Tomb Raider: Anniversary (PC)

Tomb Raider games have always been evolving and we have seen how good a game, Tomb raider: Legend happened to be. This sequel can't be considered as a major improvement, as Legend was a little bit more interesting for me. The game is almost the same as Legend in mos of the areas, in the looks of Lara, the environment as well as the usual Tomb Raider style of gaming. Lara has certainly come a long way after we saw her for the first time, but its still ...
...a remake of the original Tomb Raider game of 1996, it may have some similiar enemies as well as an identical plot. But I can't recollect how the first Tomb Raider looked like, so concentrating more on this game, we have an introduction video in the beginning itself. In the year 1945, its Los Alamos, New Mexico and we will see everything in the town being destroyed and lava everywhere. We will see an unknown winged creature flying out of a crystal ... more

Tomb Raider games have always been evolving and we have seen how good a game, Tomb raider: Legend happened to be. This sequel can't be considered as a major improvement, as Legend was a little bit more interesting for me. The game is almost the same as Legend in mos of the areas, in the looks of Lara, the environment as well as the usual Tomb Raider style of gaming. Lara has certainly come a long way after we saw her for the first time, but its still the Prince pf Persia who scores in the graphics department. Well, Lara doesn't look as good as she used to be in those anniversary wallpapers, but she is still the coolest archelogist in the world. Another interesting adventure waits for all the Lara fans in this game, as Eidos does a great job again.

MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
OPERATING SYSTEM:
Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, Vista
CPU:
Intel Pentium 3 1.4Ghz or AMD Athlon XP 1500+ Processor or equivalent
RAM:
256 MB (for Windows 2000/XP)
512 MB (for Windows Vista)
GRAPHICS:
100% DirectX 9.0c compatible 64 MB 3D Accelerated Card with TnL (GeForce 3Ti / Radeon 9 series)
SOUND:
Microsoft Windows 2000/XP/Vista compatible sound card (100% DirectX 9.0c -compatible)
DIRECTX:
DirectX version 9.0c
DVD-ROM:
Quad-speed (4x) DVD-ROM drive
HARD DISC DRIVE:
4GB of free disk space plus additional space for save game files
INPUT DEVICES:
100% Windows 2000/XP/Vista compatible mouse and keyboard

BACK TO ARCHEOLOGY
As this game is more of a remake of the original Tomb Raider game of 1996, it may have some similiar enemies as well as an identical plot. But I can't recollect how the first Tomb Raider looked like, so concentrating more on this game, we have an introduction video in the beginning itself. In the year 1945, its Los Alamos, New Mexico and we will see everything in the town being destroyed and lava everywhere. We will see an unknown winged creature flying out of a crystal in the centre of this lava. It will remain as a mystery, as the game starts and Lara Croft is to go to the snow covered mountains of Peru to search for another artifact. This marks the beginning of Lara's journey.

Lara will journey through Peru, Greece, Egypt and also the Lost island of Atlantis with also the option of playing the Croft Manor and unlocking its secrets like she did in Legend. But this time, some parts of the Croft Manor are a little boring and irritating, especially when we have to deal with a mze in the garden where we keep losing the way all the time. We won't be able to save the game after finding an artifact as there is no checkpoint around there. But the Manor is quite an interesting place in all the other areas. There are enough hidden artifacts to discover as well as those outfits for Lara to try, as long as they are unlocked in the game. As Croft Manor is independent of the real adventure of Lara Croft, whatever the player does in the Manor hardly affects your saved games.

LARA CROFT NEVER FAILS IN THE GAME
Lara Croft looks great throughout the game. There are lots fo things that Lara can do, and she is very acrobatic as usual. There are lots of fight scenes involving the wild beasts and other creatures and you will also have to dive away from these monsters as simple shooting won't always prove effective as they are a bit smarter. As we all know, Lara is one of the most acrobatic characters ever in a computer game, and only the Prince of Persia may prove to be a competitor for her in those gravity-defying moves. We will also have to do lots of moves here in this game. The usual jumping and holding onto ledges as well as climbing ladders continue here. You will have to grapple some hooks, hold onto ropes and swing, dodge traps as well as solve some puzzles of high standards. There is also a new move, which allows Lara to jump onto a pole and balance on it.

The graphics level vary, but its good at most of the areas and amazing in certain parts of the map. The loading time of the game is quite less here. Lara and her movements are well-designed again, and so is her voice. The sound effects are great too, as we can listen to the waterfalls, howling of wolves and also those roaring lions and there are very less cutscenes in this game compared to Legend, but there are a few intereactive ones where we have to press the appropriate buttons to move on. As usual, water is the best part of the graphics in the game, and it always feels great to be in an environment we have in this game. We will also see dinosaurs, gorillas, crocodiles, panthers bats and more who will stand in our way. There are also less characters in the game.

The enemy AI is pretty good most of the time. But there are a few occasions were this may be proved otherwise. The creatures whom we fight with won't climb steps or jump into water. If they accidently fall into water, they are nowhere to be found. There are chances that they may get somewhere on the way, and some of them will follow us only for some distance and then go back. We may also be able to stand over a rock and shoot all the creatures around and the only exceptions in these cases may be the bats. But it may be hard to shoot those flying creatures as camera may give some trouble if we are standing on some corner.

LARA AND HER ADVENTURES
The controls are quite simple, and if you have played any version of Tomb Raider or Prince of Persia, you will find this one easy to control. The camera also follows Lara well. The puzzles may not be too difficult for these gamers either. The only difficulty may be in the new dodging and diving stuff in the game which is necessary in a level in the very first stages of the game itself, against the T-Rex. Getting through this level may be a real pain if you haven't mastered this new ability of Lara Croft. There is some help provided as there are tips and hints displayed often in the beginning of the game serving the purpose of a tutorial.

This game seems to have lots more of the replayability factor as it is always great to do those acrobatic moves and there may be some secret artifact which you may have missed somewhere. As we can also try some different outfits, the game just gets more interesting. All the fans of Tomb Raider may have already tried this one, and its a must for the ones who haven't got their hands on this one yet. The players may also wat to do those time trials for a change. Hope that we will get to see more of this different kind of archeologist and more mysteries to solve and more artifcats to find, in various journeys across the globe.

THANKS FOR READING THE REVIEW :-) PLEASE DO CHECK THE UPLOADED TOMB RAIDER PICS :-) 

...less