A refreshing suprise.
When Tomb Raider was originally a big hit in the late nineties I was never a huge fan, although I was aware of its existence. My first contact with Tomb Raider was the version that came shipped with my very first PC, and as a mainly console gamer I’d have to admit to writing it off pretty quickly due to awkward controls and just generally spending more time playing Final Fantasy VII and Crash Bandicoot on my Playstation 1.
Through the years my contact with Tomb raider was pretty sparse, I played a few levels of Tomb Raider 2 on the playstation a short while later, and while really enjoying the Venice levels I found it to be way to hard for a kid of my age to really get to grips with. So time passed, and as gamers in generally became less enthusiastic about every new adventure Lara had my already limited interest dwindled. So when Tomb Raider Legend was originally announced I must admit to not having paid it much attention, that is until I played the demo.
They seemed to have changed enough stuff to update it to a modern console while at the same time keeping the very fundamentals that made it a great game in its day.
So when I finally laid down my money and bought myself a copy I had pretty low expectations but I can say I wasn’t disappointed, in fact I was presently surprised.
Borrowing a tradition mostly found in comic books, the story of Lara Croft had before Tomb Raider Legend been reset, which is great, because I have no idea what I missed out on in the last games.
The level design in this game is really nice, while the graphics aren’t exactly up there with high end exclusive titles like Gears of War 2 and Metal Gear Solid 4 I really liked the style and originality that was brought to each new environment, the game literally spans the world, from Bolivia to Japan, Ghana to Kazakhstan and every place seems original in its design, with very little to no repetition of items, objects or textures. Some of the levels are stunning as well; diving off the cliff into the waterfall in Ghana for example is a brilliant example.
The story is pretty standard for this style of game, go around the world and collect pieces of an ancient sword to make a whole before conquering an ancient mystical power, I have to say however I’ve always had an interest in English myths such as The Knights Templar and King Arthur, so this really did appeal to me.
The soundtrack was sufficient although I can’t remember off the top of my head any of the songs, which either means it was understated and great at doing its job, or just not memorable at all, a decision for you to make.
Overall I felt this game was a little short, I managed to complete it on Easy mode, Time Trial mode and then Tomb Raider (the hardest difficulty) in just under 12 hours, but packed with enough content and originality to warrant its rather brief duration. This even caused me to actual return to the shop and pick up a copy of Tomb Raider Anniversary, which I’m sure I’ll review for you in the coming days.
