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this is how you raid a tomb!
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Human opponents have been replaced by animals, a great touch that, along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.
I still miss the OLD
Laura...
I cut my teeth on the very
first Tomb Raider when I stumbled onto it. I loved the game, although
there was no sound and the pixels were a bit too large. Still, it was a
jump in technology and fascinated me.
After Eidos' departure from the
original Tomb Raider formula in Angel of Darkness, I was delighted to
hear they were going back to the old formula which made Tomb Raider so
popular.
Unfortunately, the one thing they didn't go back to was the
camera. Like recent Catwoman and Indiana Jones games, they use that
damned revolving camera. The old Tomb Raider games were a blast to play
because the camera was behind Laura's head and made you feel like YOU
were her AND, you could press a few buttons and look through her eyes;
up, down, left and right when you were entering an area that looked like
trouble.
I Love the Tomb Raider games; all but Angel of Darkness.
But, I absolutely hate the camera in the last few games. Laura walks
through a door and now you see her as if she's entering the new area.
The cam is now positioned in front of her, so you have to keep turning
your mouse until you can see behind her. If there's an enemy
approaching, you can't see it until you get the cam behind her. That's
annoying as hell.
Also, when she's in combat or making jumps, again,
you have to continually position the camera. The old method was
excellent. WHY do they have to use THIS stupid camera???
In ALL the
Tomb Raider games, there seems to be a delay in action when you hit the
keys and sometimes you have to hit them twice. For example, when you
want her to jump. Often, there's a second delay in her performing the
jump after you hit the key. It must be something with the engine they
use. For example, I'd have her run and jump off a platform to another
ledge or something and she'd run and just fall off the edge to her
death. I hit jump at that split second but she fell. Or when the T-rex
is charging, I hit jump and the right or left button, but she stands
there taking injury. Now that really pisses me off.
Also, like the
last Indiana Jones game, the level I'm stuck on right now is the battle
with the T-rex. It's one of those timed levels with no place to hide, no
place to relax. I think I counted over 1000 attempts to get Indy to run
and jump and escape the tank-thing chasing him on the second-to-last
level of the Indiana Jones game and by then, it wasn't fun anymore. I'm
running into that now with the T-rex. I've read how to kill it but it
doesn't help when Laura crouches rather than jumps or that I can't SEE
the T-rex as I'm running. It doesn't help that she runs at one speed
only or that the keys have a tendancy to be non-responsive. I absolutely
hate timed levels. You have to do everything exactly right or start
over.
When THIS game came out, I realized I had never really
completed the very first Tomb Raider game because I couldn't hear the
cut scenes. I downloaded all the Glidos stuff and upgraded my original
game and played it to conclusion. It was very enjoyable. The animals in
the original look goofy as compared with the critters in the remake
here. The graphics are absolutely excellent and so far, it's relatively
enjoyable. I DO wish the designers would allow for alternate routes
rather than being strictly linear. I've rated the game, thus far, as 4
stars, only because I haven't completed it.
In the original, I had no
trouble defeating the T-rex because you could back into a tunnel when
it attacked and shoot from safety. You don't have that option with this
version. And because of the camera, it's awkward turning her around to
face the T-rex and then fire. My fingers are cramping up from constantly
firing her guns and jumping.
I still have ALL my Tomb Raider games
and play them over and over again. All except Angel of Darkness. I
trashed that one. Jesus, I sure wish they'd go back to the original
camera behind Laura's head. At least that way you could see what's
coming and I liked the old controls better too. It was much easier to
control Laura and flip sideways, back and front. Now when you hit jump
and left or right, she turns and jumps in that direction rather than
flipping. I liked the flip better.
Also, there's no real roll in this
version. She can roll when you're running, but not from a standing
position; as if you were standing in front of a lever. Previously,when
you were standing facing a wall and you hit "end" on the keyboard, Laura
would flip and be facing the opposite direction. I also miss the fact
that you could get her to burst into a full sprint. Now she just
casually runs from enemies, and usually takes a lot of damage because of
it. Not to mention that YOU feel the urgency for speed.
Tomb Raider
II and successors (except AOD)all had great controls and cam. You really
felt like you could do almost anything. I wish they'd have left those
controls in place and upgraded the graphics and all would've been
perfect.
One other thing that I've noticed thus far. Laura can't
interact with a lot of the environment. She can't really explore other
areas. You see an obvious ledge, but she can't jump up to it or grab on.
C'mon... half the fun is exploring everything and feeling like you're
really alive and a part of the game.
Overall, I'm sure I'm going to
love this game, despite all the criticisms I've had. I just want to see
more adventures. But, the older games are still better because you could
control the actions better and SEE better. That was the formula that
made it all enjoyable.
If they could change only two things to make
this game and future Tomb Raider games better, I'd say get rid of that
camera and go back to the original and restore the orignal controls.
I'll add an update when I finally progress beyond the T-rex...
Instant Classic
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 a 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 fantastic as well.
Legend was faster paced and action packed, Anniversary is slower paced
and requires a little more thinking to get through the maps and
obstacles. Both titles are the best in the series and a must play for
all PC gamers!
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