The Good
Challenging levels. Decent-sized game. Great graphics.
The Bad
Poor camera and controls.
Introduction
I played this game on the PSP 2000, which enhances the gameplay due to a better screen compared to the PSP 1000. On Medium difficulty this game provided over thirteen hours of gameplay.
I played this game in many sittings, doing a few checkpoints each time. I think it may be better to play it this way due to the challenging puzzles: some rooms can use a lot of brain power. But doing it this way also affects what I think of the game. I had a fun time and I thought it was perfect for those lifestyles where you may only have a half hour here and there to play.
In the game there is a note to the fans that says Tomb Raider: Anniversary isn?t just a remake, they?ve also added some new areas, updated Laura?s movement, and expanded the story. It sounds like they took the original Tomb Raider and mixed in all the good things of a modern Tomb Raider game.
Booklet
The booklet that ships with the game is surprisingly comprehensive, but can be overwhelming for the first read. It may be better for you to familiarize yourself with the game first before attempting the book. Although you don?t need to read the booklet since the game tutors you as you play, but it is a good reference. And, it?s the only way you?ll find out how to do a swan dive.
Story
The expanded story isn?t that interesting and there is very little of it, which makes me wonder how much expanding they actually did. Basically someone hires Laura to find an ancient artifact. Laura finds out she?s evil and decides to take her out. It?s very cliché. But I guess it should be since it?s already a decade old.
During many cut-scenes Laura shows sad facial expressions as if she?s on the verge of crying. I guess the developers were trying to add a new dimension to her personality but it strays too much from the previous one. She?s supposed to be confident and badass, but instead she?s just plain Jane who just happens to be jumping from ledge to ledge.
Gameplay
The levels in the game were varied enough to keep a fresh feel. Their designs were challenging enough to stump me a few times. The Tomb Raider, the puzzle is figuring out how to get from point A to point B. There is only one path to get there, but the game does a good job of hiding it. Sometimes point B won?t be obvious and there may be multiple areas needed to visit before point B shows itself.
Along the way to the finish of each level there are areas which are either hidden or difficult to reach. These areas contain either special artifacts, which aren?t part of the story, but give you interesting information about them; or ?Reward Icons.? I don?t know what they?re actually called, but they give you rewards such as cheats to the game, different costumes for Laura, and a few more perks. I think the game should have allowed the use of Laura?s alternate costumes during the game. I?m not too bothered, though, since the ones I got weren?t too interesting. After you beat the game, you can replay the levels using cheats, using costumes, and hear commentaries on them.
The guns in the game are very standard for Tomb Raider: Dual Pistols with infinite bullets, Dual .50 Pistols, Dual SMG?s, and shotgun. You use these weapons to kill rats, bats, wolves, bears, winged demons and bosses. The game is mostly about puzzles, but that doesn?t mean you?ll go without shooting for long periods of time. Enemies appeared enough to make me always have a weapon ready.
Tomb Raider: Anniversary does something with its boss fights that I haven?t seen in a while. You actually have to figure out how to kill them. I think this is a great addition. It matches the game, feels old-school, and eats pre-teens for breakfast. ?
New gameplay elements are introduced into this Tomb Raider: QTE cut-scenes and Adrenaline Dodge. QTE (Quick Time Events) is an acronym I took from Shenmue on the Dreamcast because you do the exact same thing here. The game involves you during a cut-scene battle by showing buttons on the screen for you to press within a certain amount of time, or else you die. Generally, this isn?t a difficult task, but the last level shortened the timing enough for me to fail for the first time in the game, and a few other times thereafter. I enjoyed this feature: it felt fun to interact with the cut-scene and added more variety to the gameplay.
When an enemy charges at you, the background becomes blurry and you will be able to perform an Adrenaline Dodge. When you perform it, bullet time comes into effect and a crosshair comes slowly into the screen allowing you to get a head-shot if you can time it correctly. Then bullet time stops. It?s fun to fun to perform and kills enemies faster. The game gives you plenty of opportunities to use it and it never gets old.
Controlling Laura is a mediocre experience. When Laura walks over a ledge, she?s supposed to turn around and hang onto it. But! Laura can?t do this on all ledges. Generally, the ledges which you can grab hold of are colored gray; but sometimes she doesn?t even want to grab those. This is probably related to this next issue: sometimes Laura may jump to a ledge, but fail to grab it even though it?s within jumping distance. For instance, I jumped towards a ladder, hit it and died. After she died though, she was a little more interested in grabbing it the second time I tried. Speaking of jumping: when wall-running via grappling hook, jumping in the direction you want to can be a difficult task. Trying to jump away from the wall resulted in death most of the time. I never got the hang of it.
