36-24-35, as any hot-blooded male knows, is most definitely not the combination to any bank vault. It’s also probably not the password to most people’s bank accounts. Though if it was, that person wouldn’t be the first to use it

So the mystery deepens, what does 36-24-35 actually refer to? Well, it’s linked to the legendary action-adventure series, Tomb Raider. Give up? It’s the measurements to the game’s curvaceous heroine, and virtual sex symbol, Lara Croft!

With the series back with its eighth edition in the form of Tomb Raider: Anniversary, our beautiful, gravity defying (with breasts like hers, it’s a miracle that she can even stand ramrod straight, let alone jump from ledge to ledge), highly intellectual Briton with her dual pistols, stiff upper lip and skimpy khaki shorts returns to do what she’s been doing best for slightly more than a decade: raiding tombs.

Celebrating the legacy

According to the Anniversary documentary, Toby Gard’s creation wasn’t originally intended to be the sex symbol that we know her as today. Gard subsequently left the production team after the series’ first release in 1996 due to creative differences and we all know what happened with Lara after that right? Remember Angelina Jolie starring in those two Tomb Raider movies?

But nonetheless, the game’s creative direction did return to its roots when Gard returned in the role of advisor for the production of 2006’s Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend after the development work was passed over from the original developers Core Design, to Crystal Dynamics.

And it’s in this vein that Anniversary follows Gard’s return, with the reinstatement of his vision of what Lara Croft and Tomb Raider should have been.

Getting down to the raiding

Tomb Raider: Anniversary is essentially, a remake of the original 1996 hit, Tomb Raider. Well sort of. The game does follow the same basic plot as the original, but knows it can’t rely on a carbon copy of numero uno with just updated graphics and a more powerful game engine, so it contains a few tweaks to the story.

The story begins in 1945, as part of the testing for the Manhattan Project (the atomic bomb, for you non-history buffs), the massive explosion from the test bomb’s detonation resulted in the awakening of a winged creature that, well, flew away.

Anyway, back to the future (or past for the rest of us) to 1996, the wealthy archaeologist Lara Croft gets employed by the game’s main antagonist, businesswoman Jacqueline Natla to hunt down one of the three pieces that forms the Atlantean Scion, an artifact that was divided between the three legendary god-rulers of the long-lost city of Atlantis.

Lara being the independent-minded intellectual, driven by the thrill of her craft, agrees to the mission, driven not only by her desire to locate the artifact, but her late father as well.

And that’s when all the fun begins.

Let the Game Begin!

Like its predecessors, puzzle solving still forms an essential element of the game. The game calls for gamers to rack their brains to get past challenging obstacles or find a seemingly impossible route out of a large underground cavern, which really helps to define the series.

Parts of the original that have been retained and refined are the ferocious battles between Lara and the bears (which look so savage compared to their predecessor) and the iconic gun-slinging shoot out against a rampaging and probably starving, Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Age seems to agree with Lara because she now has greater agility and a whole array of acrobatic moves. Not surprisingly, the game play in Anniversary is packed with action.

Despite the improvements, my major grouse with Anniversary is that the controls are not so user friendly, so coupled with the weird/unique camera angles (I commonly found myself staring at Lara from the front), it didn’t help with my progress in the game.

Eye Candy

One way to describe the game is sort of like a visually re-mastered version of the original. And with the inroads technology has made over time, graphically speaking, you know you’re playing a visual masterpiece.

The scenery in the game does contain a huge dose of realism which makes for a highly enjoyable gaming experience.

But most gamers probably find this the hardest thing to do- to stop ogling and gawking at Lara. But then again, with her good looks and her more than ample proportions, especially since the game’s developers have married the idea of realism and caricatures to form well, every guy and lesbians’ dream partner, well, who could blame them really?

Rising from the tomb

Many assumed that Tomb Raider was dead and buried from burnout before Gard came back into the fore as an advisor for Tomb Raider: Legend. But boy, did his return ever result in a quick turnaround in the game’s fortunes.

On a whole, Tomb Raider: Anniversary has suggested that the resurrection’s not a fluke. So fans of the original Tomb Raider, be prepared to spend hours on end reacquainting yourself with a piece of history in the re-making.

But if you’ve never played Tomb Raider before, you’re just in the nick of time.

Platform: PC/Xbox360/PS2/PSP/Wii
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Crystal Dynamics
Genre: Action/Adventure

Score:

Graphics: 9/10
Sound: 8.5/10
Plot: 9/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Addictive Rating: 9/10
Overall Rating: 9/10

Pictures courtesy of Atari.