Tomb Raider: Anniversary

Since Lara Croft’s debut a decade ago, she has become the most well known face in video gaming. When the original game was released, it blew people away and transformed the action adventure into something completely new. Lara instantly endeared herself and has become the world’s most popular heroine. Eidos have finally returned to where it all began with the release of Tomb Raider: Anniversary, a retelling of the original game with updated, well, everything.

Lara is hired by the mysterious Jacqueline Natla to retrieve an artifact known as the Atlantean Scion, believed to have split into several pieces and hidden throughout the world. Her adventures take her to Greece, Peru, Egypt and even the ‘Lost Island’ of Atlantis itself battling mutants, humans and lots of animals who like nothing more than to chow down on adventurers.

Essentially it is the original game crossed with the graphics and score of Legend. Anniversary holds true to the aesthetics of the original; there are tombs to raid, bats and wolves to kill and puzzles to solve. Déjà vu becomes your constant companion as you walk into rooms and wonder why they look familiar. That said, Anniversary’s levels have been vastly expanded, Peru even has sky, and that T-Rex is not just a two second encounter but an actual boss, indeed one of the hardest in the game.

The locations are varied, and each level is a far cry from the boxed linear locales of yesteryear. Peru for example is dominated by that giant waterfall – which you can still swan dive from – but now has dozens of hidden pathways and secret areas which mean you never have to use the same path twice. St. Francis’ Folly also remains the highlight of the game. The original was breath-taking, but this version sends you into full-on shock (swan diving from the top level is also recommended!).

While the creators have returned to the original in terms of the menu system, weaponry and cast of characters, Lara does get plenty of new moves and a grapple hook, but aside from that they’ve stuck to the original. The soundtrack to her adventures contains some of the most fitting music since Okami, and the voice acting, including MI5/Spooks actress Keeley Hawes reprising her role as the titular (pun intended) heroine.

If you missed the original, play this. If you’ve played every single Tomb Raider title since Lady Croft’s debut then you must definitely play this to revel in the unlockable extras including a director’s commentary from Toby Gard himself.

Richard Garriott plans to Visit ISS

The International Space Station. It’s unlikely many of us will be visiting there in our lifetimes, but Richard Garriott, a very respected key figure of the gaming world and renowned creator of the Ultima franchise plans to make a visit. Read more

Rock Legend

I never wanted to be a rock star. I always knew that the life of sex, drugs and concert tours could be gained only though many years of practice and obscurity and maybe a little soul selling. Kudos: Rock Legend makes no effort to hide the drudgery and tenuousness of a music career. Finding the right band mates, practice, rehearsals, hand-to-mouth existence and getting squeezed by your record company hardly seems the recipe for fun. Oh, but it is!

You take the role as lead singer and assemble your band. You then have five years to make your mark on the music industry, starting with small gigs in local bars and working your way up to larger venues. Your band will need to stay motivated and free from stress, otherwise they’ll turn on each other or just stop showing up. When your lead guitarist quits because he hates the drummer, your rise to fame may never recover.

Rock Legend is spiced up by a couple of minigames. The songwriting game is a straight color matching exercise, influenced by your “inspiration” level and how much experience you have. It’s not very hard, but it’s nice to see that quality meter go above 80 per cent. The “music practice” game is a memory test that is best handled by simply writing down whatever pops up. You need to “practice” to stay sharp, but there’s a lot of tedium in this part. Maybe that’s the point.

Rock Legend, like its predecessor Kudos, limits you to a single activity a day and keeps the money tight to keep you hungry. It’s a better game than Kudos because the limitation fits the starving artist setting so well. The tradeoffs are compelling all the way through. Should you spend that last thirty bucks for a night out to build buzz for your next gig? When do you invest in a manager or sound mixer? When someone becomes a drunk, can you afford to fire them?

None of these decisions on its own is particularly interesting, but as a series of now-or-later choices that may or may not pay off, a fascinating fiction is created, and all without having to play a note. Getting out of the local band gutter is actually difficult, and almost entirely free of chance. It’s a little idealistic (hard work is rewarded more than hype) but the combination of good humor and delicious options will keep you humming along for a while.

‘At The Olympic Games’ Details Surface

Sporting a whopping sixteen characters from the combined Mario and Sonic franchises (eight from each) SEGA and Nintendo suitably bring the two worlds together in celebration of the Beijing 2008 Olympics. Read more

Madden ‘08

I’m a big sports fan, but lately I’ve been frustrated with the genre.  They’re either too easy, too hard, or too buggy.  The last Madden game I enjoyed owning was Madden 04 for the PS2.  However, I’m happy to report that Electronic Arts got it right with Madden 08.

One of the new features added this year are Weapon players, such as smart quarterbacks.  During the game, if your opponent starts calling the same defensive play repeatedly during the game, your Weapons recognize defensive schemes and read blitzes.  Defensively, linebackers begin recognizing formations and can see which direction a running play will go.

The control you have at your fingertips is astonishing.  The sheer amount of pre-snap actions you can take on both sides of the ball is incredible.  On offense, you obviously can call audibles to change the play, but you can also scan the field to check where you might have an advantage.  If a receiver is up against a Lockdown Defender weapon, you may not want to throw the ball to him.  Flip the play in the opposite direction if the running play is going right into Brick Wall Defender lineman.  Defensively, however, is where you have ultimate control, literally allowing you to change your entire defensive scheme.  Shift defensive linemen around, tell your linebackers to blitz, or order your defensive backs to change coverages.  This is just a small portion of the controls; the rest you’ll have fun discovering.

Also added is an extremely detailed Franchise mode, which let’s you control virtually every aspect of your NFL team, from scouting new talent to building new stadiums.  I recommend this mode for the truly obsessed football fanatic.  The other mode brought back from Madden 07 is Superstar Mode, which allows you to create a new player or draft them from the 2007 NFL draft, then guide them throughout their career to the Hall of Fame.  You’ll have to perform interviews, sign contracts, and have different role attributes that can effect your team.  In this mode, you only get to control your player.  When he’s off the field the computer takes over the action.

Lately, there’s been discussion about the differences in framerates between the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, which are 60 vs. 30 fps respectively.  I don’t see what the big deal is; the PS3 plays smoothly enough.  If you’re too busy measuring the frame rates, you’ll be missing out on a really entertaining sports game.

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