This was the first game I played when I first bought the PSP 2000, and I almost thought it was defective because the buttons didn?t respond well. Sometimes the buttons had such a delay with response that Laura didn?t do what I wanted her to. Also, if you get knocked down by an enemy, holding down the target buttons while Laura gets up doesn?t do anything. First you have to allow her to get up; then you press the buttons. However it is unclear when you are allowed to press the buttons. This is just bad controls.
Now it?s time for everybody?s favorite issue: The Camera Issue. (Cue theme music.) The camera is the worst issue and is a little annoying throughout the whole game. When you target someone, the camera doesn?t look their way until about 2 seconds afterwards, which gives this monster a nice head start. If Laura gets knocked to the ground, she may also be knocked off the camera. Then you have to get up and possibly move into the camera and then wait the 2 seconds to reorient yourself.
The development team went overboard with the last level and decided to make it so challenging that it took a microscope to its issues. The issues mentioned in the previous two paragraphs will get you killed; especially that damn camera. I got so frustrated that I started screaming, at top of my lungs, to the game, which is something rare.
Graphics
Do her boobs bounce? They do, but only at the title screen in a small warm-up routine. She stretches upward and then bounces on her toes. They don?t bounce very realistically. I guess it was something they had to put it in there, but the game would?ve been fine without it.
The framerate can get choppy at times, but isn?t an issue since it never happens during a critical moment. Otherwise, the game features some of the best graphics I?ve seen on a handheld. The models and the environments look great. Both have excellent texture and polygon detail. About the only thing the game doesn?t produce is shadows and realistic water effects. However, the result is still very immersive.
Sound
I happy with the sounds and music accept for one issue. I?m not sure if this happens in the game, but the music played in the title screen has a crackle or pop about every 10 seconds. It?s super annoying. It isn?t my PSP because other games play fine.
Grade: B-
Tomb Raider: Anniversary suffers from poor story, poor camera and controls, and a not-so-friendly last level; but delivers in full with challenging level design and immersive graphics. The result is a fun and solid game with occasional frustrations.
(Although, it?s still no Tomb Raider II.)
Challenging levels. Decent-sized game. Great graphics.
The Bad
Poor camera and controls.
Introduction
I played this game on the PSP 2000, which enhances the gameplay due to a better screen compared to the PSP 1000. On Medium difficulty this game provided over thirteen hours of gameplay.
I played this game in many sittings, doing a few checkpoints each time. I think it may be better to play it this way due to the challenging puzzles: some rooms can use a lot of brain power. But doing it this way also affects what I think of the game. I had a fun time and I thought it was perfect for those lifestyles where you may only have a half hour here and there to play.
In the game there is a note to the fans that says Tomb Raider: Anniversary isn?t just a remake, they?ve also added some new areas, updated Laura?s movement, and expanded the story. It sounds like they took the original Tomb Raider and mixed in all the good things of a modern Tomb Raider game.
Booklet
The booklet that ships with the game is surprisingly comprehensive, but can be overwhelming for the first read. It may be better for you to familiarize yourself with the game first before attempting the book. Although you don?t need to read the booklet since the game tutors you as you play, but it is a good reference. And, it?s the only way you?ll find out how to do a swan dive.
Story
The expanded story isn?t that interesting and there is very little of it, which makes me wonder how much expanding they actually did. Basically someone hires Laura to find an ancient artifact. Laura finds out she?s evil and decides to take her out. It?s very cliché. But I guess it should be since it?s already a decade old.
During many cut-scenes Laura shows sad facial expressions as if she?s on the verge of crying. I guess the developers were trying to add a new dimension to her personality but it strays too much from the previous one. She?s supposed to be confident and badass, but instead she?s just plain Jane who just happens to be jumping from ledge to ledge.
Gameplay
The levels in the game were varied enough to keep a fresh feel. Their designs were challenging enough to stump me a few times. The Tomb Raider, the puzzle is figuring out how to get from point A to point B. There is only one path to get there, but the game does a good job of hiding it. Sometimes point B won?t be obvious and there may be multiple areas needed to visit before point B shows itself.
Along the way to the finish of each level there are areas which are either hidden or difficult to reach. These areas contain either special artifacts, which aren?t part of the story, but give you interesting information about them; or ?Reward Icons.? I don?t know what they?re actually called, but they give you rewards such as cheats to the game, different costumes for Laura, and a few more perks. I think the game should have allowed the use of Laura?s alternate costumes during the game. I?m not too bothered, though, since the ones I got weren?t too interesting. After you beat the game, you can replay the levels using cheats, using costumes, and hear commentaries on them.
