Conclusion, final thoughts and awards
Righty, let’s recap what we’ve got here.Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary is a welcome return to form for Lara and here tomb raiding passion. Crystal Dynamics have obviously taken a good long look at what made the original games such classics and made Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary as faithful to the core gameplay of these as possible. The tweaks and extras, where they added them, are sensibly implemented and serve a purpose rather than just cluttering up the control set and making Lara do the wrong thing at the wrong time.
The storyline, whilst hardly original in its twists and turns, does the job and anyway, you’re not playing to hear a story, you’re playing for the challenge of getting Lara up that cliff face, across to the monument to get the key that unlocks the door to the cog for the machine that’ll stop the waterfall… and in that respect, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary is a worthy addition to the Tomb Raider series.
The camera can be a pain in the backside at times though, but it’s hard to see how it could have been implemented any other way other than have invisible walls in some areas. You can shift it around to improve the view so it’s not a huge problem but if I can shift it where I can see what’s going on, why hasn’t it been coded to take up the same vantage point?
But the camera is a minor consideration compared to the loading times after you’ve fluffed a jump or stretched for an out of reach ledge and plummeted to a neck-snapping death. Dying, either from an unseen trap, attack by Velociraptors or plain clumsiness at the edge of a massive drop, is part and parcel of Tomb Raider… I mean, who hasn’t deliberately swan dived Lara off a ledge onto rocks below, just for giggles? But the loading times make dying a bigger issue than it should be as you’ve got a huge wait before you can try again. I’m not even sure what’s being loaded… I’ve tried killing Lara right at the restart point, so why is the whole level reloaded? I haven’t gone anywhere so all the textures and scenery should still be in the PSPs memory, what gives?
But, and this is a biggie, niggles about controls, camera views and long load times are all just that, niggles. Because Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary is so good in every other area that it’s easy to forgive these shortcomings. The environments are varied enough to feel fresh and that sense of achievement as you spot a half hidden ledge and suddenly find a whole new area to explore is immense.
And for those of us who played the original way back at the birth of 3D gaming will be enjoying some classic Lara action with subtle and suitable modernisations making Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary a worthy addition to anyone’s PSP games library.
Pros
Classic Tomb Raider action with extras
Huge environments with on-the-fly loading
Plenty of crevice hanging gap leaping action
Slow motion sequences add a nice touch
Loads of new moves for Lara
Cons
Overlong loading times when you die
Camera can be an awkward bugger at times
Target lock is physically tricky and not really needed
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary brings the Tomb Raider series back on track
HEXUS Awards
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary - PSP
