Tomb Raider and Lara Croft are two of the most famous names in gaming history. Tomb Raider Anniversary is actually the first one I've properly played (had a go at one of the games at a friend's house years ago, but wasn't too impressed at the time), and overall I did enjoy the experience. Anniversary is the very first Tomb Raider game remade for modern systems, but not just with better graphics but also new challenges. From what I've read it's gone down very well with established fans of the series; my review will of course be from the point of view of a newcomer to the joys of raiding tombs wearing shorts and a tight-fitting top.
Basically you play the famously top-heavy Lara as she goes around braving dangers to find archaeological treasures and whatnot. The ancients weren't too keen on getting their stuff pinched so every area you can explore is likely to be full of cunning traps, so obviously you have to be very careful or you end up very dead. There are a lot of places that, traps aside, are simply difficult to reach, requiring a combination of careful course plotting and skilful jumping / climbing. There are wild beasts and enemies to worry about as well, requiring the use of various weapons to stay alive.
Pretty much every aspect of the game play is customisable, including manual / auto clinging to ledges etc when you are in the right position. I think most of us will want the majority of the fiddly bits set to auto, but Tomb Raider veterans will probably want the extra challenge. Playing with the keyboard and mouse is okay, a little problematical at times but generally the keys are in sensible places and the controls are reasonably responsive. The challenge level is set nicely; advancing through the levels is fairly challenging without being off-puttingly difficult, but there are plenty of hidden / secret areas that can get you bonus points, which in term will unlock secrets in the main menu (including, should you so desire, new outfits for our Lara).
The graphics in Tomb Raider Anniversary are mostly very impressive. The background graphics are gorgeous, very detailed and varied. Lara herself doesn't look quite as good - her limbs are very angular and her skin texture often makes her look like she's made of plastic (as if her proportions weren't Barbie-like enough). This does detract a little from the game, though there are some very cool visual effects to make up for this - for instance when Lara's come out from having a swim (which she frequently needs to do in order to access new areas), you can see tiny droplets of water falling off her. These gradually get less and less, and her skin glistens for a while afterwards. There is a lot of attention to detail graphically, it's just a shame that Lara herself (improbable body shape aside) doesn't look very realistic. The animation is mostly very good, but again Lara doesn't always move too well and some of the animals look a bit awkward. The music is nice enough and, in general, the voice acting is also good quality. Some characters do sound like they're just reading lines from a book rather than throwing themselves into the character, but in general the voice acting is a positive aspect of the game.
The main game play is varied and challenging enough to keep things interesting, with an element of puzzle-solving thrown in (for example, finding gears and fitting them in the correct places to get machinery working). On occasion there are slow-motion scenes where you need to press the correct key at the right time to do what needs to be done. There are scattered occasionally throughout the game, and personally I found that these scenes made for a nice change of pace from the general game play. There are a lot of gadgets to play with at different points in the game, and getting the hang of making the best use of each one can be a bit of a challenge in itself.
In addition to the main game you can choose to wander around Croft Mansion, which is full of difficult to reach bits and serves as a training ground to practice tricky moves. Personally I got bored of this area really quickly so haven't spent much time there, I'm assuming that there are rewards in terms of bonus items to be found there. Perhaps when I've done absolutely everything else I might revisit Croft Mansion... but I doubt it.
Overall Tomb Raider Anniversary is an enjoyable game and it will certainly keep you interested for quite a while. I can't really compare it to other Tomb Raider games, but in its own right I would rate this game as good, though not brilliant.
The system specs are quite high, so make sure your PC is up to the job before you buy this game:
Minimum / Recommended System
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 2000 / XP or Vista
CPU: Pentium 3 1.4Ghz or Athlon XP 1500 / Pentium 4 3.0Ghz or Athlon 64 3000
GPU: 64 MB with TnL / with Vertex Shader 2.0 and Pixel Shader 2.0 (personally I think anything below a GeForce 7 series will struggle big-time with this game, even in fairly low quality settings - for decent quality I think you'd want a GeForce 8600GT or better)
Memory: 256Mb / 1Gb
HDD Space: 4GB
Direct X: 9.0c
Age Rating: Strange one this. The packaging of my game says 16 / Mature for violence, but the game information on Windows says it's a 12 . I think the latter's more likely to be accurate, though I could be wrong.
