Having been rescued from the verge of bankruptcy by SCi, Eidos needed to figure out where they went wrong with Tomb Raider. Developer Core Design, who had developed each iteration of the series to date, was relieved of Tomb Raider, with Eidos deciding to hand it over to their American studio Crystal Dynamics. Most of Core’s staff left to start Circle Studio (the rather dire Without Warning has been their only project to date), leaving the original Tomb Raider developer as nothing much more than a shell. Eidos has shown a lot of tenacity with the latest Lara Croft outing, even going out of their way to secure original creator Toby Gard’s return to the series (he left shortly after the original game released to work on Galleon). Tomb Raider: Legend certainly shows that Eidos are taking their flagship character seriously, with the game having cleared up the clunky controls, bugs and terrible camera that plagued the series to this point. Unfortunately, there are a few things that cause Tomb Raider: Legend to fall just short of being a great game.
Tombs make a long awaited return
Tomb Raider: Legend retcons a sizeable amount of plot and character development established in previous efforts. The game starts out with Lara venturing to a rather mountainous region in search of an artefact that just happens to be part of a sword not unlike King Arthur’s Excalibur. Not only that, this particular artefact is also responsible for the disappearance and expected death of Lara’s mother, after their plane was forced to crash land in the region when Lara was just a wee lass. As per usual archaeological inconvenience, the pieces of this artefact have been strewn across the globe, from the Land of the Rising Sun, Japan, to the home of Borat, Kazakhstan. Get the artefact, learn a bit about Lara’s past, solve puzzles and kill things, basically.
Once you’ve gained control of Lara, the first thing you notice is that the controls aren’t shoddy and rigid as they were in the last six games. Crystal Dynamics has seen fit to bring in analogue control, and the game benefits from it greatly. Lara still has a lot of the same moves she’s always had; acrobatic jumps, shimmying, gymnastics and so on, but they can now be executed with ease. There is a degree of context sensitivity in the game, so the controls aren’t all-encompassing – the game will take over if you fall off a ledge or make a long jump between platforms. The camera is miles beyond what it used to be, though it can still get in the way on occasion.
The other main difference between Tomb Raider: Legend and other recent games in the series is that Lara’s latest adventure actually takes place in tombs, which does wonders for the game’s atmosphere. The fact that the stages are quite masterfully designed helps a great deal. There’s a whole bunch of levels in other areas too to cancel out that potential claustrophobic feeling. Of course, a return to the tombs means the return of the dreaded box puzzles – you’d think after 10 years, people would have thought up much more devious puzzles than that, but it doesn’t appear to be the case; unless you count the use of Havok physics in your box puzzles to be a major evolution of the concept. Most of the game’s puzzles are very basic compared to previous games, but they do make use of the full spectrum of Lara’s abilities. Lara’s packing a few new gadgets to assist in puzzles, such as a grappling hook and a scanner which is not unlike that of Samus Aran, though nowhere near as sophisticated.
Gunplay's a bit naff, though
Despite the improvements made to the controls and level design in Tomb Raider: Legend, the game’s overrunning design feels far too safe – as though Crystal Dynamics didn’t want to take any chances on any game elements that weren’t tried-and-true. This has left certain sections of the game feeling lifeless and even unnecessary – particularly the sections that are heavy on action. Gunplay is dominated by auto-aim – simply hold the aim button and mash the shoot button and do a little bit of dodging. There are a few explosive barrels and other traps strewn about, but it’s nothing we’ve never seen before. The only new section that Crystal Dynamics have introduced to Tomb Raider: Legend is the motorcycle scenes. Lara gets to jump on a Ducati and ride through the countryside, but players will notice early that these sections are quite rigid, and have more of a rail shooter feel to them – doesn’t exactly lend itself to being fun, and certainly doesn’t fit in line quality-wise with the rest of the experience that’s on offer. Tomb Raider: Legend also borrows the QTE system seen in Shenmue and Resident Evil 4, though it’s much more forgiving than either of those games.
High quality production values always tend to come at a price, and in the case of Tomb Raider: Legend, it just happens to be game length that suffers, with the main adventure clocking in at all of about 8 hours for the first time through. Once you’ve cleared the game the first time, the only reason to revisit the game would be to grab the few scant unlockables – you need to find various little artefacts hidden in each level in order to get them. Don’t expect to get anything more out of the higher difficulty levels, since none of the elements of the game are affected by the changes – just that enemies will be stronger and plentiful in number.
The environments really make the game
Tomb Raider: Legend is a very pretty game. Lara looks slightly more realistic than she has in the past, especially when compared to previous games, but she still has a distinct look that’s still designed to appeal to the horn bag male 18-34 crowd (or the 13 year olds with the Kleenex in front of the TV screen). Her model is well crafted, but the real beauty comes in the form of the game’s animation, which is much more free-flowing than in previous Tomb Raider titles. It’s a pity that this graceful animation doesn’t extend to the game’s other characters, which are all fairly unimpressive. It’s fairly forgivable when you take into consideration that most of the game is just spent with Lara and the environment – and the environments in Tomb Raider: Legend are gorgeous. From ancient tombs to the streets of Tokyo, Legend’s environments all look great and are oozing atmosphere. The framerate is mostly smooth, but has tantrums at several points in the game. Support for 60Hz, widescreen and 480p is in the game, but the 480p option clips the sides off the picture, which looks really crappy. Sound is pretty good, with a nice moody soundtrack, and Keeley Hawes providing the voice of Lara – sound effects could use a bit of a boost, but sound decent enough in Dolby Pro Logic II.
After the putrid Angel of Darkness, there was really nowhere to go but up for Lara Croft, and Crystal Dynamics have made a concerted first effort with the British babe. While Tomb Raider: Legend is a solid game, Crystal Dynamics just haven’t taken any chances with it – all of the design choices throughout the game feel too safe. It’s probably a good thing though, as the motorbike sections they’ve added to the game are far too linear and rigid to be enjoyable. If you can ignore its minor problems, Tomb Raider: Legend is a good return to form for Lara, and should make for a good rental.
We took a close look at the PlayStation 2 version of the game, but the PSP version is very similar, except features a few mini games and the Xbox 360 version features achievements, so you can't really go wrong with any of the versions.
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