The guns in the game are very standard for Tomb Raider: Dual Pistols with infinite bullets, Dual .50 Pistols, Dual SMG?s, and shotgun. You use these weapons to kill rats, bats, wolves, bears, winged demons and bosses. The game is mostly about puzzles, but that doesn?t mean you?ll go without shooting for long periods of time. Enemies appeared enough to make me always have a weapon ready.
Tomb Raider: Anniversary does something with its boss fights that I haven?t seen in a while. You actually have to figure out how to kill them. I think this is a great addition. It matches the game, feels old-school, and eats pre-teens for breakfast. ?
New gameplay elements are introduced into this Tomb Raider: QTE cut-scenes and Adrenaline Dodge. QTE (Quick Time Events) is an acronym I took from Shenmue on the Dreamcast because you do the exact same thing here. The game involves you during a cut-scene battle by showing buttons on the screen for you to press within a certain amount of time, or else you die. Generally, this isn?t a difficult task, but the last level shortened the timing enough for me to fail for the first time in the game, and a few other times thereafter. I enjoyed this feature: it felt fun to interact with the cut-scene and added more variety to the gameplay.
When an enemy charges at you, the background becomes blurry and you will be able to perform an Adrenaline Dodge. When you perform it, bullet time comes into effect and a crosshair comes slowly into the screen allowing you to get a head-shot if you can time it correctly. Then bullet time stops. It?s fun to fun to perform and kills enemies faster. The game gives you plenty of opportunities to use it and it never gets old.
Controlling Laura is a mediocre experience. When Laura walks over a ledge, she?s supposed to turn around and hang onto it. But! Laura can?t do this on all ledges. Generally, the ledges which you can grab hold of are colored gray; but sometimes she doesn?t even want to grab those. This is probably related to this next issue: sometimes Laura may jump to a ledge, but fail to grab it even though it?s within jumping distance. For instance, I jumped towards a ladder, hit it and died. After she died though, she was a little more interested in grabbing it the second time I tried. Speaking of jumping: when wall-running via grappling hook, jumping in the direction you want to can be a difficult task. Trying to jump away from the wall resulted in death most of the time. I never got the hang of it.
This was the first game I played when I first bought the PSP 2000, and I almost thought it was defective because the buttons didn?t respond well. Sometimes the buttons had such a delay with response that Laura didn?t do what I wanted her to. Also, if you get knocked down by an enemy, holding down the target buttons while Laura gets up doesn?t do anything. First you have to allow her to get up; then you press the buttons. However it is unclear when you are allowed to press the buttons. This is just bad controls.
Now it?s time for everybody?s favorite issue: The Camera Issue. (Cue theme music.) The camera is the worst issue and is a little annoying throughout the whole game. When you target someone, the camera doesn?t look their way until about 2 seconds afterwards, which gives this monster a nice head start. If Laura gets knocked to the ground, she may also be knocked off the camera. Then you have to get up and possibly move into the camera and then wait the 2 seconds to reorient yourself.
The development team went overboard with the last level and decided to make it so challenging that it took a microscope to its issues. The issues mentioned in the previous two paragraphs will get you killed; especially that damn camera. I got so frustrated that I started screaming, at top of my lungs, to the game, which is something rare.
Graphics
Do her boobs bounce? They do, but only at the title screen in a small warm-up routine. She stretches upward and then bounces on her toes. They don?t bounce very realistically. I guess it was something they had to put it in there, but the game would?ve been fine without it.
The framerate can get choppy at times, but isn?t an issue since it never happens during a critical moment. Otherwise, the game features some of the best graphics I?ve seen on a handheld. The models and the environments look great. Both have excellent texture and polygon detail. About the only thing the game doesn?t produce is shadows and realistic water effects. However, the result is still very immersive.
Sound
I happy with the sounds and music accept for one issue. I?m not sure if this happens in the game, but the music played in the title screen has a crackle or pop about every 10 seconds. It?s super annoying. It isn?t my PSP because other games play fine.
Grade: B-
Tomb Raider: Anniversary suffers from poor story, poor camera and controls, and a not-so-friendly last level; but delivers in full with challenging level design and immersive graphics. The result is a fun and solid game with occasional frustrations.
(Although, it?s still no Tomb Raider II.)
About how much and how often they bounce as well as how they bounce. LMAO! A++ would read again!
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