Tomb Raider: Anniversary (PC DVD)

Tomb Raider Anniversary is ostensibly a remake of the original Tomb Raider game, but with the latest graphics engine that was developed for Tomb Raider Legend. It is, however, much more than just a remake. Anniversary comes with new stunning visuals, music, sound effects and puzzles that have kept me entertained for hours. Lara has also added a couple of new moves to her inventory of jaw-dropping acrobatics since Legend.So I was naturally excited when my pre-ordered copy of Anniversary dropped through my letterbox. "Hup! Hup!" she cried with excitement as from rock to rock she lept. "Uhh!" she protested, as she took a fall badly. How Lara stays clean and beautiful, cutless and scratchless, especially under my guiding hands, heaven alone knows. It seems only the odd gorilla throwing rocks can leave a bruise on her face. Her knees must be made of galvanised steel, and her body lotion mud-resistant.Lara is as graceful as ever, which is more than can be said for the camera which is following her - your only perspective in this game which is highly restricted in its movement and positioning, making some necessary acrobatics difficult to execute. A problem that fans identified with Legend, and one which the game designers should have fixed in this outing. Alas, we are but pithy fans, our opinions count for nought!Normal combat tactics are also right out with this game. Creatures charge at you with no intelligence and, it seems, an infinite tolerance for pain. The creatures do however, become "enraged" if shot too many times (rather than "dead" as you might expect), and charge at you in semi-slow motion, giving you a somewhat over-rated opportunity to dive out of the way and shoot them in the head. Unfortunately this feature is more cumbersome than it is reliable, and rarely provides a feeling of satisfaction. (I still reckon Max Payne is the definitive untouchable game for the implementation of slow-motion combat and "shoot-dodging").It is unfortunate that the best tactic for killing creatures is to find a position where they can't reach you, and shoot blindly. It will be blind, because Lara's head is sure to block your view. Combat is therefore eventful but uninspiring. I much preferred combat in Legend, in which I felt I had more control, and it gave me a much bigger thrill.The graphics are excellent, a far cry from the original Raider from which this game lifts many of its puzzles. However, those who loved the "NextGen" feature that made Legend look so gloriously cinematic and lifelike will be disappointed to see this feature missing from Anniversary. As a result, Legend remains visually superior.The music has also been re-written, with many allusions to the original game, but with none of the edge, power, suspense or rhythm introduced to Legend. Once again, it's a thumbs up for Legend, and a thumbs horizontal for Anniversary. It serves, it's good, better than many games on the market, but it does feel like a backwards step.Anniversary has far fewer cut scenes than Legend, and gives you more puzzles, exploring, and longer gameplay. This is all much better. But they still insist on "interactive cut scenes", where a little 3D arrow appears in the middle of the scene and you're expected to press the direction key that corresponds to the arrow (or you die). This is a ridiculous concept and has no place in a Tomb Raider game, it should have been canned.A piece of advice: turn off hint icons immediately. It's a crazy invention by some politically correct designer who wanted to make the game more accessible to the under 5s. We really don't need big warning signs appearing on our screens when there might be something in the room we can interact with. There's nothing subtle in the graphics, you can always tell when there's something to do in a location. The hint icon is just an unnecessary slap in the face. The Raider series has always been for adventure gamers. There should be no attempt to make it accessible to those who don't "get" the genre, or have no ounce of puzzle-solving ability. Otherwise core fans are alienated, will lose interest, and the Raiders of the future will just be a handful of muppets who can't tie their own shoe laces without help from their mother. (Alights soap box, shoe lace between legs).Games today have sought to become more and more visually realistic. Although cinematically Anniversary doesn't come up to par with Legend, gameplay is much less linear than Legend was. This gives the gamer some degree of choice as to how Lara's adventure is played out. However, as games look more realistic, we also expect everything else about the game to be completely believable. Anything which detracts from believability is jarring, and unfortunately Anniversary dishes out its fair share of problems. Granted we accept the adventures in Lara's world, that's the escapism. But all else should feel as cinematic, coherent and realistic as a blockbuster movie.These really are nit-picks, from a gamer who wants to be completely immersed in Lara's world, and not experience anything that reminds me "it's just a computer game". Call me geek if you like, but this is the direction games have been going ever since computers could display more than 8 colours. Now the technology is here for photo-realistic and physically-realistic games with acceptable frame rates, we need manufacturers to start stretching the technology to its limits. With Anniversary, there is still plenty of room for improvement.Everything considered, I would rate this 9 out of 10, and a must buy. I wish there were more games like this on the market, it's a fantastic achievement, and I'm very glad Crystal Dynamics have put in so much effort to produce it. More please!

I guess it's more 3 and a half stars, but certainly not 4. I loved the first 2 games on the original playstation, and completed them just about without any help or walkthrough. Then the series went a bit 'Pete Tong', so it was interesting to give this a try.I've got a near ancient PC, and apart from a few stuttering moments, the game plays remarkably well. The controls aren't too bad, and using a mouse and keyboard is preferable in some ways to a PS pad.The first half of the game was great fun - some interesting puzzles, a few frustrating jumps, but overall an enjoyable few days of play for what I would call a medium-skilled gamer like me.Then I hit the Centaurs. What in the (think of any combination of swear words you can) was that about. After several hours of swearing, watching the youtube video and studying the walkthrough, I somehow through sheer luck got through it, having pressed the right buttons in the right order but without actually knowing it.I've now hit the penultimate level, the Great Pyramid and I'm reluctantly about to finally give up. I simply can't do the grapple thing, and then quickly jump off a ledge, do another grapple wall run, and then jump at the right time (and using the right key as the camera angle is different) in the 18 measly seconds available. And unlike the original PS version, that's after having watched the youtube video several times to try and copy what they're doing. And I'm playing on the supposedly 'easy' setting.To the game designers...this is tooooooooo hard and frustrating! Games are supposed to be fun. I even managed to complete the annoying last Volcano level on Far Cry, but this game has just about used up all my patience.In short, great first half (like so many of the previous TR games, such as the 3rd and 4th in the series), but then stupidly frustrating in the second half.