Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - Anniversary

Moby ID: 28337
Windows Specs
Note: We may earn an affiliate commission on purchases made via eBay or Amazon links (prices updated 3/28 3:27 AM )

Description official descriptions

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary is a remake of the original Tomb Raider with a technically more advanced graphics engine. It has the same basic storyline, though some cutscenes and much of the dialogue within have been expanded or modified in other ways. Locations correspond to those of the original version and are accessed in the same order, but have been re-designed with different layouts and mostly completely different puzzles which allow implementation of new moves introduced in Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend: swinging on ropes and using a grappling hook at specific points.

Puzzles are generally more focused on acrobatics in this version, ledges being much more prominently featured as a level design element, requiring combinations of jumping and shimmying across them to access areas. This type of gameplay replaces the key-retrieval and block-pushing puzzles of the original almost entirely. Combat is similar to that of the first game, though the player must now manually activate targeting. Some boss fights have been made a separate enclosed stage rather than being part of the exploration as in the original version. These fights may have puzzle-solving elements and often require the player to use Lara's new "adrenaline dodge" ability, which slightly slows down time when the opponent charges at her while in an "enraged" state. Some cutscenes require the player to participate in quick-time events.

The version released for the Wii incorporates motion controls and also features some puzzles exclusive to that platform.

Spellings

  • 古墓奇兵:重返禁地 - Traditional Chinese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Videos

See any errors or missing info for this game?

You can submit a correction, contribute trivia, add to a game group, add a related site or alternate title.

Credits (Windows version)

232 People (179 developers, 53 thanks) · View all

General Manager
Director of Design
Director of Technology
Director of Art
IT Manager
IT Staff
Producer
Creative Director
Lead Designer
Art Director
Executive Producer
Artists
Lead Character Artist
Character Artist
Object Artists
Lead Animator
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 81% (based on 103 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 101 ratings with 5 reviews)

A true classic remake

The Good
I played TR1 a lot, getting up to the T-rex. As a young kid seeing a T-rex pop out of the dark in front of little 'ol Lara Croft kind makes you jump out of your seat. By the time I was a little older, and had a little more courage to go on, I realized how much of a treat the game was.

  I didn't even realize how complex the games worlds were, and how large they were. So, I wanted to go farther into the game to see everything. Even finding TR1's box, in the game store for the first time, was like finding a lost artifact in a gauntlet of others, that were to much like DOOM or Myst clones. It had a nice cover art too :) But before I make this sound like a review for TR1, let me continue.

  Tomb Raider Anniversary will have the classic fans, having flash backs, in a good way, of course. The game wasn't entirely designed to play like the classic game. But everything will be familiar to the fans.

  There is new graphics and new physics technology in the gaming world. So, might as well put them to work. You will especially notice this in Lara Crofts glorious makeover. Her polies and animation grew up real nice :) Still it's not an ultra realistic character model of the human body, but its getting there.

  The level design is basically a makeover as well. You will recognize almost everything from the classic levels, with few or many updates. For instance, some structures that looked like they were supposed to be separated from the rest of the level design as a individual structure. Now small huts, buildings, arent blocked squarely into the level design any more. Overall, things look a lot more realistic. Instead of feeling like you are just going through a large subterranean structure, some places are broken up more, to feel like you are in a large open cave with ancient buildings inside. The geometry of design isn’t boxed up so much, anymore.

  Music and ambient sound pretty much like the classic game. Fortunately, that’s good because it was done well. It was re-mastered too. TR1 had a great intro track that can put you into a trance. The level sounds are updated to sound better, but still have the same edge as TR1. The raptors new sounds make them feel even more like stalking predators, then what they did in TR1. You can hear them sometimes echo down a tight corridor, around a corner.<br><br>**The Bad**<br>      There are few things I didn't like about the game. Most that doesn’t bother me at all, because they were done in ways to keep the gameplay fun.

  For instance, I expected to see maybe a little blood on Lara. The again, I am not sure how realistic her character model is, to add that kind of detail. It might look a bit unreal. They could have maybe shown a raptor ripping off her limbs, if she died. Then again, if the gameplay gets to realistic, it takes away from the fun of the game. Lara Croft never gets to tired or injured to do what she is supposed to, to make the game fun.

