I liked this quite a bit. It's a quiet and contemplative experience chock full of decent puzzle elements to keep you intrigued and a few non-human enemies to dispatch in a sparing way now and again.

Some puzzles and checkpoints are quite infuriating, however, and the camera angling does you few favours. The 'rage' mechanic is extremely hit-and-miss right up to the end and on top of that - there's some very buggy areas.

I played this on the PSP and it looked incredible for that system. It's well-lit and has very crisp details despite the graphical downgrade. perhaps some of the control issues I had are due to that system, but looking at video walkthroughs (which were a godsend), it seems those playing on the PS3 had similar issues.

Fun overall but I doubt I'll replay this one.

I originally gave this a 2 as I felt it was a very cynical remake, and while I think there is some cynicism baked into it, I don't think it's completely without merit or compassion towards to the original. It has a lot of fun playing around with the original's rock-solid level design and puzzles, making it genuinely very engaging for longtime fans of Tomb Raider.

It also goes without saying that, being based off of Core's original game, this is the best Tomb Raider game that Crystal Dynamics ever made, which is ABSOLUTELY the back-handed compliment it sounds like. Without their really rotten design impulses, there is nothing dragging down Anniversary quite like what happens in Legend and Underworld.

Unfortunately, this is still the Gex team, so they show their asses in different ways throughout this experience. The main one to me, being the terrible, terrible combat. Just inept attempts at action, floaty and without heft, a dysfunctional camera not cooperating well when the game spawns in gorillas to gank you in a cramped corridor. Changing the boss fights to include horrible fucking ungodly QTE sequences should be enough to drop this game to a 1 it's so putrid. The T-rex in the Lost Valley is exciting because of how little fanfare there is: the screen shakes and suddenly a giant fucking dinosaur is barrelling towards you. The player has to make a snap judgement on how to react. Turning that into a QTE and a "Get the boss to ram into the wall" fight is something that only the developers of Gex would think is a good idea.

Platforming games are often sewn at the hip to some disastrous combat mechanics, and Anniversary's almost manage to usurp The Sands of Time's Throne of Shit in regards to them. Which is amusing considering how much of this game (and Legend) really owes itself to Sands of Time.

Sands of Time is very silky smooth though. It's like playing a game from the future compared to this.

Sands of Time came out in 2003 btw.

The R1 button being an all-around context button, the more linear layout of platforming challenges, and the camera being very good at snapping to cinematic angles that give you a readable look at the environment are the secret sauce that makes the Sands of Time hum. When you slow it down and start adding complications to the proceedings, it becomes very janky and sloppy feeling. This is doubly so when the development team is the same one who made Gex.

Lara in TR96 controls the same all the time: she is the model of consistency in a video game. There is an unprecedented freedom in that game of mastering her control scheme because once you do, the game is yours to roam free! Anniversary by contrast feels much more rigid in what you can do, as trying to do platforming challenges out of order will have Lara just flatly refuse to grab a ledge or clip through poles, and the Gex team are VERY bad at signposting so you will be doing this without even understanding why you died. In brief instances where things run smoothly, there is a real glimpse at platforming goodness here. The game just refuses to get going or focus on its strengths, instead in a tug-of-war with this insecurity about what Tomb Raider is and dogged desire to make something new.

While it can be very fun and loving in its tributes to Tomb Raider, it mostly feels clumsy and insecure. It's the game equivalent of "I love this game but it's soooo bad" reviews, just totally lacking in the sincerity that makes the original game actually amazing.

So they remade Tomb Raider, pretty big responsibility huh.

I'll just start with the facts. Tomb Raider: Anniversary is an awesome remake and love letter to the Tomb Raider series. This was my first playthrough since after playing the original Tomb Raider, and I can confidently say that the developers achieved their ambitions:

“The old and the new; the familiar and the undiscovered; the mix of the past and the present that is at the core of every Tomb Raider experience was at the core of our effort for this game as well. A game that holds true to it's predecessor yet still stands out as a thrilling adventure all on its own.”

Excuse me for blatantly ripping off that paragraph from a heartfelt note for the fans found in the games extras, but I really think there's no better way to describe the vision than how the developers have done so.

