Product Description

Celebrate and commemorate ten years of Tomb Raider with Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary, a re-imagined adventure inspired by the original Tomb Raider video game, one of the greatest action adventure games of all time. The redesigned game experience delivers massive environments with stunning high resolution visuals, real-time lighting/shadows, a dynamic and fluid Lara Croft, and intense combat and game pacing.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1259 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Eidos
• Model: 20053
• Released on: 2007-10-23
• ESRB Rating: Teen
• Platform: Xbox 360
• Dimensions: 3.00 pounds

Features

• Solve the Diabolical Machinery of the Past: Seek to outwit the brilliant ancient designers of many epic puzzles and vaults in order to uncover their secrets. Be warned they do not take kindly to meddling, and as such, the price of failure is extreme.
• High Definition Visuals & Epic Exploration: Experience a more realistic game world as stunning environments are brought to life through higher resolution visuals and real-time lighting/shadows
• Death-Defying Environmental Playground: Leap over massive gaps, cling onto rock ledges, and swim through underground tunnels.
• Acrobatic Gunplay: Deftly leap around charging enemies, while you continue to unleash a hail of bullets from your trademark dual pistols.
• Lethal Predators: The wilderness awaits with a wide range of bestial predators from wolves to bears to the awesome T-Rex. Enemies feature a more diverse behavior set, providing improved combat challenges.

Customer Reviews

A decent remake of a great game
Back when I was 16 I played the original Tomb Raider, and when I picked this up, I thought to myself there's no way I could ever remember anything of the original one. I quickly found out that that was definitely not the case. In playing just the first level I found myself saying "Wow, I remember this!" and also found myself astonished by how much prettier the locations were in the game this time around. What was once blocky, lego-land type levels have become (relatively) smooth environments. However, I don't think this game deserves to be reviewed on how nostalgic it is, but by its own merits. So here we go.

By today's standards TR:A is a decent looking game. If you want Bioshock-like graphics out of it, you will be disappointed. That being said, the graphics are still beautiful, the motions fluid, and the frame-rate didn't seem to slow down at any parts that I remember.

On the 360, the controls are very nice and didn't get in the way of my playing the game (until I did the time trials, but more on that later). Lara jumped and grabbed stuff on her own without me needing to anything extra, and I didn't want to chuck the controller at the ground out of frustration. Sometimes the game's controls got a little too helpful though, and Lara aimed herself at things and grabbed ledges that would've been more convenient if she had done what I wanted her to in the first place. But those times were rare in the actual game, as I found this to be more of a problem in the mansion than I did in the other levels.

I should add that I've only had problems with the controls now that I'm attempting to go through the time trial versions of the levels to claim the last few achievements. I know this is likely due to me rushing through parts I should take slower, but there are times when her head and shoulders literally rub against a ledge I want to grab, and she falls to her death.

The only part of the game that I didn't like, and the reasoning for it dropping a star, is that it was too easy, and subsequently a fairly short game. Here, I have to compare it to the original a little, because the original was insanely hard and took forever to get through. The levels in Anniversary were shrunken, watered down versions of the original levels, and this felt a little disappointing. I say a little disappointing, because some of the levels in the original drove me so crazy I had to shut off the computer and walk away for a few days before I came back. So I don't know if making the game easier is all that bad. I don't mind being a little frustrated by games though, and for the most part it was a cake-walk getting through Anniversary. The time-trials are what add the true difficulty of game, and that's what saves the game from being completely too easy. So it balances out a bit from that.

In the end though, I'm very much happy with my purchase of this game. It was a fun remake, even if it was a little easy. Getting the last 100 or so achievements will take me awhile, since they are all attached to the time trials.

One final thing for Xbox 360 players-- I had a glitch in the game happen that was annoying. I was about halfway through the game, and decided as a break, to try the Croft Manor level. I restarted it, out of frustration, and when I did, I lost all of the relics and artifacts I had found, and the game simply forgot that I had completed Peru (and thus I couldn't replay the levels). So I had to delete my save games and start from scratch. While I looked at this as an oppertunity to gain some replay value from the game, I can see how it might tick others off. So complete the Croft Manor (preferably with all the artifacts) before you start the rest of game. That way you don't have to worry about this happening to you. Or just don't restart the level like I did, as that seems to trigger the glitch. It's annoying, but not so much that it made me hate the game, obviously.

Jump, Jump, Die, and Start over
This game is very repetitive. I found myself doing the same thing over and over again, almost ready to finish the climb, then slightly jump to the right of where I needed to and die/start over. This game would have been better if the game control was a little more reasonable. Unless you love tomb raider, spend your money on a little more dynamic game with a plot. I thought since it was a classic it would be good, but I did not have the patience to work through this game.

For fans AND newcomers... Great fun!
This is one of the best games I've ever played... Why? Simply because Tomb Raider (1996) is the best game I've ever played EVER... The creators at Crystal Dynamics did a great job to get this classic back to life in a greatly fun remake.

The fans will LOVE it since it will bring back memories of their greatest playing experience.
The newcomers will LOVE it too because they will get to play a greatly fun adventure, with a sexy heroine at her BEST look ever... Lara Croft is just THE sexiest video game character ever and in this game, she certainly proves the best she can be!

The graphics are great. The enemies are very well-designed (their AI is notable too). Lara's voice talent is not as good as the previous games' but it certainly is nice acting.

The music is TOPNOTCH. It brings back the main score from the classic game, but renews it in a way that makes it more fresh-sounding but also very interesting; making the game atmosphere mysterious and nostalgic.