Lara Croft needs to add “Phoenix rising from the ashes” to her resume: Backlog Review of Tomb Raider: Legend (PS2)

It’s 2006, and the Tomb Raider franchise is wallowing in mediocrity after a slow slide in quality at the end of the Playstation generation and a disastrous first step onto the Playstation 2 with Angel of Darkness. Even two movies lead by Angelina Jolie could not propel the franchise out of the hole that it had dug itself. But just like its iconic protagonist Tomb Raider was able to side step its almost inevitable death to emerge once again as a relevant franchise, thanks to Tomb Raider: Legend.

With Tomb Raider: Legend developers Crystal Dynamics, having replaced Core Designs, were able to recapture what made the original idea of exploring tombs, dodging traps and making death-defying leaps so engaging.

The story of Tomb Raider: Legend follows the general storyline of all the iterations in the franchise, Lara needs to get an ancient artifact, this time pieces of a sword connected to the story of Excalibur, while warding off rival treasure hunters. Overall, the narrative is well-told, digging back into Lara’s past and simultaneously deepening her as a character. I use “deep” relative to her past outings, this tale will not have you pondering the universe or even really caring too much about the characters involved, but it will move you from set piece to set piece. The story segments are generally relegated to the beginning and end of a level, with an occasional cut scene or two during the action. Tomb Raider: Legend knows enough not to break up the business of maneuvering around exotic locales with story points and useless expository dialog.

And you will go to some exotic locales with Bolivia, Peru, Kazakhstan and England all making appearances. Each area has some individual touches, but a lot of the smaller corridors and areas have a similar feel. Only the larger puzzles give the levels a unique flavor. These set pieces are well designed and are reminiscent of the classic games in the franchise, with that “I know what I need to do, now how do I accomplish it” quality that’s drawn many to the series. When Lara sticks to the tombs she’s at her best. Two snowmobile levels try to add some flavor to the proceedings, but go on twice as long as they should and end up slowing the story progression. One mission in Kazakhstan focuses entirely on infiltrating a military base while leaving a high body count in your wake and shines a bright light on the games Achilles’ heel, combat.

By no means the majority of the game, combat still represents a hefty portion of your playtime (~30%). Targeting is confined to holding a shoulder button and using the right stick to switch between targets, a useful system for dealing with small groups of two or three enemies. However, when taking on whole gangs in later levels it takes multiple targeting attempts to focus on the enemy you’re trying to shoot. Luckily, just running and gunning around the small areas is usually enough to get the job done. While new moves have been added to Lara’s repertoire, including somersaulting over an enemy with guns blazing John Woo style, none of it hides that the combat is limited and offers little challenge.

Overall, Tomb Raider: Legend lacks difficulty. Never did I worry about dying from a series of traps or a room full of gun toting baddies. The only deaths I sustained were from poorly executed jumps. Every third enemy you drop leaves behind a health pack and you can carry a total of three in your inventory. However, that lack of challenge is balanced by generally clear objectives, making for a nearly frustration free progression. Only twice was I hung up and unsure where to go and what to do. One was simply me not paying attention to a puzzle and the other was an encounter that is framed like a boss fight, but isn’t. Of course once I stumbled over these roadblocks I was back into the game, ready for my next tomb and next piece of Excalibur.

Tomb Raider: Legend is still worth playing, even now with its spiritual successor Uncharted 2 grabbing the attention of most PS3 owners. If you fondly remember your younger days deciphering big block puzzles and pulling switches, and can turn off your brain for the simplistic combat, definitely pull this pivotal chapter in the Lara Croft saga out of the bargain bin.

Brief intro

I'm a 26 year old male, who professionally studies science, but devotes my spare time to playing and discussing video games, which has culminated in the creation of this blog. My goal will be to provide reviews of recent, backlog and retro games, reactions to relevant video game news and general thoughts on games and game design.

I've spent most of my history gaming on the various Sony platforms (PS1, PS2, PSP and PS3), grew up with both Nintendo (NES and SNES) and Sega (Genesis and Sega CD) systems and currently enjoy digging back into retro games via the Wii's Virtual Console. I have an extensive game library, and while I try to keep as current as possible I generally end up mixing recent releases with gems from my backlog.

I definitely want this blog to be a conversation so comments, constructive criticism and discussion are always welcome. Enjoy!