Coming off the back of Legend, Anniversary manages to improve on it doubly from a gameplay perspective. The core level design here is just so damn engaging and honestly quite difficult to put down. It has a good difficulty curve, is very replayable, and going for 100% is a blast as it encourages two playstyles that result in distinctly different experiences.

The first is exploration based à la the search for artifacts and relics. Outside of a small few these are very well hidden and I had plenty of fun searching for them throughout every level, something I couldn't really say personally for most Tomb Raider games. The second is speed based throughout the time trials which I admit I haven't tried yet. If I revisit the game then I'm giving it a go for sure, the level design is too damn good for it to not be incredibly fun and potentially more challenging as well.

The most impressive part is how all of the above was implemented while simultaneously preserving the spirit of the original, and shaking things up to feel like a more contemporary experience. The amount of “I remember this part!” pointing at the screen moments I had while playing was pretty extraordinary for how different these sections actually end up playing (alright MAYBE I didn't point at the screen like a child but I definitely said it out loud to myself a lot!). I like to imagine if I could have been an older, more experienced Tomb Raider fan when this was released, those moments would have hit even harder.

Even though the story has been altered and expanded slightly, adding in some nice extra characterisation, they made the great decision of leaving that expansion to purely the cutscenes. This helped retain some of the original identity. It must have been difficult to resist throwing snarky dialogue in the levels like in Legend, considering just how FUN that was, but I'm glad they didn't in the end. It meant that various atmospheres are still present throughout: isolation, adventure, discovery, tension. Of course though, they aren’t exactly the same feeling. I'm being kind of repetitive so I hope you're sensing the theme I’m getting at here: The same, but different. The same,,, but different…

Anniversary does by no means replace Tomb Raider 1, it stands alongside it as a modern reimagining of, and alternative to, a great gaming classic, that anyone can enjoy. If someone was to only play a single Tomb Raider game, I would definitely point them in the direction of this one.




OH AND AND AND huge shout-out to Croft Manor. They turned her mansion into a freaking metroidvania bro. That's just frickin rad!! Sick. Awesome. Wonderful. Lovely.

После ребута 2013 решил пройти запылившуюся в моём стиме Tomb Raider: Anniversary. Хоть эта часть, да и все старые Tomb Raider думаю, и уступает ребуту в кинематографичности, она просто ебет головоломками и паркуром.

Головоломок много, они интересные и часто требуют много времени для решения. Головоломки тут так же неразрывно связаны с паркуром, его тут тоже много и он тоже доставляет. На каждом уровне в паркуре появляется какая та надстройка, которая не дает игроку расслабится и привносит что-то новое.

У игры есть волшебная и сказочная атмосфера, дополняющую в какой-то мере мультяшную графику. Конечно же во многом это заслуга саундтрека, он здесь неплох, мелодичный и местами задорный. Дизайн уровней меня тоже сильно порадовал. Есть и уровень в джунглях, и в Греции, и в Египте, все с соответствующими этим местам элементами. Локации к тому же обширные и красивые. Очень часто при заходе на новую локацию приятно удивлялся и какое-то время любовался перед решением очередной головоломки.

Сюжет тут честно средний, но даже кринжовый в хорошем смысле. Испытал особое удовольствие смотря кривоватые и глуповатые катсцены игры. История тут пытается даже пропихнуть серую мораль, но поверхностно и не особо удачно. В любом случае сюжет мне больше понравился, чем нет, как будто смотришь какой-нибудь cheesy боевик.

Если головоломки, паркур, атмосфера, сюжет, получились неплохими, то вот боевка в игре очень кривая и неудобная. От врагов трудно уворачиваться да и управление это делать удачно не позволяет. Поэтому каждая стычка, особенно с врагами во второй половине игры, приводит к фрустрации. Благо игра все же делает ставку именно на исследование, паркур и решение головоломок. Но даже при плохой боевке в игре прикольные боссфайты. Их тут где-то штук пять и каждый босс требует к себе определенной тактики, поэтому мне их было прям кайфово проходить.

Сравнивая Tomb Raider: Anniversary и ребут 2013 сразу замечаешь, что серия больше ушла в экшен и кино. Головоломки и паркур сильно упростили, зато улучшили боевку и сделали больше зрелищных катсцен. Грустно осознавать, что серия больше стала копировать Uncharted, с фокусом на экшен, нежели на методичное исследование обширных руин и решение головоломок.