The Buxom British Brunette returns to form on next gen platform
So here we arrive at Tomb Raider: Legend, swan diving its way onto the xbox 360. Fans of the series will no doubt be pleased to hear that you will actually spend a good proportion of the game exploring the tombs this time around, a feature strangely absent from past games.
The story mainly centres around Lara trying to find all the pieces of a lost artifact. Although the game gives you a few interesting glimpses into her past it is mainly just an excuse to go off globe-trotting with levels ranging from Ghana to Kazakhstan and back to England. There are 8 levels in all and if that doesn't sound like a lot - it isn't, a good player should be able to complete the game in 5 or so hours.
The first thing you will notice in stepping into the game is that Crystal Dynamics have attempted to fix problems with the movement controls as well as camera, which both could be very off-putting to players in the previous games. The good news is that this works really well, Lara now moves much more fluidly so that jumping from cliff to cliff, ledge to ledge and back again looks and feels effortless and fun. Lara no longer moves like a tank and you won't find yourself wrestling with the camera before you have to make a key jump. This makes the game as a whole more entertaining to play.
The game is split up with a few motorcycle sections which while doing a good job of breaking up the action they do seem to go on a bit long and tend to get repetitive. Legend also uses interactive cut scenes like those seen previously in God of War and Resident Evil 4 although not used as interestingly or as often as in both of those games it is a nice touch. Furthermore Lara is now in constant contact with her two male companions back at Croft Manor which is an interesting addition to the game, gladly they don't try to help with what to do next in the game but rather they add a bit of comedy throughout the story.
The game definitely looks sharp on the 360 in HD, the environments are interesting and the textures look good although the character models still look a bit like plastic dolls. The sound is really impressive and is more than effective in enhancing the experience of playing through the levels and adding to the mood of the environments.
The biggest criticism that can be made against the game is the fact that the levels involve going from point X to point Y - swimming, jumping and swinging with a few puzzles thrown in. The problem is that these puzzles don't really present much of a challenge, at the most they will cause you to stop for a few seconds and look around for some kind of object to move.
Replay Value? Well there are costumes, upgrades and cheat codes which can be unlocked by playing through the game on different difficulty settings. Unlocking all the achievement points will involve playing through the levels against the clock in Time Trial mode. Although these features attempt to extend the life of the game, the majority of people will just play through the adventure once.
All in all Tomb Raider: Legend is a good game and is definitely a step in the right direction compared to more recent games in the series. It is enjoyable enough keep the player entertained through to the end of the main adventure, however it most likely won't compel them to come back after it is finished.