Tomb Raider: Legend
- April 11, 2006 14:28 PM PST
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Tomb Raider: Legend breathes fresh life into the stale, shriveled corpse of uber-vixen Lara Croft. Let the tomb raiding begin!
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Reinventing the Wheel
The core premise in Tomb Raider: Legend is fundamentally unchanged. As usual, Lara's on a hare-brained quest to locate some ancient thingamajig (in this case, a stone dais and a magic sword fragment). While dodging booby traps and traversing tricky jumps, she fends off beasties and enemy agents with an array of high-powered firearms. Same old, same old, right?
Wrong. Tomb Raider: Legend sweeps away the musty cobwebs of Lara's past adventures, which went sharply downhill after the first game. The agonizingly slow movement speed? Gone. The wretched camera problems? Gone. The obtuse controls, cookie-cutter jumping puzzles, and endlessly repeating environments? Gone, gone, all gone. What's left is a sharp, sleek re-envisioning of what made Tomb Raider great to begin with. New developer Crystal Dynamics deserves credit for re-thinking the way Tomb Raider is played. Old gameplay gimmicks -- remember the punching bags from Angel of Darkness? -- have been politely laid aside in favor of a back-to-basics approach. Puzzles have re-gained prominence, but are less obnoxious than in the old games.
In Legend, your eyes and your brain are now your biggest assets: it takes keen sight to spot the tiny handholds and ledges that dot the various rooms, and it takes focus to solve the physics-based puzzles that you'll find. The various puzzles and exercises aren't always fun, but the solutions are always fair. With a little persistence, you'll do just fine. The obligatory combat segments are just "meh": a few grenades here, a couple of shotgun rounds there. Nothing special.
Old Croft, New Tricks
Perhaps the most welcome surprise about Legend comes in the form of its simple, fluid control scheme. Lara's never felt this nimble, responsive, and acrobatic before... though lining up the trickiest jumps can be a trial-and-error process. While Lara's repertoire of jumps and flips is bigger than ever, Legend wisely uses just a few buttons on the controller. Novices will love the gentle learning curve, and experts will find a challenge in tracking down all the hidden relics. The unlockable content at Croft Manor is a nice touch, too, giving you a reason to race through the levels as quickly and perfectly as possible.
Another key difference comes in the way of the story, which takes a turn into X-Files territory as Lara hunts for her missing mom. Fans will be split into two camps by the supernatural shenanigans -- some will love it, some will hate it -- but as a general rule the paranormal twists are a welcome addition to the Tomb Raider canon. In fact, the weirder Tomb Raider: Legend gets, the more compelling the experience becomes. Here's hoping Lara's next adventure takes her to Mars, or Hell, or some alternate bizarro dimension. Tokyo and Africa are all well and good, but we like to imagine Lara jumping and climbing her way through one of those crazy M.C. Escher paintings. Why the hell not?
Natural Beauty
Lara herself looks as curvaceous as ever, if a bit more realistically proportioned. Judging by looks alone, she's gone from a mighty 36 DD to a more conservative 34 D. Her character is also decked out in some pretty snazzy duds (dig the tiny creases and folds in her short-shorts) but it's unlikely you'll be looking too closely at her wardrobe as she bends and flexes and bounces. One other detail we liked was the way her skin glistened after she climbed out of water. Subtle, tactile details like these give Lara's character more life and vitality than she's had in earlier games.
The Xbox 360 version has only one real advantage: better graphics. And there's no doubt that the Xbox 360 version of Tomb Raider: Legend looks simply stunning, almost photorealistic at times. You can see tiny bumps and shadows on rock formations, enemy characters actually look like humans and not faceless paper dolls, and water casts amazingly accurate reflections. But as a trade-off to the enhanced visual fidelity, the Xbox 360 version suffers from frame rate problems that ultimately make the game more frustrating to play. It's a shame, too, because the game looks spectacular in HD 720p and 1080i modes. But we'll take smooth, consistent framerates over graphical bells and whistles any day. If you want bragging rights, the Xbox 360 version might be a worthwhile investment.
That's not to say that the Xbox version of Legend is a graphical slouch. It pushes the aging Xbox hardware to the limits with vibrant, living environments: we were particularly impressed by the vast, teeming cityscape depicted in the Tokyo levels, but the tomb-based levels have their own charm. Whether you pick up the Xbox or the Xbox 360 version, Legend is one gorgeous-looking game. That said, if you value gameplay over graphics, there's no just beating the standard Xbox version of Legend. It's just much, much smoother than its Xbox 360 counterpart.
The PS2 version, meanwhile, looks sharp but won't win any awards. It's surprising how closely it mimics the Xbox version...until you see the pokey frame rate. It doesn't dip as badly as the Xbox 360 version does, but the blander details coupled with the so-so framerate averages out to an above-average visual experience. Not bad, but not great, either.
Legend's sounds sparkle, too, with booming gunshots that will make your subwoofer sweat. Driving background rhythms add atmospheric flair to the acrobatic exercises without grating on the nerves, a key requirement in a game that often requires you to replay a difficult jumping puzzle several times before achieving success. And Lara's new voice is spot-on. It gives her a softer, urgent edge that makes her a more likeable lead character and less of the snaggle-toothed Cockney street urchin that haunted previous games. The other voice actors fulfill their roles well, though outside of Lara, there are no standout performances.
Love Croft
If you're a Tomb Raider fan, assuming there are any left after the disastrous Angel of Darkness, then Legend is a no-brainer. You simply have see how Crystal Dynamics managed to snatch this groundbreaking series out of the fire. It's enough to make you love Tomb Raider all over again. If Legend is anything to judge by, then the future looks bright for Tomb Raider fans.
What's more surprising, the game is worth a look even if you're new to the Tomb Raider series. If you've never wriggled into Lara's skintight duds before (and, um, who wouldn't?), you owe it to yourself to try out Legends. This game is a huge, huge improvement over the last few wretched Tomb Raider titles. Prince of Persia fans should definitely take note.
It's tough to right past wrongs, but with Tomb Raider: Legend, Crystal Dynamics comes damn close. Overcome your apathy and give Legend a shot. You owe Lara that much, don't you?
