One of the biggest influences of the new game engine and controls are some additional moves that Lara inherits. In addition to the previous skill set she can now shimmy across ledges, leap from one ledge to another, and scramble from one ledge to a higher ledge. She can swing from dangling ropes or horizontal bars, perform tumbling manoeuvres to avoid projectiles, or climb up, leap from, and balance precariously atop vertical poles. These all combine to make for a much more malleable feel to the action.

The moves are well balanced and never feel too easy, or too difficult to pull off. They happily remain in the background as the environments and puzzles therein come to the fore. This is all good, and is what made Lara such a good game in the first place. To this end, we have the same familiar cast of foes and hazards to block your way and get you scratching your head. Rats, bats, wolves, bears, tigers, gorillas, raptors, and the occasional tyrannosaurus rex all join in to make going hard for the young explorer.

The move to the PSP doesn't however come without a price. The control doesn't feel as precise as on the PS2. The portable's analogue nub is just nowhere near as accurate as the Dual-Shock 2's sticks. Also, controlling the camera has now moved to the shoulder buttons. Although the game camera does a reasonable job, there are times when you have to resort to wrestling for a good angle, which can make things feel a little bit more claustrophobic and frustrating. Not what you want when you are in the middle of a frantic bit of combat. The fighting controls from Legends are implemented pretty successfully in Anniversary. This includes the adrenaline dodge, which at specific moments allows Lara to dodge a charging enemy in slow motion. If you get this right, time slows down to allow Lara to perform a special attack on the enemy and be rewarded with an instant kill. This has been cleverly introduced and never feels gimmicky. The bottom line is that this still feels very much like Tomb Raider combat.

As will be familiar to those of you have played the first game, Anniversary follows the same format of Lara's quest for the Scion of Atlantis. We follow her through various battles with the sneaky business woman Jacqueline Natlas and her various goons. Along the way you will be exploring forgotten cities and ancient tombs in a number of locations. Conquering these levels will involve much of your expanded move set as you perform plenty of death-defying acrobatics through the massive ancient tombs. At a basic level this is a game that understands the original well and in that light provides an excellent re-imagining without loosing its quirky feel. At the same time, nothing in Tomb Raider: Anniversary has been regurgitated verbatim. The game has had a wise and steady hand sculpting its environments and puzzles for a new control scheme and, in theory, a new audience. The overall effect is a larger more expansive experience. The amount of new or altered content really makes this feel like a new game altogether, although one that reminds you of what made the original such a compelling hit.

Tomb Raider always lives or dies by the quality of its environments and puzzles. Anniversary hits all the right notes in this respect. Even though you're basically just going from one tomb to another, there is enough variety and interest as you progress to stop things from ever becoming tired. The scale and dimensions of the world you can explore is nothing short of breath taking. Combine this with the new tactile Lara with all her beautiful new moves and you have a recipe for success. In the main looks stunning on the PSP. Whilst there are a few frame rate and control niggles, these relate more to hardware limitations that the game itself. None of these issues ever get close to overshadowing the enjoyment to be found through the simple exploration and puzzle solving that made Lara a household name all those years ago.