Posted on: November 29, 2007 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Tomb Raider Anniversary (Wii) / 2007 Eidos / http://www.tombraider.com / http://www.eidos.com /

Tomb Raider has been one of the most tenacious franchises in gaming history. Obviously, it does not have the lead time that a Mario Brothers has, but has remained a strong-selling force in video gaming for over a decade. The amount of systems with which you can play Tomb Raider Anniversary is large – individuals can stick the game into their Xbox 360s, PSP, Wiis, and PS2s. For those individuals that think that Tomb Raider: Anniversary is a new game –they are slightly incorrect. The graphics in the game are new, but the game itself is not. “Anniversary” is a re-envisioning of the original Tomb Raider game, but with current era graphics and minor tweaks done to the game play.

The game mechanics are still intuitive and the game itself came out sufficiently long ago that individuals have likely forgotten about some of the tricks and twists that are present during the game. Most interesting in regard to the game play tweaks would have to be the new actions that Lara can do in the game. This means that Lara can now hop on poles, run across walls while using her grappling hook, and also “perch” on small platforms. The game’s runtime floats around the 15 to 20 hour mark; picking up all the relics and artifacts in the game (used to unlock different costumes and bonus features) will give individuals much else to chew on. These outfits provide Lara with an interesting array of looks, whether it be the original polygon set associated with Lara, the wetsuit from Tomb Raider II, or the cat suit from Tomb Raider III. There are some changes in the arrangements of certain caves and locations, and St. Francis Folly marks the biggest of all of these changes.

This means that, aside from names changing, there is a completely new puzzle for individuals to tease out while in that location. All in all, Tomb Raider Anniversary cleans up some of the dated graphics from the original Tomb Raider game, and provides just enough in the way of new things to keep individuals interested through the entirety of 15 to 20 hours. The price is lower than other games on the console, which will allow more individuals to be able to relive the old days, drinking Surge and playing Tomb Raider on their PS 1. Give this game a go, even if it is just for nostalgia’s sake.

Rating: 7.5/10

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