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From:Eidos
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User Rating: Amazon Sales Rank:#921 |
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10 of 20 customers found the following review helpful:
 Fighting Your Problems For A Long Time, 2007-06-10
My first game for the original Playstation was Tomb Raider 2, back in 1998, and I played that game through several times, despite the repetition, box moving, and sense of sadness at Lara Croft's lonely adventures. When I figured out that the monks at the temple wouldn't attack "me" if "we" didn't shoot them, I finally realized what I was missing in my real life, friends.
It's been over a year since I played any video games, since I finished the missions and quit GTA: San Andreas with still only 60% completed. I picked up TR: Anniversary for old time's sake, just to see if I could capture the feeling of the original. I'd tried the demo of TR: Legend some time ago but wasn't really interested. I always thought playing a game on the PC just wasn't the same as using a controller, but GTA got me over that hurdle.
At first I was enthralled by the beautiful graphics and limited number of animals to shoot, instead the focus being on climbing, jumping, leaping, swinging, and trying to figure out where to go next. But besides looking for relics and artifacts, shooting a few animals and monsters, and a few "interactive" cut scenes, that's all the game really is. The puzzles aren't that difficult, and there's always only one way to go.
On every level are several rooms, connected by trapped, animal filled, or empty hallways, and each room is essentially the same: Figure out how to climb up or climb down, empty the water or fill the water, pull the lever to gain access to another room, find the key(s) to finish the level, and repeat. Sure, as the game progresses it becomes necessary to master several moves in order to continue, but I finally admitted to myself, what's the point?, and I quit somewhere in the Great Pyramid where you have to shoot two demons and then swing around the room on poles, crevices and two hooks, with an 18 second time limit. A previous stunt (the snapping block - pillar jump) proved so frustratingly difficult that I had to die and try again over 100 times before getting it (randomly?) just right. Uninstalled, saves erased and shelved.
And just like TR2 this game is depressingly lonely. It may be pretty and challenging, but there is no one to share it with along the way.
24 of 26 customers found the following review helpful:
 this is how you raid a tomb!, 2007-06-10
The original Tomb Raider was my favorite game of all time, the title that really got me into gaming. Now the developers have gone back to Lara's roots with Anniversary, and in the process they have re-discovered what made the title such a hit in the first place. Anniversary is the best in the series.
What makes Anniversary great is it focuses on the series' strengths rather than its weaknesses. Tomb Raider is primarily a game about exploration and puzzle-solving. The environments in Anniversary are enormous, and the primary challenge for the gamer is finding out how to get from point A to point B by using the environment to your advantage. It is very daunting when you're standing at base of a statue the size of the Statue of Liberty and realize you must find a way to climb to the top. Even defeating the bosses is more about using your brains rather than your reflexes.
Action-oriented gamers may be turned off -- Anniversary isn't about gunplay, which has never been a strength of the series. Human opponents have been replaced by animals, a great touch that, along with echoing sound effects, adds tons of atmosphere to the tombs.
The graphics are gorgeous, with wonderful lighting effects, and run smoothly on older PCs like mine. The levels are surprisingly consistent with the original game, with even some items in the same places. The story is servicable, nothing to write home about, with most of the changes from the original game made to fit it in with the story arc started in Legend. However, there are some nice touches about this being Lara's first outing -- she is not the battle-hardened adventurer we see in Legend, but we get to find out how she became that way.
Unfortunately, there are some flaws that keep this game from perfection. The biggest is the camera. Too often Lara will be making blind leaps from ledges because you can't pan around to see what is off-screen, and it will change angles at sensitive moments, such as when you're making what needs to be a perfectly timed leap. Also, during gun battles in close quarters, it will zoom in so close that all you can see is Lara's back.
There are several little bugs that detract from the game. I kept losing my autosave, so make sure to manually save often unless you want to restart from scratch. And there are sound problems with Windows XP that were not resolved even after I followed the company's troubleshooting advice.
Regardless, this is a great game, and at $30, it's a steal. Let's hope that in future Tomb Raider games, the developers will stick to the formula set in Anniversary.
10 of 11 customers found the following review helpful:
 Better Than Legend, 2007-06-09
Two of my all time favorite titles, Resident Evil and Tomb Raider remade have not disappointed. RE4's keyboard controls were a minus but the controls in TR: Anniversary are much better thanks to the mouse. Gameplay wise I remember a few parts from the original, lots of challenging and fun puzzles to solve. But Anniversary feels new and original, like a completely different game thanks to the updated graphics. I am playing on my notebooks IPS screen and the visuals/detail are very good. So good that I actually got a bit of acrophobia trying to pull off all those dizzying maneuvers in the St. Francis Folly level! The music and atmosphere is great as well, very engaging. Anniversary has become my favorite of the series.
3 of 4 customers found the following review helpful:
Whoa, another great TR game, 2007-06-08
I received on the first day it was available for PC. So far, I've finished a quarter of the game. Whoa! Was I amazed. I finished legend last year. Compare to legend, Anniversary feels a lot more refined. There are a bunch of new elements in controlling, and in the actual game-playing itself. The environmental graphics is even better. And if you played the original like I did, you would find this game very enjoyable. It's well-worth the money.
By the way, the engine of the game developed by Crystal Dynamics is very efficient. The game runs very smooth in 1024 X 768 without any AGP or e-PCI 3D video cards. But don't expect to have any options on. For best effect, a video card that ranges from 100 - 150 will do the job beautifully.
1 of 25 customers found the following review helpful:
It could've been more appropriate if it was for PS3, 2007-05-29
I tried the demo and I'm impressed! I think they used TR Legend graphic engine so it wasn't probably that hard to remake it. But I think they should have waited and optimized it exclusively for PS3. By using PS3's raw power, it could've been better IMHO. If you are fan of the series, do not miss this!
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