Legend is an enjoyable adventure game that will feel like a breath of fresh air for longtime fans of the series.
Tomb Raider: Legend starts off with a flashback of a young Lara Croft surviving a plane crash with her mother. As the two seek shelter in a mysterious temple, Lara accidentally activates a stone dais with a strange sword embedded on it, and watches helplessly as her mother vanishes without a trace. Fast forward to present day, and an older Lara travels to Bolivia to find a piece of the legendary sword, Excalibur. However, her expedition is interrupted as mercenaries get their hands on the first piece before her. Throughout the game, Lara will venture to different places around the world to find the rest of the Excalibur pieces, while dealing with a former colleague--previously thought to be dead--appear yet again; this time as an enemy.
Legend has an adequately written storyline good enough to stand on its own, but is unfortunately over way too quickly. I felt they could've added extra content to the game's script, like more cutscenes or flashbacks that detail more of Lara's personal life--and her relationships with other people. The player would have a much better understanding of the narrative, and connect with Lara a little more if that was done right. I just felt there could've been more to the plot, but regrettably so, this is all you get.
The new Lara Croft has a more likable personality in Legend. As you would already know about her notorious, cold-blooded killing nature in her previous incarnations, Lara is portrayed in a lighter tone this time around. She acts more feminine and sociable, but that doesn't mean her acrobatic and fighting skills are rusty; far from it. Though her personality has changed for the better, Legend proves that Lara can still kick some serious ass. Sadly, the minor characters aren't exactly the most memorable bunch of all time, and you'll find yourself just focusing and caring only about Lara. Though that much is true, it does make sense that Lara is the only character that matters, since she is clearly the star of the series.
There's nothing too multifaceted about Legend's gameplay mechanics, but that's not to say it's a terrible thing altogether. Lara has her standard dual pistols, and she can also pick up a secondary weapon, extra ammunition, and grenades from fallen enemies. Health packs are always beneficial whenever Lara is in a hazardous situation, and the grapple hook can help her get through obstacles that seem impossible to reach. Although veteran Tomb Raider players will breeze through it in no time, newcomers might find the game quite difficult to tackle their first playthrough. There's some trial and error involved in flawlessly traversing the game's ever-unstable platforms of derelict, booby trap-filled ruins; so you'll probably end up falling to your death quite a number of times.
In some instances throughout the game, Lara will have to be at just the right spot to automatically hang on to the next available ledge; otherwise she won't even grab on to anything and end up dying. These encounters can prove wearisome for players, though it isn't entirely their fault for failing to make the jump. Situations like these make Legend an unforgiving experience sometimes; as a result I didn't feel entirely comfortable climbing levels because I always had the impression that I might not even make it to the next ledge. The awful camera work wasn't much of a help either, and it created an even more disorienting experience in very tight situations. Quick time events don't offer much challenge and does little in bringing excitement to the table, but it is pretty interesting admiring Lara's athletic expertise during these sequences.
That said Tomb Raider: Legend is definitely worth playing through at least more than twice. The main reason is because of the existence of rewards and time trials. Rewards range from gold to bronze pieces scattered throughout each level, and finding these valuable trinkets will unlock concept art, character profiles, object models, and new outfits along the way. Once you know exactly what to do, the time trials are pretty much a walk in the park. You get to unlock cheats and pistol upgrades as you complete each trial, so you'd be doing yourself a favor by obtaining the extra content and completing the game 100%.
Some of the puzzles can be a tad bewildering for a handful of beginners. Thankfully, the R.A.D. system in Lara's binoculars can identify specific structures and objects that are highlighted, so they won't be totally lost. Legend doesn't actually drop fat hints to help you out; it forces you to sometimes think outside of the box. This same aspect applies to some of the tougher boss fights in the game.
Despite all the fun I had navigating through the well-designed levels, the gunplay, sadly was nothing short of uninspiring. Shooting countless dudes in the face didn't really feel as pleasurable as the overall game itself and the lackluster combat--not to mention Lara's almost nonexistent melee combat prowess does little in capitalizing in our heroine's badassery. Certain enemies take more bullets to kill than the regular grunts, though there are particular techniques you can execute in order to take them out faster--and a lot easier than usual. There's not much variety in wanting to eliminate your foes in the most creative ways possible, so you're pretty much left with the option of endlessly jumping off enemies' heads and shooting everyone on screen--in slow motion; that's pretty much it.
The somewhat lengthy bike chase sequences were fairly entertaining, though the level designs were noticeably half-assed. Once again, you'll engage in tasteless gun fights with enemies on the road and eventually realize that the levels will sort of go in a loop. It was like experiencing a go-kart race where you run through the same track for a period of time, and then someone finally switches the tracks, leading to the next path progression. I think they could have put more thought into these levels because they felt tremendously unfinished in practice. In the end I was awfully dissatisfied playing through them; those levels truly deserved better treatment.
Much like the daredevil adventurer herself, Tomb Raider: Legend is a gorgeous looking game. The various temple ruins are elaborately done, from the interesting designs of the walls and the half-torn, degenerating structures that Lara is continuously surrounded with. Though bland in some spots, the game's backgrounds are astoundingly well-detailed, from the lush, green forests of Ghana, to the bustling metro city of Tokyo, Japan. You can feel the thousand years of history laden in the more intriguing locales Lara visits, and the people that inhabit the game's world give it some vibrancy. Therefore, it's easy to be captivated within the game's environments.
Various character expressions look believable enough, though the major protagonists have distinctly more detail than the minor characters, which I found rather distracting. The character models are neatly designed from top to bottom; even the detail on Lara herself is impressively well-done (her boobs are finally proportionate with the rest of her body); particularly the dirt on her face, as well as her legs and arms. Lara is also a graceful combatant, and her acrobatic abilities are all incredibly natural and fluid in movement. Legend also makes great use of ragdoll physics; every time I saw Lara fall embarrassingly to her death, I was surprised that her hard, painful landings looked quite realistic.
However, the visuals can tend to rear its ugly head at times, most notably the inconsistent frame rate when the game activity reaches its limits. Some occasional glitches can pop up here and there, like when Lara freezes in mid-air or sinks to the ground. It's a bit irritating to bump into, because the only way you can move again is to get hit by a grenade or a nearby explosion. The downside obviously is that it will most likely kill Lara, and you're forced to restart at the last checkpoint.
Audio-wise the gunshots, footsteps, explosions, etc. sound just about right, and the voice acting is altogether solid. Dialogue could have been more polished though, since some of Lara's seemingly snarky/witty jokes and one-liners didn't really 'click' for me. Legend doesn't have the best soundtrack, but each song projects some excitement and fit in the exotic locales Lara visits throughout the game. Though not especially noteworthy overall, a few quality tracks such as the Peru Bike Ride theme song will stick out in my mind for a long time.
Crystal Dynamics has done an outstanding job in finally pointing the series towards the right direction, where Core Design failed to deliver. Eidos definitely made the right decision to trust in the developer, producing a fine Tomb Raider installment that newcomers will find plenty of enjoyment in, and will feel like a breath of fresh air for longtime fans of the series. Now that I'm completely finished with everything Legend has to offer, I'm eager to jump in once again in Lara's next grand adventure--wherever that may be.