Really Retro Review (Kinda)
This weekend i stumbled across Tomb raider anniversary for cheap in a local game shop. Having only seen someone playing it on a rather “graphically retarded” laptop a day or so earlier i figured i’d have a look..
Ok so Tomb Raider Anniversary is just what it says on the box. It’s a rereleased and fairly heavily tweaked re-issue of Lara Crofts first outing. The movement has been updated. Lara can no longer see through walls and the myriad of insane glitches has at least been staved off a little. The game takes the same form as the original, lara is hunting a scion [read: shiny thing] which has been split into three parts .Theres a minor plot with an immortal businesswoman who’s looking to destroy the world but, being a fairly old game, this plot isnt near the standards of games nowadays exluding FPS games of course.
So the game engine looks prettier, lara moves like a person rather than a robot and the puzzles are a little harder to figure out since they dont stick out like a sore thumb any more. Having played Tomb Raider: Legend (lets not go there), its easy to see that its the same studio behind both games. They accurately gave lara a set of moves that didn’t over complicate the original and didn’t make lara a near-sentient being like altair(Assassins creed) who just waits for button presses and does whatever fancy stuff he likes.
On the subject of glitches i found one or two in the game. One specific one was that the “endless pits” that are fairly rampant throughout the game, aren’t always actually endless. Twice during one play through, i ended up with lara, still alive, stuck in these pits,with no hope of escape. Another incredibly annoying glitch is how sluggish frame rate gets any time lara leaves water areas. The attention to detail with her wet clothes and dripping water seems to have crippled the slightly vital GAMEPLAY!. Twice i was killed by nearby lurking jackals as a result of this.
So all in all Tomb Raider Anniversary is a fairly solidly built game. The newly crafted boss fights make the game a little more contemporary, however i mourn the sense of smugness i got from being the only guy who killed the t-rex in my class(its become a requirement). The team created a game that is not only new to veteran fans, but also gives enough familiarity to have you staring glassy eyed at the screen as you remember that the rock you hid from velociraptors on is right where you left it,ready to shelter one more time.
I much preferred TR 2 then the first one but still, this is pretty cool
Isn't the problem with the new TR games is that they haven't really evolved much at all. So yes the original were great at the time but people expect more now. I was interested in the latest incarnation but the reviews were less than stunning! I might get round to it later on, after Uncharted 2
Im a major TR fan and believe the first one was the best so this reinvention was the coolest thing for me and the best TR to date. Love it. Love Lara.