Tomb Raider Anniversary

by Eidos

Product Features

• Explore Atlantis and ancient Egyptian pyramids - every hidden dark crevice and impossible height
• Unleash a hail of bullets from Lara's dual pistols - acrobatic gunplay as you deftly leap around charging enemies
• Wilderness awaits - Bestial predators from bats to wolves to bears defend their territory from human encroachment
• Death-defying stunts - Leap over massive gaps, cling onto rock ledges, and swim through underground tunnels
• Seek to outwit the brilliant ancient designers of many epic puzzles and vaults in order to uncover their secrets

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000O5FVYG
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches ; 4 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: June 6, 2007
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,525 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Platform: PC

Unlock the past...Product InformationThe adventure begins when Lara is hired by a powerful syndicate to retrieve a mythical object called the Scion. As Lara searches ancient tombs and isolated worlds that have lain undisturbed for thousands of years she discovers that she is not alone. Not only has she awoken their fearsome guardians but there are others desperate to learn the Scion’s dark secrets.Celebrate and commemorate ten years of Tomb Raider and Lara Croft with Tomb Raider: Anniversary a new action adventure inspired by the original Tomb Raider video game one of the greatest action adventure games of all time. Product Highlights Everything about Tomb Raider: Anniversary is new. The ability to render thousands of polys with multiple semitransparent textures has given the game a huge graphical overhaul but it’s much much more than that.Lara’s movements have developed dramatically since the original; she has her latest fluid movement set plus new Adrenalin combat modes the ability to perch and her grapple.It can simulate physics – which the first game couldn’t do creating all kinds of new possibilities for mind bending puzzles.It can allow the player to move outside the constraints of a grid and to control the camera. There are new traps and secret areas to explore the AI of the enemy creatures is completely rewritten so that they each have different attack modes and the play through of each level is entirely different.Product Features Lara is a consummate explorer and adventurer who is always equipped to handle whatever obstacles get in her way. Celebrate and commemorate ten years of Tomb Raider and Lara Croft with Tomb Raider: Anniversary an entirely new gameplay experience inspired by the first ever Tomb Raider adventure. Tomb Raider: Anniversary uses an enhanced version of the Tomb Raider: Legend game engine to apply Crystal Dynamic's latest PS2 techno

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars this is how you raid a tomb!, June 9, 2007

By 

Double W (West Virginia) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Tomb Raider Anniversary (Video Game)

The original Tomb Raider was my favorite game of all time, the title that really got me into gaming. Now the developers have gone back to Lara's roots with Anniversary, and in the process they have re-discovered what made the title such a hit in the first place. Anniversary is the best in the series.

What makes Anniversary great is it focuses on the series' strengths rather than its weaknesses. Tomb Raider is primarily a game about exploration and puzzle-solving. The environments in Anniversary are enormous, and the primary challenge for the gamer is finding out how to get from point A to point B by using the environment to your advantage. It is very daunting when you're standing at base of a statue the size of the Statue of Liberty and realize you must find a way to climb to the top. Even defeating the bosses is more about using your brains rather than your reflexes.

Action-oriented gamers may be turned off -- Anniversary isn't about gunplay, which has never been a strength of the series. Human opponents have been replaced by animals, a great touch that, along with echoing sound effects, adds tons of atmosphere to the tombs.

The graphics are gorgeous, with wonderful lighting effects, and run smoothly on older PCs like mine. The levels are surprisingly consistent with the original game, with even some items in the same places. The story is servicable, nothing to write home about, with most of the changes from the original game made to fit it in with the story arc started in Legend. However, there are some nice touches about this being Lara's first outing -- she is not the battle-hardened adventurer we see in Legend, but we get to find out how she became that way.

Unfortunately, there are some flaws that keep this game from perfection. The biggest is the camera. Too often Lara will be making blind leaps from ledges because you can't pan around to see what is off-screen, and it will change angles at sensitive moments, such as when you're making what needs to be a perfectly timed leap. Also, during gun battles in close quarters, it will zoom in so close that all you can see is Lara's back.

There are several little bugs that detract from the game. I kept losing my autosave, so make sure to manually save often unless you want to restart from scratch. And there are sound problems with Windows XP that were not resolved even after I followed the company's troubleshooting advice.

Regardless, this is a great game, and at $30, it's a steal. Let's hope that in future Tomb Raider games, the developers will stick to the formula set in Anniversary.

