Tomb Raider Anniversary Comments by Kristan Reed

In reply to Kropotkin

No it does not. However it brings that sweet sense of nostalgia to those of us who, like you, back in the 3Dfx era were old enough to compare it to all those awful looking travesties that game companies were trying to peddle as 'photorealistic'. Remember that?

Quoting whome - I just think it's a shame that it doesn't have the same graphics options that Legend had, I played Legend with & without and there was a big difference.

You are wrong. This thing has all the bells and whistles running full tilt. The word is OPTIMIZATION. Everything that was in Legend is here but running about 4-7 times faster.

Bollocks. No midnight unlock over Steam.

You are wrong. This thing has all the bells and whistles running full tilt. The word is OPTIMIZATION. Everything that was in Legend is here but running about 4-7 times faster.

The fact that it's actually you who are wrong makes your post an amusing read, caps and all. Unfortunately though, the "next gen" options of Legend are not in Anniversary.

This sounds good. It may be slightly rose tinted glasses but I still have very fond memories of the feel of the original, on the Saturn no less :p

It just had that desolate intriguing interesting feel to it, the lack of music as you ran around near empty tombs but when the music did stir really got your heart racing, and wandering around for a bit wondering what to do is part of the experience, dammit with kids and their 5 second attention spans!. It felt right and good and thank god they've made this game and not bodged it up. Now, all I want is a 360 version (cos I don't have PS2 and despise PC gaming, especially since my PC ran the demo pretty slowly, alas).

Please someone, 360 version (and PS3)!

I've been playing for 6 hours straight since I got the game for my PS2! It's brilliant! Graphically, it's on par with Legend with slight improvements. The controls are great too!

I'm in Greece level now :)

Cheers

Does the PS2 version have a 60Hz mode in the display options?

Legend did so hopefully this does too.

Fuck the graphics - TR1 was all about the atmosphere, that was what made it special and a stand-out title. If Anniversary gets that right, then I'll be happy, as it's what's been lacking from every TR since.

Oh, and no Lara didn't have a ponytail in the first game, they couldn't figure out how to animate it properly at the time etc etc I believe, it was introduced for TR2.

Big Tits 4EVAH

"I'm in Greece level now :) "

Like Greece Lightening?

It's LIGHTNING ffs... ;o)

quoting Dangher - You are wrong.

who me? nah.... :p

one serious issue - the game keeps telling me to press e or move the mouse, while i'm playing with the gamepad. a game should never do this

The demo works great on my old PC,
AMD XP1900, Radeon 9800 Pro, 1 gig memory.

On my Toshiba latop, no go. It's choppy with cracking sound.
P4 3.00ghz 512 memory, nvideo geforce 5200.

Both using XP home edition. Hope this helps.

Played the very 1st Tomb Raider game through all the way on the PC. Loved it. Brilliant set of first levels, and the later levels just seemed to get bigger and better. Some good puzzels and bosses in there too. Great depth. Brilliant game.

After that, I've not really played any TR game. Wasn't overly impressed by the second, or the games that followed it. Thought snowmobiles were completely unecessary, as TR isn't about vehicles. Some of the levels lacked charm, in the second game in particular. It was as though the developers were clutching at straws in order to put something new in the game, be it vehicles or unusual locations.....IMO they got TR bang on the first time.

I hope this game gives me the feeling of playing the first TR game again. It probably won't, but if it's near, I won't be disappointed.

Agent Llama read my mind. This is about atmos and gameplay and not the graphics, for me too.

Agent Llama read my mind. This is about atmos and gameplay and not the graphics, for me too.


Be it as it may, no reason not to say that it looks worse than its direct predecessor (on the PC, I mean).

I've only played the demo, but the lack of proper lighting definitely killed some of the atmosphere for me.

Does Lara still make that "hup" noise when she jumps. Havnt played a TR games since the first one on my PC. Going to buy this today and wait for the memories - never completed it mind. I wonder if the cheat for making her naked still works.
Oh, and is the mansion still there?

@UncleLou

A demo isn't always the most upto date or even a finished version. It is not unusual for the full release to have better graphics than the demo. Don't accuse people who actually own the game who say "the graphical effects are the same as TRL" of being wrong. They might be (I don't know, I'm getting the full game today), but their opinion is still weightier than yours.

There is that possibility, yes. I've seen several reviews though which confirm that most of the effects that Legends had (like normal mapping) aren't in Anniversary - which I always suspected as I haven't seen a single screenshot that suggests otherwise.

As for "weightier opinion": well, you can have more info and still be entirely wrong. Espcially as this is a matter of facts, not of opinions.

Guys, your arguing about a Tomb Raider game.

Hm? I am not arguing.

Still not unlocked on Steam.

It makes me want to hurt things.

I don't know why there's a big debate about the graphics FFS. Anniversary could have the most incredible graphics ever seen, but if it hasn't got the atmosphere of the original then it's failed in what it set out to do.

Now I wish Game would hurry the fuck up with dispatching it. Gits.

There isn't a "big debate" about the graphics. Surely it's allowed to point out that the PC version is graphically a step back to its predecessor?

Besides, just because you don't care (fair enough) doesn't mean others aren't allowed to care and talk about it.

