Tomb Raider: Legend

This is an excellent reboot of the series and a great adventure game. The controller support is always something I worry about on a game from 2006 or older, but I am happy to say it works incredibly well with this game. The only negative you should be aware of is during the England level there is potentially a game halting bug. Make sure you have multiple saves throughout the England level to go back to and when you reach the room with the four cages DO NOT USE THEM until the final boss fight. The cage at the top of the bridge on the right has the potential to get stuck. If you do get glitched and have no save point to go back to, you will need to download a save point from the internet.

Tomb Raider: Legend totally rules. It keeps the over-the-top spirit of early installments intact, while bringing their gameplay into the modern age. The levels cleverly alternate between puzzles, platforming, and gunfights. The platforming is a ton of fun and makes great use of Lara Croft's movement palette, and while the combat could be more “mouse and keyboard-oriented”, it still has its share of badass moves and satisfying kills - it's the kind of game that was clearly designed for consoles, so you may want to play it with a controller. Overall, the campaign has a great pace: you will visit both ancient temples and modern facilities, each with their own design gimmicks, and when exploring a given location starts to get old, you get sent to a totally different one! The difficulty is also well-balanced, it's neither too hard nor too easy. The plot is... decent enough. It's written with the tone that best suits this franchise: serious and emotional when the situation allows it, and humorous and snarky when it needs to be. Lara Croft never misses an occasion to throw a quip, and the banter between her and her associates is often funny. The music is beautiful, and while it's a game of its time graphics-wise, the visuals are satisfying – the character animations still hold up, and environments usually have a great mood to them. There's also a crap-ton of bonus galleries and outfits to unlock, which is a great touch! If I had to find stuff to nitpick, I'd say that it has a few poorly-aged quirks that were typical of its era, like quasi-comical ragdoll physics and QTE sections that could be integrated more organically into the gameplay; you may encounter some bugs; the motorcycle sections have “meh” controls; finding all the hidden items can be a bit of a chore if you go for 100% completion; and finally, the last levels of the game are a bit anticlimactic and the cliffhanger ending is a let down. But otherwise? Legend is a ton of fun, and you should give it a go!

Disclaimer: This is a score for sort of all the games in the Legend trilogy (Legend, Anniversary and Underworld). Though I'm not particularly young (I did play the original Tomb Raider on a friend's SEGA Saturn, during that first year it was a Saturn exclusive), these are the Tomb Raider games I remember the most fondly, this is the Lara Croft I like. While the Core Design titles were certainly groundbreaking, paving the way for what would become the action-adventure 3D genre (while it lasted, but that's a different story), they're also extremely clunky and most definitely don't stand the test of time, and I wouldn't blame a younger gamer for not being able to get into them, considering just how janky and hard to control they are. *I* wouldn't want to replay them, to be fair. Legend, though, fixes all of that, all the while maintaining what is -- to me -- the perfect game length. Lara now moves smoothly, controlling her actions, her platforming, her environmental puzzle solving, everything is a breeze. Not only did Crystal Dynamics ditch the dreaded tank controls, every action is fluid and smooth. While the graphics obviously show their age, I do think the game still looks gorgeous, plus, you won't need a beast of a PC to run it, while getting great graphical results (just don't bother with the Next Gen Content, turn that off, since it has some graphical issues that Eidos/Square-Enix never bothered to address). Don't expect much from the plot, though don't expect too little, either. These kinds of games aren't known for they stellar scripts, character development and whatnot, but, still, I think the folks at Crystal Dynamics did a very decent job with Legend, in that regard. It's... well, it's Indiana Jones, but with a contemporary British lady. Nothing wrong with that, just don't go into it expecting the next Shakespeare. If you missed out on this trilogy, if you like action-adventures, do yourself a favour and pick up this game. It's just that good.

I was skeptical going into Tomb Raider:Legend wondering if the game will hold up in 2021. To my suprise, it actually did. The strength of the level design carries the game even if the action is sub-par. Puzzles were generally a bit too easy but nevertheless, that helps the game's pacing. The story is barely there but the excellent platforming sections and the tombs keep this game fun from start to finish. My only issues were with graphical glitches and a few crashes with the 'next-gen content' on but nothing game breaking (atleast on my hardware). Seeing the humble beginnings of developers is always something I enjoy and Crystal Dynamics was born with this game before they went on to the greatness of the reboot. I could even tell that Naughy Dog's devs were inspired by the platforming in this game since they bear more than a passing resemblance. Fun game. Final verdict: An easy 7.5/10

I tried Tomb Raider: Anniversary first and I couldn't finish it. Levels were too long and over-bloated with content. Legend has much better pacing which makes it far more enjoyable.