Tomb Raider Anniversary 07 July 2008

More than a decade after Lara Croft made her console debut, Tomb Raider Anniversary is a remake of that original game. For some reason, I’d never played a Tomb Raider game prior to getting the Wii version, so to me all of this was brand new.

According to PlayStation 3 Magazine “Players should expect a minimum of 15 hours of gameplay, significantly longer than Legend.” Well, the game has given me about five months of infrequent playing, which is either an indictment to just how bad I am at games, or it is a testament to how long and hard this game is. You be the judge, I should note that I referred to a walk-through on several occasions, and yet it still took me half the year to complete.

I really enjoyed this game, even though I found it frequently very tricky. The ‘boss’ levels particularly proved to be fairly tedious, due to the ‘rage’ system… basically you shoot repeatedly at a baddie until it gets extremely annoyed and charges at you. At which point you go into Matrix type bullet-time and have to aim at a little red target. Unfortunately I completely failed to get to grips with this and found most of the major battled frankly boring and repetitive.

Atmospheric Isolation

There are plenty of creatures dotted throughout the sprawling five ‘lands’ including bats, wolves, panthers, a giant T-Rex, and decaying mummies, but for the most part it’s just you and Lara. The environment your main adversary, which I found thoroughly refreshing after revisiting Max Payne and the all too human opponents.

For the most part, the game requires working out how to get from ‘here’ to ‘there’, through a variety of platforms, hand holds, poles to jump onto or swing from or swimming through flooded basements. The puzzles are dazzlingly complex, but the integration of the unique functions of the Wii controllers really add a lot to an already excellent game. The numchuck becomes your grappling hook, whilst the Wii remote becomes your pistols, flashlight, and a whole set of archaeologist’s tools like a brush, trowel or pick axe. All of which add a little extra to the game, and they don’t feel rushed ‘addons’ to take advantage of the unique features of the Wii, but genuinely well thought out opportunities for something different.

As a game soundtrack anorak, I should mention the music, composed by Troels B. Folmann, which really is fantastic and really adds to the overall epic atmosphere. The full soundtrack can be downloaded from a variety of sources, although Planet Lara seems to have the highest bit-rate versions.

Globetrotting through ancient cities and long forgotten caverns in Peru, Greece, Egypt, and Atlantis the textures and details are really magnificent, even on a Wii. I particularly enjoyed the giant waterfall on the first level, and the ruins of the Coliseum, are particularly beautiful levels.

As previously stated, I’d not played any of the Lara Croft games before so I’m intending to acquire a copy of Tomb Raider: Legend in the next few weeks and I’m already itching to get my hands on Tomb Raider: Underworld, due to be released in November.