Lara Croft Tomb Raider
 |
If you've been living under a rock or in a tomb
(damn, I'm witty), Anniversary is Lara's original 1996
adventure re-imagined with the Legend engine. That means
you're chasing the Scion of Atlantis through Peru,
Greece and Egypt like in the original game but you have
access to Lara's grappling hook, 45-degree jumps and
shimmy abilities like in Legend.
It's an awesome mix. I distinctly remember trudging
through the original Tomb Raider on my PC at a snail's
pace and cursing the tank controls for our voluptuous
heroine as she fell to her death for the umpteenth time.
Now, Lara moves swiftly and nimbly across ancient temples, which are throwbacks to the original levels, and sprawls out to grasp at whatever ledge she can while airborne. Even when you fail -- and you will -- most of the time you feel like Lara's trying just as hard as you are.
You're a team this time as opposed to when you were
just guiding Lara's brain-dead body in '96. She'll grab
edges with her fingertips, and you'll need to tap a
button to help her regain her composure, and
improvements like that -- taken from Legend -- make
moving through Anniversary much easier than the
original.
However, that's not to say it's all acrobatics and
amazing moves in Anniversary. Although the Croft's
skills are hundreds of times better than the original, I
still found myself cursing at Lara like she stole my
Ghostbusters jumpsuit.
Here we are in a cavernous Greek temple filled with
columns, blocks and sharp instruments of death, and all
I want the lovely Miss Croft to do is jump on a cube.
She jumped once and glided along the side of the box;
she jumped again and glitched between the top of the
cube and the floor; another jump and she slid off the
side and impaled herself on a batch of spears.