Tomb Raider: Legend
Posted January 9, 2007
Tomb Raider has been a staple franchise for years, spanning the gamut of video game systems from the original Playstation to PC. The reason for the success of this franchise is the fact that these games have always delivered a high level of fun with its intense dual wielding pistol action and hair pulling puzzles. Whether it's swinging from branches, climbing rock faces, or swimming through underground caves you're after Tomb Raider has always been able to deliver. But can the experience be replicated on the tiny DS? The DS often lends itself to puzzle gaming extremely well but when it comes to pushing into the realm of 3D gaming the DS has been underutilized at times with only a few choice exceptions.
Tomb Raider: Legend finds Lara Croft in Bolivia, on a quest to solve the mystery of her mother's death. Like you'd expect from a Tomb Raider title this will be no easy journey, although as is made apparent from Lara's demeanor while climbing a rock wall on her ascent to some ancient Incan ruins during the initial cutscene, she's not afraid to take a risk or two. Legend lends itself well to first time players as the controls are very intuitive and during the opening sequences of the game when you encounter an object you're not familiar with the game will flash a message on the screen explaining how to interact with it. Within minutes you'll be able to familiarize yourself with the control layout.
The puzzles in Legend are challenging but never frustrate to the point that you'll want to toss your DS across the room. Often you will have to navigate your way up rock walls, swing across gaps, swim under obstacles, push crates and boulders and flip switches to advance deeper into the levels and for the most part this is all executed quite well. Occasionally Lara will refuse to grab onto a vine or a cliff edge but for the most part she pulls through when you need her to. The failure of Lara to perform the move you've input is few and far between and doesn't do much to detract from the playability of the game.
One all too easy aspect of Tomb Raider: Legend are the gunfights. From time to time while exploring an environment Lara will come across an enemy who would be more than content with ending her quest. Fortunately for you the AI is horrible and enemies can be easily disposed of through the use of the first person representation of your foe on the touch portion of the screen. To shoot an enemy all you do is tap on them on the touch screen until they die. This can be a bit of a disappointment because enemies start to become more of a nuisance than a challenge the deeper you get in the game. Even though your foes can seem like pushovers to you there are plenty of weapons available to gun them down with so this variety in firepower offsets the mundane nature of the gun battles.
There are many different environments for Lara to explore in Legend and with the variety present in the gameplay, it never becomes a dull experience. In all there are eight different levels to explore and none of them are cut too short. each level brings with it a nice challenge to overcome but thankfully with this being a DS title, and therefore a game many people will take with them on the go for short gaming periods the levels aren't overly long winded either. Legend is able to strike a nice balance between challenge and overall Length.
There is much to be impressed with in Legend, most surprising are the graphics. The levels are nicely rendered and the game looks extremely slick. Most impressive are the cutscenes, typically executed with stills and conversations bubbles in other games for the DS. Tomb Raider: Legend has cinematic cutscenes complete with voice. This is a nice bonus as the Tomb Raider franchise has always been an immersive experience and could have been hindered by the simplistic methods used by many other titles. The actual gameplay visuals utilize a hybrid 2D/3D style. There are areas where you can move in the Z-axis but the game generally keeps you moving in a side scrolling fashion. This works for the most part although there are rare occurrences when you can misjudge a jump much to your frustration, but this doesn't take away from the experience too much.
As mentioned previously Tomb Raider: Legend benefits from actual dialogue based story telling throughout the cutscenes which adds to the immersive gameplay. The rest of the audio presentation is excellent as well from the background music to the sound of gunfire and death machines. You may actually want to wear a pair of headphones to maximize the experience.
Whether you're a veteran to the Tomb Raider franchise or just a beginner, this game offers a challenging and unique experience on the DS. While Legend isn't without its flaws overall the title performs much better than I would have expected. If you're looking for a fun title to play on your DS this may be the one for you. Recommended
Tomb Raider: Legend finds Lara Croft in Bolivia, on a quest to solve the mystery of her mother's death. Like you'd expect from a Tomb Raider title this will be no easy journey, although as is made apparent from Lara's demeanor while climbing a rock wall on her ascent to some ancient Incan ruins during the initial cutscene, she's not afraid to take a risk or two. Legend lends itself well to first time players as the controls are very intuitive and during the opening sequences of the game when you encounter an object you're not familiar with the game will flash a message on the screen explaining how to interact with it. Within minutes you'll be able to familiarize yourself with the control layout.
The puzzles in Legend are challenging but never frustrate to the point that you'll want to toss your DS across the room. Often you will have to navigate your way up rock walls, swing across gaps, swim under obstacles, push crates and boulders and flip switches to advance deeper into the levels and for the most part this is all executed quite well. Occasionally Lara will refuse to grab onto a vine or a cliff edge but for the most part she pulls through when you need her to. The failure of Lara to perform the move you've input is few and far between and doesn't do much to detract from the playability of the game.
One all too easy aspect of Tomb Raider: Legend are the gunfights. From time to time while exploring an environment Lara will come across an enemy who would be more than content with ending her quest. Fortunately for you the AI is horrible and enemies can be easily disposed of through the use of the first person representation of your foe on the touch portion of the screen. To shoot an enemy all you do is tap on them on the touch screen until they die. This can be a bit of a disappointment because enemies start to become more of a nuisance than a challenge the deeper you get in the game. Even though your foes can seem like pushovers to you there are plenty of weapons available to gun them down with so this variety in firepower offsets the mundane nature of the gun battles.
There are many different environments for Lara to explore in Legend and with the variety present in the gameplay, it never becomes a dull experience. In all there are eight different levels to explore and none of them are cut too short. each level brings with it a nice challenge to overcome but thankfully with this being a DS title, and therefore a game many people will take with them on the go for short gaming periods the levels aren't overly long winded either. Legend is able to strike a nice balance between challenge and overall Length.
There is much to be impressed with in Legend, most surprising are the graphics. The levels are nicely rendered and the game looks extremely slick. Most impressive are the cutscenes, typically executed with stills and conversations bubbles in other games for the DS. Tomb Raider: Legend has cinematic cutscenes complete with voice. This is a nice bonus as the Tomb Raider franchise has always been an immersive experience and could have been hindered by the simplistic methods used by many other titles. The actual gameplay visuals utilize a hybrid 2D/3D style. There are areas where you can move in the Z-axis but the game generally keeps you moving in a side scrolling fashion. This works for the most part although there are rare occurrences when you can misjudge a jump much to your frustration, but this doesn't take away from the experience too much.
As mentioned previously Tomb Raider: Legend benefits from actual dialogue based story telling throughout the cutscenes which adds to the immersive gameplay. The rest of the audio presentation is excellent as well from the background music to the sound of gunfire and death machines. You may actually want to wear a pair of headphones to maximize the experience.
Whether you're a veteran to the Tomb Raider franchise or just a beginner, this game offers a challenging and unique experience on the DS. While Legend isn't without its flaws overall the title performs much better than I would have expected. If you're looking for a fun title to play on your DS this may be the one for you. Recommended