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Lara Croft: The Early Years revisited, chapter and verse

A great deal has happened in the ten years or so since Lara Croft took her first groundbreaking steps into the limelight with Tomb Raider – thirty two million copies sold, two generations of hardware, the graphical quantum leaps they’ve delivered and a good few sequels for starters. So it’s time the old girl’s earliest outing was reappraised, don’t you think?

And that’s just what Tomb Raider: Anniversary offers, and in a number of thoroughly compelling ways. Firstly fans of the original Tomb Raider will recognise plenty here, but they’ll be totally blown away by the way the game’s been re-imagined using the graphics engine that powers the excellent Tomb Raider: Legend. Backgrounds are moodier and more detailed, the action’s smoother and Ms. Croft herself has never looked so, well, svelte. Woof! Ahem…

Anniversary’s gameplay has been given a hefty tweak too – we’re talking extra puzzles, expanded gameplay environments, dazzling acrobatics and a brand new move called the ‘adrenaline dodge’ whereby Lara can target a rampaging foe in slow-motion – Matrix-style – and even score a kill with a single bullet. Highly dramatic stuff!

A full retail release is planned for later in the year but if you’ve already got Tomb Raider: Legend in your collection (if not, why not?) you can download Anniversary in four distinct and highly-digestible episodes, delivered as 2 “packs” of 2 episodes each– that’s a first For Xbox Live Marketplace. Honestly, it’s hard to be humble sometimes…