Tomb Raider Anniversary is a an extremely solid platformer that immerses you in the experience of being Lara Croft .
Gameplay : I've always loved the prince of persia style of platforming and combat, one of my favorite series of all time and I have to say this new tomb raider really gave me some more of that same cool platforming but at the same time new and challenging gameplay. It is a bit difficult at first, Lara can jump from ledge to ledge , use her grappling hook to walk on walls and swing towards impossible places to reach while jumping. And do some other cool moves like standing on a pillar and jump from one to the other, swing from bars and the such. Your standard monkey acrobatic moves. All this is integrated well with the combat system, its not too flashy but it gets the job done. You basicaly use the jump button and the dodge button while pressing the shoot button all at the same time to perform some snazzy looking jumps, somersaults and other cool moves all the while blasting peeps or should I say HELPLESS ANIMALS WHO ARE JUST HUNGRY to bits. It ought to get tired just mashing on the mouse but the cool thing is that an hour into the game you are introduce to the adrenaline attack or whatever they call it. Basicaly, when you shoot an animal long enough he gets really pissed off (witch is only fair) so he becomes immune to gunfire for a second and you see this animation he does along with a sound that means hes going to charge you. Once he gets close enough the screen goes into slow mo and then blurs. Icons appear on the lefthand side of the screen indicating the directions you can go to (all this when you are locked on the target MOUSE 2 btw). So you press SHIFT and say LEFT and you will dodge guess where? thats right LEFT and a crosshair will apear on the screen when it locks on the enemy and you fire BOOM HEAD SHOT (this also mostly translates to boss fights). So yeah insta kill. This is fun and keeps the combat interesting thats not to say that it doesnt get a bit old after a while but I have to say jumping from ledge to ledge non stop towards the end of the game just got annoying so combat breaks it up a bit. There are a few bosses and they are all nice looking and hard hitting although after a while you can figure out the pattern rather easily and then dispatch them. Some puzzles are a bit fiendish but after that makes the game all the more satisfying to beat.
Graphics:
The game looks great , lara animates in a lifelike manner and most of her moves look really cool. It has a very nice graphical style that doesn't go for perfection but adds touches like water reflections and things like her shirt turning darker when she comes out of water, also water drips from her and takes a while to dry off. Overall it looks extremely nice, the enemies are well detailed and the in game cuts cenes ala Resident Evil 4 (seems to be the thing these days) are all pretty cool if somewhat easy. So to sum it up its a beauty to look at and explore these vast locals that are just filled with detail. The Peru Level is especially nice. I will say though that at the last level the frame rate drops a bit an makes some timed jumps harder than they should be.
Sound:
Well , the sound is not the most prominent thing ever in this game. Sure the voice actors did a great job but really all you are hearing is ambiance and bit of music that gets repetitive and of course Lara's grunts and moans as she jumps everywhere. The guns sound really good and powerful as guns should and that is very satisfying but overall the sound just doesn't do enough to really stand out so its great but not awesome.
Value:
Well I have a bad habit of finishing games in one sitting so in recent days I have been reading a whole damn lot so i play only sparingly, I bought this game on June second, and I finished it today July fifth, only because I wanted to take my time and not beat it very quickly and to that effect im very satisfied with myself. The levels are large and take a long ass times to complete. I clocked in at twelve hours and 30 minutes to beat it. Each level takes you about two hours and a half at a normal pace I would say (if you rush it you might get it in 1:40 or 2 hours but believe me if you rush it you will miss tons of jumps and just waste time so take my word for it.)
Although there are only four levels to speak of and technically speaking you could beat it in 8 hours you will die a lot and after a few hours playing you will just get sick of jumping everywhere and will take a break, personally im sure I left it on and went to go eat or something a couple of times so my time with the game might not be the best point of reference. Suffice it to say the game is long and fun throughout. As for re-playability..well you could do it all over again and get all the unlocks you want (costumes, cheats and such) but chances are you wont come back as soon as you beat it so yeah..thats that.
Ive never played any of the tomb raider games this was my first real experience and im very impressed, if you are looking for a great action adventure game to spend some quality time with look no further. This is a great experience and a testament that old games can be remade to good results.
-CB