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Lara
Croft is undoubtedly the most famous female videogame character
ever, even your mum knows who she is. Back in the glory days of the
PlayStation she was one of major factors in the mainstream
acceptance of videogames as a pastime not just for the kids. Whether
or not Lara purists want to admit it, it was not because she was a
strong female lead, or because she embarked on perilous quests to
save the world from ancient prophecies and the like, it was because
she was one of the first videogame characters to be considered to
have actual sex appeal, a factor that was amplified exponentially by
the press of the time. Since then Lara Croft has become a
multi-million pound franchise complete with films, merchandise and,
of course, several sequels. Despite the fact that the last three Tomb
Raider games have been mediocre at best, with the most recent, Lara
Croft: Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness, bordering on unplayable,
Eidos have decided that Lara’s fame is still significant enough to
warrant another sequel. So, ten years, two films and countless
breast jokes later, Lara Croft returns in her seventh home console
adventure; Lara
Croft; Tomb Raider: Legend.
The
videogame industry is plagued by this kind of game, typically a
well-known franchise reheated and regurgitated back into the market
without any real development or flair. However Lara Croft; Tomb
Raider: Legend has a new development team, Crystal Dynamics, and
boasts a total gameplay  overhaul, new control system and the return
of a developer from the original Tomb Raider. Can this new
team breath life into the flagging series? Or are there only so many
games you can sell with an impossibly proportioned woman?
The
first main change instigated in Lara Croft; Tomb Raider: Legend
is that Lara isn’t quite so impossibly proportioned any more.
Crystal Dynamics have redesigned Lara from scratch and have given
her a vastly more realistic shape, removing the novelty element and
giving the game a much more serious feel. Couple this with the
obvious AAA nature of the game and you have a title that makes an
excellent first impression. Thankfully the presentation isn’t the
only improvement. Gone are the days of spending five minutes lining
Lara up for a jump, only to miss the damn ledge anyway. Instead her
controls are akin to another famous videogame character in the
brilliant Super Mario64 and she can now be controlled in a
much more fluid way than in her previous games.
Gameplay
has also been rethought, with the emphasise back on making your way
through treacherous environments and solving puzzles as opposed to
the ill conceived combat heavy and stealth elements of the recent
sequels. Puzzles start quite simple, with many making great use of
the incorporated physics engine, before becoming less forgiving
toward the end of the game. This is a welcome redesign and gives the
game that exploratory feel so effectively used by the earlier
titles. That being said, Lara is no slouch when it comes to combat
and Lara Croft; Tomb Raider: Legend utilises the tried and
tested Lock-On System to great effect, with the added bonus of using
a different fire button to shoot at a highlighted, damageable
section of the environment, usually with satisfyingly explosive
results. She also has a selection of close combat moves, some
complete with the now obligatory Bullet Time, but unfortunately they
are never really used to great effect. Medipacks are regularly
dropped by enemies making fire-fights less of a challenge this time
around, in-fact, combat is definitely a lesser presence than in
other games in the genre.
Despite
Lara Croft; Tomb Raider: Legend’s heavy dependence on
puzzling, thankfully the try everything-with-everything logic
required by some of the earlier Tomb Raider’s is less
apparent this time around, although this may make the game seem
significantly easier to the Tomb Raider faithful. Another new
feature is the interactive Cut-Scenes. Similar in nature to the
Cut-Scenes in Resident Evil 4,
the set-pieces are infrequent
and regularly unexpected, but are usually spectacular - and
spectacle is something the Tomb Raider does very well.
Lara
Croft; Tomb Raider: Legend also features some fairly unoriginal,
but still quite fun sections, namely the decently incorporated
vehicle segments and the briefly puzzling Boss Fights. The
motorcycle sections are about what you would expect, fast races
across uneven ground with several bad guys in pursuit and despite
the uninspired nature of these parts, they still offer a good sense
of speed and danger which is exactly what is required. The boss
fights are not exceptionally difficult, but offer the kind of
logical puzzle fans of this genre will enjoy.
Shockingly
for a multi-format title, Lara is looking good on the PlayStation2.
Featuring some uncharacteristically high-resolution textures and a
superbly modelled Lara, Lara Croft; Tomb Raider: Legend can
join God of War as proof that the PlayStation2 has some life
left in it yet. The Levels are also quite expansive and offer a
great sense of scale, especially in the case of the huge statues and
waterfalls that litter the more exotic of Lara Croft; Tomb
Raider: Legend’s locales. The underwater sections, usually the
bane of the PlayStation2 gamer, feature some of the nicest graphics
you will experience on any of the current generation systems. There
are small but noticeable effects present - such as the surprisingly
realistic smoke that emanates from the barrels of Lara’s pistols -
that really help to drive the polished nature of Lara Croft; Tomb
Raider: Legend home. Shadows and lighting effects are also of a
high-standard, albeit with the occasional glitch, meaning that Lara
Croft; Tomb Raider: Legend should please even gamers that are
convinced graphics are everything a game needs. Keeping-up with the
great presentation of the game, the sound is also good. The
voice-acting is provided by experienced videogame voice-actors
except Lara, who is voiced by Keeley Hawes of the BBC’s Spooks
fame. Cut-Scenes are frequent in Lara Croft; Tomb Raider: Legend,
so it’s just as well that the acting and lip-synching is good.
However in-game there is no lip-synching and there are occasional
volume problems, but they rarely distract you from this otherwise
excellently presented game. The music is suitably epic and sounds
more like an orchestral film Score than the usual sub-standard tunes
that frequent multi-format games.
Lara
Croft; Tomb Raider: Legend isn’t as big a revolution for the
series as Resident Evil 4 was for Resident Evil. It
is, however, a fine return to form for everybody’s favourite
heroine. There is nothing this game that you haven’t seen before
and Lara Croft; Tomb Raider: Legend makes few excuses for
poaching some of its ideas. It has, however, taken some of the best
ideas from some of the best games and integrated them seamlessly
into itself and it is for this reason that if you have never played
a Tomb Raider, or gave up with the rest of the world after
the third incarnation, you should buy this game and revel in the way
a Third-Person Platform/Adventure game should be done.
 
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