At one point in time, video game icon Lara Croft was beginning to really show her age. This became most evident with the release of the painful Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness for PlayStation 2, a flawed and ugly gaming experience. Fortunately, she's in better hands now, with Crystal Dynamics working its magic on Tomb Raider: Legend and its respectable follow-up Tomb Raider: Anniversary. Now the Anniversary gets a celebratory release on the PSP, holding up just as well as the console release.

Players should know the drill by now. Croft has begun seeking out an immense treasure, as part of her latest spelunking endeavor. Along the way, she discovers traps, dangerous animals and other sinister forces out to prevent her from successfully completing her quest. The game resembles the spirit of the original PlayStation game, but has more vastly designed levels to its credit, along with a more curvaceous Lara Croft model to replace the aged, blocky one originally conceived by Core Design. The game as a whole looks excellent, with a smooth frame rate and an acceptable camera system (operated using the left and right shoulder buttons).

Gameplay still works tremendously well. Players will find themselves solving puzzles with Croft often, flipping switches and locating items in order to move ahead. Along the way, they must also content with traps galore, including closing walls, spikes and poison darts. Confrontations also occur quite often in this game, starting out small with bats, wolves and bears but eventually moving on to more lethal enemies, including dinosaurs. (Did Croft just stumble into Jurassic Park or what?) Crystal Dynamics has put together a manageable control set-up for the PSP, so players can pull off the basics with ease while they figure out the more elaborate parts of the game.

Lara's latest adventure zips all over the globe, from Greece to Peru all the way through Egypt. Each of the locales resembles their real-life global counterparts, right down to the weather conditions and other small details. The music continues to be very ambient as well, with dramatic cues chiming in during confrontations and other tense situations. The minimal voicework in the game manages to work well, too, particularly with Ms. Croft's dedicated (yet soothing) accent.

Replayability seems to be Anniversary's greatest flaw. The main adventure does take a little time to get through and bonus items can be located. Outside of that, however, only a tour through an interactive Croft Manor and a couple of other minor quirks offer anything outside of the main story mode. Extra levels or challenges would've definitely been a welcomed touch here.

That said, the game still leans heavily on the "it's the journey, not the destination" theory. Tomb Raider: Anniversary provides a meaty enough adventure to be worth a purchase. Crystal Dynamics has done well meshing the nostalgia of the old game with an all new experience – one that's perfect for a long trip in the family car or a lazy afternoon at the house. This Anniversary turns out to be a happy one.