Date: April 20, 2006 - Author: Rob Williams - Editor: Jen McPherson
Guess who's back? Lara's back. This time around, the adventure is much larger than before. Once again, we get to travel through many exotic locales and kick back to the Tomb Raider roots. So, do we have a winner this time, or will it suffer the same fate as Angel of Darkness?
As hard as it may be to believe, it's been almost 10 full years since the release of the first Tomb Raider game. What that game brought to the table was exploration through various exotic locales, puzzles that actually make you think, in addition to some great combat. Of course, a voluptuous heroine certainly didn't hurt things either.
Since the first game, a very weird roller coaster happened. The first game immediately attracted a huge fan base, and 2 seemed to further that fan base. Tomb Raider 3 was my personal favorite because of difficult puzzles and extremely cool locales that the levels were set in. After that game, the series seemed to plummet. This of course is not counting the very popular movies that have been released. Chances are that they could have had a part in saving the franchise as a whole. Tomb Raider 4 and 5 were decent games, but they lacked the original style that made the first games so great. Then came Angel of Darkness, but we won't even go there.
Since AoD, Eidos passed the game on to Crystal Dynamics, to see if they 'could' revive the series. Crystal Dynamics were the people behind one of my favorite game series, Gex the Gecko. Not too many of you may remember that one, but it was basically a fun James Bond type of adventure where you were a Gecko. Regardless, Crystal Dynamics have produced some great games, and without a doubt, they were likely wary jumping into this one.
Lara Croft is in a race, a race against time. We've all heard this before, but this time we actually have an interesting plot. She is on the hunt for an ancient relic of utmost power. The relic is actually a weapon, that's so powerful it could threaten all of humanity. The story begins off showing Lara as a little girl, in a flashback scene, on a flight with her mother. Both of them survive, and stumble upon a massive artifact. Lara accidentally 'nudges' it, and it sucks her mother in.
This is the first of many flashbacks, but they are streamlined into the story arc perfectly, and help fill you in on anything you should know. Lara must traverse through many exotic locales in order to track down various pieces of this ancient weapon. The locales are one area of the game that reminded me a lot of Tomb Raider 3. In that game, you traveled through the Amazon, Arctic, London.. etcetera. The same goes here. Not only do you stick to tombs, which there are many, but you also will visit places with gorgeous landscapes.
Of course at each of your major way points, you will run into huge boss battles and people who don't want you to acquire various pieces of the artifact. All of these are well connected into the gameplay and really help make it a memorable story.
Gameplay is one of the biggest issues that Crystal D knew they had to face. Though TR has it's major fanbases, many people were turned off of the game due to it's clunky control scheme. The most notable is having to stand in a very precise spot before you jump, in order to nail a ledge perfectly. All of those issues were well handled though, and you will never have to stress out trying to line up for that jump. Overall navigation is very well done, but sometimes the camera can get in the way. If you are hanging off of a vine or a pole [get your head out of the gutter guys], then the camera can get quite annoying.
The control scheme overall is pretty straight forward. Your left analog stick is to run, and the right is to control your camera. The D-Pad is what controls your health packs, grapple hook and so forth. To fire the currently selected weapon you use the right trigger, and the left trigger to aim. Overall, I had zero issues with the button configuration; it worked very well. At some points throughout the game though, the control was very clunky. Most notably in boss battles where you are almost always trying to face the monster directly. In conjunction with trying to fire at it/him, you are trying to control the camera and not run into anything to slow you down.
One specific problem that bothered me was during one certain part of the game, where you are trying to avoid a monster while firing at an object. After firing you need to pull out your grapple hook to continue along. Well, this was extremely clunky, because sometimes I found I was not putting the gun away quick enough, and that even though I was facing directly toward the object, the grapple hook went elsewhere. I found this problem was only evident during boss battles, but where time is of the essence, these problems were stressful.
During the adventure, you will hop various vehicles, most notably a motorcycle. These were all amazingly simple to control, and most importantly.. fun. Even though the speeds were quite fast, I never found it to be a problem to stay on the road, and while you are shooting at as much as three other people at one time, that was important. There were not too many of these events in the game, but as we soon find out, it's not a long game.
