Zero Punctuation: Tomb Raider Anniversary

Yahtzee Croshaw

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Aug 8, 2007
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Tomb Raider Anniversary

This week, The Escapist's Zero Punctuation reviews Tomb Raider: Anniversary.



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Chinster

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Sep 5, 2007
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These things really brighten up my Wednesdays which are normally shite and have no tits in them whatsoever.
 

Mashakosha

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Sep 7, 2007
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Damnit, these make me cry manly tears of laughter. You manage to review these games with the tact of a cow and the comedy genius of the Two Ronnies and it's brilliant!
 

Zera

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Sep 12, 2007
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personally i like remakes, but too much is never a good thing.
Another brilliant review
 

MrPirate

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Sep 12, 2007
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Excellent! Usually I can't be bother to go through all that registration crap just to say I though a review was good, but your reviews are just so funny and so very true that I simply had to comment. Seriously awesome!
 

Frapple

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Anyone else have trouble with player, I'm missing out huge sections of the video while the sound continues.
 

xbeaker

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Sep 11, 2007
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Someone lock Yahtzee in a hole and feed him video games so we can get 2 of these reviews a week. We need more Yahtzee!

tits
 

FACT.50

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Sep 12, 2007
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Yahtzee,

I have to say that while I've generally agreed with your previous reviews. I couldn't disagree with this one more.

I don't think you were playing the same TR I was playing, because I didn't see any bugs at all (and I test games for a living). In fact I thought that TR: Anniversary surpassed the quality of every previous game in the series. Lara wasn't hard to control, and the camera never bugged out on me either. I know what you mean about her always just missing ledges in previous titles, but I never once saw that happen in this one. In fact Lara almost always grabbed for the closest ledge even if she wasn't aligned with it correctly.

I was also playing the PC version, so maybe that's different (on PC you could hold down the fire button btw).

I also agree that remakes are generally a bad thing, however if you look at the original TR, it's pretty much unplayable these days, so it's a nice surprise to get to play one of my favorite games from my childhood with a fresh overhaul. I don't think I would mind a remake of Bionic Commando either (as long as Capcom did it right).
 

Russ Pitts

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May 1, 2006
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Frapple said:
Anyone else have trouble with player, I'm missing out huge sections of the video while the sound continues.
I haven't yet seen this problem myself, but we're aware that it exists. We're working with the provider of our video software to correct the problem.

Would you mind sending us an email describing the problem, the specs of your PC and what browser you're using?

[email protected]
 

RookLive

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Sep 12, 2007
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I completely agree with FACT.50. The PC version controls very well, and considering you often ***** at bad console controls I'm surprised you picked up the game on PS2, especially when there's a nice version just waiting to be downloaded on steam.

Aside from that, considering most games these days pretty much just are remakes of older ones (Bioshock) I really don't mind it so much. At least they're honest about it.
 

jabrwock

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Another excellent job! I too remember the "boob-cam" that seemed to zoom in every time you backed up to a ledge to creep along it. Or the "butt-cam" that zoomed in while swimming around obstacles. Then again that one was common to most 3rd person games (even ones with male characters), with the camera stuck up the avatar's rear while you tried to steer them.
 

mermaidkween

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Sep 12, 2007
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Okay, normally I don't even bother with responding to game reviews, but I'd like to tell you that you got some of it right, and some of it wrong.

Yes, it is annoying that you have to press the R1 button over and over again to shoot. But really, if you're having fun, you don't even notice. There are a few camera issues, but the only place it's really a problem is in the very last section when you're having to jump around really, really quickly. If all of the directions were concrete instead of relative to the camera's position, this wouldn't be as big of a deal as long as you knew where you're going.

Which you will, because you'll have to retry things a few times to get it right.

I do think that the game was handled correctly. Yes, they tossed it to an American developer, but based on this as well as Tomb Raider Legend, this was the best move for Lara's sake. I feel like I'm still only one of five people to finish Angel of Darkness, and this was with working through the bugs.

The game is gorgeous! (Did you even mention that?) Also, the commentary you can unlock after finishing the game is seriously an awesome touch. The developers (and Toby Gard, who's responsible for Lara in the first place) talk about the changes they made to levels after people played them again. Turns out that we tend to remember things from 10 years ago differently. They also go over the changes that came about because of the technology they have.

I don't really agree with the falling to your death thing as much. Maybe it's just me, but some of the jumps you have to make just look too long to be real, so you've gotta try other approaches. Only thing is that these other approaches don't really work, and the long jump is the way to go. In almost all cases, Lara tends to grab onto things as though they were magnetic, even if you're a little bit off, she'll gravitate over.

I have a lot more I could say, but I don't have the time. I just think the overall tone of your review was negative, when in fact this is probably the best remake I've ever seen. I think that with your review style, you don't really have room to say other things, but if you'd left out all the tit remarks at the end, perhaps you could've kept us abreast of your overall thoughts, other than the overly-general "remakes are shit."
 

jabrwock

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RookLive said:
I completely agree with FACT.50. The PC version controls very well, and considering you often ***** at bad console controls I'm surprised you picked up the game on PS2, especially when there's a nice version just waiting to be downloaded on steam.
I figure it's because Yahtzee focuses more on console gaming than PC. *shrug*

More often than not he's pictured sitting in front of a TV with a controller instead of at a desk with a computer...

So I took his comment to mean that the console version had control issues. Which is a valid complaint. TR never had good handling on consoles. Sometimes the PC version had improvements, othertimes... not.
 

FACT.50

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mermaidkween said:
Yes, it is annoying that you have to press the R1 button over and over again to shoot.
And actually weren't you supposed to enrage the animals so that you could kill them with one shot by using the shoot-dodge maneuver? I think that would have solved his button mashing problems.

I feel like I'm still only one of five people to finish Angel of Darkness, and this was with working through the bugs.
*Raises hand*... but in all fairness I was tasked with making sure that the game could be beaten before it shipped (I was working at Sony 3rd party QA at the time). All I have to say about that is "Damn you CORE! Damn you for making one of the shittiest, buggiest, most unplayable games ever!"... Oh and I told my lead that this game was NOT ready to be released to the general public, but did anyone listen to me? Of course not.

perhaps you could've kept us abreast of your overall thoughts, other than the overly-general "remakes are shit."
LOL... very smooth... nicely "pun".