All my reviews are spoiler free! :)
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Tomb Raider: Anniversary</div>
12.6 hours playtime
No Achievements
I never played Tomb Raider back in the day, my introduction to the franchise was done through Underworld. Since then I’ve played Guardian of Light, Legend, the first game in the reboot and I have to say that despite being a spin-off, Guardian of Light remains my favourite game in the series. That’s not to say the others weren’t good though (except Legend, I did not like Legend one bit).
But let’s try to focus on Anniversary. Despite its sometimes clunky controls, wonky collision detection, terrible combat and sometimes frustrating camera angles, this is nonetheless an enjoyable game that very much still stands the test of time, gameplay wise. So much so that I wish the games in the reboot were more like this, with much less combat and a lot more platforming and puzzle solving, just with state of the art visuals. Don’t get me wrong, I actually enjoy the reboot title I played, but I always thought there was way too much combat for a game called Tomb Raider– the combat to tomb raiding ratio was completely out of control.
Story wise, Anniversary has a completely forgettable narrative; I honestly won’t even bother going into it. Where the game shines is in the stellar level design and the feeling of being in an actual place– the graphics are by no means incredible by today’s standards, but the atmosphere and sense of scale and immersion are still top notch.
There’s also an almost refreshing approach to the archaic gameplay design, in the sense that there are barely any colour coded platforms and definitely no indication on how to proceed within each location. You just have to figure it out for yourself and that was something I truly enjoyed. On the other hand, there are also no modern quality of life features, such as being able to unlock shortcuts after having accomplished something within a dungeon; instead, you’ll often find yourself having to backtrack here and there (it never takes too long and the game checkpoints you very frequently, but I think it’s still worth mentioning).
There’s not much more to add other than saying that the game was much better than I thought and I definitely had fun with it, despite the aforementioned shortcomings :)
Happy holidays, everyone <3
Hugs all around!
I’ve started playing the game twice, I think. But other games took over. Congrats for beating it!
Thank you ^^
The graphics may have aged a little in the past decade, but they’re still a wee bit more modern than the original. ;)
Well, when you put it that way… xD
I really like Anniversary, took me close to 15 hours to complete it, but I enjoy every bit of it. Maybe because I’ve played it as a child and bring some good memories so all the flaws of the game are not existing for me :D
Yeah, the same thing happens to me when I replay games I played when I was younger– I can easily get past all the flaws :)
Butt!
Sorry I’m late….
Still
Butt!
o/
Great because Tomb Raider: Legacy doesn’t exist! I’m assuming you mean Legend :p
Anniversary is actually a (rather poorly IMO) remake of the first Tomb Raider (I’ve played all Tomb Raider games except for Underworld and the Lara Croft spin offs). Which was released for the 10th “Anniversary”. I enjoyed Legend more than the Anniversary actually.
Tomb Raider always had a lot of combat in it though, Rise of The Tomb Raider tries to add more platforming though.
Yes, you are right, thanks for correcting me– I’ve edited it now :)
I did not like Legend one bit, too much action and bad action at that. I didn’t play the original Tomb Raider, so I can only talk about Anniversary and to be fair, I could’ve done without combat in it AND in the reboot as well, if I’m being completely honest. I’ve not finished the first game in the reboot yet cause I sort of got tired of all the shooting. For me, Tomb Raider would be almost like a survival franchise, just Lara vs the elements, but focusing on puzzle-platforming elements. I know, not a popular opinion, but there you go ^^
The only game where I liked the combat was Guardian of Light, which was the perfect mix of combat, puzzle and platforming :D
I guess I liked Legend more because it was very different from the previous games and had an original story. It still wasn’t a great game though. Anniversary employs the same mechanics which I already wasn’t too fond off, with a story I already knew. I don’t hate your idea and it could be an interesting game, but Tomb Raider games have always had combat in them, it wouldn’t really be Tomb Raider without it I guess.
Also you’ve corrected all references except the part that I quoted :p