Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary

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Tomb Raider Anniversary
Anniversary.jpg
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Release Date June 2007
Platforms PC, PS2, PSP, Wii, XBox 360
Levels 14
Secrets 58
Developer Crystal Dynamics
Publisher Eidos Interactive
Game Chronology:
Tomb Raider Legend Tomb Raider Anniversary Tomb Raider Underworld

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary is a game that was made to celebrate Tomb Raider's 10th anniversary. At first it was supposed to be a PSP game made by Core Design, but this was cancelled. Shortly later Eidos Interactive announced that the game was back on track.

The game is now available for PC and PlayStation 2; with a PSP, Wii and XBox 360 version coming soon.

The Croft Mansion will also be back in Anniversary, as it was a success in Tomb Raider Legend and dearly missed in The Angel of Darkness and the later games of the first generation.

Release Dates & Platforms

Full Version

PC, PlayStation 2

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    Europe - June 1st 2007
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    USA - June 5th 2007

PlayStation Portable

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    Europe - July 3rd 2007
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    USA - August 9th 2007

Nintendo Wii

Later throughout the year 2007.

XBox 360

Later throughout the year 2007.

Demo

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    May 25th 2007

Levels


About the Game

Lara in Anniversary

The 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.
(Source: official Site)

For those who haven't yet played the first game, Lara is hired by Jacqueline Natla of Natla Technologies to uncover the Scion of Atlantis artefact. Natla has already located Vilcabamba, the city leading to Qualopec's Tomb.


Content

The Anniversary Edition is going to be a remake of the 1st Tomb Raider game but with better graphics and difficult puzzles. TR Anniversary will have the previous game Legend's controls and gameplay.

Features

The story will be told using more cut scenes than 10 years ago.

  • Play the living Lara Croft
the world’s greatest action heroine of all time – use all of Lara's guile, latest fluid movements, athleticism and gadgets in her quest to conquer the unknown and uncover ancient artifacts.
  • Explore uncharted and mysterious worlds
enter into strange, undiscovered lands and solve their deepest, darkest mysteries, open doors to new realms, uncover great rewards and unearth secrets to Lara's past.
  • Includes classic environments from the original Tomb Raider as never experienced before
Crystal Dynamics latest technology allows you to fluidly manoeuvre Lara using her latest moves and gear, through all the worlds from the original; Peru, Greece, Egypt and more. The dynamic world allows multiple play-through options and also opens up new places and ways to explore.
  • startling enemy encounters
Encounter fierce animal and supernatural enemies, wolves, bears, crocodiles, horrific monsters and of course, the T Rex. New and improved AI means that all enemies will exhibit a more diverse behaviour set, providing improved combat challenges for the player.
  • directors commentary
The original Tomb Raider game designer, Toby Gard and Tomb Raider: Anniversary’s Game Director Jason Botta from Crystal Dynamics, provides an unlockable commentary on how this game was made, with some previously undisclosed secrets from Toby about the original Tomb Raider game.

Gameplay

The environments in Tomb Raider Anniversary are much more interactive: Lara can use them for lots of things, pick up a piece of wood on the ground and use it as a ladder. Puzzles are more complicated than in Tomb Raider Legend. There is no clue or sparkling thing to show you where to go.

There is more than one way to explore the environments and complete a level. You can choose the acrobatic way, or the easier way.

Fighting enemies is still an important part of the game: the beast are much more realistic and their AI has really been improved. They are more dangerous than before, they develop a real strategy to kill you. For example the Raptors run around Lara in circles until they are enough to jump at her and attack her.

There will be checkpoints like in Tomb Raider Legend where the game is saved.

Story

The story's prelude begins in 1945 in Los Alamos, New Mexico; a mushroom cloud engulfs an abandoned town, uncovering a crystalline structure, sending an unidentified winged creature flying out. Fifty-one years later the game sends us to a cutscene set in Calcutta, India, in which the main story opens: Lara Croft, daughter of Lord Richard Croft is hired by renowned businesswoman Jacqueline Natla through an introduction by her long-time adversary Larson. Natla reveals she has found the location of one of the three pieces that comprise the Atlantean Scion, a mystical artifact buried in the heart of an ancient city, and she wants Lara to retrieve it for her. Lara, sitting back leisurely, leaps from her seat upon hearing this revelation. Fueled as much by her, and her father's, desires to find the artifact, Lady Croft travels on commission by Natla to the icy mountains of Peru to search for it in the lost city of Vilcabamba.

