On Second Thought -- Play Tomb Raider Legend Instead
I mentioned in my original review that TRA was fun, but that you'd need a good walkthrough to get through the aggravating bits. The problem is, after a while, the aggravating bits become more and more frequent. Sequences of potentially-fatal jumps, where one slip means you have to start again from your last checkpoint -- sequences where (on the PC version, anyway) you're fighting both the loose camera and the *very* tempermental controls just to "stick" your landings in a way that satisfies the game engine.
Timed sequences that, again, are more a test of how well you can wrangle the PC version's game controls than of your skills or agility in playing as Lara.
Certain levels where you really won't have much idea how to proceed unless you can a) think exactly like the developers, or b) regularly consult a walkthrough.
I can succeed at all the above challenges; that's not the point. The point is, "repetition = challenge" as game design might have been standard when Tomb Raider first appeared in 1996, but its boring now.
Trying a finicky fatal jump sequence twenty times to get it just right -- or getting myself killed five times just so I can figure out what a level is expecting me to do -- why spend the time? Succeeding at these things doesn't bring a sense of accomplishment; it feels like you're writing an exam. Even though I can get the A+, I'd still rather be having fun instead. Ultimately, Tomb Raider Anniversary feels like *work* instead of play, and that's just wrong.
Tomb Raider Legend was a beautiful looking game that, perhaps, could've been a little deeper, but it had a great story and was fun far more often than it wasn't. TRA isn't actually deeper or more challenging than Tomb Raider Legend, it's just more of a grind as the game wears on. It's certainly not any deeper; in fact, it's shallower.
As a remake of the original Tomb Raider, Tomb Raider Anniversary is pretty story-light and is much more focussed on rote tasks. Again, it feels like work, not play. You may not literally be jumping through hoops as Lara, but you might as well be ...
If you're a hardcore Lara Croft fanatic (and/or a nostalgia gamer), you'll love TRA no matter what I say here. For everyone else, I suggest you either play the much-more-fun Tomb Raider Legend instead , or else rent Anniversary before you shell out money to buy it.
Intead of the Temple of Midas, Lara should've visited the Hall of Pyrrhus in Tomb Raider Anniversary instead, because this game ends of being the definition of a "pyrrhic victory" -- even when you win, you lose.