Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary

[Skyline_Mad]

In the Mansion: I have found out what i had to do in the maze now, and i've almost completed it i think, only need one more object for the puzzle in the middle of the maze and thats the one behind the fireplace, i have an empty bucket, but can't get water from anywhere yet as the water is not turned on.

 

As for the main story levels, i'm on the 10th level (what would have been level 11 on the original Tomb Raider, but "The Cistern" and "Tomb of Tihocan" have merged into one big level in Anniversary) and am loving the visuals on the Egypt levels so far, they also seem to be the ones that have had the most time spent on creating them, they are so much like the original, but also at the same time so much different.

[gillies]

Good to hear you guys are liking it. I am going to have to wait a while longer to get it as it has been delayed until the 14th here for some censorship thing.

[GTA3Freak-2001]

Well I am having fun with it so far, started with the Mansion but couldn't get the tool to turn the water supply on to fill the bucket to put out the fire and get the arrow. I know the tool is in the Gym but I can't finish the last part to reach it

 

Anyway got sick of that and started a a new game, I am up to the Lost Valley the demo level which is easy now.

[Datalord]

Finished this yesterday, on 98% now, about 3 levels to revisit for the artifacts/relics. I found the first and last few levels a bit short, where as the middle ones had some more depth I think to them.

[Kippers]

My bro's coming back from Uni today and he said he bought the game so i'll be able to play it tonight.

 

Edited June 10, 2007 by kippers.

[Lawley]

Its better than i was expecting it to be,I've not played tomb raider since the AOD was was utter sh*te, played on TR-A for a couple of hours yesterday, you dont seem to get as much freedom like you do on the old-school tomb raiders, and the camera views kinda suck, i liked it better when the camera was nearly always behind you, i tend to be making a lot more mistakes than what i used too, and i completed tomb raider 1&2 pretty easily last year. i do realy like the idea of revisting the first tomb raider which imo was the best out of all of them, though you only occasionaly see recognisable parts, and im already on the tomb of qualopeq,(The first view of the T-Rex on The Lost Valley was kinda fun ) i cant wait for my graphics card to come through the post im playing on onboard atm, so my fps kinda sucks, big areas seem to make the game go in slow motion, it will be nice to play this game with a higher res and with a more stablefps.

[gillies]

Yeah the camera is pretty much a menace. Hard to believe they could have made it more annoying than it was in Legend, but there it is.

[Kippers]

wtf my comp doesnt seem to like anniversary. I play it, get past the T Rex onto the next level where the boulder falls down the slope and the caged doors block the route, then the conp crashes, i get a blue screen and my TR:A profile is deleted.

 

I then start it again, i get to the first save point after opening the door and the game crashes. i dont know if that was a one off coz i havent bothered with the game since it happened.

[Demarest]

JUST finished it. Had 96% on my own and only missed one relic.

 

I have always liked the Tomb Raider series. I had a couple problems with it though. For starters, being that it's puzzle based, the replay value isn't all there. Unless you wait a couple years until your memory drains. The other being that I liked the original premise. II started adding humans and cityscapes. III REALLY got away from the tomb raiding roots. LR (4) got back to the basics fairly well. 5 was alright. I could never be bothered with finishing AOD (6). Not sure why. And I've never played 7 even though the trailer for it made it look fantastic. Now that I've played Anniversary, I will probably try Legend out sometime.

 

I have a Radeon 9700 Pro and with everything on at 1280x1024, the game ran quite smooth, which surprised and pleased me. But I don't rate games on looks. That said, the gameplay is phenomenal. And keep in mind that as I say that, I LIKED the old TR style of tap back equals three steps and all the other aspects that made the mechanics rigid and predictable. Since I had never played Legend, the grapple and other features were new and I was blown away. Just the complexity of Croft Manor's gymnasium told me I was in for a real treat.

