Review of Tomb Raider Anniversary

If you were around to enjoy the original Tomb Raider, playing this game is like meeting a girl you thought was hot in junior high, only now you're both in your 30s and she's still just as hot as you remember. As for you, well. The less said, the better.

If you think that's just a questionable metaphor for the character of Lara Croft herself, you may be right, because she does look just as good in this iteration (given today's graphic advances) as we old-timers thought she looked back in '96, triangles and all. I was actually in college when I played the first TR on the PS1, and at the time, I was (along with legions of other gamers and non-gamers alike) smitten with the heroine that helped launch the 3D action-adventure genre. A few increasingly tired sequels...bad movies...and countless 3D action-adventure games later...and the magic was all but gone.

10 years later, this "re-imagining" takes what was great about the original TR (level design, puzzle solving, a great sense of exploration, tight control), and dresses it up in a new coat of paint, adding tweaks here and there for modern sensibilities. It looks a lot better, Lara's got new moves, everything has a bigger sense of scale. Some changes have been made - some for the better, some seemingly for change's sake. Most importantly, the soul - the essence, if you will - of the original TR is here, and that's why I give this game a hearty recommendation. I can think of few other games that deliver a sense of grandeur, danger and giddy pleasure in quite the same way Tomb Raider can when it's firing an all cylinders.

If you're feeling nostalgic, you'll love the developer commentary you can toggle on or off in the option menu, then trigger by activating one of the purple diamonds in the level (they look like the original's save points). If you're a fan, it's pretty interesting to hear Toby Gard, the designer of the original, and Jason Botta, the game director of the new version, go back and forth about the challenges and changes involved with both the original and this remake. If you're the "gotta catch 'em all" type, you'll probably enjoy replaying levels to collect hidden relics and artifacts, finish the time trials (speed runs) and take a run through Croft Manor.

Obviously, as a person who played and enjoyed the original, I'm bringing a lot of mental baggage along. If you're new to the franchise, the experience certainly won't have the same impact, but I suspect you'll still have a grand time anyway. In this day and age of first-person-shooter over-saturation, this game may even come as a breath of fresh air.



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