Tomb Raider: Legend

At the time of my writing this, Tomb Raider: Legend is nearly two decades old. As such, the gameplay and mechanics have aged, but not too badly. This game is a snapshot of the late sixth and early seventh console generations--more grown-up than games were a few years prior but still unabashedly fun and escapist. Lara Croft herself was a likable and enigmatic character in this trilogy of games. I was too young for the originals, so this was "my" Tomb Raider. I don't know if I can evaluate this game objectively, but it is a lot of fun. Also, all of the female characters (even side characters and villains) actually look like attractive women, which is a far cry from today's gaming landscape.

Pros: - Story. Compared to Anniversary, I like the story in Legend better - Dialogues. With Lara gaining new friends in Legend, there's bound to be more dialogues between Lara and her colleagues. This also provided an opportunity for Lara to show the player her quick-wittedness through her remarks whenever she's conversing with the other characters in the game. One thing I wish could be reduced is the exclamations her friends shout out whenever Lara does a stunt. The "Woohoo! Yeah" parts. Not all of them, but make them less frequent please - Combat Decent: - Soundtracks - Motorbike levels. I find the controls to be pretty responsive when it comes to these levels, but it can get pretty overwhelming at times when the enemies just kept on coming. And the placement of the medkits are always random each run, meaning after you die, there's a chance you won't encounter the same medkits at the same spot you last saw them. Heck, you can even make a roguelike game out of this segment of the game lol - Cutscenes. It's an "either you hate it or love it" relationship. On one hand I like their quality, but at the same time, there's just too many of it Cons: - The camera, just like in Anniversary (meaning the devs still hadn't fixed the obnoxious camera controls). Like sometimes you just have to hope that there's a ledge across Lara because you can't move the camera in that direction to make sure - Lack of puzzles - Crashes in the Kazakhstan level (or even in the other levels after that, I'm not too sure). The game would crash and exit you to your desktop, not until you disable the new generation content option in the display settings. Sure you might not like the brighter look of the game now (since I believe the new generation content adds more shadows into the game, making the graphics darker and more gritty), but if that's what you need to do to get the game running, then so be it I still love this game though despite everything :)

This was fine. I bought and played it because this whole trilogy is often less than 3 dollars, and I was curious to get a sense of what this series, and action adventure games as a whole, were like back in the mid-2000s. As often happens when playing a game from the mid to late PS2 times, there's an interesting balance between forward thinking and some pretty prominent jank. Like with Prince of Persia, Lara can alternately be incredibly animated and also incredibly awkward to control. The pacing and level design of the future Uncharted games is here, as is the modal design that only ever sees you either fighting bad guys or solving puzzles, never both or some variant of either. I'm not really one for linear cinematic action platformers anymore, so it didn't really strike a chord with me, but I can imagine someone who loves these kinds of games getting a kick out of the beginnings of the genre's evolution. That said, what I did genuinely enjoy was briefly indulging in the mid-2000s tropes and aesthetics. Lara is a Brit who wants other cultures' artifacts and will kill anyone who stands in her way, and an early iteration too, before future games would get slightly more thoughtful about that whole thing. The soundtrack has those weird pop rock guitars that every action movie from the era has, there's a cheesy intro cutscene with splash credits and cool poses, and both the villains look like Toreadors from Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines. If nothing else, that stuff is quaint and fun, if outdated, and I did get some enjoyment out of occupying that space for 6 hours or so.

I honestly wanted to like this game, but right from the start, I had vibes it was gonna get rough, from the button layout on the keyboard despite the game never showing you what controller buttons correspond if you use one instead, to the immediately obvious lackluster button mashing of the combat, the signs were all there from the beginning. It never got better, and in fact as the devs decide to try to get clever in the later levels actually gets worse... from the bad port territory to just plain a bad game. I can not recommend getting your hands on it. This might well be one of those games that, unless you are a die-hard Tomb Raider fan who needs to have them all, you would be best to avoid.

Tomb Raider Legend had a lot of great ideas that belong in an action film. Motorcycle chases, puzzle boss fights and a colourful cast of characters. Unfortunately, resources are clearly stretched thin as the motorcycle sections feel too simple and too long, the platforming isn't as forgiving as the 2013 reboot, and there is too much chatter between Lara and her friends over the radio to really appreciate the many vistas the game has to offer. It is still worth playing, just check out PCGamingWiki's page and see which fixes appeal to you.