* BreatherLevel: As with the game it's based on, "Coliseum" is a breeze compared to the level that preceded it, "St. Francis' Folly". And "Natla's Mines" is also much easier to beat than "Sanctuary of the Scion".
* CompleteMonster: [[ArchEnemy Jacqueline Natla]], even crueler than her original counterpart, is the true BigBad of this continuity. Originally part of the ruling council of Atlantis, Natla attempted a coup against her fellow rulers to become the sole authority, though was stopped and sealed away for her crime, she did manage to cause the destruction of Atlantis civilization. Freed by a nuclear test at the end of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, Natla [[VideoGame/TombRaiderAnniversary manipulates Lara]] into [[TreacherousQuestGiver helping her collect pieces of a powerful Atlantean device]]. Betraying and trying to kill Lara after she's completed her task, Natla intends to create an army of monsters with which to conquer the world. Returning in ''[[VideoGame/TombRaiderUnderworld Underworld]]'', Natla is revealed to be the mastermind behind [[VideoGame/TombRaiderLegend the actions of Amanda Evert]], and manipulates both her and Lara and sends a doppelgänger of Lara to her mansion, killing Lara's friend and setting the mansion ablaze in the process. When Lara tries to take revenge on Natla, the latter strings her along by promising to help her free her mother and orders the doppelgänger to kill her boss, Amanda, no longer seeing her as useful. Revealing Lara's mother to be dead and mockingly revealing she personally killed her father, Natla unveils her goal to be to release the Midgard Serpent to [[OmnicidalManiac destroy Earth]]. Even while dying, Natla spitefully orders the doppelgänger to kill Lara and then herself, bitter to the end.
* 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.
* 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]].
* GoodBadBugs:
** 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 to the bridge after crossing over prevents it from falling apart, ever, leaving an intact bridge due to broken script.
** Wolf AI is notorious for not loading properly, so if you luck out, each time they show up, they might just roam around or stand aimlessly, being completely harmless - even after being attacked.
** Almost all enemies don't exist on the map until an EventFlag is triggered, leading to them being spawned. It's ''very'' easy to avoid many of those triggers, some even by accident.
* 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/TombRaiderI'' it fell short of expectations of older players.
* 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 and nostalgia factor, while bringing 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]].
* SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound: The jingle that plays when you find a secret. For some, the sound of the CheckPoint can be this as well.
* {{Narm}}:
** When Lara lands on spikes, she doesn't get impaled like in the Core games - she ragdolls off them instead, making it unintentionally funny or even to be taken for a bug. To make things more complicated, this was done deliberately, to keep the game rated T. Should Lara get impaled "properly", the game would instantly be rated M.
** 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 submachine 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.
* NightmareFuel:
** Anything involving the Atlanteans, but especially the sacks from which they burst when you come too close.
** Lara's various deaths via [[PressXToNotDie Quick Time Events]]. While they are normally censored, she still dies in pretty gruesome ways, even compared to earlier games.
* SequelDifficultySpike: ''Legend'' was a fairly short, straightforward game without a lot of difficult sections. ''Anniversary'' ramps up the difficulty with tedious timed sections and frustrating platforming. The [[ThatOneLevel Egypt]] and Atlantis levels are particularly painful.
* 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 others 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.
* ThatOneLevel: Third ledge above the lava, "Great Pyramid", ''Anniversary''. Due to the way how camera works, console users[[note]]It's relatively easy to pull in PC version[[/note]] die time after time when trying to perform the entire acrobatic sequence needed to pass that bit.
** It's so bad, that some players [[spoiler: use [[https://tombraiders.net/stella/walks/TRAwalk/details/pyramid5.html this technique]] to outright ''skip'' a huge portion of the aforementioned sequence]].
* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Some people were not happy with the way some levels were streamlined, with much of the siderooms being removed or reappearing elsewhere in the game. Lara's motivations were also called in question, as she no longer appears to raid tombs "for sport", but to find out what happened to her mother. Finally, the iconic T. rex encounter being largely played by quick-time events infuriated fans of the original.
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