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38 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
R.I.P Lara Croft- Died April 2006, 17 April 2006
Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars
After seeing early screenshots and gossip about the new Tomb Raider game I thought that this might be the best edition yet, sadly I was desperately wrong. Any real Tomb Raider fan, like me, will understand where I am coming from.
After buying the original game when i was very young Tomb Raider became my favourite series of games. I have eagerly anticipated the release of the next installment more so than any other computer game ever since. The main draw for me has always been the sense of isolation and the focus on puzzle rather than action, Tomb Raider has always been a game that mentally stretches people and for me has always stood out from the majority of mindless action games. I am not saying that mindless action games don't have a place within the gaming world, it's just Tomb Raider was always different.
Angel of Darkness was without a doubt disappointing, however despite the problems with the control of Lara it still had the heart and soul of Tomb Raider, some of the puzzles were hard and Lara was in essence the same as she has always been. Because of poor sales figures and bad reviews Lara was ripped away from Core Design and handed over to Crystal Dynamics an American (shudder)design team. Apart from the appearance of Lara this game has been utterly transformed into a cheesy action adventure with minimal brain power needed. Everything that I have grown to love about Tomb Raider has been altered, the old music has been completely eradicated the puzzles are embarrasingly easy, the atmosphere is relentlessly destroyed by Lara's wisecracking American tech expert through her headset. Worst of all is that Lara herself has changed into some sort of female James Bond who works with a backup team, she is no longer enigmatic and interesting.
I have to say that I am disappointed that the new game has recieved such positive press because this will encourage Crystal Dynamics to release further pointless sequels, I fear that the old Tomb Raider is gone forever and in its place we have a game that no longer stands out from the crowd. I could go on about the faults of this game for pages however i must stop somewhere. You may be wondering why I have given it three stars after competely slating it, well for what it is, it is very fun to play and quite exciting while it lasts it just doesn't have special quality the previous incarnations did.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Lara Croft is back with style!, 27 April 2006
Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars
Basically compared to all other Tomb Raider games this is the best so far when it comes to graphics and operating Lara. She looks and moves better than she has ever done, I find during gameplay the camera is better for seeing Lara in action and seeing all the new things she can do - which are alot of fun!
The grapple is awesome, being able to throw a magnetic grapple onto shiny objects and pull them is great and moving objects is very realistic.
In the earlier levels you are back in the tombs and some of the scenery is amazing and beautiful, in earlier games I found the tombs and puzzles could get annoying but the new tombs in this are so much fun!
Another new feature is last minute grab which if Lara doesn't make a jump she will grab onto a ledge with one hand giving you a few seconds to press the triangle button (on PS2) to save her from falling and make the jump. There are new action cinematic scenes that you get to interact with also. These are all great new features.
Most exciting part: High Speed Chase. Speeding through the snow and through tunnels at high speed and making huge jumps through fire over a bridge on a motorbike having to shoot chasing enemies is very enjoyable and fun.
The story: The story is much better throughout the game and easier to follow than previous TR games I find. We see a softer side to Lara and some of the cinematics are great.
Graphics: The graphics are amazing! Lara looks and moves with such ease and is much more realistic, the quality and details of the scenery are much better and crystal clear. The scenery looks great, it might not be as amazing as other games such as King King but certain features are really eye-opening.
Control: I find the control to be easy to handle, Lara can now fight enemies, using different types of kicks, lock on to enemies while jumping through the air.
Unlocks: Some of these are real fun, like new outfits (getting to see Lara in a sleek black dress and also getting to see slow motion Lara during an attack on enemies while flying through the air is cool but these are average.
The downfall: This game is too easy, too short and there is just very little there compred to oher TR games. There is automatic save so that when you reach a certain point, for example if you make a huge jump or journey onto a legge you have been working out how to get onto it will save it so that if you die you get taken back to that point rather than having to go way back and do other features making gameplay appear easy and not giving you the need to get it right as you know you only have a tiny bit to do again if you die, the feature has been added to make things less frustrating if you do die but they are way too often and with the game being so easy there is not really much use for them.
Also the levels are really short and you whiz straight through them and before you know it you are on the next one straight away. Also, in previous Tomb Raider games you had to use your mind more, it seems as if this game makes it much more obvious what you have to do, making things very easy and you thinking "Is that all I had to do? That was obvious!" almost all the way through the levels making them feel rushed and leaving you feel a bit empty feeling like you havn't done some good tough gaming to get there.
Overall: Lara is looking better than ever and has some new cool moves and great new features it is just a shame that there couldn't be much more detail and difficulty and definately more gameplay, the game is too short!
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Getting better, but still not good enough, 4 Aug 2006
Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars
As a standalone game this is pretty good. Graphics are good, character movement is fluid, and once you get used to them the controls are fairly intuitive. The problem is that this is not a standalone game - it's Tombraider, and therefore it comes with a certain amount of expectation.
Yes, it is better than the more recent offerings that it follows, but then so is Space Invaders. The bottom line is that next to TR 1 or 2 it is poor. Maybe I'm remembering them more fondly than I should, or maybe I've just got better at games such as these, but 1 & 2 kept me occupied for WEEKS. And I don't mean weeks of playing 2 hours a day - I mean weeks of playing 5/6 hours a day. There was a huge amount of variety, loads of levels, brilliant puzzles, some properly scary moments and genuine awe at some of the environments you discovered.
If you don't believe me dig out TR2 and have a go on that. Remember the oil rig? The wreck of the Maria Dora? The opera house? The monastery? What about the feeling you got when you entered the catacombs and heard that yeti for the first time? And how did it feel when you ran out of flares and could just here noises in the dark coming towards you? What about the floating islands and those flying warriors? The spiders? And then at the end of it, just when you think it's over, you get home and there's another level to complete. In total there are 18 (yes, 18!) levels, and they are all very different to each other. Legends, with it's paltry 8 levels, just does not deliver the same experience. I completed it in less than a week, and failed to get excited by virtually any of it. The puzzles are far too basic, and the addition of a couple of new moves and a grapple simply cannot make up for the fact that it does not draw you in like it should.
Look, it's a decent game. Buy it and I'm sure you'll enjoy it, but don't expect too much. My view is that if they simply re-released TR 1 & 2 for the PS2, using exactly the same settings and story but with the improved graphics and movement, you would see just how limited Legends really is.
I may not have convinced you, but I'm off to complete TR2 again.
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