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| Reviewer | Platform | Publisher | Developer | Players | Screenshots |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ross Gilder | PC | Eidos Interactive | Crystal Dynamics | 1 | Here |
| Requirements | Also on... | Buy from Amazon.co.uk | |||
| 1.0GHz Processor, 256MB RAM, Windows 2000/XP/Vista, 64MB Video Card (DirectX 9.0c compatible),10GB Hard Drive Space | Xbox 360, PS2, Xbox, GC, GBA, PSP, DS | Click here to buy Tomb Raider: Legend. | |||
Lara's back in her first next-generation (or should I say current-generation?) adventure, but has the series progressed into this new era well?
I feel I should start by saying that although I own Tomb Raider II and Tomb Raider Chronicles. I have never got into the Tomb Raider series (or actually done anything in the aforementioned games). However, that aside, Legend has for all intents and purposes hooked me in the game style. Legend is at heart an action-adventure game that makes good use of puzzles and all sorts of acrobatics to explore the ancient (and not so ancient) death-trap-ridden locales.
The game unfolds like the "Tomb Raider" movies sending Lara to all sorts of relics in search of mysterious artefact's. Legend's story looks back to Lara's past, both as an early archaeologist and as a child, trying to uncover the reason behind her mother's death. As the story unfolds, you can see the obvious influence, which I assume was the original influence of the series to begin with; the "Indiana Jones" movies, and in particular, The Last Crusade.
Unfortunately, though, you don't play as Harrison Ford or Sean Connery (wait for the Indiana Jones game that was shown last E3). But you do play as "DD" heroine Lara Croft, and while she may have been toned down a little in that department, its a good thing, as she now looks more refined and more realistic. Don't worry, though, there's still enough 'eye candy', with *ahem* 'bouncing boob technology', even if this was previously showcased in *sigh* Lula 3D... Anyhow, talking of technologies, and being a 3D modeller myself, it was good to see real material simulation in use on the ropes (below where Lara is positioned), on her pony tail and on some of Lara's clothing. Impressively, this is even while running on the lowest settings.
The levels in Legends are a very good mix, highlighting and showing all aspects of Lara's on-foot skills. The same unfortunately cannot be said for when Lara is sitting on a bike, which is bad, very bad. Not Pokémon channel or 18 Wheeler (two awful GameCube games I've had to, along with Matt, endure recently) bad, but still bad nonetheless. These bike segments see you going down a virtually straight road, with nothing but a few rocks, a few trees and an insane amount of enemies. All you have to do is hold fire, and drive as close as you can to the left wall and you're done. Boredom over... 10 long minutes later that is.
Moving on, the on-foot sections make good use of, albeit easy to suss, puzzles, gun fights and acrobatics. Gun fights tend to be good, not Tom Clancy's Latest Shooter good, but satisfying enough, especially mixed in with the acrobatics that you'll be doing to try and dodge the bullets. I would like to point out that Lara does actually have a rather nifty hand-to-hand move set, not that you're ever likely to use them. Acrobatics, though, are this game's strong point, and a mixture of timing and some nice animations make these sections worthwhile. Because when you finally succeed, the sense of accomplishment from seeing Lara just manage to back flip onto that small ledge is great. In with the acrobatics are some cut-scenes where you have to do things. Yes, that's right; you can't just relax for a few seconds while some animation takes place. Personally I really liked them, as they again mix up the gameplay, and also provide some rather unique animations of Lara dying. But don't worry, complete the game and you'll be rewarded with a video of all the fatalities that can occur in them, so there's no need to try and fail them each time!
The game's graphics are rather good, though on normal settings they aren't pushing any boundaries in the PC world; water effects, for example, are usually great, but if you enable the next-generation content mode, you have a whole different story. This adds normal bump mapping to every texture in the game (Lara's top, for example, now has bumps to simulate the cotton fabric it's made from). The water now comprises of a generated noise bump map, so if your PC can handle it, it means realistic ripples in the water, which do look rather nice.
| Graphics | I have to mark down the graphics as Shader Model 3.0 is required for the next-gen tech, and although the game looks good without this feature, it doesn't look half as nice. | 8/10 |
|---|---|---|
| Gameplay | Generally very good on foot, with puzzles, shooting and some rather nice acrobatics. But even so, the appalling bike sections ruin what would otherwise be an amazing, but short, adventure game. | 8/10 |
| Value | 9 different tombs to die in, and Lara's mansion makes a return. While I wouldn't recommend paying more than £30 for the game, now that the price has dropped it's worth the money. | 8/10 |
| Lifespan | The game is fairly short, and although there's a slew of things to unlock, you won't care for them past unlocking the original Tomb Raider outfit! | 7/10 |
| Audio | Somewhat impressive voice work to tie the story together, music is nice, sound effects are good. Nothing trully amazing though. | 7/10 |
| Overall | Lara is back in the right direction with this game. Even with the awful bike sections. It's a rather good and fun game, while it lasts, and well worth picking up. | 8/10 |
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