Tomb Raider: Legend

Generally speaking, you're either a fan of Tomb Raider games, or you're not. This is your pretty typical split between combat and platforming sections with a bold line between them: You'll almost always either be in fight or platforming mode. Overall however, the platforming is the attraction (as it should be). While combat is decent for a game of this time period, there is rarely any need to use the new fancy moves and instead you can largely rely on your starting pistols and staying at range for most of the game. If you're already a TR fan like I am, absolutely pick it up. If you're not and looking to try the franchise, there are better installments.

I'm a relatively new player of this series, so my view is not really influenced by nostalgia. (I do remember some friends of mine with a Playstation a long time ago playing these, but that's about it.) In fact, aside from some random memories of the very first title, I started off with the more recent "Survivor" reboot. With the exception of the TR 2013 reboot game, I think I prefer this over the more modern series. To be honest, "Rise" and "Shadow" felt like Ubisoft games with a Tomb Raider wrapping. Lara had no personality in those, and, to be frank, while the stories were fine, I felt like they took the collectible hunting to unnecessary extremes. Plus, there were large sections of intense shooting that I was not expecting to deal with. The Good (for me): There are large areas of just pure platforming and puzzles (even if they are a bit too straightforward in places), which is what I appreciate from the series. Combat is present but is not usually overbearing. Level design is streamlined and relatively linear, which makes for more convenient gameplay (I don't have infinite gaming time, so I appreciate this). The soundtrack is lovely and miles better than anything I heard in the Survivor trilogy. Exploring the Croft Manor with that lovely manor theme song was also a highlight. The Bad: The Kazakhstan motorcycle sequence is not particularly enjoyable (at least the Peru one has an awesome song to go with it), and that final boss fight was just absolutely horrendous. I somehow beat it on normal difficulty by spamming attacks and hiding behind pillars while madly dodging all of the energy blasts. Actually, I was trying to beat all of the game at the hard difficulty level, but I had to lower it for that last fight. It felt more like a Dark Souls boss but mostly because the targeting system would not lock on to or reliably hit that Amanda-monster thing. In short, it's fine for what it is. A solid action adventure game with some unnecessary jank.

Hello I’m using a PS5 controller with a 165 HZ display? On Windows 10. The big problem is that the camera is too rigid, which complicates the task during jumping phases. The game, even taking my time to properly orient Lara and the camera, most of the time the game detects incorrectly where I want to jump. A simple example: a silver collectible in the gym at Croft’s Manor. I've tried this countless times. Lara doesn't land on the ledge, but on the bar below. This PC game is worth almost nothing in value and you can even get it for free, but frankly, there should have been a patch to fix this camera defect and jump too rigid to adapt the gameplay to more current equipment. With this camera, time trials aren't even an option.

In my opinion, this is the best entry in the 2006-2008 reboot trilogy. Although the plot is nothing outstanding, Lara has a fun, kickass personality that kept me entertained and really want to see more of. The puzzles are entertaining and occasionally had me stumped at first, just enough to make them satisfying to solve. Combat is rather shallow and requires little thought, but movement is fun and has a learning curve. I especially enjoyed that there were many special moves you can perform that have no real gameplay purpose and just look and feel cool. It's definitely not a perfect game; the motorbike sequences aren't challenging or interesting and go on for much, much too long, the shallow combat does become a little tedious eventually, and there was the odd missed jump that didn't feel like my fault. But it was a really fun ride that I am glad to have been on.

Pros: -platforming is fun -Lara has some cool athletic moves like handstands and different jumps, rolls, etc. -object physics and ragdolls help create a spectacle, especially during fights and bike chases -this game gets straight to business, no need to wait for 15 hours until the game gets good -Lara's cute british accent and banter -perfect length, game doesn't feel too dragged out (took me 7 hours) -Lara's cool and sexy costume designs Cons: -bossfights suck (they're frustrating and unenjoyable) -autoaim and camera can get janky sometimes -story is boring, as well as Lara's two sidekicks Zip and Allister Technical state: This being an old PC game, some tinkering may be needed. Reading an article on Pcgamingwiki helped me avoid potential crashes and graphical issues. Also it took me a while to figure out how to make the controller button prompts appear instead of the keyboard buttons during gameplay. But overall I'd say this port is in a good technical state. Conclusion: This is a solid game. It's full of spectacles and badass moments. I feel like people who've worked on this game just wanted to make something cool, and they've succeeded in doing that.