Tomb Raider: Legend

"What games are meant to be like"

At last, a game worthy of the title Tomb Raider!

After the disaster of Angel of Darkness, many gamers (I included) wondered whether Eidos were going to be able to come back to us with a game worthy of our time. And it seems that the new developer's Crystal Dynamics were able to meet the demand. From the introduction movie at the very beginning, it was clear that Legend has at last become the tomb raider that we have all been waiting for.

GAMEPLAY
In my opinion, the most improtant aspect of a game. If the gameplay isn't any good, then you don't enjoy the game. Crystal Dynamics have at last got rid of the old grid based system that previous games were based on. This means that all of Lara's movements are much smoother, you don't have to accuratly line yourself up for a jump using a pocket calculator, ruler and compass to make it and it allows you to get to the action much more quickly. Lara has also been given back her quick jumps, which she lost in AoD which meant that you couldn't dodge at all. Combat has also been spiced up, with a couple of combat moves such as a matrix style ariel attack. However, Lara has lost a lot of her guns in this game, which is one of the steps that the developers took to simplify the inventrey system. After AoD, this was a good idea, where you spent ages rifling through all the junk in Lara's back pack, including guns that have no ammo, random objects from about twenty levels back and of course the eight periopt shards of which there was only supposed to be three. Now, Lara carries one gun at a time but to help her on her way, she has a number of cool gadgets, including a magnetic grapple. What Legend is all about is taking Lara back to the tombs. In AoD, there were about three tomb levels, and all of which were so difficult that you just couldn't enjoy them. I ended up getting so frustrated with it that I threw my controller across the room. These tomb levels are much more fun and interesting. The puzzles are a little easy, but I can't stand puzzles where you have to go and check a walkthrough every five minutes.

GRAPHICS
Remember back when the first Tomb Raider was released? Lara went to some really exotic places and did some really wonderful things (hmm . . . T-Rex?) but the graphics were just terrible! Thankfully, Crystal Dynamics have created some truely stunning graphics.

SOUND
Generally, the sound effects blend in with the environment and become emphasised when needbe. The same is true for the music, but I think that this is the one place where AoD may have done it better than Legend. AoD's stirring music was definetly more atmospheric than Legend's music. However, this is very minor.

STORY
What really made the story good was that it had a sense of being REAL, which is what a gamer likes, even though you're fighting huge visious monsters at the same time. I won't spoil it, but the twist at the end was spectacular. Thats when you finally understand. Tomb Raider Eight anyone???

BUGS/COMPLAINTS?
Only thing that really bothered me was the length of the game. It's far too short. Even the difficult swimming controls are easy to get used to.

All in all, this game is spectacular and is what a game should be.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/12/06