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HELP...BUGS....BUGS....BUGS

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 13
Date: July 16, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I loved this game until I entered the second level and there was a bug preventing me from jumping onto a rather close ledge, the game rocked until this point, if anyone knows the bug I am talking about in the second level and knows how to get passed this jump, please let me know, until then this game gets a 1 star because there is no zero, it would have been a perfect ten but the bug prevents me from progressing on my PS2

HELP ME PLEASE!!

Excellence Revisited

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 25 / 26
Date: June 23, 2007
Author: Amazon User

"Tomb Raider Anniversary" could have so easily been little more than a stop-gap rehash of the original, using the same engine and graphics as 2005's brilliant-yet-tiny "Tomb Raider Legend". You couldn't really blame the developers for overlooking the now-ancient PS2 technological limits for something more flash like the new-gen consoles, and yet, those geniuses at Crystal Dynamics and Eidos have really taken great pains with this to remake it into something different, new and fun.

GRAPHICS: 5/5

When I first played TR: Legend, I had several honest-to-god "Wow!" moments because of the gorgeous visuals. "Tomb Raider Anniversary" gave me more than that, it couples the "Wow!" factor with a hefty dose of nostalgia and some insanely detailed models that are totally reminiscent of the feel of the original 1996 game, while still managing to be new and fresh and engaging. Level design is changed to accommodate Lara's new movement style, but are still recognizable enough to make us fans of the original game grin from ear-to-ear with the familiarity of the settings. For example: the water-filled subterranean room in The Great Pyramid is so nostalgic as to be breathtaking, but requires a whole new thought process and set of puzzle solutions to traverse. Similarly, St. Francis' Folly, arguably the first level in the history of video games that really proved the

worth of the 3D environment, looks so familiar, but plays very differently. The upshot of this is a game that will not only thrill newcomers, but will make us old-time Tomb Raiders sit back and remember exactly why we fell so much in love with Lara Croft in the first place.

Character and monster designs are, as you'd expect after TR: Legend, simply beautiful, only now more so: this is certainly the most beautiful incarnation of Lara to date, and all of her co-stars in this adventure are great examples of what can still be achieved when talented people program for the PS2. The only exception, oddly, is Jacqueline Natla - she looks more supernatural than before, and less plausible - but that's just some odd character design, not badly executed graphics.

SOUND: 5/5

As with the graphics, the sound designers of "Tomb Raider Anniversary" must be praised excessively for creating an aural atmosphere that will grab and entertain not only newbies to this series, but that will also make fans of the series remember the original atmosphere with delight. Gone is Lara's PDA - no interruptions from colleagues pepper the silence of the tombs and jungles here - and the music is a brilliantly re-imagined rendition of the original's themes.

PLAYABILITY: 5/5

I know I've been walking down memory lane here for a while - this game is just so across-the-board reminiscent of the original - but where this updated version of "Tomb Raider" really comes into its own is with the control system. It's basically the same brilliant engine as TR: Legend, but rejigged and tightened to make "Tomb Raider Anniversary" an absolute joy to play. You won't be falling to your death or making silly mistakes because of controls (the camera, as with all 3D games, does cause some moments of frustration, however these are few and far between), and Lara in combat mode is now a much more challenging and rewarding thing: you can't just point and shoot anymore, you really do need to think.

LASTIBILITY: 4/5

This game is tougher and longer than TR: Legend, so it's nice to see that Crystal Dynamics really listened to the critics of the 2005 game - levels are bigger, there are more of them, enemies are tougher with a progressive difficulty curve, and traps and puzzles are now more involved, with far more emphasis on Lara's (and your) acrobatic ability.

But it's still a little short.

It's MUCH better than TR: Legend - a twelve to fourteen-hour playtime the first time you go through it, and as before, there are multiple ways to complete a level, and multiple rewards for doing so, particularly in time trial mode, but it's still a bit too short. The reason I love the original TR games on the PSOne is for their longevity - this game, while absolutely breathtaking in all other areas, is still no match for the length of the first three.