For more archaeological fun (albeit a completely different type of game), you'll get a lot of enjoyment out of LEGO Indiana Jones.
Basically you play the famously top-heavy Lara as she goes around braving dangers to find archaeological treasures and whatnot. The ancients weren't too keen on getting their stuff pinched so every area you can explore is likely to be full of cunning traps, so obviously you have to be very careful or you end up very dead. There are a lot of places that, traps aside, are simply difficult to reach, requiring a combination of careful course plotting and skilful jumping / climbing. There are wild beasts and enemies to worry about as well, requiring the use of various weapons to stay alive.
Pretty much every aspect of the game play is customisable, including manual / auto clinging to ledges etc when you are in the right position. I think most of us will want the majority of the fiddly bits set to auto, but Tomb Raider veterans will probably want the extra challenge. Playing with the keyboard and mouse is okay, a little problematical at times but generally the keys are in sensible places and the controls are reasonably responsive. The challenge level is set nicely; advancing through the levels is fairly challenging without being off-puttingly difficult, but there are plenty of hidden / secret areas that can get you bonus points, which in term will unlock secrets in the main menu (including, should you so desire, new outfits for our Lara).
The graphics in Tomb Raider Anniversary are mostly very impressive. The background graphics are gorgeous, very detailed and varied. Lara herself doesn't look quite as good - her limbs are very angular and her skin texture often makes her look like she's made of plastic (as if her proportions weren't Barbie-like enough). This does detract a little from the game, though there are some very cool visual effects to make up for this - for instance when Lara's come out from having a swim (which she frequently needs to do in order to access new areas), you can see tiny droplets of water falling off her. These gradually get less and less, and her skin glistens for a while afterwards. There is a lot of attention to detail graphically, it's just a shame that Lara herself (improbable body shape aside) doesn't look very realistic. The animation is mostly very good, but again Lara doesn't always move too well and some of the animals look a bit awkward. The music is nice enough and, in general, the voice acting is also good quality. Some characters do sound like they're just reading lines from a book rather than throwing themselves into the character, but in general the voice acting is a positive aspect of the game.
The main game play is varied and challenging enough to keep things interesting, with an element of puzzle-solving thrown in (for example, finding gears and fitting them in the correct places to get machinery working). On occasion there are slow-motion scenes where you need to press the correct key at the right time to do what needs to be done. There are scattered occasionally throughout the game, and personally I found that these scenes made for a nice change of pace from the general game play. There are a lot of gadgets to play with at different points in the game, and getting the hang of making the best use of each one can be a bit of a challenge in itself.
In addition to the main game you can choose to wander around Croft Mansion, which is full of difficult to reach bits and serves as a training ground to practice tricky moves. Personally I got bored of this area really quickly so haven't spent much time there, I'm assuming that there are rewards in terms of bonus items to be found there. Perhaps when I've done absolutely everything else I might revisit Croft Mansion... but I doubt it.
Overall Tomb Raider Anniversary is an enjoyable game and it will certainly keep you interested for quite a while. I can't really compare it to other Tomb Raider games, but in its own right I would rate this game as good, though not brilliant.
The system specs are quite high, so make sure your PC is up to the job before you buy this game:
Minimum / Recommended System
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 2000 / XP or Vista
CPU: Pentium 3 1.4Ghz or Athlon XP 1500 / Pentium 4 3.0Ghz or Athlon 64 3000
GPU: 64 MB with TnL / with Vertex Shader 2.0 and Pixel Shader 2.0 (personally I think anything below a GeForce 7 series will struggle big-time with this game, even in fairly low quality settings - for decent quality I think you'd want a GeForce 8600GT or better)
Memory: 256Mb / 1Gb
HDD Space: 4GB
Direct X: 9.0c
Age Rating: Strange one this. The packaging of my game says 16 / Mature for violence, but the game information on Windows says it's a 12 . I think the latter's more likely to be accurate, though I could be wrong.
For more archaeological fun (albeit a completely different type of game), you'll get a lot of enjoyment out of LEGO Indiana Jones.
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