23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I still miss the OLD Laura..., July 22, 2007

By 

Jim Bettis (Fairview Park, Ohio, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Tomb Raider Anniversary (Video Game)

I cut my teeth on the very first Tomb Raider when I stumbled onto it. I loved the game, although there was no sound and the pixels were a bit too large. Still, it was a jump in technology and fascinated me.
After Eidos' departure from the original Tomb Raider formula in Angel of Darkness, I was delighted to hear they were going back to the old formula which made Tomb Raider so popular.
Unfortunately, the one thing they didn't go back to was the camera. Like recent Catwoman and Indiana Jones games, they use that damned revolving camera. The old Tomb Raider games were a blast to play because the camera was behind Laura's head and made you feel like YOU were her AND, you could press a few buttons and look through her eyes; up, down, left and right when you were entering an area that looked like trouble.
I Love the Tomb Raider games; all but Angel of Darkness. But, I absolutely hate the camera in the last few games. Laura walks through a door and now you see her as if she's entering the new area. The cam is now positioned in front of her, so you have to keep turning your mouse until you can see behind her. If there's an enemy approaching, you can't see it until you get the cam behind her. That's annoying as hell.
Also, when she's in combat or making jumps, again, you have to continually position the camera. The old method was excellent. WHY do they have to use THIS stupid camera???
In ALL the Tomb Raider games, there seems to be a delay in action when you hit the keys and sometimes you have to hit them twice. For example, when you want her to jump. Often, there's a second delay in her performing the jump after you hit the key. It must be something with the engine they use. For example, I'd have her run and jump off a platform to another ledge or something and she'd run and just fall off the edge to her death. I hit jump at that split second but she fell. Or when the T-rex is charging, I hit jump and the right or left button, but she stands there taking injury. Now that really pisses me off.
Also, like the last Indiana Jones game, the level I'm stuck on right now is the battle with the T-rex. It's one of those timed levels with no place to hide, no place to relax. I think I counted over 1000 attempts to get Indy to run and jump and escape the tank-thing chasing him on the second-to-last level of the Indiana Jones game and by then, it wasn't fun anymore. I'm running into that now with the T-rex. I've read how to kill it but it doesn't help when Laura crouches rather than jumps or that I can't SEE the T-rex as I'm running. It doesn't help that she runs at one speed only or that the keys have a tendancy to be non-responsive. I absolutely hate timed levels. You have to do everything exactly right or start over.
When THIS game came out, I realized I had never really completed the very first Tomb Raider game because I couldn't hear the cut scenes. I downloaded all the Glidos stuff and upgraded my original game and played it to conclusion. It was very enjoyable. The animals in the original look goofy as compared with the critters in the remake here. The graphics are absolutely excellent and so far, it's relatively enjoyable. I DO wish the designers would allow for alternate routes rather than being strictly linear. I've rated the game, thus far, as 4 stars, only because I haven't completed it.
In the original, I had no trouble defeating the T-rex because you could back into a tunnel when it attacked and shoot from safety. You don't have that option with this version. And because of the camera, it's awkward turning her around to face the T-rex and then fire. My fingers are cramping up from constantly firing her guns and jumping.
I still have ALL my Tomb Raider games and play them over and over again. All except Angel of Darkness. I trashed that one. Jesus, I sure wish they'd go back to the original camera behind Laura's head. At least that way you could see what's coming and I liked the old controls better too. It was much easier to control Laura and flip sideways, back and front. Now when you hit jump and left or right, she turns and jumps in that direction rather than flipping. I liked the flip better.
Also, there's no real roll in this version. She can roll when you're running, but not from a standing position; as if you were standing in front of a lever. Previously,when you were standing facing a wall and you hit "end" on the keyboard, Laura would flip and be facing the opposite direction. I also miss the fact that you could get her to burst into a full sprint. Now she just casually runs from enemies, and usually takes a lot of damage because of it. Not to mention that YOU feel the urgency for speed.
Tomb Raider II and successors (except AOD)all had great controls and cam. You really felt like you could do almost anything. I wish they'd have left those controls in place and upgraded the graphics and all would've been perfect.
One other thing that I've noticed thus far. Laura can't interact with a lot of the environment. She can't really explore other areas. You see an obvious ledge, but she can't jump up to it or grab on. C'mon... half the fun is exploring everything and feeling like you're really alive and a part of the game.
Overall, I'm sure I'm going to love this game, despite all the criticisms I've had. I just want to see more adventures. But, the older games are still better because you could control the actions better and SEE better. That was the formula that made it all enjoyable.
If they could change only two things to make this game and future Tomb Raider games better, I'd say get rid of that camera and go back to the original and restore the orignal controls. I'll add an update when I finally progress beyond the T-rex...

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Instant Classic, June 8, 2007

By 

Ben (New York City) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Tomb Raider Anniversary (Video Game)

Two of my all time favorite titles, Resident Evil and Tomb Raider remade have not disappointed. RE4's keyboard controls were a minus but the controls in TR: Anniversary are much better thanks to the mouse. Gameplay wise I remember a few parts from the original, lots of challenging and fun puzzles to solve. But Anniversary feels new and original, like a completely different game thanks to the updated graphics. I am playing on a IPS screen and the visuals/detail are very good. So good that I actually got a bit of acrophobia trying to pull off all those dizzying maneuvers in the St. Francis Folly level! The music and atmosphere is fantastic as well. Legend was faster paced and action packed, Anniversary is slower paced and requires a little more thinking to get through the maps and obstacles. Both titles are the best in the series and a must play for all PC gamers!

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