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Tomb Raider: Legend (PC DVD)
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| Description:
The last Tomb Raider game was of such an awesomely poor quality it seemed quite likely it would bury the once mighty franchise once and for all. Creating a sequel to that can have been no mean feat but from what has been so far it looks like new developer Crystal Dynamics (they did Soul Reaver 2 and Project: Snowblind) might have pulled it off. Legend is very much a case of back to basics, with no wandering round deserted European capitals engaging in inane conversations and having to earn experience points before you can kick a door down. Instead it looks and plays much more like the first few games, and indeed has been created with input from one of the original creators - who has never had a hand in a sequel up till now. Combat is back to being only around a third of the game with everything else centred on platform jumping and puzzle solving. To help this there's a canny new movement system that allows Lara to jump onto and grab objects at an angle, so there's none of that awkward grid based movement of the earlier games. This is also the first Tomb Raider to have a proper psychics engine with lots of the puzzles revolving around movement and the use of Lara's natty new magnetic grappling hook. Even Lara herself has been revamped so that she looks more up-to-date and yet still reminiscent of the old angular design. Assuming they can keep things interesting for a whole game this should see Tomb Raider regain its place as one of gaming's most important titles. -- Harrison Dent This preview is based on an incomplete version of the game; features or problems mentioned above may not appear in the finished game.
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4/5 |
Looks absolutely stunning but poor controls
(May 25, 2008) |
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Having recently finished (and reviewed) The Angel of Darkness, I was hoping for bigger and better with Legend. My first impressions were indeed very favourable. I'm lucky enough to own a cutting-edge Vista PC on which I can crank up the game's display options to their maximum. There is a real wow moment the first time you see Lara standing on that cliff edge! Then I tried to run towards the bridge, only to see Lara go into lemming mode and slip over the edge, hanging by her fingertips! Why on earth did they change the perfectly good and intuitive up-down-left-right control system from TR's previous versions for this confusing system that depends on the cameras's position in relation to our heroine? It gets worse later on, when Lara has to swim underwater. Your chances of getting her to swim where you want are virtually nil. I'm sure it will get easier with practice, but for the time being, it is very frustrating. On the plus side, there are several new moves, including getting Lara to do a reasonable impression of an olympic athlete on the asymmetric bars, and an enjoyable Tarzan-like vine-swing, which are a lot of fun. Sadly, no option appears to alow Lara to sneak up on guards and knock them out - one of the better features of the Angel of Darkness. So, instead, you have to swallow your conscience and shoot several people in the back. Some great puzzles though - the see-saw effect on the first level was a really nice touch. Despite the niggles, at this price you won't go wrong and, to demonstrate the capabilities of a powerful PC, Tomb Raider Legend is an essential purchase. I'm looking forward to completing this game and hope I'll get used to the quirky controls! |
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5/5 |
STUNNING !!
(March 28, 2008) |
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The first thing you notice about this game (if you can take your eyes off lara's bum) is the graphics thay are not toned down for the pc as some games have been a friend of mine has the X360 version and the pc graphics are almost if not just as good and im not playing this on some high-end built for games type system either infact my system (a fairly low end advent laptop running vista) bearly covers the minimum requirements and it has no problems running with the defalt graphics settings (turning them up makes the game run a bit slow if alots going on but doesnt improve the graphics that much anyway)so dont be put off as i nearly was by the system requirements. Lara herself has also had a makeover looking more realisic than ever and light and shadow effect her and other characters in a way ive never seen in a game before so lara dosent stick out like a sore thumb as she did in previous TR's
The controls are different from some of the other TR games i've played, using the relitive control system (direction control changes with the camera angle) i use a analog PS style gampad so i had no problems and quickly got used to it but i can see why using the keyboard and mouse could be difficult.
The story line is good and for the first time revolves around a legend which most of you will know so you feel like you have more of an understanding and interest in whats going on almost like your goning to learn somthing (telling you which legend will spoil the game so im not telling) thre is also a nice twist at the end which leves you begging for more.
The only downfall is this game is short copared to the others a couple of expasion packs would be nice (i suppose this was kind of a test of the new engine before TR: Anniversary) saying that an average gamer could expect to spend 7-8 hours to complete it.
Its worth noting that altough XP is the recomended operating system on some of the early releses (V1.0 & V1.1) later versions (V1.2 +) are configured for Vista, The patches to the later Vista versions are avalable free online so if you order a used game via an amazon third party and end up with an early version this won't be a problem (by most accounts it will work on vista anyway as does TR:Anniversary which strangly doesnt mention vista on the packaging ??)
All in all a great game an easily the best looking ive seen on PC absolutly stunning
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5/5 |
Lara is back - and to her best!
(March 26, 2008) |
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Crystal Dynamics have resuscitated the Tomb Raider series, and what a relief! I purchased Tomb Raider: Anniversary the minute it came out as i loved the original game so much, and was quite frankly blown away by how good it was! After thoroughly enjoying Anniversary, decided I'd try Legend - also by a company i'd genuinely never heard of before - Crystal Dynamics, and i love it, one of the first games in a while that i can really get hooked on too.
Running with Vista SP1 and it plays and looks fantastic.
One of the best things though that tempted me so much, is that you now go back to the tombs! Something I believe you only do in the original, (anniversary obviously) and TLR.
Get this, you will not be dissapointed! |
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4/5 |
Back and sexier than ever!
(September 23, 2007) |
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Lara returns in legends looking more beautiful than ever, the game looks stunning as well. Massive progression looks wise from the first. But thats obvious. The game as many have said lacks the tomb raider of latter year, Tombraider 1 was amazing for puzzles, tomb raider 2 was amazing for shooting. Had Eidos managed to combine the first and second we'd have a cracker. Unfortunatly they didn't. But we don't have aa bad game here at all. Good game, great fun! |
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2/5 |
Tomb Raider Legend
(September 09, 2007) |
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Tomb Raider Legend has been completely changed from the Tomb Raiders before it. No longer is there any of the big long puzzles that would keep you awake at night trying to figure out how to do them. The bosses at the end of levels are more like arcade games where you are stuck in a circle and there is no running away into the corners anymore to get away. All the action sequences where you are not just running around have been gotten rid to be replaced by a sequence of video's where you have to press in the correct direction to go that way so it makes alot more boring. You just have to get it wrong try again and memorise the correct movments and then you get through easily.
The selections of weapons at your desposil has been decreased meaning that you can no longer carry around several sets of handguns and a few bigger guns all the same time.
People who like the games up until the Last reverlation, will be displeased with this game. It is far too linear since there is only one obvious direction to go in.
Thankyou for reading. |
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