Title Tomb Raider Anniversary Date 06.07.2007 Genre Action, Adventure Platform PlayStation 2 Developer Crystal Dynamics Publisher Eidos

With 2006's Tomb Raider: Legend being successful for reinventing the series thanks to developer Crystal Dynamics stepping in, they now bring their second Tomb Raider game to retail. Tomb Raider: Legend was great in its own right but lacked the addition of those hard puzzles that you would come to find in the first Tomb Raider game. Now, with Tomb Raider: Anniversary, Crystal Dynamics wanted to go back to the roots of the franchise seeing as the Tomb Raider franchise turned ten. Going back to the roots meant digging hard to include many of the elements that you would come to find in the first game. They've done a good job on giving their version of Tomb Raider whilst adding some great new features.

Now, if you've ever played the first Tomb Raider - you will notice your memory refreshing with the similarity in level design and the enemies. From dinosaurs to mummies - it's here awaiting on the PlayStation 2 format. The opening of the game introduces you to the main story and once you arrive into the menus, you are greeted with a beautiful piece of background music. Compared to Tomb Raider: Legend’s overall music, the score feels calmer and goes well with the game's theme. The menu design is pretty much similar to the menus in Tomb Raider: Legend. There are a few changes though; including the ability to skip a cinematic (when you pause during gameplay) without having to scroll down the menu every time. This menu works nicely and isn't tricky to maneuver. There are a few other tweaks made to improve since Tomb Raider: Legend.

You'll have the option to jump straight into the main game or go visit Croft Manor. The Croft Manor is back and something worth exploring whenever you complete the main game. You may just even want to go there straight away for some practice and to get a general feel of the game. The Croft Manor should keep you fairly busy as you try to find the artifacts as it has done in the previous games. It's big and you can explore a variety of rooms. This time you can even go outdoors - something that was not present in Tomb Raider: Legend's Croft Manor.

There are four main locations (five if you want to count England's Croft Manor) to explore. Each has been beautifully crafted as you will come to notice when you jump into them. The locations consist of Peru, Greece, Egypt and finally Lost Island. Now, in each of these locations are several levels. So, it can take a fair while to move onto the next location because of the numerous puzzles put into these. A few puzzles are fairly straightforward but you will get some that will just stump you for a while. By doing a bit of troubleshooting and such you'll eventually conquer the puzzle and then realize you have got a whole new puzzle around the corner! The puzzles were fairly straight-forward in Tomb Raider: Legend but they've been made much more challenging as promised by Crystal Dynamics in Tomb Raider: Anniversary.

Sometimes you will have to go back and forth through a level (rather than straight through it) in order to collect certain items (to open doors, cages and such). If you ever get stuck, occasionally the journal (located in the inventory) gives you a tip, as spoken by Lara herself. There are new guns that you can store in the inventory and you'll find many places with ammo for them. Health packs are also scattered throughout the levels. Some health packs give you a small boost of health whilst others will boost your health to its maximum. So, it is often noted to use them properly at the right times. The controls of the d-pad are changed from what they were in Tomb Raider: Legend. This time you use the left and right directions to go through your weapons. Using certain weapons will help towards beating enemies quicker due to the power of some.

Some enemies such as rats and bats are easy to take down in a couple of shots. However, some - such as the bears, gorillas and mummies take quite a shooting. Eventually, you can shoot them until they die or an alternate method is to dodge their attacks and shoot at the right moment. Whenever an enemy charges at you, the heads-up display will tell you to use the circle button and dodge in the appropriate direction. Timing this right allows Lara to get one shot in to kill them. Not reacting quickly enough will definitely waste time and possibly deduct some of Lara's health. Speaking of health, depending on what difficulty you are on, then it will deduct more if you are on a harder one. Playing on easy gives you less of a chance of death but playing on the hardest means you can't afford to keep getting attacked. This is essential for when the time trials need to be completed.

There are some cut-scenes in this game also but it feels like there isn't enough of them. When you do get a cut-scene, it is carefully composed and you may even have to interact by pressing the buttons that come up on the screen. Pressing an incorrect button or missing one will show an alternate action that will cause Lara to die. Not being very familiar with the PlayStation 2 controller will probably make you fail these at first. However, these are all straightforward to execute for those who are used to the controller. This feature was also present in Tomb Raider: Legend.

If you've ever played Tomb Raider: Legend, you'll have noticed how the game's visuals truly amazed many. Despite the PlayStation 2 still hanging in there, the technology in it is still proving to produce some great looking games. Tomb Raider: Legend was an example and so is Tomb Raider: Anniversary. The environments are gorgeous - the tombs have that true ancient effect to them, the waterfalls look very nice and add to the tropical environment. The graphics are like a breath of fresh air to me. You do get some occasional problems though. The one I remembered was to see past walls when the camera is close up. For the most part, it hold up well.

