Tomb Raider is a 3D adventure game that will take you in a tour around the world to find a secret sword.
Lara is not alone in this though. Along with her there is the backup team, or actually the information team. Composed by Zip, a tech expert, and Allyster, a history maniac. At the beginning, you will see a memory of Lara, when she was a child and how her mother died due to a mysterious artifact. Then you are transported years later, to a more present time in Peru (a very beautiful country too for those who have seen its ruins). There Lara goes through a couple of easy puzzles and traps that will work as a tutorial for new comers. When you reach the end of the "dungeon" you will find a dais similar to the one that killed your mother, and now the story will revolve around solving this riddle and Laras effort to save her mother.
The graphics in the game are beautiful most of the time, having some slowdowns when there is too much explosions or dust on screen. The effects of the enviroment are also beautiful. Water marks appear on Lara after diving and such, dungeons are made exquisitely, mixing sculptures of different latin american cultures, and some other like Budhism and oriental culture too. Puzzles will also have some effects on enviroments such as changing the flow of a waterfall. The engine used works really smoothly and with little glitches (only the clas sical ones that happen when you approach too much to the wall). The design of Lara herself is also gorgeous, making the player if appreciate some of the many expressions she will make use of. And to be realistic also the character design is great.
The gameplay is varied mixing fights, jumps, platforming, swimming, and some levels done over a bike. The control i also very comfortable, allowing for easy adaptability to the gamer and facilitating many actions too. Combat is not difficult, you can easily auto target with 1 button and fire with the other, and use dodging skills, jumps, slides, and a cool slow motion movement. Puzzles on the other hand will need one doing sometimes blind jumps that will require lots of courage from the player, luckily, developers for see the fact that in some places you were going to dye many times and included a nice continue system that will make this deaths more tolerable, though in someplaces they will require more time to redo than others. The bike levels are a nice addtion, adding variety to the dungeons too. While on the bike, you will do jumps, dodge obstacles and shoot enemies. One extra thing thats in the game is the already know reactive commands introduced by God of War were in some sequences you will need to push certain buttons to pass that scene.
The sounds in the game is not something that you will go remembering since it has no catchy tunes as other knowned franchises like Final Fantasy or The Legend of Zelda, but you will not be dissapointed either. The music suits most of the time nicely with what you are doing, from a fast paced boss fight tune to a more slower one when solving puzzles. If there is anything tahts over the top, I can assure you thats voice acting. The characters had great actors behind making the whole experience even more enjoyable. Laras voice is exelent and deffinitively the best of the cast.
The story is not something you can say "Ohh wow, it totally blew me" but its not bad anyway. Laras objective will be to solve the mysterie of a broken sword and a dais that years back killed her mother, and while doing so, she will find that there is more to a sword that will involve magic, treasons and one of the most beloved tales of England, and of many fantasy readers, King Arthur and Excalibur. So if you are one of the many that read the book, and know a bit about its legend, you will find as me a more interesting story.
Conclusion: Tomb Raider Legend is the first Tomb Raider I have played. And I found a very interesting game with lots of things to do, many puzzles, enough replayability to be worth it too. From character models, to all the mistakes scenes from the reactive commands.