Tomb Raider: Legend

I played a few demos in the past, but I never really sat down and played a Tomb Raider game before because I didn't have a PS1 and the first one on PS2 was terrible. But I got a demo disc a while ago with this on it, and found I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. It had some nice Prince of Persia-style platforming and puzzle solving (minus the ability to rewind and slow down time), with some decent shooting, and seemed pretty cool. I didn't end up getting the whole game until recently, but it was definitely worth the low price.

I'm not sure why this is, but the supernatural story of the game seems out of place to me. I know the series has always had weird stuff like dinosaurs, it just seems like the fiction they're trying to create doesn't jibe well with all the strange magical crap that happens. It's not a problem if you just decide to accept that there's an extremely ancient and powerful sword that everyone's after and enjoy it. Anyway, Lara's quest has her trekking around the globe looking for pieces to the puzzle. Some places are ancient shrines and caves, others are more modern places of business. The gameplay is largely the same regardless of setting, as you explore the environment, push some blocks, avoid traps, and shoot a lot of bad guys. There are some driving sequences and boss battles, although neither are especially compelling. There are also several button-timing sequences, which have become altogether too common in modern action games. They're really not very interesting any more, and I hope the fad dies down soon. The game's a bit short, although the fact that I didn't want it to end yet suggests the game itself was pretty fun just to play.

The game looks and sounds pretty nice, with good character models, impressive environments, and pretty solid voice acting. It makes the game a little better when the protagonist is good. In addition to being nice to look at (for a computer-generated image), Lara is intelligent and witty. The developers made a strong point of trying to make the mystery she's solving relevant to her past, and the end results are a bit amateurish but she's still a strong, sympathic character. The game shouldn't amaze anyone, but it's definitely quite an enjoyable eight hours.