Cutscenes are usually placed in a game to break up the gameplay and give you a quick break. Well not here, because most of them are interactive. It's rather a simple matter of pressing a button when it pops up on the screen, but it really helps add to the excitement.
One other major feature in the gameplay department is the fact that Lara is very versatile when hanging off of cliffs. She has the ability to hop upward if there is another ledge directly above her. In addition, she can move faster if you rapid tap the Y in conjunction. This will become an important feature in various points during the adventure.
Despite some of the camera and targeting issues, Crystal Dynamics did a fantastic job revamping the control scheme for the game. Lara is incredibly easy to navigate, and you will no longer scream because you have to take 5 minutes to prepare for a jump.
Even though I played through the Xbox 360 version, I did not expect mindblowing 'next-gen' graphics, because this game was not intended for only this system. Most games that are ported to all four systems usually look like an upconverted PS2 version. Surprisingly though, the game had extremely crisp visuals and sharp textures. The character models look great, but could definitely use a few more polygons in some areas. Most notable though, every single woman you will encounter has a huge chest. I am assuming this is merely a coincidence.
This game has undoubtedly some of the best looking and interesting environments though. You travel through a huge array of locales, such as Bolivia, Peru, Ghana, Japan and more. Each and every single one is extremely detailed and vast. Looking far into the landscape is well done also. One small thing I noticed was while in the Japan level, on top of a very tall building, you can look down to the streets below and see cars driving. It's not incredibly realistic, but a nice touch.
The game is available on the four primary consoles, and the Xbox 360 and PC have the more crisp graphics of any, naturally. Though I didn't play with the other versions too much, the 360 version is stricken with many anomalies, but luckily none of them really impair your gameplay. The first problem is with texture flickering. Though it happened rarely, some of it was very noticeable.
Overall, the graphics are really, really well done. If you have an 720p TV or high resolution monitor, this game will love you. Kudos to Crystal D for doing things right with this one.
The sounds in the game is also well done, but nothing incredible. The music overtones add to the level, and can add a chill factor in certain dark areas. The voice acting is actually quite good, and comical at times. You can hear Lara talking under her breath to her helpers back at the office. They sometimes spat between one another also, adding a good sense of humor. Sometimes though, if you had to replay a certain part a level, over and over, you will have to hear the same line of text over and over as well.
So, the voice acting is repetitive at times, but is not as bad as in some other games. The ambient sounds in addition to the great sound effects are great. There are a few select sound effects in various parts that are not so realistic, but it's a rarity.
By far, this is Lara's biggest and best adventure yet. I've been a huge fan since TR1, and I can honestly say that Crystal Dynamics went back to the roots and delivered what fans are going to love. The game is chock full of puzzles and great environments, and should prove enjoyable for all players.
There are a few problems with the game though. The first is that the game is very short. Going through the game on medium difficulty, I finished off the quest in 9 hours flat. This wasn't due to rushing through either; I actually spent a lot of time just searching around for hidden statues. After beating the game though, you will probably want to go back through and complete the time trials and collect the remaining bronze/silver/gold statues, since they unlock extras, including cheats.
One other gripe is the fact that the game is not overly challenging. The most difficult parts are avoiding the numerous deathtraps throughout the game. The boss battles were also quite difficult, but the major problems were the awkward camera controls and the inability to target the right object at the right time. I have yet to try the Tomb Raider difficulty, but I had expected the medium to be more difficult than it had been.
The last beef I have has to do with level loading. If you are at a complicated part of the game where you'll die if you miss, you will have to wait for the level to reload each time. Since the level is already loaded into memory, I had hoped to see it be rather instantaneous.
Regardless of the problems, this is what fans have wanted to see with the new version. After playing through Legend, I can't wait to see what's up Crystal D's sleeves next. Eidos made the right decision in choosing them to make the game. Overall, the entire experience is well put together; the entire adventure is a very rewarding one. I am awarding Tomb Raider: Legend an 81%.
Likes & Dislikes
+ Classic TR Gameplay
+ Graphics are great on all systems
+ Solid music and sound effects
+ Lots of unlockables
- Quick game (9 Hours)
- Odd graphical glitches at some points
- Occasional interface and camera problems
- Long load times after a death
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