History YMMV / TombRaiderAnniversary

* MisaimedMerchandising: Ho boy … The game was made for the 10th anniversary of the entire franchise and, by default, was created to capitalise on the anniversary, nostalgia factor, bring new players to the franchise and familiarise Crystal Dynamics's fledgling fandom with the roots of the series. The marketing was aimed fully at players ''completely new to the entire franchise'', ignoring all the nostalgia-related factors and pre-existing fandom, which made up most of the potential players and buyers. The final effect was a campaign not even trying to appeal to the pre-existing fandom, openly ignoring the fact it was made as a remake of one of the most legendary games ever made and never actually catching the attention of non-fans due to the relatively small campaign (especially when compared with ''[[VideoGame/TombRaiderLegend Legend]]''[='s=] marketing blitz). As a result, [[MedalOfDishonor the game is the lowest-selling title in the entire franchise so far]].

* MisaimedMarketing: Ho boy … The game was made for the 10th anniversary of the entire franchise. The fact it was released almost a whole year too late is just the start of the problems with marketing and mishandling of entire production and its promotion. The game by default was created to capitalise on the anniversary, nostalgia factor, bring new players to the franchise and familiarise Crystal Dynamics's fledgling fandom with the roots of the series. The marketing was aimed fully at players ''completely new to the entire franchise'', ignoring all the nostalgia-related factors and pre-existing fandom, which made up most of the potential players and buyers. Then the marketing department decided to make a ''production'' decision, reducing a lot of the levels to their most iconic elements and nothing else. The final effect was a campaign not even trying to appeal to the pre-existing fandom, openly ignoring the fact it was made as a remake of one of the most legendary games ever made and never actually catching the attention of non-fans due to relatively small campaign (especially when compared with ''[[VideoGame/TombRaiderLegend Legend]]''[='s=] marketing blitz.) [[MedalOfDishonor The game is the lowest selling title in the entire franchise so far]].

** The iconic RopeBridge that collapses under Lara's weight in the very first level, sending her into a wolf pit below, can be traversed without collapsing it, with a well-placed jump when it's just about to snap. This can be done purely on instinct, since players will notice the bridge is falling apart and either rush or jump through it, but wasn't intended in the game. Returning on the bridge after crossing over prevents it from falling apart, ever, leaving an intact bridge due to broken script.

* MisaimedMarketing: Ho boy... The game was made for the 10th anniversary of the entire franchise. The fact it was released almost a whole year too late is just the start of the problems with marketing and mishandling of entire production and its promotion. The game by default was created to capitalise on the anniversary, nostalgia factor, bring new players to the franchise and familiarise Crystal Dynamics's fledgling fandom with the roots of the series. The marketing was aimed fully at players ''completely new to the entire franchise'', ignoring all the nostalgia-related factors and pre-existing fandom, which made up most of the potential players and buyers. Then the marketing department decided to make a ''production'' decision, reducing a lot of the levels to their most iconic elements and nothing else. The final effect was a campaign not even trying to appeal to the pre-existing fandom, openly ignoring the fact it was made as a remake of one of the most legendary games ever made and never actually catching the attention of non-fans due to relatively small campaign (especially when compared with ''[[VideoGame/TombRaiderLegend Legend]]''[='s=] marketing blitz.) [[MedalOfDishonor The game is the lowest selling title in the entire franchise so far]].

** The QTE for Lara escaping from Natla's henchmen. It starts off well enough, with Lara disarming Kold as he's about to stab her, but when she tries to get by the Kid, he first aims his sub-machine guns at Lara, before changing his mind and begins firing at the ground in front of her. This by itself would be stupid enough, but if you fail this part, Lara will literally just run into the hail of bullets. It is honestly the dumbest thing in a ''Tomb Raider'' game ever.

* SoOkayItsAverage: When taken outside the context of the controversy surrounding the sole idea of remaking the original ''Tomb Raider'' and the nasty bits about Core Design getting the short end of the stick, the game is just... average. It makes some things much more spectacular, while other are simply uninspired and bland, but at the end of the day ''Anniversary'' is neither outright bad, nor special in any way. In fact, it's probably ''the'' most average Tomb Raider in existence.

