Tomb Raider: Legend reinvents and rejuvenates the sagging franchise with a solid story, puzzles and action sequences.
Lara, has a more personal mission in this game, because she is trying to track down fragments of a sword that may explain the disappearance of her mother. The fragments have been spread all over the world and you have to go find them. Unfortunate for Lara is that she is not the only one in search of the fragments. Someone from her past has come back from what Lara thought was death, to find the fragments to take over the world. While this sounds simple in nature, the deeper mythology that goes into explaining the fragments fills out the story quite nicely and makes it fit into historical context.
In the past, Lara is remembered for her gunplay, but in this game, she exhibits more of a Prince of Persia style of gameplay. Many of the games puzzles are physical in nature, asking of Lara to jump, pull, run and crawl to get the puzzle solved. And the moves that she uses are quite impressive. Things like swan diving off of cliffs, shimmying across a pole and performing handstand flips are all new to Lara and they can be put to good use, because this is a more physical game. Another change in the game is the addition of action sequences where you have to follow the directions on the screen. These moments are very cinematic in nature and allow for more scripted sequences. One of these moments involves jumping a motorcycle from one building to another. Hit all the sequences right and you get to the other building unscathed. Miss a keystroke and you plummet to your doom.
Graphically, the game looks really good whether rendering indoor or outdoor environments. The wide vistas when looking off of a waterfall cliff to the claustrophobic tightness of a tomb passage, the game has an immersive quality when it comes to the background graphics. Character models are stunning to look at and have a realistic touch to their faces. The faces show a lot of emotion that is normally lacking in a game of this nature. Lara has also been redone and the change is striking. Whereas Lara was a woman of cartoonish proportions, she now looks a little more real. She still seems a bit enhanced in the breast department, but overall, she has a more athletic build with more subtle curves.
Sound can make or break a game and here is is a mixed bag. Dialogue is well written and voiced with a lot of passion. The main voice behind Lara is distinctively British, but not overly done, just enough to sound authentic to the part. The rest of the supporting characters have the same sense of professionalism. The only time that you ever really have any issues is the background noises. They never seem to stand out. And there is no real ambient music to speak of in the background. It just becomes a bit too quiet. Sound effects are large however. Explosions, gun blasts and the occasional motorcycle sound loud and vibrant. It is a striking difference from the lack of ambient sound.
A big problem with this game is the beast of a rig that you need to run it. It will use every ounce of computer power that you have and still want a tad more. With my 4800+ X2 rig with 2GB or RAM and two 7800GT cards in SLI mode, the game still would slow down to a slideshow on some occasions. Not often, but enough to be frustrating. A little more time optimizing the code might of helped with the frame rate issue. Another porting issue is saved games. While a small detail, I like the computers ability to save anywhere, anytime. But this game uses the checkpoint system and only restores back to the last checkpoint when you load a saved game.
Overall, Tomb Raider: Legend provides the gamer with a solid game that heralds the return of one of the genres most recognizable characters. It is a fun game that will keep you entertained for about 10-15 hours of play. It also gives you a great story that will give you a few things to think about. Just make sure that you have the system to handle it and you will have a lot of fun.