Tomb Raider: Legend Game Info and Walkthrough
Initial Release: April 2006
Metacritic Score: 78-82 (details)
ESRB/PEGI Rating: Teen/16
Platforms: Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360. Later: PSP, Nintendo GameCube (also runs on Wii), PS3 as part of the TR Trilogy. (Separate versions for mobile and Nintendo DS.)
So far there is no Macintosh version, but Mac players may be able to run the Windows game using Boot Camp or Crossover Games. Visit MacRaider for details.
Spoiler-free Synopsis: The story delves into Lara’s history, beginning with her life-altering plane crash in the Himalayas. In Crystal Dynamics’ version, this happens at the start of the game in flashback. Lara is just a young girl at the time, and her mother survives the crash along with her, only to vanish under mysterious circumstances.
Throughout the game, Lara searches for the pieces of the fabled sword, Excalibur, which she hopes will help her get to the bottom of her mother’s disappearance. On the way, she crosses paths with Amanda Evert, an old friend Lara had long believed to be dead but who turns out to be seeking the sword for her own reasons.
Levels & Locations: Although the game is short, it covers a variety of terrain: jungle ruins, urban skyscrapers, an abandoned military research lab and the icy slopes of the Himalayas, just to name a few. The storyline manages to tie them all together in a fairly believable way. Like the classic Tomb Raider games, most levels include a good balance of traps, puzzles and combat, followed by a big combat sequence against a group or «boss.» There are fewer timed puzzles and jumping sequences than in previous games, but you’ll still find a few. And along with the usual crates and breakable containers, there are new types of objects that can be manipulated, and many puzzles require creative thinking.
Weapons & Gear: Lara’s weapons are fewer this time out—just her trademark dual pistols and one alternate weapon at a time, which can be swapped among four different types (assault rifle, submachine gun, shotgun and grenade launcher), plus hand grenades after the first level.
Gone are the days of the «bottomless backpack». Now Lara’s more realistic inventory can include a limited number of clips for the alternate weapon (pistols still pack infinite ammo), four grenades, and up to three health packs. So no more saving up a thousand Uzi rounds for the last battle, but also no more spinning through endless inventory rings to find the one item you need.
Lara’s gear, too, is pared down. Binoculars, a flashlight and a nifty magnetic grapple are all she needs. The grapple can be used to move objects, swing across gaps and even yank enemies off balance—like Indiana Jones’s whip. The communications headset from Chronicles is back but it functions passively. Lara’s colleagues Zip and Alister are stationed back at Croft Manor and use the headset to give advice and tactical support.
Vehicles: Jeep and Ducati both got product placement in the game. Although none of the Jeeps is driveable, Lara does use a motorcycle in several levels. There’s also a forklift sequence, which could have been more challenging and a bit less awkward, but still adds variety.
Saving Your Game: All versions have autosave checkpoints throughout each level. You can save manually at any time; however, when Lara dies, or you reload a save you’ve made, the game resumes at the previous checkpoint. (See Controls & Gameplay.) PC and PSP savegame files are available in case you make a bad save, get stuck, etc.
Rewards & Unlockable Content: Each level contains a number of bronze and silver statuettes, along with a single gold one. As you’d expect, the bronze rewards are more numerous and easier to find. The silver, fewer and more challenging, and the gold is always cleverly hidden.
Legend rewards enterprising players with quite a bit of unlockable content, including numerous outfits for Lara, pistol upgrades, cheat codes, plus production artwork and such. All are covered in detail on the Legend Rewards page.
Bonus Levels: None.
Cheat Codes: The cheat code system is a bit backwards, no doubt due to the advent of console Achievements and Trophies.
Cheats can only be unlocked after completing the game. They can still be used when playing time trials, but that’s no consolation if you happen get stuck somewhere along the line. (See Tomb Raider: Legend Cheats.)
Costumes, Skins & Modding: There are 30+ alternate outfits or skins you can unlock while playing the game. These are pictured on the Legend Outfits page. Details on unlocking each one are covered under Rewards.
Players can also download and create their own custom outfits using various texture editing tools. I don’t cover modding on this site, but Tomb Raider HUB and tombraiderforums.com are good places to start.