  I'm also not going to argue with some of the control flaws in TRA, because they are way better than TR1. Lara Croft may have seemed to move smoothly in TR1, but a lot of it made her feel a lot heavier than she really was. I can get through TRA a lot faster and easier than TR1.

  Then there is the fighting. You basically are defending yourself from wild-life, prehistoric, and fantasy predators, along the category of non-human. Except for what you see in some cut-scenes. That’s how TR1 was. So I'm not upset about it.

  Lara Croft makes action and avoiding traps of death it more interesting now, with her new or improved moves, and her ability to lock on, dodge, and attack with a deadly headshot all in one.

 For an updated game, the bosses were about the same level of difficulty in the classic game. The final boss in TR1 was also easy to defeat, if you knew the trick. The bosses have basically the same idea, but a few things have noticably changed to make it more interesting.



The Bottom Line
Tomb Raider Anniversary is one of the best action adventure games with a female character. If you played the classic, this has that, and so much more including new unlocks.

  If you are new to the Tomb Raider world, you should like it as well. Especially if you like the console style action adventure games. Just realize that this is a game that was improving on an older one. So, it's mostly a fan based game. But, I wouldn't doubt it attracting a lot of the new younger crowd, like I was 10 or so years ago.

Windows · by IKNOWPCGAMES81 (5) · 2007

Anniversary captures the essence of the original Tomb Raider, but falls short with unnecessary arcade elements that break up the pace

The Good
Toby Gard consulted Crystal Dynamics and served as the story designer in reimagining the original Tomb Raider. Gard borrows heavily from the first film in that Lara Croft uses research preceded by her father, Lord Richard Croft, to discover the Atlantean Scion from the original game. Also, Crystal Dynamics reverted back to traversal environments and made controlling Croft more fluid thanks to their Legacy of Kain technology. The score in the original Tomb Raider consisted of choirs by Nathan McCree that would cue when a new puzzle or vista was discovered, which is replicated again in Anniversary by the BAFTA winner, Troels B. Folmann.

The Bad
Unfortunately, the QTE's introduced in Legend return in Anniversary and these can break away from the puzzles and exploration the original emphasized on. Due to the Wii exclusive controls, the grappling sections later on are even more challenging than the console versions.

The Bottom Line
It was a bold move for Crystal Dynamics to value Gard’s industry experience, having worked on Tomb Raider and Galleon with Paul Douglas. In retrospect, Anniversary captures the essence of the original Tomb Raider, but falls short with unnecessary arcade elements that break up the pace.

Wii · by john perkins (11) · 2021

Great remake of a classic, perfectly capturing the essence of Tomb Raider.

The Good
As I have no experience with Legend, I compare this game to older titles.

I have never been a real fanboy of Tomb Raider but I had some great times with older games. There's just that thrill of adventuring in old ruins or dodging natural deathtraps in a jungle. Back in the days I loved them, they weren't something extraordinary special but they did kept my interest and as I played them with my older brother, I enjoyed discussing with my brother how to unlock that door, kill that enemy and so on. As the time passed, my interest faded, mostly because they became more of an action games and didn't add any major improvements to gameplay. I don't even want to talk about Angel of Darkness, that one was awful, strayed TOO far from the formula. I wanted to play Legend, mainly because it was supposed to be a reinvention of the series but never managed to actually play it. Then came Anniversary and I started to play it coincidentally. And I was pretty much blown away at the start, never did Tomb Raider feel so great and gameplay so fluid.

Most important, Anniversary captures essence of the original and gives you a real feeling of nostalgia. The areas are not 1:1 from the original but the most memorable areas are essentially the same like St. Francis Folly. There are also a lot of new areas and different puzzles, mostly because of the new technology and some puzzles/traps just would look lame these days. Areas are also revamped, polished and more detailed. There are four main locations in the game (plus Croft Manor), each has 3-4 levels. They're all quite interesting and fun to explore except the Atlantis (refer to the Bad Section). The new technology and graphics also allow to portray areas more realistically and show what the original couldn't (you remember the second level were there was supposed to be a "village", yup, now you can actually see that there's a village).