Still, compared to most contemporary videogames, it's absolutely fine, and in and of itself is a rewarding and challenging game, full of respectful nods to the original, and full of new tricks and features to keep us all entertained.

OVERALL: 4.5/5

Buy it now. I can't recommend it highly enough, "Tomb Raider Anniversary" is a stunning game. If you liked the original, or if you're just curious to see what all the fuss is about, "Tomb Raider Anniversary" represents the pinnacle of Lara Croft's exploits, both technically and artistically.

Anniversaries are never this good

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: June 13, 2007
Author: Amazon User

1996 marked the arrival of the first, and highly influential, Tomb Raider, which introduced gamers to the Indiana Jones-esque heroine Lara Croft and marked one of the finest examples of true 3-D gameplay at the time. After a number of years, as well as a number of unremarkable sequels that really downplayed what the series was about in the first place, Crystal Dynamics and Eidos marked a return to form with last year's Tomb Raider: Legend, which brought the core gameplay back to it's roots. Now, to celebrate the release of the original Tomb Raider over a decade later, we get Tomb Raider: Anniversary, and be glad for it. A re-imagining of the original game using the Tomb Raider: Legend graphics engine, Anniversary finds Lara in her usual environment: various tombs scattered in exotic locales. While locating artifacts and gunning down baddies, you solve puzzles to progress through the game while engaging in some inventive platforming and acrobatics; all of which leads up to quite an explosive finale. There are plenty of new elements to go along with the classic gameplay, including a new adrenaline dodge and challenging, multi-layered puzzles. The graphics and textures look pretty good for a late in life PS2 game, and yes, Lara herself looks great as well, but there are a few noticable hiccups, especially noticed if played in Progressive Scan mode. That aside, the rest of Tomb Raider: Anniversary is a smashing homage/remake of the classic first installment that is surprisingly pretty flawless in it's delivery. Whether you are a casual or hardcore fan of the franchise, you should definitely consider picking up Tomb Raider: Anniversary.

Fantastic

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: June 25, 2007
Author: Amazon User

amazing game. i was speechless when i finished the first level. crystal dynamics made some nice improvements on this game. and i really like it. the battles are not too intense and not too lame.

the puzzles are my favorite. these puzzles dont require you to do them fast. you have to figure out a chain of them in your head first then solve it. the satisfation is the best reward you can get.

gameplay is ok. camera is not bad. i love the detailed graphics and the music. it is def longer than the last one which is nice.

great game... but it's missing something from the original

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: June 20, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game it a LOT better than the original if we talk about graphics, but for some reason the environments don't feel as "huge" as the ones in the original game, one example I can give is the colosseum level, even though it is more detailed it doesn't feel as big as in the original game. The game has plenty action and puzzle-solving as the original and the new moves work really well. But the big letdown (for me , at least) is the music, it not as strong as in the original game, it sounds too soft, cheesy at times.

This game is fun to play but not to listen to, so play it listening to your favorite artist and you'll have a better experience.

Sharp remake of classic title

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: June 11, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I'm not the biggest Tomb Raider fan, but I did enjoy parts 1 and 2 back in the day(although they were too hard for me), and I liked Legend. The comments that most people said about Legend, for me, were largely true: Great control, fun game, great graphics, although too short, too easy, and simplistic puzzles.

So, even though this is a "re-imagining" as they say, I was pretty surprised at the complexity of the puzzles, and the length of the game. All of which made for a far more satisfying experience than Legend.

The game retains the great graphics and control of Legend, but kicks out a number of things that Legend brought in. Not much fighting, no motorcycle sections, and not many cinemas. The story is a little elaborated on from the original(from what I remember), but it's kinda slight, and there isn't much to it. But that's not the point.