Jumping and swinging is a key role for Lara in Tomb Raider: Anniversary. You'll be doing a lot of this as it is required to do some puzzles and of course, progress through levels. Jumping too soon may just land you to your death, or if you are lucky, Lara will barely just cling on to the ledge she was aiming for. So, sometimes when this happens, you'll need to press the triangle button to help Lara fully grab onto the ledge. The same thing also applies to other things such as the poles. Lara could do many things in Tomb Raider: Legend, but one thing she couldn't do was jump on poles (not to be confused with swinging). Jumping on a pole keeps you balanced for a limited time before Lara requires you to press that triangle button once again (to regain balance).

Most of the game will require you to do some jumping, swinging and the occasional shooting. Unlike Tomb Raider: Legend, this game focuses more heavily on the puzzle solving and exploration of the tombs. If you're expecting to fight a few dozen guys straight away then you best get back to playing Tomb Raider: Legend.

Now, as I have said, timing is crucial for many of the jumps. Now, many are simple but some are quite tricky. There are traps and such (such as blades swinging out of a wall every so often) and you'll have to quickly jump when the trap is not going to kill you or take some health. The camera in the game can suck at times, though. It's not as freeform as I would have liked it to be. At times, it controls itself which can be pretty annoying when you're trying to line up a jump. In some instances you can rotate the camera 360 degrees but in some they'll barely turn 180 degrees. There's no option in the menus to allow the camera not to adjust itself all the time and so you'll have to live this.

Sometimes I'll just be stuck because the camera is either too close or too far away from Lara - preventing me from spotting a ledge to jump to or for me trying to time a jump. Depending on where the camera is faced, the controls are also mapped to the direction. So, if you jump forward on the controller and the camera is faced to Lara's front, she'll jump backwards. For the new wall jumping ability, you'll have to get the camera lined up properly in order to jump successfully. It's a nice feature but far from perfect. There are plenty of traps to look forward to. Whether that be walls crushing you or a steel ball rolling towards you - you'll be challenged. In Egypt, I found some of these traps to be a right challenge.

Boss battles are present as you'd come to expect. If you've ever seen some of the gameplay movies for Tomb Raider: Anniversary, then you've probably seen the great dinosaur battle. At first, it can seem tough but that's just only because they've placed it right at the beginning of the game. Knowing what to do is essential for the boss battles since you can't just simply keep shooting at them. Tactics are required and you may have to keep track on what actions they do. There are some other enemies that are not bosses but seem like them at first too. One that is memorable for me is the gorillas in the coliseum. They don't just charge - they throw rocks!

Music was a strong point in Tomb Raider: Legend because of its action-paced theme. In Tomb Raider: Anniversary, the music feels calmer and at times it does get an action-based theme applied to it. This occurs whenever enemies are onto you - you'll hear the music as a guide. Unlike Tomb Raider: Legend, the music is not constant throughout the levels. The first thing I came to notice when starting in Peru, was that there simply was no background music. Now, bare in mind, the developer, Crystal Dynamics really want to offer fans of the first game a great remake. The first game didn't always have music during the levels which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Now, in Tomb Raider: Anniversary - the same pattern emerges. Just being able to walk in an environment without this background music allows you to get a better feel. You'll be able to hear insects, water flowing and that whole tropical feel.

The environments produce some very natural sounds that make you feel right in the location. The enemies in the distance you can sometimes hear indicating to get your dual pistols out. Sound is a strong point in the game - the voice acting (although not a lot) is up to scratch and the sounds of the waterfalls are what truly amaze me. That sweet sound you hear when you go through a checkpoint (there are many of these in the levels) means you don't have to worry about fighting that enemy or doing that complicated puzzle once again if you die. If you ever decide to quit during a level just be sure to save before!

So, if you've played the original Tomb Raider - you shouldn't be disappointed. Crystal Dynamics have worked hard to produce a great game to keep the fans happy (and the newcomers, too). Those who are up to some exploring, like solving puzzles and enjoy the occasional combat should not look past this one. Of course, if you've never played the original then this is more like a whole new game to you that you'll be sure to enjoy. It's full of beautiful environments, some impressive enemies and puzzles. Those who played Tomb Raider: Legend will instantly notice the challenge to Tomb Raider: Anniversary. To keep you playing, there are some great extras packed in. This includes some commentaries, costumes and more to keep you happy. Tomb Raider: Anniversary is a well-executed game and deserves to be played no matter if you're a fan or a new person to the franchise.

Game Score

A-

Reviewed By: Contributed