Does the world really need a remake of the original Tomb Raider game? Here's my take on remakes: They usually bite. They're generally the sign of a dried-up imagination. Think of Hollywood. In recent years, we've had to deal with the resurrections of Charlie's Angels, Starsky and Hutch, and The Dukes of Hazzard. And, honestly, was there anything ever more indicative of the lack of creative juices than the multi-million dollar regurgitation of Daisy Duke and Boss Hoss? For the most part, gamers have been spared the remake. Sure, we get carloads, truckloads, and boatloads of sequels, but rarely a straight remake.

Now that you know how I feel, here's my take on Tomb Raider: Anniversary after playing around with a preview build: I can't wait for this freaking thing to come out!

Dredging Up the Past

Some historical perspective. Back in late 1996, when the original Tomb Raider came out, it was heralded as a classic. It was considered to be the PSone's answer to Super Mario 64. Sweet looks, spooky and atmospheric soundtrack, thinking-person's gameplay, and an ultra-sexy heroine that could do more than just jump and shoot. The original Lara Croft could swim, dive, run, walk, and look around. It's stuff we take for granted today, but it was steps ahead of anything else at the time.

Fast forward to last week when I popped the original PSone disk into my console for the first time in almost a decade. The opening cut scene is fairly attractive, the menu screen is passable, and then the game starts. And are you kidding me? I play nicer-looking games on my phone. You can literally count all the polygons on the screen. Nine! And you expect me to control all the movement with the d-pad? How barbaric! Man, we gamers have become a jaded lot in just a few years.


But enough about the past. If you've played Tomb Raider: Legend, you know that Lara's career has gotten a second wind thanks to the folks at Crystal Dynamics. The game saved a franchise that was on life support after 2003's abysmal Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness. Legend breathed new life into things. Lara's expanded range of new abilities finally seemed to work correctly and the gameplay and puzzles were more logical than they'd been in years. No more flipping a switch that opened a door that you wouldn't have to go through for an hour. Anniversary looks to take all that's good about the latest incarnation of Lara and superimposes it on all that was good about the original Tomb Raider vision. It works.