Tomb Raider Anniversary review (Wii)

I’ve just finished eating a huge fried breakfast. It was lovely. Maybe not as lovely as the one I had last week at my favourite café that sells spicy pork sausages and use proper smoky back bacon delivered from the butcher, but it was a hearty meal none the less. It gave me that feeling in my stomach that made my eyes go slightly blurry and my sofa became my best friend for a good hour or so afterwards.

In case you’re wondering, Tomb Raider: Anniversary on the Wii is like that breakfast I had this morning. It has all the right ingredients, everything is as it should be, but compared to the real thing it doesn’t quite live up to its peers – or mainly peer as I’m referring to the sublime PS2 version here. Not that there’s anything decidedly wrong with the choice of bacon, and your bog standard but tasty all the same pre-packed sausage from your local supermarket, it’s just when you’ve tasted – or played in this case – the best, nothing else compares. If all the talk about cooked breakfasts hasn’t made you leave your seat and crack open a couple of eggs onto your frying pan, I’ll explain what I mean.

Saucy Minx

The graphics on the Wii version are good, yes. Not the best looking game on the console (Mario Galaxy takes that crown, of course) but adequate none the less. However, the shadow implementation is really quite poor. Basically, it looks at though someone painted Lara’s image with a bold, black indelible marker. The colours themselves are slightly blurry, as they are on the PS2, obviously to accentuate the weathered and worn look of Lara’s surroundings, but when you see her shadow basically imprinting itself on the wall next to her you are taken out of the world that the rest of the graphics does its best to create for you. A minor gripe but worth noting. And again, it has just enough effect on your experience to relegate it slightly below the near perfection of the PlayStation 2 version.

One of my favourite things about Tomb Raider was the music. I loved it. I was so disappointed with Ms. Croft’s (how do you know she hasn’t been married, eh?) subsequent adventures due to the fact that the relaxing strings and pipes from the first game slowly became replaced with guitars and generic mood music. Well, if you haven’t played Tomb Raider: Anniversary yet, and agree with the aforementioned, then you won’t be disappointed. Almost like the Worcester sauce that gets put on the table to complement your English breakfast, it doesn’t matter about the contents on the plate, Worcester sauce is Worcester sauce and it certainly adds welcome flavour to almost anything.

Control Me Do

But aren’t Wii ports all about the control method?! I here you cry, with your mouths full like muffled elephants trumpeting whilst stuck in some shallow mud hole (no offence intended). Well, in this instance yes and no. A lot has been made of the Wii controls but I had absolutely no problem with them whatsoever. Hold ‘Z’ to draw your weapons and point and shoot using the wii-mote. It couldn’t be simpler.

Things can get tricky however if a wolf or bear actually manages to get behind you: Lara’s arms still follow their movement but her head, and thus your FOV, is still looking in the opposite direction. This is easily overcome by simply holding down ‘Z’ and ‘C’ at the same time. ‘C’ is the camera control which you can guide Lara’s gaze with the Wii-mote. So holding them both together means that Lara will turn and look whilst aiming which means that you never lose sight of that devious, strafing enemy. If I’m honest I’ll say I still prefer a pad, and there are some things that the Wii controls make a little tricky but the control method certainly doesn’t render the game unplayable and does not lessen your experience by much if of course you are making the comparison.

Crystal Dynamics has added a couple of additional game play elements to this version, nothing revolutionary mind, though rather charming at the same time (getting the pattern yet?). If you discover a loose piece of bricking with a glowing light seeping through the cracks behind it you’re whisked out of the action and into a mini game (what self respecting Wii game would be without one?!) wherein you have to find the weak spot with a hammer and make the Wii-mote behave like said hammer banging at the rock until, guess what, it crumbles thus revealing the object behind it. There are also some rubbings to be made and some brushing of thick dust on some murals to see what’s behind them. Again, nothing that really makes this version stand out, but nothing that detracts from the overall gaming experience. In fact, they only serve to make the experience slightly more leisurely and dare I say it, authentic.

All in all, if you’ve already played the game on your PS2 or on your old PS3 - yes the 60GB version is now old – then there’s little to warrant you going out and paying full price for this Wii port. However, if the Wii is the only console you own and you’ve yet to experience the excellence that is Tomb Raider: Anniversary you certainly won’t be missing out here. It’s not a perfect port, however, but much like my breakfast this morning it’s still good enough to keep you planted on the sofa for a few hours and bask in its goodness.