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Dom Robinson reviews

Tomb Raider: Legend

for Xbox

Distributed by
Eidos Interactive Limited

Price: £39.99
Players: 1
Widescreen: Yes
60Hz: No
Dolby Digital 5.1 sound: Yes
Xbox Live-enabled: No

Tomb Raider: Legend has burst forth onto the scene on PC and almost every console attempting to put right what 2003's Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness made very wrong indeed. Has it succeeded? In many respects, yes.

Lara's plan this time is to travel across the globe to retrive the history's greatest weapon, an ancient English artifact that could destroy humanity, etc. Yes, you get the idea - if Lara doesn't do her stuff and get to the end then the world is doomed. Again. To make things more personal, a cut-scene showing her as a young girl, Lara's mother disappears when our heroine pokes around an old ruin.

The twist this time round, is that the person in charge of the evil deeds is someone from her past who was long thought dead. However, when I found out who it was I certainly couldn't remember them so, unless they came from the only title in the series I hadn't played, the fifth one - Tomb Raider Chronicles, or if my memory can't sustain every last detail from the last ten years of Tomb Raider games then it must be a plot device.

Either way, I wouldn't worry about that too much, because after the last outing for Lara the main question everyone wants to know is whether this game is any good.

game pic There are eight locations to travel through as you go on your quest, starting with Bolivia, then on to Peru, followed by Japan, Ghana, Kazakhastan, England, Nepal and finally back to Bolivia. That said, once you've completed the first level you'll be able to access all of the rooms back in England in Lara's home, Croft Manor. These include a bedroom and special training rooms, which give useful practice to test a combination of jumping from one type of platform to another then swinging off something else, etc.
Along the way, finishing a level will also unlock hidden outfits and cinematics, to name but two special things as you progress.
The first thing you notice as you leap up and around Bolivia is the clever new movement system that actually feels fluid and it works, as opposed to the complete opposite in Lara's dreadful last outing, Angel of Darkness. It might seem a bit simplistic at times as if you leap towards a ledge and look like you're about to slip, it helpfully suggests you press 'Y' so you know to grab on, otherwise you're going to come a cropper.
Also, while I moved across said ledge, dust came off - a nice flourish not seen on previous games.
Something else I don't recall from before which can help if you get stuck is that your binoculars have a "RAD mode" which allows you to see what can be set off in a row or stood on to reveal contraption-like things but, since it's not a difficult game, a lot of this you can work out for yourself anyway.

game pic Thoughtout Legend, there's also the odd cut-scene that requies intervention by pressing 'A' or 'B' or other buttons when it tells you, similar to the old Dragon's Lair arcade game or Shenmue, which makes for something a bit different as it's a feature rarely used.
In fact, for the most part this game has very intuitive controls but when it comes to shooting, targeting enemies is a bad hit-and-miss unless they're standing right in front of you. When you know they're to your side - because you're being shot at - you turn the left thumbstick to face them but because the right one, which controls the camera movement, is still looking in the same direction it was previously and that's the direction you'll fire in and until you start to move towards them, you're going to get shot at all the more.
That's something that should've been fixed prior to release and also was a major problem in the abysmal 24: The Game.

game pic If you've got a ton of bad guys ahead of you then be thankful of the checkpoint system, used frequently, so you don't die completely, you just regnerate at the last checkpoint, because if you stop to work out how to cap every one of their asses then one you forgot about will lob a grenade in your direction and it's bye bye Lara. The best thing to do, if they're on different levels of a building, all gunning for you, is to run through, kill those you can, and don't look back unless you're in the frame of mind to listen out for every grenade.
If they're all at ground level, then you can simply run around - so they can't lock onto you properly - firing with the right trigger held down while also holding down the left trigger which targets the nearest baddie. It's not the best way of dealing with this in a game but it's the only one that'll get you through this one since there doesn't seem to be a quick and easy way of switching between them.

game pic What does come across as largely flawless and brilliant enough as you take a trip with Lara Croft is the graphics, such as when waterfalls 'bounce' off Lara as she walks underneath and at other outdoor locations rushing water smashing against rocks is a treat to witness.
The image can look a bit blurry on occasion but that serves to mask out any jaggies and still, if you turn Lara to face you while stood close to a wall, the camera zooms in for a close-up... and doesn't she look a honey :)
There's also superb DD5.1 sound with fantastic directional effects. Not only does dialogue come from all speakers depending on the way you're facing, but if you happen to turn round so Lara's facing you as you play, then shoot a gun or use your grapple device, you'll hear it behind you.

game pic Overall, Tomb Raider: Legend is a game that won't keep you awake for hours on end, not least because there's only 8 levels but because an hour of gameplay at a time is really enough for the length of time that this game will last. Playing for much more leads to a bit of boredom creeping in because while the levels look different, the same basic concepts prevail throughout. Not that that's a bad thing, but at the same time I don't think any new Lara Croft game will be able to give you that "WOW!" feeling that the first one did.
When the Tomb Raider franchise first began, the brief words - sometimes just "No" as the latest key you found didn't fit the lock in front of you - were spoken by Shelley Blond, last seen on TV in the first episode of the last series of Channel 4's Peep Show, being dumped by Jeremy until she gave in to accepting a threesome. For Legend, Lara has a lot more to say and is voiced by Keeley Hawes (aka Zoe in BBC1's Spooks, right).
Finally, now that Lara's back and that this game succeeds far more than any of the aspects that need fixing I have to say - roll on the sequel, using the same game engine, as long as those aspects have been tweaked. That shouldn't be a hardship given the immense progress that's been made between Angel of Darkness and Legend.

GRAPHICS SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC PLAYABILITY ENJOYMENT
OVERALL

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2006.

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