Through the Lost Valley teeming with thought-to-be-extinct dinosaurs and numerous booby traps, she enters a desolate tomb, seemingly undiscovered for millennia. In a further cutscene, Lara finds the corpse of Qualopec. Observing the inscriptions on the wall, it reads that he was one of the triumvirate of god-rulers of Atlantis before it fell beneath the waves, watching over his piece of the Scion even in death. As she peers closely in awe, one of the beast-like creatures suddenly roars at her, before falling laboriously to the floor. Realizing this tomb is not uninhabited after all, Lara takes the Scion. The tomb begins to crumble, and so Lara runs for an escape in haste. Qualopec rises from his seat while Lara looks around unnerved. Fortunately, the falling debris traps him. Lara escapes, however, surfacing from the water to find Larson ready to relieve her of her hard earned work. Refusing to bestow the artifact upon him, they engage in a pulse-raising fight, Lara naturally coming out victorious. After giving Larson a good beating, he reveals that another archaeologist has been sent by Natla to look for the second piece, prompting Lara to pay a visit to Natla Technologies to search for more information. A video communication clip reveals Natla knew Lara would never disclose the artefact to her anyway, and the other archaeologist, Pierre Dupont in front of the monastery she instantly recognizes; St. Francis Folly, in the Greek Isles.

Here she races against Pierre Dupont, a rival archaeologist. Lara uncovers the Tomb of Tihocan, the second of the three god-rulers where she finds his empty coffin, the whereabouts of the body unknown. Pierre then catches up with Lara, threatening to kill her unless she gives him Qualopec's piece of the Scion. Lara refuses, attacking him until he flees from the tomb. However, two centaurs then awake, trampling Pierre to death. After escaping Tihocan's tomb, she leaves for the Sanctuary of the Scion located in Egypt for the third and final piece. As soon as she obtains it, she leaves the Sanctuary and connects the pieces. She blacks out and has a vision about the dawn of time where the god-kings stood in counsel over the third ruler, revealed to be Natla herself. She is being expelled from their sacred order and condemned for unleashing Atlantis' own armies against it and trying to usher in the Seventh Age through the use of the Scion. She is then encased in the crystalline structure which was later uncovered in the blast in Los Alamos.

Natla then calmly takes the now complete piece away from the still shocked Lara, clutched by Natla's henchman "Kold". Lara asks her what the Seventh Age was, Natla asking her how far she would go to find out. Natla orders her henchmen to kill her quickly. "Kid", another of Natla's henchmen goes to shoot Lara, but Larson pushes him out the way, purposely missing her with his shotgun. Lara escapes, diving over the edge of the cliff into the lake as Larson fires. Lara pursues Natla on her motorbike, managing to infiltrate Natla's boat undetected. They soon dock to an island which is a remnant of Atlantis, where Natla has mining operations. Inside she meets Larson again, holding a key trying to stop her from continuing further. Larson taunts her, betting she will not shoot him. Insistent on impeding her path, he tells her she would never shoot him because, "that's just not who you are." Lara replies, "I'm not who you think I am". This resulted in Lara shooting him three times in the chest. Larson falls to his knees, and lays down to the ground gasping for air, his hand reaching out to Lara for help. Lara rests her hand on his chest and turns him over, taking the key from his pocket. Looking at her hands horrified at what she has done and completely forgetting that she thought that it was for the good of all man, she vigorously dusts off the imaginary blood on her hands, greatly remorseful from her first human kill thus far. As she continues through, one of Natla's henchmen stands guarding the next chamber wielding a knife. Lara warns him, telling him he will end up like Larson if he does not let her past. Another of Natla's henchmen "Kid" emerges from the shadows with a pair of uzis. Lara shoots them in her defence, however, Kold stabs Kid so he can kill Lara himself. Kold pins Lara against the wall by her throat, but she is saved when Kid kills Kold with his uzis from afar before dying of the stab wound. Lara finally catches up with Natla who has activated the Scion, along with the pyramid buried beneath it. Natla tells Lara she has reached the top, that it takes three to rule, that Tihocan and Qualopec were too weak to destroy what stands in the way of the Seventh Age, but Lara has the strength to claim the seat beside Natla's rule.

