Review: Tomb Raider Anniversary - Xbox 360 - Xbox 360 - HEXUS.net

Is it a happy anniversary for Lara?

The familiarity with the way the Tomb Raider games work could be seen as a bonus to fans of the series and to be fair many of the puzzles have still stood the test of time. Thanks to an increase in the size of the levels, with more caverns, dimly-lit caves, underwater chambers and hidden crevices, the puzzles require even more exploration than the original.

In the first few levels, which take you through cities and caves in Peru and Greece you'll encounter animals such as bats, wolves and panthers, but later on in the game there's a number of supernatural enemies which are far more difficult to defeat, such as winged and mystical mutants.

If you compare the fighting sequences with many other next-gen games that use the same kind of combat, then you’ll find that it’s poorly executed. The A.I doesn’t react well most of the time and even in the first level you’ll see wolves that glitch into doorways or appear devoid of any intelligence. The function which allows you to switch between enemies isn't as smooth as it should be and as a result fight sequences can often be more of a nuisance then a challenge.

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Lara once again wields a dual pistol by default, although she can pick up weapons dropped by an enemy, and the developers have attempted to make combat more interesting by adding a 'dodge endurance move', which allows her to jump out of the way just before she's attacked. It actually feels like a lazy addition and something to distract you from the fact that combat is far too basic; an unappetizing side-dish to the main course of puzzle solving.

Lara can strafe, dodge, roll, and lock onto targets like always. You can chain these moves together to create an impressive animation and also use a recovery move if she gets knocked down by one the creatures. The animations of Lara are well executed and the controls, apart from enemy switching, map well to the joy-pad, but the excitement of combat is never really captured despite the musical score doing its job in creating an intense atmosphere.

The audio in Tomb Raider Anniversary is right on the money and adds to the tension in the game through the use heart pounding Indiana Jones-style orchestral pieces during action scenes. The sounds of bird's chirping, rock's falling and branches breaking all effectively add to the atmosphere.

Tomb Raider: Anniversary will be attractive to gamers that missed out on the first adventure; and for them they'll have a great time swinging across canyons and pulling levers. Those who've already played the original may be slightly disappointed and feel as though it’s time for the series to step up a gear.

Personally, I'm looking forward to the next 'new' adventure of Lara Croft and hope that the developers will enhance, innovate and improve on this famous franchise. For the time being, Tomb Raider: Anniversary will do and if you haven’t played it for a while it’s still well worth a look.

Pros
It's Lara Croft
Great animation
Clever puzzles
Croft Manor is thrown in
It’s cheap

Cons
It's Lara Croft…the same as always
Some poor AI
Doesn’t look much better than the PS2 version.

Tomb Raider: Anniversary is real value for money, but it all feels slightly old-school.

HEXUS Awards

Tomb Raider: Anniversary- Xbox 360

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