4 replies to this topic

[coppertop1978]

has anyone completed the anniversary game

if so what did you think

for me personally i loved a lot better than legend and they went right back to tomb raiding i loved the new folly

and yes i did actually get stuck on this game to

[Shehi]

POST MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS. PLEASE READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION!!!

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I completed the game on 22nd of May I think, the one which Eidos dispatched to us for previewing. Unfortunately, since I have bad net connection, I could not come up with a review or a media (the same situation continues on still, sad to say).

Game is awesome, as I have already said before - much better than classic ones I would add. Why? Well, IMHO, in early games, Lara's adventures kinda were not connected, story-wise that is. She was here or there, raiding this or that tomb and all stories were driven on random topics. One day you had a city theme, where she was sneaking in VCI HQ, or in London streets; another day she was in tombs searching for various artifacts. Why? Personally I don't know the answer. What was driving Lara to do all these crazy stuff?! Well, yea, you can say "Hey, its a game, not a real life?" or "It was the sensation, the feelings of an adventurer!" etc. But really, none of these would satisfy a modern gamer who value the story, as much as the fun he/she gets from the game itself.

I think, with Next Generation Tomb Raider (post-Legend era, let's call it), CrystalD brought us this - THE plot we needed. I am sure most of you have watched THE X FILES tv series, where the hero has been following aliens all his life. Why? Reason is, his sister was abducted when they were kids, and he hopes to find answers in his quest to find his sis. This is a GOOD reason for a person to do all that crazy stuff. The same came to Tomb Raider series with Legend, with CrystalD's touch. We now have the REASON why Lara does all these raiding stuff in archaeological sites, endangering her own life every time - and that is done, mostly for petty awards. Whatever happened to her mother, Amelia (we see that in Legend) made Lara and Mr Croft to search for answers, in order to get the lost beloved one back. In Anniversary, its all around the game:

1. At the very beginning, when Lara comes to Peru, in cinematics we see her reading her Dad's journal (all seen that already in trailers, right?). If you switch to another language in game, let's say French and watch the same cinematics, you will notice one thing: first it is her Dad's voice reading the journal, then the voice slowly fades away and Lara's voice, reading the journal, fades in. Unfortunately, in review version of game I could not hear the same effect in English mode, but in French. And it says how desperate Mr Croft was, about Vilcabamba and Atlantis.

2. Lara arrives in St Francis Folly - while she is climbing the cliff, we can again hear Mr Croft's voice, reading (or writing) the journal. Again we can hear why he is so desperate about Atlantean culture and science, Scion in particular - his wife, Amelia.

3. CInematics, called TOUGH CHOICE - I won't give details of it, in order not to spoil fun for those who haven't played the game; but at one instance, Lara says "I am sorry father" and does what she does. Again we can see, she is in this Atlantis-Scion quest, for the same reason - to find her mother.

4. In many occassions, Natla mentions Lara to be selfish, because she wants Scion for herself. And when Pierre mentions "No job is worth of dying for it", Lara says "Yes, IT IS". We understand why? She even kills ... (who played the game, knows who I am talking about), because of this Scion. LARA IS DESPERATE!

5. And of course, all these looking at your own hand scenes... And the ending cinematic... The same point.


So we have a topic here. A good reason which drives Lara, which makes her TOMB RAIDER. The game has complete meaning now, and we all are waiting for the end of story, impatiently. Not that we are sitting and waiting for what CrystalD will bring to us next time, as we did with Core. We know the plot, and we kinda know what to expect. Its like watching your favorite TV show, like LOST, or PRISON BREAK or STARGATE. Its fun, and I REALLY LOVE THAT FEELING.

THANKS EIDOS AND CRYSTALD FOR A GREAT TOMB RAIDER GAME AND CONCEPT!

[coppertop1978]

thanks for a great reply and i agree with you in anniversary they do go deeper into her story, and i realy do think that C.D made a fantastic job on this version of the first tombraider it was a lot harder to do than legend and they did seem to listen to the fans a bit more they gave the option to turn off the auto grab which i havent had the pleasure of trying yet ive found it hard enough with the auto on, and also gave the option to turn off the anoying hints to the time trials are harder to atlanus and egypt levels were the hardest and we found on the playstation even when you pressed X to grab or jump a lot of time she didnt. my partner also said he still didnt like the check points and maybe there would be an option to turn those off even though i thought in the later levels they were much needed. but i think with the next generation consoles save crystles are now out dated.

1. i will give it ago and watch the game in a different language coz on the ps2 in english its all her fathers voice not her's .

2. in the folly i didnt notice her fathers voice unless ive missed it

3. at that point in the game my eyes were glued to the telly i was ohmy

4. i totaly agree on that i for one if it was me would stop at nothing to get what i wanted back (i know this is just game)

5. yep agree i realy cant wait after what C.D did with this game see what they do with the second half to legend i like legend it was new and i liked the interactive cut senes but i do hope C.D take from what they did with anniversary and do this with legend 2 im eager to see if this story ends with her mother.

i also liked what they had done with the animals in this they were a lot harder to fight and the wolves fighting in packs and the bear hiding away so you couldnt shoot it from a safe ledge

overall i give this game a big thumbs up a 9/10 for me

and yet again thanks C.D for a fantastic game .

[clexy]

Quote

The daughter of Lord Henshingly Croft, Lara was brought up in the secure world of aristocracy surrounded by tennis, butlers and corgis. But this all started to change when she went to the renowned school of Gordonstoun and found the mountains of Scotland.
Later, at her Swiss finishing school, she took to the art of extreme skiing and spent a holiday in the Himalayas searching for more challenging terrain. On her return trip however, the plane crashed deep within the mountains and Lara was the only survivor.

Two weeks later, when she walked into a mountain village, her experiences had had a profound effect on her. Unable to stand the suffocating atmosphere of upper-class British society any longer, she realised she was only truly alive when she was travelling alone.

Despite this drastic life change, Lara still retains the essence of her upbringing - most notably with her polite, upper-class accent.

That above has been the reason Lara to raid tombs and I do not see why she should be desperate in Anniversary just because she is ready to kill anyone to get the scion- that's what she has done for every artefact.

Lara felt that she likes to travel alone and write travel books about her adventures rather then this soap opera plot that Legend/Anniversay has where Laras goals are connected to save her father/mother.

And Crystal Dynamics changed Lara's whole biograpghy and not in a positive way. If you think of Lara being a strong figure she sure woudn't think twice doing anything, even when doing something for the parents - she wont do it - that's why she didn't get married. Both of her parents are alive and don't have a problem with Laras lifestyle in Cores plot and Lara is living an independent adult life.
And sure Crystal Dynamics got Lara Croft and Tomb Raider trademarts to themselves for making games and thay strated they own Laras bio and plot by adding her mommy to the raining of tombs tail. But they shoudn't have done it in Anniversary as it is not a sequel to Legend.

Edited by clexy, 28 June 2007 - 09:07 pm.

[Shehi]

Welcome aboard clexy! Good to hear some different idea http://forum.tombrai...tyle_emoticons/default/smile.gif on this topic. Expected of course, as many were ****ed off since CrystalD changed whole TR plot.

Personally, I don't know if Anniversary is a sequel or prequel to Legend, but I guess stories are very related. You are right that in Core version of TR, Lara's bio was not that complex, rather simple. And we know Americans, right? http://forum.tombrai...tyle_emoticons/default/smile.gif Kinda romantic guys, seeking some sort of meaning in almost everything - not that it is a bad feature, not at all; in contrary it is a good one. But sometimes that attribute may cause disturbing changes for some people - and adding all these to Lara's bio in post-Legend TR games is quite expected.