 

I know the original game quite well, so many of the areas were familiar even though most weren't anything like the original apart from semblance. Some of the puzzles were downright maddening. It was a real treat. The battle system takes some getting used to, especially during true boss fights. But once I had the hang of it, it was quite acceptable. It has a fair share of unlockable items, which I've only begun to scratch the surface of. Between that and time trial mode, this game is sure to have the highest replayability of the series. This game was truly meant to be a tribute to the series and the fans. Stella(lune) appears in the credits. If you don't know who that is, then this game is lost on you

 

Eidos has been highly disappointing in a number of ways in the past. This is nowhere near one of them. In fact, I found this game to be quite vindicating of their previous mistakes. Just wish the hard drive footprint wasn't so large

[GTA3Freak-2001]

Yeah definitively go and get Legend, as Anniversary uses the Legend game engine you'll immediately feel at home after playing through Anniversary. Just don't expect the levels to all be Tombs like Anniversary, you'll be more often shooting mercs then any kind of animals and visiting some cityscapes. But its all good. Oh and you'll need to grit your teeth when you are doing the motorbike chasing levels which quite frankly make you feel like you are playing the old racing games from the 80's the ones where you are merely having track scenery fly at you often repeating itself while you dodge things and shoot the baddies. It just feels messy amongst the main gameplay.

 

 

[Datalord]

Anyone gone for the time trials? I have 5 levels to go, Last few Greece and all of egypt, the golden shotgun kicks ass.

 

Don't expect Legend to take you long also.

[Demarest]

Started time trials. I was relieved to find that they are only for completing the level, not actually picking up all the goodies, secrets, and such. I was NOT happy to find that not every level gives you a reward.

[Datalord]

It's every group of levels Peru, Greece etc

 

Since I last posted I have completed Palace Midas and Tomb of Tihocan, Egypt to go

[Demarest]

Once I found out that it didn't alter any files, I wasn't weary of using a new skin. The ones for Legend on the Hub don't seem to work. I used them, but none of the outfits were changed. That's a shame.

 

I went ahead and made one I'd like. I like purple (duh). And dark eye makeup Here's a promo pic

 

 

...and a download link. The ZIP contains not only the TPF for TexMod, but also the logfile and all necessary components. In case somebody likes it, but wants to make a tweak. Or just wants to use part of it themselves. I don't much care for the way you can't really use the textures in a TPF file. Enjoy.

 

@Datalord: When I completed just the first Peru level, I unlocked an art gallery. I suppose it could've been unlocked before, but it didn't seem that way.

 

[EDIT]

Just finished the Lost Valley time trials. Hard to believe I went from dying repeatedly from trying to play it so tightly to finishing it with 2:30 left on the clock To others playing that time trial, somebody posted on another forum that when he becomes engraged, stand between him one of the spiked wheel dealies around the perimeter. Dodge his charge and shoot him at the right time and he'll careen into them, taking massive damage. After the third such hit, he's out. Takes about a minute's time ONLY!

 

And here's another promo pic.

 

Edited June 19, 2007 by Demarest

[Demarest]

I killed the topic?!

 

Just finished all the time trials. It was a blast, but at times downright frustrating. It's too bad not all TR's had this replayability to them.

[Datalord]

 

I still have 2 to go, Obelisk which I've failed twice, stupid squashing blocks and The Sphinx one after it.

 

Edit, woo did it with 2 mins to spare, 1 left

Edited June 20, 2007 by Datalord

[gillies]

I wonder whether not limiting how many health packs you can carry was intentional or a mistake. I am only up to the end of Midas's Tomb and I think I have picked up about 40 of them so far, and I haven't needed to use any.

[Demarest]

I've made a couple more "mods." The first is for use with the Legend outfit, though it goes well with Wetsuit as well. It's purpose is to make your backpack, gunbelt, guns, grapple, etc invisible. You can download that here.

 

Then I went ahead and made a skin to replace the Legend outfit patterned after Gwen Stefani in the video for "I'm Just a Girl." That's available here. The Gwen IMJAG mod also blanks the dirt and wet textures due to the way Eidos cut corners. Just as well as this redefines what areas are meant to be skin and clothing anyways.

 

Both are for use with TexMod and contain the logfile and all associated textures for those looking to tweak it to their liking. Here's a promo pic of the two of them being used at the same time. Do any of our GTAF TRA'ers bother with skinning at all?