Xbox 360 Achievements & PlayStation 3 Tophies: Some achievements and trophies are covered in the walkthrough; some are not. Follow these links for printable achievement and trophy checklists and links to sites with achievement/trophy help.
PC System Requirements:
Minimum system requirements:
CPU: Pentium 3 or Athlon XP equivalent
CPU Speed: 1 GHz
RAM: 256 MB
OS: Windows 2000/XP only*
Video Card: 100% DirectX 9.
0c-compatible 64 MB 3D Accelerated Card with TnL (GeForce 3Ti / Radeon 9 series)
Sound Card: 100% DirectX 9.0c-compatible
Free Disk Space: 9.9 GB
DVD-ROM: Quad-speed (4x) DVD-ROM drive
Recommended system specs:
CPU: Pentium 4/Athlon XP or better
CPU Speed: 2 GHz
RAM: 512 MB
Video Card: 100% DirectX 9.0c-compatible 256MB 3D Accelerated Card (Nvidia GeForce 5900 / Ati 9800XT)
DVD-ROM: Eight-speed (8x) DVD-ROM drive or faster
Optimal system specs:
CPU: Pentium 4 3.0Ghz or Athlon XP/64bit Equivalent
CPU Speed: 3.0 GHz
RAM: 1 GB
Video Card: 100% DirectX 9.0c — compatible 512 MB 3D Accelerated Card (NVIDIA GeForce 7800 / ATI Radeon X-1800)
*When Legend was released, Windows XP was current. The game should run under Windows Vista and 7 with no problems. I’ve heard of some issues with Windows 8, however, so you may want to try the Legend demo first and/or seek tech support.
Check your PC specs against the game’s required and recommended specs with the easy-to-use tool at System Requirements Lab.
If you’ve never played a Tomb Raider game before—or even if you have—I encourage you to check out the Legend Controls & Gameplay page. It includes pointers on moving Lara through her environment, controlling the camera, conserving health and ammo, using the menu and inventory systems, saving the game, and more.
This guide applies to the PC and all console versions of the game. Separate walkthroughs are available for the portable versions—mobile phone, Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance.
Croft Manor (training level)
Level 1: Bolivia
Level 2: Peru
Level 3: Japan
Level 4: Ghana (West Africa)
Level 5: Kazakhstan
Level 6: England
Level 7: Nepal
Level 8: Bolivia Redux
Time Trial Tips
Gold Reward Videos
Legend Boss Videos
Headshot Video Tutorial
Some screenshots courtesy of JeuxVideo.com.
Tomb Raider: Legend — Gamer Walkthroughs
Tomb Raider: Legend is the seventh game in the Tomb Raider series and the first designed by Crystal Dynamics.
In this game Lara Croft travels to remote locations in search of one of the world’s greatest artifacts.
The movement of Lara is much more fluid than in previous games, especially compared to the previous game Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness. Most of the controls are similar so you won’t feel too out of place if you’ve played the previous games.
There are eight gorgeous locations to visit as well as Lara’s manor which unlocks later in the game. There are fewer weapons this time around. Lara still has her pistols but you can only pick up one other weapon at a time. There’s also one vehicle to drive, a motorcycle which is available on several levels.
Tomb Raider: Legend Walkthrough
Level 1: Bolivia
Level 2: Peru
Level 3: Japan
Level 4: Ghana
Level 5: Kazakhstan
Level 6: England
Level 7: Nepal
Level 8: Bolivia Redux
Croft Manor
Tomb Raider: Legend Controls
While the controls don’t differ too much from previous games you will notice a marked improvement to the smoothness of Lara’s movement.
I will assume you’re playing on the PC with keyboard and mouse. If not the game will give you instructions the first time you play so you can figure out the equivalent controller buttons.
Basic Controls
Movement – W/A/S/D (direction is dependent on camera angle)
Walk – Ctrl or Shift
Duck – F
Jump – Space
Interact (Push/Pull/Pickup Object) – E
Safety Drop – Lara will do this automatically when she gets near a ledge. You can hold Walk to the edge to make sure Lara will grab on.
