Crystal Dynamics has revived the TR series and brought in a breath of fresh air!
Tomb Raider has always been my favorite series and that will probably remain true for a long time. Lara Croft, a cool female archaeologist, exploring deep inside ancient tombs around the world. As you may be thinking, this game is not about digging in the sand and discovering an artifact every 5 years. Nope. It's a mix of action and adventure.
What makes this game so great? It has the most beautiful graphics I have ever seen on a game. The graphics simply blow you away. The storyline is very detailed, and one that's easy to understand and follow along with. And the story is also very interesting. The game also has gorgeous locations and textures.
Hmmm.... what was the previous Tomb Raider game in the series? Angel of Darkness. *gags and runs to the trash can to throw up* Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness was a very bad game. Just simply horrible and disastrous. I don't know what Core Design and Eidos were thinking when they created AoD, but they must have been high on something at the time. The game just.... was horrible. There isn't much more to say.
The first two TR games were some of the best in the series. Of course, this was back on the PS1 when the graphics couldn't support nice graphics, but that didn't matter at all. Both of them were just plain nice. Fun gameplay, great challenge, the list could go on.
Now on to the big details of Legend. Legend's gameplay is not as good as it could be. This could have used a bit of room for improvement. I'm not saying tha the gameplay was purely bad, I'm just saying that I think the designers could have thought a bit longer about: "I wonder if the testers will find this challenging or easy." Well.... it turns out that the gameplay was rather easy. However, that's much better than having the gameplay being far too difficult.
Traps and gunplay. Two major parts of the gameplay industry. Well, Legend's gunplay isn't the best it could be, but for the most part, it keeps you busy and playing. Enemies are found frequently, and as in all of the other Tomb Raider series (except for AoD), Lara uses her dual pistols as her main weapon. These possess of unlimited ammo. Lara also gets some other sidearms in the game as well, such as an RC650 assault rifle, shotgun, and grenade launcher!
As for traps, you'll find many of them throughout the 8 levels of the game (make that 7, since one is just a boss battle). Hmmm.... now you're wondering why there are only 8 levels. Well, this game rocks the house in graphics and story, but I don't think that this game is near long enough. Usually, it takes me quite a while to beat games after getting every secret item and what not. Well... this one was surprisingly short.
This doesn't eliminate the game's fun factor, however. The game is very fun nevertheless. Replay value? Yes, there is tons of replay value in this game. Why? Unlockables. Tons of unlockables. If you don't get all of the secret items on your way through the first time (and believe me, some of those secrets are very difficult to find/locate), you can go back through and look for them over again.
The game's story. Quite a big part of the review. This is the first time in the TR series where they've NAILED the storyline! Right in the center of a target- the storyline is simply outstanding! Cut scenes are found very numerously and are very detailed as well. The game begins when Lara is mysteriously headed for some ruins in Bolivia.... after we see a flashback from earlier on in Lara's life. It's really facinating.
Locations. I won't spoil every location in the game, but just so you know the big variety of places you'll be going, here are a few: the skyline of Tokyo, a tomb beneath a museum in England, and the snowy mountains in the Himalayas. That's right, Lara wears tons of outfits, since she's going to have to spend part of her time in the cold....
The game's music is very lovely and nice to listen to. The game's voice acting elements are also outstanding. The person who does Lara's voice is just as Lara would be... atleast I think.
Well... there you have it. I've skipped out on some things, like vehicles and enemies, but those I leave for you to learn. In a summary, I'd say that Legend has nice in the audio and visual industries, but could have used some touches on the gameplay. Not to mention the challenge factor and length. If Crystal Dynamics could go back and add some more features to the game, I'd tell them to make the game longer and more challenging. Thanks for reading and raid on, Lara!
P.S.: don't forget to read my review for Tomb Raider: Anniversary!