Got the PS2 version today and can confirm that it works on a PAL PS3 with firmware 1.80 :)

For those without a PS3, the game supports progressive-scan in addition to widescreen and 60Hz - I like !

i have the ps-2 version since yesterday and it rocks.in order to use progrecive scan you have to have special cables?my tv supports prog.scan but when i enable it from the menu all i see is blue screen!HELP ANYONE!!!!!!!!!!!

You need component cables to use progressive scan on PS2.

got my ps2 copy today for £19.73 at the tesco metro in london by the thames

thanks A LOT Beano !!!!

Hey, how come this isn't just a patch for the original? They're all just money grabbing bastards aren't they?

This is the first time ever I've skipped straight to the score to find out whether you guys like it or not (not reading the text until I've played the game. Don't want to spoil anything), and........ WOW!!

Was so hoping this was going to be good, as I loved the first one (which incidentally led me to get PS1 after playing it on my mates Saturn back in the day). But I was highly doubtful that they'd actually truly live up the the promises of keeping the old games sublime atmosphere. Just got back from town to get it, and once I've done cleaning out the house rabbits' cage (yeah, i know....) I'm going to lock myself up in the Living Room and go back in time... :)

I'm not denying anyone the right to discuss the graphics :o), it's just that with TR game, esp. no.1, that shouldn't really be the main concern IMHO.

It has finally been dispatched! HURRAH!

I truly hope that's a joke, gnarl.

played a few levels now and i see that some parts have been made slightly more linear.

city of valcambia is tiny next to the original version. its missing a fair few areas

Only with production of the orginal receipt, within the first year of release. Don't want any budget copies getting through, that's fair.

Game of the year for me so far.

Other than letterboxing on my PS3, I can't honestly fault it!

played a few levels now and i see that some parts have been made slightly more linear.

city of valcambia is tiny next to the original version. its missing a fair few areas



Really? God dammit god dammit god dammit. :(

See? That's why games used to be better. Rose-tinted glasses or not. These days it's usually just one straight line. No confusing diversions, thinking is so bothersome! Hand-holding all along the goddamn way. I guess they want to sell more to the majority: dumb people and teens with ADD.

I suspect in 2020 every game will be an on-rails shooter.

Finished first PC playthrough (Hard) yesterday in about 10 hours, and can't see why this game would be a 9/10. It's more of a 8/10 kind of game as graphics (Lara in 1440x900 and up is pretty nice) and music (very atmospheric) are great, it offers a rather nice Parcours experience (with some deviations from the main path), loads of unlockables and the fresh Legend controls have been applied well here without the flat learning curve from that previous title. Also, most stages have been redesigned with some imaginative, now and then challenging puzzles - a conscious, correct decision by the design team. Heck, I never thought I'd have so much fun in the Croft manor, for example.

However, there are also bad things. The frequent checkpoints are open for abuse, making healing items superfluous. There is a rather low cap on the amount of ammo you can collect for your weapons other than Lara's stock handguns, so if you discover a secret location after maxing out ammo (which happens quickly) you'll be pretty disappointed finding only an ammo item which can't be picked up. At this point, I really wonder why there are any items other than key items, artifacts and relics in the game.

A thought reinforced even more by the ridiculous fighting in the game. This is an aspect the remake team could have greatly improved upon, considering it's now 10 years later and developers proved they can put good enemy A.I. in their games. Tomb Raider: Anniversary was a prime occasion to update the fighting engine and amp the experience by having exhilirating fights in between the Parcours gig. In real life, the enemies Lara battles have superior speed, jumping and climbing skills. In Tomb Raider: Anniversary, these enemies pretend to be superior but are actually crippled by their A.I., reducing combat to an absolute walk in the park. At no point did I feel challenged, and I was playing Hard. You can win against everything easily with the default handguns. Add to that some incredibly forgiving, actual battles-reducing (as if there were many to begin with), nothing adding Quick Time Event scenes and it's easy to see that combat in Tomb Raider is only meant to get you back to your Parcours as quickly as possible. So why put it in? Sure, the original had fighting, but enemies in the original also didn't disappear after you defeated them.

Someone here commented along the lines, "Who plays TR for shooting enemies anyway?" Well, TR:A could have been the game to dispel this line of reasoning. A missed opportunity, this. The mentioned negatives are grave enough, I feel, to warrant a -2 rather than -1 reduction. Anniversary is a good remake of the original, but it hasn't been remade well enough to make it a 9 title by current standards.

Been playing Tomb Raider since 1996 (oops, 1997 of course, been playing Resident Evil since 1996), just so you know.

For those worried about Anniversary's size, rest assured: some areas were made slightly smaller, but others have been expanded and new sections were added. Give and take, overall the game is about equal to the size of the original.

Oh, and to the voice concerned as to why Legend is bashed: almost no difficulty, commentary you don't need or even want to hear, microsized levels, easiest secret-finding I've ever witnessed. There's something wrong with a Tomb Raider game when you complete it in 7 hours with about 80% of all the secrets found. On the first run.

Off to give Normal a try and spot the differences with Hard.

Great review. I love this game! I didn't play the original so I'm very thankful that they made a remake. This is adventure at it's best.

Hmmm... The ERSB have just rated TRA for the Xbox 360... as individual levels, not a full game. Could this be coming as DLC for Legend maybe?

http://www.esrb.org/ratings/search.jsp?t...