This is a hardcore puzzle/platform game of the highest order. It's very hardcore, meaning that's all there is too it really. Just gameplay and puzzles galore. If you're a bit more used to the newer cinema style games of today, this game may be a bit much for you. I could imagine that a lot of younger gamers may get a bit frustrated by going into a room, and literally taking a couple of hours figuring out what to do.

But it was a great blast from the past, and a big improvement overall. I really liked this game a lot, and had a very fun time with it.

For the next game(the sequel to Legend), they should try to strike a balance with the action, story, and glob trotting of Legend, with the amazing puzzles and length of this title. Then you would have the ultimate Tomb Raider game. Crystal Dynamics have done a very good job getting this formerly great series back on track.

Back to Basics

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: July 09, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I found dark angel very dissappointing however with Legend and the Anniversary additions Laura is back. I enjony the graphic and the different levels evil little tricks. Especially when you come face to face with the T-rex.

Mad... but loving it

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: July 13, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Let me get the negative thing out of my system first. The bosses in this game are horrible to beat even on the difficulty level of "easy". They've made it so you just can't "shoot" the boss anymore. You have to perform certain tricks in a certain order to win the fight. I've never been so mad at a game in my entire life. With that out of the way. I love this game. I loved the original. The graphics are great and the design of the levels is not overly complex. The levels are not even as complex as the original but that is a good thing (makes up for the boss fights). Ultimately, I can see myself playing this game again and again and I do recomend it.

Wonderful. But too much of a good thing, perhaps

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: September 04, 2007
Author: Amazon User

First the good news - this is a fantastic game in many ways. All the things you'd hope for in a 3rd person adventure are duly accounted for: Good, grab it and go controls without any annoying button combinations, gorgeous graphics with great variety and occasional outright beauty, good character movement that isn't spoiled by the need for complicated button work, and lots of interesting puzzles to solve.

It also has one of the best save systems I've ever seen, something so many games get so wrong. You pass checkpoints constantly, and can save at each one. When you return to the game later, even after turning off the console, you have the choice to resume (start at the most recent saved checkpoint) or load (start back at the beginning of the current level). Beautiful. You don't lose progress, and if you find out you missed something important, you can always start the level over to get it.

So what's the bad news? Well, it all gets to be a bit much, frankly. I like "platforming" games a lot, but to me it seems there's just too much platforming and not enough of anything else. I'm about 80% through, and every area has been basically the same: Walk in and get ambushed by a critter or two, then spend the next couple of hours wall climbing, jumping, pole-swinging, crevice crawling and wall running. That was fun for about the first 50%, but now it's just repetitious and quickly becoming tedious.

I understand that this is an old-school platformer and the game's focus is right for that, but I just can't help getting bored with it now that I'm most of the way through. The infrequent bosses have been a nice diversion (they take some effort but aren't ridiculously hard), and again, the environments are really cool. I love all those ancient ruins with their mechanizations, puzzles and traps. But now I'm bored and just plugging on to get it over with. Once you've had a look around at the wonderful scenery and get down to work, it's just the same old thing over and over.

I want to love this game for all it's talents, but the gameplay is wearing thin. Hardcore platformers will probably love every moment, but I'm not quite -that- hardcore.

The good:
Scenery and graphics
Controls
Character movement
Cool ancient environments
Perfect save system
Very well-behaved camera

The bad:
Endless platforming gets tedious, not much else happens

So that's not much bad compared to the good. This review might have seemed a bit too negative up to this point, but I'd like to stress it's benefits here and now. It's a nearly flawless example of the platforming breed. I highly recommend it for serious platformers. If you'd like a little more variety to go along with all your creeping, crawling, jumping and swinging, you might want to consider something with a little more action mixed in.

Very good, to where I have seen it has enchanted to me!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: October 11, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Very good, to where I have seen it has enchanted to me! I have not advanced much even, but the graphical aspect is very well elaborated and the game system is quite simple.

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