Lara looks at her hands then apologizes to her father before shooting and destroying the Scion. Natla charges at her in rage, pushing her off the platform, with Lara pulling Natla down with her. Lara grabs the platform on the opposite side with her grapple, Natla falling to her doom beneath the depths of the lava. Natla later confronts her, still alive, accusing Lara of having a heart as black as hers, after the blood she has spilled. Natla clutches Lara by her throat, stating she cannot be killed, and that she is immortal. The final boss battle is against Natla herself, which ends with Natla slapping Lara's pistols out of her hands and asking Lara what she has accomplished by coming here, and she has only accomplished "a temporary stay of execution for your kind". Natla tells Lara she will find another remlent of Atlantis and continue her plan but Lara has lost everything. Lara goes for her pistols, shoots Natla in the eye and pins her under a falling pillar. Natla screeches in agony as Lara looks at the fallen pillar and tells Natla she hasnt lost anything. Lara escapes the now crumbling pyramid, the island violently erupting. Reaching the shore, Lara dives into the sea and gets into the boat she used to get to the Lost City. She looks back at the exploding island, then at her bloodstained hands as she leaves the erupting island behind. Lara smiles, realizing she really did kill Larson for the safety of all man and not for her own selfish desires, and sails off into the horizon.

Locations

In-game Elements

Gear

The inventory will be like in the first Tomb Raider (rotating ring). Additionally Lara will have her grapple, which will, according to rumour, not be magnetic this time.

Weapons

First Aid Items

Other Gear


Secrets

There are 58 secrets in Tomb Raider Anniversary. 8 of them are special Relics, the rest are simple artifacts.

Level Relics Artifacts
Peru - Mountain Caves 1 3
Peru - City of Vilcabamba 0 1
Peru - The Lost Valley 1 2
Peru - Tomb of Qualopec 0 2
Greece - St. Francis Folly 0 6
Greece - The Coliseum 0 1
Greece - Midas's Palace 2 1
Greece - Tomb of Tihocan 0 2
Egypt - Temple of Khamoon 1 3
Egypt - Obelisk of Khamoon 0 4
Egypt - Sanctuary of the Scion 1 2
Lost Island - Natla's Mines 1 4
Lost Island - The Great Pyramid 1 1
Lost Island - Final Conflict 0 4
Overall 8 36

Outfits

Lara wears her classical braid, not the hair of Tomb Raider Legend. Throughout the basic game she will wear her Classic green Outfit. Like in Tomb Raider Legend, several costumes will be unlockable, like the Sola Diving Suit and a full body black Catsuit.

Vehicles

There are no in-game vehicles in this game. We will see Lara driving her blue Norton Motorbike.

Riddles


Characters & Enemies

Alister and Zip will not accompany Lara during her travels this time.

Lara in Anniversary

Characters

Enemies

Traps, Obstacles & Riddles

She has to solve similar riddles as in the original Tomb Raider.

Controls

The Tomb Raider Legend controls are also used in Tomb Raider: Anniversary. There are even some new moves like running along a wall, rope in hand and balancing on a pillar. When Lara walks on unstable surfaces, you have to maintain her balance. You can also do cart wheels.

Ratings

ESRB Rating

The rating is T for Teen because of Mild Suggestive Themes and Violence

Development

Press Releases

May 2007

LET THE CELEBRATIONS BEGIN ON JUNE 1st

LARA CROFT TOMB RAIDER ANNIVERSARY EUROPEAN STREET DATE ANNOUNCED

Eidos Interactive Ltd., one of the world's leading publishers and developers of entertainment software, can confirm the European street date for the PlayStation 2 and PC Games For Windows versions of Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary will be June 1st 2007, with the PSP version to follow very shortly.

The world's love affair with Lara Croft began back in 1996 with the launch of the original Tomb Raider game. Since then, Tomb Raider has gone on to become one of the world's most successful videogame franchises of all time, and Lara's latest adventure, Tomb Raider: Anniversary is a celebration of Lara’s original adventure in an entirely new Crystal Dynamics game.

"Our goal was to capture the essence of what made the original Tomb Raider game such an incredible adventure, and use this to create a brand new Tomb Raider game. Building on the technology, tools and experience we developed for Tomb Raider: Legend, we've created Anniversary, a completely fresh experience for Tomb Raider fans and a brand new game for those who are new to the series," said Sean Vesce, Studio Manager, Crystal Dynamics.

"The original Tomb Raider game made Lara Croft the icon she is today. Tomb Raider: Anniversary is our way of paying tribute to Lara and the history of the franchise that will not only appeal to her fans, but also encourage a whole new generation of Lara lovers," said Kathryn Clements, Senior Brand Manager, Tomb Raider.