Adjust Camera Angle – Mouse
Reset Camera Angle – J
Lara’s Equipment
Activate PDA – Tab
Use Health Pack – Home
Activate Light – Delete
Change Weapon – End
Binoculars – Page Down
Grenades/Flares – K (I highly recommend reconfiguring this to the middle mouse button)
Grapple – Q
Combat
Lock Target – G
Fire – Left Mouse Button
Manual Targeting – Z (Automatic targetng is done by using the mouse to change the camera angle.
Trigger Environmental Hazard – E (When in combat press E when you see the cue and Lara will fire at an environmental hazard such as explosive barrels)
Aerial Attack – Run towards an enemy and press Space (Jump) twice. You will have a few seconds of slow motion action to fire your weapon. You can also press E to kick.
Grapple Attack – Target a human enemy and press Q to pull them closer with the grapple.
Slide Attack – Run towards an enemy and press F when you’re within a few meters. If you land the slide correctly they will be knocked down.
Kick – Press E when in combat and close to an enemy.
Swimming
Dive – F
Surface – Space
Swim – Direction controls (W/A/S/D)
Swim Faster – Press E when Lara is about to kick.
Climb Out – Press the direction buttons towards the edge of the water and Lara will climb out automatically.
Vehicles
Get On/Off – E
Accelerate – W
Brake/Reverse – S
Forklift Controls (Raise and Lower tines) – Left Mouse Button/H to Raise tines and J/K to lower them.
Combination Moves
Safety Grab – E (If you can’t quite reach a jump Lara will grab on with one hand. Press E to grab on with both hands.
Pull Up – Space
Drop Down – F
Climbing on Poles – W/A/S/D and Space to jump
Climb Faster – E (In timing with Lara’s movement)
Climb up Rope without Swinging – W + E
Grapple and Swing – Space to jump and then Space again to grapple and swing across a gap (only in certain locations if there is a spot to grapple onto).
Forward Roll – Direction key + F
Acrobatic Moves
Handstand Walkover – W + hold Space (When hanging from a ledge)
Swan Dive – Direction + Jump + Crouch (Crouch as soon as you release the Space bar and Lara will jump into a swan dive)
Roll and Flip – Direction Key + Crouch (F) + Jump (Space) when in the middle of the roll.
Front Flip Combination – Direction + Jump + Jump
Handspring Combination – Direction + Crouch + Crouch
Front Flip Handspring – Dirction + Jump + Jump + Crouch
Front Flip/Back Flip Combo – Direction + Jump + Jump + Back + Jump
Handspring + Cartwheel Combo – Direction + Crouch + Crouch + Back + Crouch/Jump (Lara will land facing the other way)
Tomb Raider: Legend / Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend – Backgames
06/01/2016
Comments Closed
3003 views
2006, Adventure, Third Person Shooter, Action
Views:
3 003
Download the game Tomb Raider Legend via torrent for free Tomb Raider series.
Published by Eidos Interactive in 2006 for the following platforms: PC, PSP, Xbox 360, Playstation 2, Playstation 3, Gameboy Advance and Nintendo DS. The game is a continuation of the famous Tomb Raider series. «Legend» was created by the American studio Crystal Dynamics, and the events in it are not connected at all with the chronology of the previous six games created by Core Design. On the territory of the CIS, except for the Baltic countries, the game is published by the Novy Disc company.
«View Full Review»
What’s New
Tomb Raider: Legend has been well received by gaming publications. The game is fundamentally different from previous games in the series, it has become much more dynamic and easy, the reason for which was the change of developers to Crystal Dynamics and the emphasis on gunfights. Management has been completely changed; a completely new engine on which the game was created makes the locations and characters very realistic. Download the game Tomb Raider Legend on your computer via torrent.
Story of the game
When Lara Croft was 9 years old, she and her mother were flying on a plane that crashed in the Himalayas. They were the only survivors and soon found refuge in the ruins of an ancient temple, not far from which Lara found an elevated platform with a sword in stone. Having accidentally activated this ancient artifact, Lara watched as her mother, trying to protect her, disappeared into the portal that opened right in front of her eyes. Not far from this platform, Lara left her diary with drawings and instructions on how to open the portal again.