* ItsEasySoItSucks: The original game was not too hard, but could be challenging at spots, especially the console versions with their limited saves. Anniversary, with checkpoints every five seconds, regeneration of health upon death[[note]]which probably earned the most flak[[/note]], streamlined to bare basics level design and ability to perform {{One Hit Kill}}s is a far cry of the original, earning a lot of snark from fans and critics alike.
* ItsShortSoItSucks: While still longer than ''[[VideoGame/TombRaiderLegend Legend]]'', the game can be finished in less than 6 hours, with certain levels designed to last for ''a minute''. Compared to the {{Marathon Level}}s of ''VideoGame/TombRaider'' it fell short of expectations of older players.
* MisaimedMarketing: Ho boy... The game was made for the 10th anniversary of the entire franchise. The fact it was released almost a whole year too late is just the start of the problems with marketing and mishandling of entire production and its promotion. The game by default was created to capitalise on the anniversary, nostalgia factor, bring new players to the franchise and familiarise Crystal Dynamics's fledgling fandom with the roots of the series. The marketing was aimed fully at players ''completely new to the entire franchise'', ignoring all the nostalgia-related factors and pre-existing fandom, which made up most of the potential players and buyers. Then the marketing department decided to make a ''production'' decision, reducing a lot of the levels to their most iconic elements and nothing else. The final effect was a campaign not even trying to appeal to the pre-existing fandom, openly ignoring the fact it was made as a remake of one of the most legendary games ever made and never actually catching the attention of non-fans due to relatively small campaign (especially when compared with [[VideoGame/TombRaiderLegend Legend's]] marketing blitz.) [[MedalOfDishonor The game is the lowest selling title in the entire franchise so far]].

** The QTE for Lara escaping from Natala's henchmen. It starts off well enough, with Lara disarming Kold as he's about to stab her, but when she tries to get by the Kid, he first aims his sub-machine guns at Lara, before changing his mind and begins firing at the ground in front of her. This by itself would be stupid enough, but if you fail this part, Lara will literally just run into the hail of bullets. It is honestly the dumbest thing in a ''Tomb Raider'' game ever.

* GeniusBonus:
** In its reimaging, the Scion resembles the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism Antikythera Mechanism]], but with a triad look instead of quad.
** The giant stone ball in the "Sanctuary of the Scion" level in ''Anniversary'' resembles [[http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/picks-from-the-past/191353/prehistoric-stone-balls-a-mystery the prehistoric stone balls dotting the Costa Rican jungle]].

* ContestedSequel: On the one hand, it's a longer game than the short ''Legend'', the commentary markers add some replay value, and it gets back to the isolated feel that ''Legend'' lacked. On the other hand, it's an abridged take on that same game, has less unlockable costumes than Legend, and relied too heavily on slo-mo for instant kills during the gunplay scenes.

* ItsShortSoItSucks: While still longer than [[VideoGame/TombRaiderLegend Legend]], the game can be finished in less than 6 hours, with certain levels designed to last for ''a minute''. Compared to the {{Marathon Level}}s of ''VideoGame/TombRaider'' it fell short of expectations of older players.

** The QTE for Lara escaping from Natala's henchmen. It starts off well enough, with Lara disarming Kold as he's about to stab her, but when she tries to get by the Kid, he first aims his sub-machine guns at Lara, before changing his mind and begins firing at the ground in front of her. This by itself would be stupid enough, but if you fail this part, Lara will literally just run into the hail of bullets. It is honestly the dumbest thing in a Tomb Raider game ever.

* SoOkayItsAverage: When taken outside the context of the controversy surrounding the sole idea of remaking the original Tomb Raider and the nasty bits about Core Design getting the short end of the stick, the game is just... average. It makes some things much more spectacular, while other are simply uninspired and bland, but at the end of the day ''Anniversary'' is neither outright bad, nor special in any way. In fact, it's probably ''the'' most average Tomb Raider in existence.