And when it comes to graphics, Anniversary certainly delivers. Locations and areas are certainly colourful and give a nice feeling. Peru for example is mostly filled with green grass and from the distance it's nice to look at the green landscape. Graphics also make Lara Croft more appealing. In the older games I always though that Lara looked like an ugly MILF (even concept art and CGI portrayed her a little ugly). Now she looks more natural, cheerful and younger. Now, where can I only get that nude patch, and fast?!?! Enemies look more dangerous and life-threatening than in the original; in the original enemies looked more like cute.

And while I'm on that, there are no human enemies in the game. Nope, you can only shoot animals and creatures. They mostly consist of bats, wolves, bears, panthers, gorillas and so on. Human enemies only exist in interactive cutscenes where you have to push movement buttons at the right time. They're quite neat (slow motion and all) but they chunk off some gameplay and ultimately shorten the game. Enemies AI is nothing to brag about but they do their job well by trying to bite Lara's high polygon buttocks all the time. They're quite easy to kill actually if you are on higher plane than they are. What would real Tomb Raider be without boss battles? There are 3-4 boss battles, most of them quite easy. Only one boss battle was a little challenging because it did take some time to figure out how to harm them. T-Rex wasn't so "holy cow" anymore although; in the original it was a real shock and at first I panicked terribly. Only downside was the last boss, but you can read my complaints about in the Bad Section.

You can control Lara much more freely than you could in previous games (except Legend which I haven't played) and Lara feels more natural. In the older titles Lara felt like a tank: she was clumsy, slow and painful to control. At first you may have some trouble with controlling her but after a few minutes you do it like naturally. Lara can't jump so high anymore but thanks to her new improved abilities she can do without it and she's really more agile and nimble. Combat is improved as well and there's also a new addition (even Legend didn't have that). You can basically dodge an enemy in slow motion and if you fire the weapon when target locks on, you'll perform a headshot, instantly killing the target. Nice feature that you have to master if you want to complete the game.

What makes Tomb Raider "Tomb Raider" are the puzzles and there's a lot of them. There are traditional find-the-key, flip-the-switch type puzzles and puzzles where you just have to get to point B from point A, figuring out just how to get there, especially in Egypt, where tons of deathtraps await you along the way. To me they are perfect, I just love this style of adventuring and guessing; no obscure puzzles that even Einstein can't solve.

Music and sound are nothing extraordinary, but they provide some nice ambient tunes, helping player to immerse himself/herself in. I did like some tunes, like the Main Theme and Bear's Theme (most memorable music piece from TR1).

Nice little thing Crystal included was the final showdown with Larson. It really portrayed Lara as a human, not as a badass who can very well be Duke Nukem's mother. I think most of you find it silly and annoying but I just had to point that out a little.

After you complete a location, audio commentary with Toby Gard (designer of the first game and creator of Lara Croft) and Anniversary's creative director Botta open up. I found those commentaries very funny and they gave insights into TR1 development (why did they do that etc.) and what did they do with Anniversary like changes and reasons behind them. Commentators are most of the time in a good mood and provide more than few smiles. Besides audio commentary, you can also unlock new outfits, concept art, biographies and cheats by completing time trials and finding secret artifacts and relics. As a matter of fact, I tend to be the type who always likes to complete games 100% but I always just get tired of the game and quit . Anniversary on the other hand keeps me playing for some reason.

The Bad
There's nothing perfect in the world and Anniversary isn't exception, there are obviously some flaws.

First is the length. The game was in my opinion very short and you can pretty much complete it under 15 hours or less. It may take more time if you want to unlock every costume, concept art etc. but there are a lot of people who could care less about it. Or maybe it was just me? All good things end I guess and it's not a very big flaw, just my dissatisfaction with it. And the game is easy, even on harder settings. There are some frustrating and dangerous moments but you can overcome them quickly. And the locations are smaller, another reason why it's so short.