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary will ship throughout Europe on June 1st on PlayStation 2 and PC Games For Windows.

July 2006

Eidos Interactive, one of the world's leading publishers and developers of entertainment software, confirms today that they are developing a special '10th Anniversary Edition' of Tomb Raider.

The new game is being developed by Crystal Dynamics, who recently launched Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend on Xbox 360, PS2, Xbox, PC and PSP, with versions on Nintendo DS, GBA and GameCube later in 2006.

"Our '10th Anniversary Edition' of Tomb Raider, is a one-off title to celebrate both Lara and Tomb Raider, it will appeal not only to the loyal fans of the Tomb Raider series but will also attract a totally new audience." Said Larry Sparks, Head of Brands Management at Eidos.

Tomb Raider originally launched in 1996 and is still one of the best selling videogame franchises of all time, with over 30 million copies sold.

The special '10th Anniversary Edition' of Tomb Raider will be available on PlayStation 2, PSP and PC.

August 16th 2006

We've also made plans for an anniversary edition which will be coming out next year, Ian Livingstone said in an interview with Eurogamer.

October 2006

Eidos' Message to the Tomb Raider Community Eidos is pleased to announce some special news directly to the Tomb Raider community. The official name of the next Tomb Raider game is Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary, and the first screenshot is going straight to where it matters most - the people who have supported Lara across the years. As most of you may already know, Tomb Raider: Anniversary is a revitalized version of the original adventure that started it all. This game is more than just a remake; it is a celebration of Lara Croft and the history of the Tomb Raider franchise. One would need to be blind to not see the impact that Lara Croft has had, both on gaming in general, as well as pop-culture. She is a character that people connect with, a character that transcends the media in which she was originally presented. However, Lara's rise to fame didn't just magically happen. There has been a very powerful, dedicated fan base that has not only tracked her every move over the last 10 years, but helped transform her from being just a video game character, to an international digital celebrity. Every time a new Tomb Raider game has been released, the fans have asked for a remake of the original. Tomb Raider: Anniversary is our answer. This game is for the fans. It only makes sense that the first information, as well as much more to come, goes directly to the fans. We hope you enjoy the screenshot, and keep your eye out for more information soon...

October 2006

Eidos Celebrates with Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary Inspired by the original Tomb Raider comes a totally new Lara adventure

Eidos Interactive Ltd., one of the world's leading publishers and developers of entertainment software, today confirms that the next Tomb Raider game will be entitled Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary and is set for release on PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable (PSP) and PC in 2007.

Inspired by the first Tomb Raider videogame, originally released in 1996, LARA CROFT TOMB RAIDER: ANNIVERSARY is a totally new 2006 adventure for Lara, faithfully preserving the elements which made the original Tomb Raider such a classic, selling over 7 million copies worldwide. Using an enhanced 'Tomb Raider: Legend' game engine, the graphics, technology, physics and engine bring Lara's adventure and pursuit of a mystical artefact known only as the Scion right up to today's technology standards and will offer gamers a completely new gameplay experience.

"Over the years we have had literally thousands of requests to re-make the original Tomb Raider for today's gamer, we have gone a step further, we have taken the original story and made a completely new version for Tomb Raider: Anniversary." said Kathryn Clements, Senior Brand Manager, Eidos. "We are re-telling an incredible story using today’s technology, we've taken all of the key moments from the original game and put them into the context of a brand new Tomb Raider adventure which will make fans of the franchise extremely happy but also attract a completely new audience."

"We've captured the essence of what made the original game so special and with today's technology, created a game that pushes the boundaries of the current gaming consoles. Tomb Raider: Anniversary is a special celebration of Lara's reign as videogaming's leading lady" said Ian Livingstone, Eidos.

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary is currently in development by Crystal Dynamics and will be available in 2007 on PlayStation 2, PSP and PC


Internet Rumours

A video has come out on the internet before it was supposed to, showing the animation of the T-Rex and of Larson when it apparently was not supposed to be. This is a genuine video showing the T-Rex's animations alongside the velociraptors and bears and the animations of Larson. Crystal Dynamics and Eidos have not meant for this video to come out. It was put online on the animation artist's website and from there reached other Tomb Raider Fansites as well as youtube. It was quickly and inexplicably removed, although it has been confirmed that this video has been banned on the internet.


Trivia

  • On the PS2 square or grapple is only used once in the last interactive cutscene.
  • Unlike its predecessor and successor, Anniversary didn't appear on the Nintendo DS.

Links

with trailers