when Tomb Raider first hit in 1996, is nothing less than a pioneer. When the game industry has undergone a radical change from predominantly sprite-based 2D graphics polygonal 3D graphics, Tomb Raider is a shining example of the kind of immersive atmosphere and exploration based on the play that was possible. Not only are strong, serious and very competent women protagonists as Lara Croft, but somehow, the role of Lara Croft as an actor was almost overtaken by its role in coverage girl, female model, and the spokesman for the maturation Video Games . Although years of sequels ranging from low to limit offensive did much to tarnish the name of Tomb Raider, developer Crystal Dynamics undid much damage with last year's Tomb Raider: Legend, which focused on the strengths of the series -- places exotic Reflexivo puzzles, and incredible stunts -- while modernizing the gameplay and rationalization of the whole experience. Crystal D continues its good work with Tomb Raider: Anniversary, which actually goes back to the original Tomb Raider and rebuilt from scratch. Tomb Raider: Anniversary is not as innovative as the original Tomb Raider, but it is undeniable that more playable.

Like the original Tomb Raider: Anniversary follows the story of the game Lara for the Scion Atlantis as it does battle with the connivance businesswoman Jacqueline Natlas and his henchmen diverse. You'll explore ancient tombs and forgotten cities in Peru, Greece, Egypt, and more, the performance of many of the deaths, defying acrobatics as you work your way through the huge and ancient, and often deadly puzzle. The entire experience is highly suggestive of the original, and certainly there are a lot of moments that seem specifically designed to create a strange feeling of déjà vu, but there is nothing in Tomb Raider Anniversary has been regurgitated verbatim -- everything is bigger and better. The environments are bigger and more detailed, and existing puzzles have been developed at an incredible degree. The experience just feels bigger, and there is a lot of new content that honestly feels less like a remake and more like its own game.

A large part of that sentiment comes from the much more talented Lara has become since the original Tomb Raider. Apart from a few, the nominal differences, which is basically the same functionality that had been here as Tomb Raider: Legend, which made it one of the most agile action adventure heroes this side of Prince of Persia. His knowledge on shelves is incredible -- she can shimmy across ledges, leap from a ledge to another, and leave a ledge to a higher ledge. She can swing hanging from ropes and horizontal bars, dropping maneuvers to avoid projectiles, and climb, jump, and the balancing precariously above vertical poles. All these acrobatics feel natural, and not too difficult to pull off, with the game allowing just the right amount of room for error. As good as Lara is, however, it has its limits, which is a large part of what makes the action feel dangerous. If your timing is off just a little bit to jump from one ledge, Lara might only caught with one hand, which will have you shredding a button furiously to help it recover. Miss the shelf completely, however, and Lara is likely to expire, or at least incur a severe amount of damage.

She will have to carry each and every one of these skills to their absolute limit in Tomb Raider: Anniversary, which does not lack the characteristics of acrobatics ridiculous. The game is essentially composed of a series of gigantic single set piece puzzle. Sometimes, the puzzles are traditional find the key, flip the switch types of issues, but in most cases, the real puzzle is figuring out how to use the capacity of Lara to get from point A to point B. What 's more, the Puzzle are often nested several layers deep. While his overall goal can find four keys to open a door, you must first find out how to get to the bottom of a huge, crumbling tower, after which you have to find out how to access four different doors, after which you have to find out how to open those doors, in fact -- and, of course, behind every one of those doors is a series of tricks and traps that have to go before they get to the Keys. Solving one of these puzzles can be a general process involved, with some of them taking well over an hour to complete.

The environments are its main adversaries most of the time on the anniversary, but through its exploration him run regularly in some antagonistic animals like rats, bats, wolves, bears, tigers, gorillas, birds of prey, and occasionally the Tyrannosaurus Rex. Combat is limited to gunplay, which operates with a simple locking system, and can also Lara tumble and covered by the air while keeping a bead on an enemy. New to the Anniversary is evasive adrenaline, which at times allows Lara to dodge a charging enemy in slow motion. When the slower time, a goal also move slowly towards the enemy, and if the weapons fire right at the time it locks, resulting in an instant kill, usually when the ferocious beast is only inches away from his face . Still feels like Tomb Raider combat, which has always been a small part of the experience, but adrenaline dodge is a nice little touch that adds a little more drama to action. Tomb Raider: Anniversary also uses the same type of interactive cutscenes seen in Tomb Raider: Legend, which will have to react quickly to a button on the screen stimulus to keep alive Lara. Allows some beautifully choreographed action sequences, but they are rarely very difficult.

What keeps Tomb Raider: Anniversary is participating in the full force of the gameplay, as well as the quality of presentation. Although it is basically moving from a tomb to another characteristic that every detail enough to make them unique. The environments are also enormous, occasionally using the curvy corridor to mask the loading time, and apart from some minor game contrivances, they feel very real. Lara look great and moves with the natural grace that makes incredible acrobatic feats instead of looking ridiculously feasible superman, wildlife and the various movements that deal also convincing. These are the little touches that bring it all together: how water glistens on the skin of Lara when it leaves the water, the light refracts differently when it is under water, or tangible difference in the atmosphere between different localities .

While the PS2 version not see anything bad by any measure, a heavy layer of aliases March filing. The game can be played in widescreen, but we found the support Progressive Scan to have an effect inconsistent. In some sets smoothed many of the sharp edges, while others did textures look muddy and text unreadable. The PC version fares much better, with support for higher resolutions and a large crisper, cleaner look. It is really a great game audio. You hear many environmental effects of small animals such as calls and dripping water, and Lara's growls and yelps as the scales of these incredible antiques resonate differently depending on the size of the room. The music is generally used sparingly, but always swells to a flowering of the right at all times.

Tomb Raider: Legend has done much to Lara Croft again feel relevant, and Tomb Raider: Anniversary is another step in the right direction. The acrobatic action is consistent exciting and challenging throughout, and despite being a remake, the experience is new and fresh. This is the best game Tomb Raider in years, and for the first time in a long time, which actually means something.