It's not really Anniversary's flaw but TR1's and it's the story. Story isn't exciting, it's more like flat-out boring. It's just the basic "evil-woman-wants-to-take-over-the-world" affair, adding nothing new and hardly developing Lara's character. It doesn't even have twist and you can see the end by miles away. Tomb Raider has never been known for it's great story but at least other titles were much more interesting, like Tomb Raider II. Here it doesn't matter, story is just made up so Lara could visit exotic places. It's original's fault but I hoped they would milk a little out of it and make characters more interesting. Oh well..

I wasn't satisfied with the final boss and the Atlantis section. Atlantis was boring, boring and there was too much shooting and too few interesting puzzles. Again, it's mostly TR1's flaw. I don't know how tough was the final boss in the original but here she was disappointingly easy. Even T-Rex in the start of the game was tougher!

The Bottom Line
+ Great graphics + Good remake of a classic and captures the feeling of the original, provides nostalgia + Improved combat and acrobatics, Lara is much more nimble and agile + Lots of exploration and puzzles + Audio commentaries and secrets - Too short - Last section of the game is disappointing, last boss is a piece of cake - Story is almost nonexistent and boring

I strongly recommend it to any Tomb Raider fan and to other people who are at least remotely interested in TR. It also introduces Lara's first adventure to wider people who were just put off by the ugly graphics in the first game. I wait impatiently for another game and maybe I'll even pick up Legend. As long as Crystal can keep series fresh, they can do as well 100 Tomb Raiders! I'll still play every single one of them!

Windows · by Donatello (466) · 2007

[ View all 5 player reviews ]

Trivia

Audio commentary

There's a unlockable commentary track by Toby Gard and Jason Botta in which they not only talk about the making of the remake but also about the original Tomb Raider. It's also possible to unlock the Lara model from the original Tomb Raider and play with her.

Core Design version

A different version of the game was under development by Core Design, the developers of the older Tomb Raider games, but Eidos called Crystal Dynamics to do it simultaneously. Core Design's version was ultimately scrapped completely.

References

As it already happened in Legend, once again the folks at Crystal Dynamics take a chance to tip their hat to their own Legacy of Kain series: if you find level 12's relic (The Great Pyramid) you'll unlock the wetsuit Lara wore back in Tomb Raider II, only this time it has a b&w logo on the chest. You might recognize this logo as Raziel's clan symbol.

Information also contributed by Dr. M. "Schadenfreude" Von Katze

Analytics

MobyPro Early Access

Upgrade to MobyPro to view research rankings!

Related Games

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - Legend
Released 2006 on Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox...
Tomb Raider: Underworld
Released 2008 on Xbox 360, Windows, PlayStation 2...
Tomb Raider III: Adventures of Lara Croft
Released 1998 on Windows, PlayStation, 2009 on PSP...
Tomb Raider
Released 1996 on DOS, PlayStation, Windows...
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - The Angel of Darkness
Released 2003 on Windows, PlayStation 2, Macintosh
Tomb Raider II
Released 1997 on Windows, PlayStation, 2009 on PSP...
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - Anniversary (Collectors Edition)
Released 2007 on PlayStation 2, Windows
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - Legend
Released 2006 on Game Boy Advance
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider Collection
Released 2006 on DOS, Windows

Related Sites +

  • Apple Games Article
    An article discussing the Macintosh version of Tomb Raider: Anniversary.
  • Game Review: Switching to Mac
    A review of Tomb Raider: Anniversary by Ross McKillop at Switching to Mac (September 24th, 2008).
  • Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary
    Wikipedia: article in the open encyclopedia
  • Official Webpage (Mac)
    The official product page for the Mac version of Tomb Raider: Anniversary on the publisher's website, which provides a trailer, an overview of the locations and tools within the game, desktop wallpapers, a demo, and purchasing information, among other such particulars.

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 28337
  • [ Please login / register to view all identifiers ]

Contribute

Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.

Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Sicarius.

Macintosh added by coolfrost. OnLive added by firefang9212. Wii added by Sciere. Xbox 360 added by Diogo Ribeiro. PSP added by klf9j3skld.

Additional contributors: Sciere, Zeppin, Paulus18950, Patrick Bregger, Plok.

Game added June 2, 2007. Last modified March 7, 2024.