Lara revisits her old haunts, and looks all the better for it.

Back in the mid 90's, Lara rocked our world. She burst into a drab and male dominated games industry and re-wrote the rule book. Not only was the protagonists a busty female with school girl pony tales, but the game itself was actually pretty stunning. Over the years the franchise grew and grew in popularity and success. But all was not well; the spark that had been so compelling with the early games became jaded and formulaic. The years of sequels ranged from unremarkable to borderline and subsequently Lara's good name took something of a nose dive.

But fear not Tomb Raider fans, change is afoot. Last year, Crystal Dynamics produced an excellent re-imagining of the brand with their release of Tomb Raider: Legend. This focused on the strengths of the original series, exciting locations, intriguing puzzles, and unbelievable acrobatics, which were once again at the heart of the game. This was all achieved whilst modernising much of the game mechanic that was starting to show its age.

This release on the PSP sees Crystal Dynamics looking to continue its good run as they return to the original Tomb Raider game with Tomb Raider: Anniversary. This is no bland corporate churn of old content. Rather, the developers have rebuilt the original game from the ground up. This provides the enhancements of Legends with the retro-love factor of the original Tomb Raider outing. This has been seen three or four months earlier on the PS2 and PC. It is therefore interesting to see how the PSP fares and whether they have invested the intervening months well to produce an improved game experience.