game just as much without any storyline at all. Going to explore these ruins just for the hell of it? Why not?
About as well proportioned as an orange on a toothpick
Disappointingly, the biggest downfall of Anniversary is the combat. This isn't a criticism of the responsiveness or controls, but simply a dig at enemy design. You never fight humans with guns, like those found in Legend. Instead, all your opponents are tigers, bears, bats and these weird Egyptian monkey-men. All creatures run extremely fast, and knock you down frequently. It's frustrating, but not even that difficult. All strategy goes right out the window, as all enemies will run directly at you, and there is precisely zero chance of running away or consistently dodging attacks. Simply unload everything you have as quickly as you can, and whatever you are fighting will eventually drop dead. There are a few bullet-time moves, but these are easily spammed and there is barely any strategy involved. However, the bosses in the game are all huge, strong, and pretty damn fun to fight.
There's no excuse not to pick up Tomb Raider: Anniversary. All aspects of game design (besides combat, which is surprisingly irrelevant) have clearly been crafted wth meticulous care. It's been built from the ground up, and despite it being an entirely new game, you will definitely find it for a budget price in the stores. A wholehearted recommendation for fans of the series and newcomers alike. Lara has a bright future ahead, and she is definitely in her prime.
Fast forward to the new millennium, and Lara took a downswing of crappiness. The movies were ass, and games like Angel of Darkness were simply misguided. Then, a few years later, Eidos revamped the series with Tomb Raider: Legend, which was a very, very solid title with amazing playability and heaps of awesome new moves and weapons. The game engine was smooth, and the success of Legend prompted a remake of the original Tomb Raider using this new technology. The game is Tomb Raider: Anniversary, and it is a success both as a homage to the original Tomb Raiding formula, and as a brand new game for a new generation.
Guns don't kill people, people kill people. And wolves apparently.
To kick things off, Anniversary was released on the PS2. A few months later, it received a port to the Xbox 360, which is the console I played it on. The only inherent problem is that it really is just a straight port, with no vividly evident graphical or content enhancements. This is surprising, considering the history of Xbox 360 ports. When Legend was ported from the PS2 to the 360, the graphics were noticeably improved, to the point of being pretty damned impressive. No such luck here, but it looks good enough to avoid any major criticisms. The strong point of Anniversary is the gameplay, which remains uniformly excellent.
Lara Croft is an archaeologist, albeit a far cry from the crusty origins of Indiana Jones and company. In this Tomb Raiding adventure, practically every second is spent delving deep underground in hidden ruins and ancient structures, which is, in essence, what the Tomb Raider series is all about. There are only a handful of levels in the game, including Greece, Egypt and Peru, but each is quite long, and ultimately results in an adventure of approximately ten hours in length. The Croft Manor also serves as a side mission, but it isn't necessary to complete the main game.
In each level, you'll be tasked with solving many puzzles and navigating through labryinthine traps and environments. The puzzles aren't based on inventory items to any large degree - in fact, you'll only need to access your item selection screen a handful of times throughout the game. Most progress involves pulling switches to trigger various mechanisms, and traversing deadly terrain while avoiding traps. Both activities are usually one and the same, as entire rooms, buildings and massive outdoor areas comprise one giant puzzle. Lara hops, skips and jumps her way around to ultimately unlock a single door to the next area.
Lara is the most agile protagonist this side of the Prince of Persia, and the influences from that particular series and quite evident. However, Lara has a style all her own, and controlling her is a genuine pleasure. Take that how you want.
There are ledges, poles, bars and ropes to play with, and the more daring moves are a combination of everything. You can also use the grappling hook to greater effect here, by hooking the rope to a wall and performing a very cool wall run to reach obscure areas. You really feel like an action hero in many sequences, and pulling the moves off within a split second of death is incredibly satisfying. Of course, there are instances where you will meet an untimely demise, but the handy checkpoint system is useful without being cheap, and you will never be stuck on any one area for an excessively long time.
One fantastic scenario example involves a massive room with molten lava at the base, and Lara needs to make her way to the top by activating switches and using the grappling hook. For instance - one switch will activate a timed platform to extend one level above you, and you need to get there before the lever resets. This involves diving straight out over the lava, throwing the grappling hook to a ring on the wall, running along the wall and jumping back out to a bar in the middle of the room. You need to vault from this bar to a sliding platform, and then jump to grab a notch in the wall. From there, shimmy across and jump backwards once more to make it to the timed platform. This is just one example of literally hundreds of unique situations which cause for ingenious use of Lara's inventory and physical arsenal.
There are a number of bonuses to collect in each level, including artifacts and relics. These are actually rather difficult to find and subsequently obtain, which adds a deeper element of exploration. In turn, collecting each will unlock bonus content, including videos, extra outfits and design artwork. The Achievements in the Xbox 360 version are well balanced, and offer a good challenge for those wanting to reach a higher plateau of tomb-raiding expertise.
The story isn't particularly well-presented, because cutscenes are few and far between and the levels are very long. By the time I made it to the end, I had completely forgotten what I was supposed to be doing there in the frst place. The story has something to do with Atlantis, this crazy flying chicks and some weird floating key thing...in any case, I don't really care. I can't help but think I would have enjoyed the game just as much without any storyline at all. Going to explore these ruins just for the hell of it? Why not?
About as well proportioned as an orange on a toothpick
Disappointingly, the biggest downfall of Anniversary is the combat. This isn't a criticism of the responsiveness or controls, but simply a dig at enemy design. You never fight humans with guns, like those found in Legend. Instead, all your opponents are tigers, bears, bats and these weird Egyptian monkey-men. All creatures run extremely fast, and knock you down frequently. It's frustrating, but not even that difficult. All strategy goes right out the window, as all enemies will run directly at you, and there is precisely zero chance of running away or consistently dodging attacks. Simply unload everything you have as quickly as you can, and whatever you are fighting will eventually drop dead. There are a few bullet-time moves, but these are easily spammed and there is barely any strategy involved. However, the bosses in the game are all huge, strong, and pretty damn fun to fight.
There's no excuse not to pick up Tomb Raider: Anniversary. All aspects of game design (besides combat, which is surprisingly irrelevant) have clearly been crafted wth meticulous care. It's been built from the ground up, and despite it being an entirely new game, you will definitely find it for a budget price in the stores. A wholehearted recommendation for fans of the series and newcomers alike. Lara has a bright future ahead, and she is definitely in her prime.
Final Verdict
Tomb Raider Legend was a great step forward for the series, and Anniversary follows through on its success with gusto. Is this the best Tomb Raider game ever made? You betcha!Pros
Great acrobatic controls, massive puzzles, plenty of unlockable content and a perfect learning curve.
Cons
Outdated graphics for the Xbox 360 version, combat is awkward and frustrating.