Having legitimately completed Tomb Raider Anniversary, I would like to offer my thoughts on this remake of a classic.

Lara is portrayed to be a lot less inherently violent this time around. The Lara of old was a PETA person's worst nightmare, a person who would kill anything that stood between her and her object. The animals of the remake are much more aggressive and also have glowing eyes. This implies that they are possessed to attack by the forces of the Scion to prevent people from rediscovering these objects of great power. The animal enemies are a lot smarter this time around, seeking cover when you shoot them and they can't make an attack. Killing possessed animals is easier on the conscious than ordinary animals.

Lara is also less vicious to her human enemies. In the original game, she guns down Larson (twice), Pierre (several times), the Cowboy, the Kid and Kold. In the new game, she only guns down one of these people and shows remorse or shock after the deaths of each. There is also a concession to realism as you do not engage in the gun battles of old, the sight of taking bullet after bullet wouldn't suit this style.

The early levels tend to be remarkably faithful to the original designs, but the later levels tend to introduce new challenges and are cut down by comparison.

There are clearly defined boss battles in this game, but they mirror the original game and are made more exciting because you can't snipe or escape. However, the pacing is, like the original, unorthodox.

The training level, which in the original is something you did once and never looked at again, has been really elaborated on. Its fascinating to explore Croft Manor and figure out all the puzzles, and I dig the music.

Its obvious that Lara moves much more smoothly in this incarnation than in her previous one, but this is not always a plus. In the original game, you had two jumps, the forward jump and the running jump. If one didn't work, the other would and it was easy to perform both. The new game is alot more loose on the required jumps, it seems, so it can be tricky to get the right jump. Combat is much more dynamic, and the slow-motion rage attack is a nice addition. Switching targets, crucial at times, is annoying.

I strongly recommend playing this game, if on a PC, with a Playstation 2 controller and a USB adapter. I bought mine at Radio Shack and it works beautifully and supports analog and rumble. The only problem is that the game will still refer to the default keys when discussing how to do the moves, so you have to translate that into the custom layout.

While you cannot save anywhere, even on the PC, checkpoints are liberally spread throughout and you can save at them. However, if the checkpoints are between a rough spot, you must fully pass the rough spot. Maybe due to a bug, the game is a bit inconsistent if you can save at some checkpoints. Speaking of bugs, if Lara is infront of water, her outlines will appear wavy like the water.

Speaking of moves, the amount of ledge grabbing will cramp your hands, at least in my preferred button placement. The camera is OK until you are grabbing onto a ledge, whereby it won't allow you to see the other side, leaving you to make leaps of faith. How Lara ascends and descends the poles can be kinda disturbing (think of phallic symbols.)