Tomb Raider Legend

Boring!

It's been quite awhile since I've played a Tomb Raider game. In fact, I've only played one... and that was the very first one on the PS1. So many things made me want to play it, but what struck me the most was the ability to seemingly go anywhere I damn well pleased. This was, in my mind, the next level of Resident Evil. The versatility of the game enabled me to even go as far as to see how many ways I could ingeniously kill off our resident heroine Lara Croft (which would happen to me a toss up between swan diving off of the Sphinx or turning into gold by the hand of Midas).

I never did get around to playing the others of the series. From what I hear, I didn't miss out on much. Even so, coming from the original Tomb Raider straight into Legends is quite a change.

The first thing you notice as far as the game goes, is that the controls feel 10x fluid and smooth. Not only that, but they're also a bit more realistic. I can remember Lara jumping straight into the air about as high as herself in the first installment... now it's more of a hop. I will say that that did take some getting used to, but nothing really all that daunting. As you play, you'll become extremely in tune to Lara's athletic abilities. That includes rock climbing, swimming, and a bit of artistic gymnastics thrown in. Careful though, if you are not in time with some of Lara's maneuvering, she can become off balance and you will have to correct it. After playing for a bit however, finesse will become second nature and you will have no problems avoiding those situations.

Not all is well in Lara's tomb raiding. She will encounter enemies of all sorts. You'll mostly encounter enemies of the human kind, but here is a smattering of animals that you'll find. You're equipped with your signature duel magnums, and luckily you have unlimited ammo with them. Unfortunately it seems that your enemies have better weapons then you. Not a problem actually, since you are able to pick up their weapons to shift things a bit more evenly in your favor (although, you can only equip one "foreign" weapon at a time with no inventory to speak of). Those weapons you do have to maintain your ammo with, but the game is pretty fair when it comes to this. The variety can be just simple shotgun and go all the way to a grenade launcher, so your weapons choice isn't a stagnant bunch.

Be prepared to traverse exotic and strange places. One day you'll be in a Bolivia ruins and another day swinging through Tokyo on it's tallest buildings. On a personal note, the Tokyo level did give me that odd fear of heights that some games give you (I'm looking at you Super Monkey Ball >=P ), so be prepared for some levels to give you more trouble then others.

Let there be no mistake, you will die in this game. If its not from miscalculating a jump, getting attacked, or drowning, then it will be from those real time interactive cut scenes (ala Tenchu). There are times when your brain and your hand just don't communicate and by the time you cock your head and go "Huh?", you're falling down a chasm. Luckily though, there are unlimited continues and plenty of check points.

Now the puzzle solving, the very core of the Tomb Raider series. Legends satiates this with a variety of ways. The first is the most obvious, and that's pretty much from getting from the beginning of the level to the end. What gives the game it's re playability, is the addition of level treasures that are scattered throughout their respective levels. The treasures measure from Bronze (easy), Silver (moderate), and Gold (hard). There are multiple Bronze and Silver treasures to be found throughout the levels, but there is only one Gold treasure per level. Those will take some time to find. Bronze treasures are sometimes in plain sight and just need to be picked up, and Silver treasures are usually able to be seen, but require a bit of thought to get to.

You probably won't find all of your treasures in one shot. The developers knew this, and enabled it so that you can revisit each level over and over again to your hearts desire. Once you find a treasure, you don't need to find it again (in the same saved game).

As far as standard puzzle solving goes, Legends certainly won't give you an aneurysm. You may get stuck in a few places, but it's nothing that a little bit of common sense and trouble shooting won't fix. The puzzles are satisfying, each don't stray too far from reality and make sense for their situation.

From what Legends delivers, the only gripe that I have is that it is a bit too short. It was in no way, shape, or form worth the $60 price tag it originally had for the Xbox 360, but it's price drop to $30 for a brand new copy is more fitting. Legends is a pretty solid game and a great experience for those who have loved what Tomb Raider was when it originally came out over 10 years ago. It was such a satisfying game that I'm anticipating the 360 release of Tomb Raider: Anniversary. With all of the gameplay improvements with the most recent release in the series, Anniversary can only be a great experience in my eyes

Awesome game, best I've played in ages... can't wait for Underworld!!

This is a good solid tombey. Nice update. Cant wait for the new one to come out.

it was defintly worth it

Great game, wound me up that after getting all achievements for it, i noticed there are an extra 10 that you can get buy playing aniversary. GRRRRR.

Lara moves a lot more smoothly and the physics seems to work a lot better than previous games.

Lara Croft, need i say more.

good but piss easy to complete.

I like the games with Lara Croft very much. Some pusselz and some fighting.