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Tomb Raider: Anniversary was released in 2007—just over a decade after the original Tomb Raider made video game history—to celebrate the resurrection of the series and honor the fans who've stuck around since the beginning.

While it follows the same basic storyline as Tomb Raider 1, Anniversary is actually more of a "re-imagining" than a straight remake of the classic. The updated plot ties together the events of the original game and Lara's quest to rescue her mother, introduced in Tomb Raider: Legend. As in TR1, Lara is still searching for the Scion, a mystical artifact said to originate on the lost continent of Atlantis. But now she's not just playing for sport. She believes the Scion to be a repository of ancient knowledge that can help solve the mystery of her mother's disappearance.

Anniversary was developed by Crystal Dynamics using a modified version of its Legend game engine. The two games have the same overall look and control scheme, but where Legend was short, linear and more focused on boss battles, Anniversary provides much more exploration and discovery, a greater variety of puzzles, enemies and gorgeous settings. Many areas are reminiscent of their TR1 counterparts, but Anniversary expands and reworks everything to take advantage of Lara's new skills and equipment.

The gameplay and level design aren't the only improvements. Anniversary's script is tight and the voice acting quite good. Tomb Raider purists might balk at the way certain plot elements have been muddled a bit to tie in the Legend/Avalon storyline, but I think the writers did a fine job giving Lara some motivation for her actions. I'm sure I'm not the only die-hard fan who loves the Lara Croft character but has had trouble with her shoot-first attitude. We now see that her pursuit of the Scion—at all costs—is a matter of life and death, and that her struggles are not only physical but emotional and moral as well.

While I'm not sure it was strictly necessary to remake this game, I must say I enjoyed the retelling immensely. I also see it as a harbinger of still greater games to come from Crystal Dynamics. Legend had me looking forward to Anniversary, and now I feel even more excited about Tomb Raider: Underworld, the sequel to Legend, due out later in 2008.

PLATFORMS: Initial release in June 2007 for Windows PC and PlayStation 2, followed by Sony PSP, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii versions. A Macintosh version (for Intel systems only) was released quite a bit later, and Mac publisher Feral Interactive promises a universal Mac version in the near future.

LEVELS & LOCATIONS: As in the original game, Lara's search for the Scion leads her to a series of ruins around the world: first Peru, then Greece, then Egypt. Her quest culminates on a "Lost Island"—possibly Atlantis.

WEAPONS & GEAR: Lara begins the game with her trusty pistols and picks up additional weapons as the game progresses. Whereas Legend only allowed players to keep one secondary weapon at a time, Anniversary includes a shotgun, 50-caliber pistols (similar to the magnums in TR1) and mini-SMGs (similar to the Uzis). Lara can pick up and carry an unlimited number of small and large medipaks, but the ammo supply for each alternate weapon is capped.

The grapple is back. In addition to pulling objects and swinging from ledge to ledge, Lara can use it to wall run à la Prince of Persia, enabling her to get to otherwise unreachable places.

The Nintendo Wii version of the game also includes a flashlight, accessible throughout the game, as well as archaeological tools, such as a pickaxe, trowel and brush, that can only be used in designated puzzle areas.

VEHICLES: None. In a few of the cinematics Lara travels by motorcycle, as she did in the original game, but players do not have the opportunity to control the bike.

SAVING YOUR GAME: All versions have checkpoints. That is, the game autosaves at various spots throughout each level. You can also save manually at any time; however, when Lara dies, or you reload a save you've made, the game resumes at the previous checkpoint. PC savegame files are available in case you make a bad save, want to skip a level, etc.

BONUS LEVELS: None so far.

REWARDS & UNLOCKABLE CONTENT: The reward system is similar to the one in Legend. Here, the rewards—or "secrets" as they were known in previous games—are quite sensibly called Artifacts and Relics. Some are hidden in obscure places; a few are in plain sight but require some creativity to obtain. Finding them unlocks various goodies, including outfits for Lara, character bios and production artwork—including some fun comparisons between the 1996 and 2007 games.

The Nintendo Wii game also includes rubbing rewards. There are a dozen such rewards hidden throughout the game. To collect them, first locate certain carved images that can be copied using virtual paper and charcoal. Once you've created these images, they are then placed on display in a special area in Croft Manor.

Perhaps the best new feature—at least for us old-school raiders—are the unlockable designers' commentaries. Like the special features on a movie DVD, these are audio commentaries recorded by the game's Creative Director Jason Botta and Story/Consultant Designer Toby Gard. Often they'll talk about the intent behind the layout of certain areas or the mechanics of certain puzzles, as well as the similarities and differences between the original game and Anniversary.

As in Legend, the Anniversary cheat code system is completely backwards. Cheats can only be unlocked after completing the game. They can still be used when playing time trials, but that's no consolation if you happen get stuck somewhere along the line.

Please refer to the Anniversary Rewards page for more info about all of these unlockable bonuses.

CUSTOM OUTFITS/SKINS & MODDING: In addition to the 10 alternate outfits or skins you can unlock while playing the game, players can also download and create their own custom outfits using various texture editing tools. I don't cover modding on this site, but Tomb Raider HUB and tombraiderforums.com are good places to start if you're interested.

BECOMING AN EXPERT RAIDER: If you've never played Tomb Raider before-or even if you have-I encourage you to check out my Controls & Gameplay Tips page, which includes pointers on moving Lara through her environment, saving the game, using the menu and inventory systems, and more.

TRAINING LEVEL: Croft Manor Peru Level 1: Mountain Caves Level 2: City of Vilcabamba Level 3: The Lost Valley (PC demo) Level 4: Tomb of Qualopec
	Greece Level 5: St. Francis Folly Level 6: The Coliseum Level 7: Midas's Palace Level 8: Tomb of Tihocan
Egypt Level 9: Temple of Khamoon Level 10: Obelisk of Khamoon Level 11: Sanctuary of the Scion
	Lost Island Level 12: Natla's Mines Level 13: The Great Pyramid Level 14: The Final Conflict