This is the first fun Tomb Raider game in a long, long while.
When news of the return of Lara is plastered on most console magazines, it's hard not to succumb. She's a console icon, despite the creepy marketing tools and lackluster games. I would love to see a terrific Tomb Raider game, because while many of the flaws have been exchanged for a completely new interface and in spite of Legends' popcorn feel. there's still something a little empty here.
The plus of Tomb Raider is the expansive level design and the intelligently devised way of exploring them. The emphasis on this always pushed the adventuring of each game forward, making Lara employ wits and acrobatic moves rather than gunfire. Tomb Raider Legends tries to balance both, and ends up switching the manifesto horribly. The adventuring aspect is doomed to be second rate as it borrows concepts and ideas from the more brilliant Prince of Persia games. I maintain that re-structuring the old-school gameplay would have been better, as sometimes this feels as if Legends is, well, plagiarising. Influences of James Bond and Prince of Persia scream pastiche. This could be considered as a minor gripe -- those who loathed the original gameplay will find the mash of guns and rope swinging a pleasure to play.
Without a doubt, finding someone who didn't take the slightest gripe with the frustrating controls and movement of Lara from the last games -- most notably in the last game -- would be a tremendous task. Legends won't require you to suffer when it comes to Lara bumping into walls and struggling to turn corners whenever you try to make her run, for the typical controls have been scrapped. There's less weight to Lara, so she animates more humanly rather than a sack of rocks, and added with a camera angle easy to toggle, things are made much more easier for the gamer. No more living on a nerve when trying to get Lara to jump over a ledge, hurrah!
The levels are typical in the sense that you must work out by logic in the surroundings of how to traverse them. They are as brilliant as ever; spanning from climbing the neon lights in Tokyo to exploring the dismal catacombs in England. It's a shame that the last level only lasts ten minutes, though. Furthermore, mapping the levels is often made easy by the ability to swing on anything that looks like a pole or a rope or an all too visible crack in the wall. This is employed too often in the game, compared to relying on simple methods such as jumping and climbing, backflipping and judging distance to traipse around, creating a more raw, time consuming experience. The change from old gameplay is that while everything flows on the platform scale, there's a severe lack of classic moments when you have to really scrutinise your surroundings. It's a shame somewhat, because the logic factor defined the challenge of the series. Sometimes the transparency and repetitive way of doing things in Legends shortens levels and weakens the challenge.
Taking a deeper breach into the third person shooter genre, Lara's still imitating G.I. Jane. Upping the kill spree quota, the other integral part of the game comes from heavy bouts of gunfire. Technically, this is fine. In fact, the vehicle fights are admittedly enjoyable, if rather simple. But there's something a little off about the surplus of carnage. Making this worse is the fact the gun action is hardly sophisticated, rather than mindless button bashing. Legends tries to sway between genius Prince of Persia platforming and Bond style gunfights and winds up decently entertaining, but at the expense of being unoriginal.
We always knew Lara's boudoir was more than just majestic architecture and blocky furniture; it provided the brilliant climax to Tomb Raider 2 and allowed gamers to time attack assault courses. Packing a luxurious pool, a gym, a library and many secret contraptions, the mansion is place to chill, tone up on Lara's skills and unlock a plethora of extras. A pity there's no freezer to lock the lumbering butler in anymore, though.
In the unmentionable Angel of Darkness, Lara had aged terribly; the trout pout, bug eyes and lantern jaws... Her face alone looked like a cross between Joan Rivers and a gimp mask. Those days are gone. Legends has Lara looking, shock horror, normal. I may even risk to say that she looks quite stunning. Aesthetically, if we're honest, Tomb Raider was a pioneer for polygons when it first landed on the PSone and always did churn out gorgeous graphics that magnified how immersive the level design could be. Legends eclipses not only the previous games, but throws down the gauntlet for other games of this generation: the graphics are simply faultless. The environments are lifelike, attention to detail is mesmerising and Lara animates, and controls, remarkably well. Legends is easily one of the finest graphical works of 2006.
Voiced by the star of Spooks, Keeley Hawes, Lara returns not only with a new look, but a different kind of the haw-haw English accent than her previous adventures. It was always obvious she was posh, but Legends has Lara sounding positively smart-arsed to the point of vomit. Similar to the exhibitionist cleaner in **** Lara has a tendancy to come out with such grating comments like "I'm so great I can climb mountains using my mere fingernails!" (but don't look at me, I'm shy). Luckily, the music is quite satisfying. Ranging from stirring themes to haunting melodies, the orchestra always enters at the right scene; whenever Lara is being attacked by a horde of foes or when she creeps around a dangerous tomb, musically, everything is evocative.
One of the more interesting things about Tomb Raider since the fourth installment was the developing story Eidos laid upon the gamer. The bizarre relationship between Lara and her mentor Werner Von Croy was a fascinating one and I stand by that if Angel of Darkness did anything right, it was the focus on the gripping storyline. Core Design stated that the story of the last game was going to be played out in the next two installments. That was, well, until they were given the push. Legends abandons all trace of the story from Angel of Darkness and proposes an even better one. This time Lara is on the prowl for mysterious relics that holds emotional meaning to her background, which, without giving much away, includes a tragic event in Peru and the loss of her Mother. To link the pieces of her haunting past, Lara must delve into the legend of Excalibur.
Along the way she has support from the token geek, Alister, and the painfully American Zip. Both of whom constantly harass you throughout the game with help and advice. If Legend's futile challenge doesn't grate you, the constant help on how to do the most banal of things will beckon for your fist to punch the TV. But overall the plot holds some great twists and turns that will genuinely surprise you.
One of the more disappointing things about this game is that it ends far too soon and just as it gets really good. The challenge of Legends is also quite lackluster; it's as if Crystal Dynamics were just a little tentative in executing the gameplay. What a shame it is that they decided to be a little self-conscious for once; Legends would be near faultless if the developers had pulled out a couple of more flashy tricks from their bags. There are eight levels and if you know what you're doing, the lifespan is only roughly around ten hours.
No matter, because Tomb Raider Legends is up there as the best in the series. It will not re-shape adventure gaming as her debut did back in 1996, but Legends is enough to confirm that Tomb Raider fans can say nice things about the series once again. This is a game for the mainstream, though perhaps a risk for the diehard fan. Whether you like it or not, you have to admire the pluck of Tomb Raider. The question gamers should ask themselves is this: is an almost great game enough to save the Tomb Raider series? While it's sad that something that began as an innovating and original has faltered into a game that borrows all of its good points from other games, the redeeming factor is this is the first fun Tomb Raider game in a long, long while.