Tomb Raider: Anniversary

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Dom Robinson reviews

Tomb Raider: Anniversary
for Xbox 360Distributed by
Eidos Interactive Limited game Pic

  • Price: £39.99
  • Players: 1
  • Widescreen: Yes
  • 60Hz: Yes (optional)
  • Dolby Digital 5.1 sound: Yes
  • Xbox Live-enabled: No

Tomb Raider: Anniversaryhas been released to mark ten years since the originalTomb Raider,although that came out in 1996 so it’s actually eleven years, but then when does a woman ever tell the truth abouther 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 taskwrong, 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 findthem, 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 dobefore heading off is to check out Croft Manor which has some basic tasks for you to perform and is worth alook if you’re totally new to this series. As you run about you’ll see there’s a number of different smallpieces 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’sTomb 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 indestroying it.

As with Legend, there’s also the odd cut-scene that requies intervention by pressing ‘A’ or ‘B’ orother buttons when it tells you, similar to the old Dragon’s Lair arcade game orShenmue,which makes for something a bit different as it’s a feature rarely used. That said, it’s sometimes used inconjunction 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 willbriefly appear on the their head and a shot fired at that moment will usually kill them instantly (- unlessit’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 yourgrip, otherwise you drop down to your probable death – or at least get a big hurt, this addition to thecombination 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 killsomething, 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 youfound didn’t fit the lock in front of you – were spoken by Shelley Blond, last seen on TV in the firstepisode of the last series of Channel 4’s Peep Show, being dumped by Jeremy until she gave in toaccepting a threesome. For Legend, Lara has a lot more to say and is voiced by Keeley Hawes (aka Zoe inBBC1’s Spooks, and will also be in the DI Alex Drake, alongside Philip Glenister’s Gene Hunt early nextyear 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 underneathand at other outdoor locations rushing water smashing against rocks is a treat to witness. Movement is a lotmore fluid while moving the boxes and other things about compared to the original came and while the image canlook a bit blurry on occasion, that serves to mask out any jaggies, even though those should’ve been sortedout in a next-gen version of the game. There’s some neat touches such as when Lara breathes out cold mistfrom her breath in Peru, and if you turn her to face you while stood close to a wall, the camera zooms in fora 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 theshots 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 recentAssassin’s Creed. There’sand there’s poor AI existent in this game as wolves just run into a wall, even though you’re poundinglead 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 comefrom all speakers depending on the way you’re facing, but if you happen to turn round so Lara’sfacing 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 graphicsand improved gameplay, but it doesn’t cut it as a full-price title when the plot is obviously an old one, but asI upload this review the game on Xbox 360 is £24.98 from Amazon, which isn’t a bad price, and all otherformats 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


OVERALL
Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2007.

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