Tomb Raider: Legend

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 If nothing else, that stuff is quaint and fun, if outdated, and I did get some enjoyment out of occupying that space for 6 hours or so.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.

I cannot recommend this game enough. For those who enjoy a fun globetrotting adventure this is the game to play. Simple, sweet and to the point this was Uncharted before Uncharted. A few set pieces, tombs, puzzles and just a general good time.

I usually don't like old games but this one was really good to play. It feels like Uncharted; a lot of puzzles, action and climbing. It runs great in a modern computer, I didn't have any crashes or bugs in my whole playtrough; just don't enable "Next Generation Content" nor "Fullscreen Anti-Aliasing". I played with a controller, it takes a bit of time to get used to the camera movement but is not difficult. And the puzzles are fun and "medium difficulty" I would say, you won't get stuck if you're able to think for 2 minutes. There's only 1 boss that didn't make much sense, the spirit. The graphics are old, obviously, but not unbearable, and the gameplay is still great for an old game. Play it if you like Tomb Raider or Uncharted.