Tomb Raider: Legend

"Crystal Dynamics has revived the Tomb Raider franchise!"

It has been a while since I played a Tomb Raider game. After Angel of Darkness, I got tired of the franchise. But Tomb Raider Legends has revived the series!

Story: 9/10

Not going to spoil much on the story. The game begins in a airplane. Young Lara is with her Mom. Lara is drawing a picture and all of a sudden the plane has some turbulence. The plane crashes in Nepal and the only people who survived were Lara and her mom. Lara walks up to a sword. Lara's mom runs up to Lara and pushes her away from the sword. Her mom draws the sword, which sends her mom into another dimension... After Lara meets up in Peru, she meets up with her friend, Amanda, who she thought was dead. Amanda tells Lara that she wants to find the pieces of the sword and use it to open up the portal to Avalon...

Controls: 10/10

No complaint about the controls here. The controls are simple and easy to learn. You also have "live action" controls. "Live action" controls are buttons that appear on a screen during a cutscene. You must press the button that appears, sort of similar to RE4.

Graphics: 10/10

One word for the graphics in this game: OUTSTANDING! The characters look great. The thing that looks the best is the environment. The producers have done a good job on making the levels. Inside King Arthur's tomb looks just like a crypt and the ruins in Bolivia look stunning. The graphics are perfect.

Sound: 9/10

The producers did a good job on the music and voice acting. The only gripe I have is Zip who never shuts up. It gets quite annoying when you're swinging from pole to pole with someone who keeps making dumb remarks. Though he can be helpful sometimes.

Gameplay: 9/10

First off, let me describe the dynamics. The objective is to get through each level. Each level has some bad guys you must get pass. In this game you are only allowed to carry two different guns plus 3 health packs. You get more as you proceed through the game. There are also checkpoints in the game. If you die, you go back to the checkpoint.

Instead of jumping from platform to platform, you can do a series of different things. You can swing from a pole to another pole, then shimmy across a ledge, then swing across a pole. Sounds repetitive? Its actually quite fun. It makes the levels more diverse.

You can also collect a series of Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals in each level. The more you collect, the more things you unlock. It gives you something to do if you want a different challenge.

What's the problem with this game then? First off, the game is too short! There are only 10 levels in the game! You will most likely complete them in 3-4 days or even less. Yeah, there is the medal challenge, but that can get a little irritating. The other gripe I have is the lack of enemies. There doesn't seem to be enough animals in this game. There is about a couple of dogs and tigers you encounter. More weapons would've been nice.

Buy, Rent, or forget about it?

Buy this game! If you love Tomb Raider then you will love this game!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 08/31/06