Years later, Lara, with the help of Zip and Alistair, travels to the ruins of the ancient Tiwanaku civilization in Bolivia, following the advice of her university friend Anai Imanu. The robber is trying to find an elevated platform, like the one she found in Nepal many years ago. She soon runs into James Rutland and his mercenaries near Lake Titicaca, where the platform is located. Rutland suddenly spoke of her dead friend Amanda Evert, hinting that she might still be alive.
After a tense battle, he and most of his mercenaries escape by helicopter, after which Lara investigates the stone structure and discovers that it is exactly the same as the one in Nepal. To open the portal again, you need to insert the sword into the slot of the elevation. Lara decides to find the sword. Download the game Tomb Raider Legend in Russian without registration.
Lara meets her friend Anaia in Peru and, after a battle with Rutland’s mercenaries, they go to the tomb in Paraiso, where a tragedy happened to Lara and her friends many years ago. While still a student, she went to archaeological excavations. Suddenly, a mysterious demon attacked the entire team, he killed everyone except Lara and Amanda. Amanda, determined to stop the demon, removed the flaming artifact from the wall. The demon disappeared, but a collapse began, and the cave began to fill with water. Lara managed to swim out, but Amanda was buried alive under falling boulders.
In the present, Lara realizes that her friend managed to escape.
She learns the legend of the Tiwanaku Queen. The queen came to power after she met a shaman with a magic staff. After winning the final battle for power, the Queen was transported to heaven by the Lady of the Lake. Lara realizes that the tomb of the Tiwanaku Queen is connected to Bolivia, an incident in Nepal when she was a child, and perhaps even the legend of King Arthur. Later, she learns about the part of the sword (Excalibur) that she is doggedly searching for. To her surprise, it had already been found and was at Waseda University in Japan, but it was stolen by yakuza boss Shogo Takamoto. Download the game Tomb Raider Legend on PC via torrent full version.
Lara travels to Japan to meet her longtime friend, media mogul Toru Nishimura, who is helping her find Takamoto so she can negotiate with him. To meet, Lara goes to a party hosted by Nishimura, but soon Takamoto arrives with his men and the party ends. He refuses to negotiate with Lara after she recalls an embarrassing incident years ago when Takamoto begged her for his life.
In anger, he leaves, and Lara tries to ask Nishimura how to find him. He says that the only way to get to Takamoto’s house is through the rooftops. Ultimately, Lara ends up meeting Takamoto on the roof of his penthouse. Shogo demonstrates the terrifying power of the sword fragment. However, Lara defeats Takamoto and takes the fragment.
Lara travels to Ghana to find Rutland, who possesses another part of the sword. Under a huge waterfall, she finds an ancient temple and discovers that her father was already here — she finds her mother’s pendant. When she eventually meets Rutland, he tells her about a certain key of Galali, which apparently was found in this temple. Lara has no idea what he’s talking about, and an angry Rutland tries to kill Lara with a broken sword. Having taken it away, Lara soon receives a message from Zip and Alistair’s assistants: while Lara was in Ghana, Amanda was looking for the Galali key at Croft Manor. Fortunately, no one was hurt. Download the game Tomb Raider Legend via torrent on pc.
Screenshots of the game Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend in good quality
retrospective — DTF games
Once upon a time, when I just got a PS3, I played the then new game Tomb Raider , which I really liked. I had not played the games in the series before, but, of course, I knew about the heroine as such, watched the films and, in general, had great respect for the well-deserved tomb raider, but fate did not directly confront me with her. Later I passed Rise of the Tomb Raider , which impressed me even more, seemed to me quite a strong action game, and the plot was captivating. But still, I was overcome by a sense of understatement. Remakes, reboots are all great, of course, but what do I know about Lara Croft? After all, what I played, even though it bears the name of a legend, is not one. And so one day I decided to go through the entire series from the very beginning in order to understand what is Lara Croft, the tomb raider!
2530
views
I decided to play the games on a PC by purchasing them on Steam, and there are a number of reasons for this: I didn’t want to bother with emulators, and in the PC version in the first parts you can save anywhere (which saves a lot of nerves), it’s easy to install, looks good, you can take screenshots and keep statistics on time.
Tomb Raider
Developer Core Design
Publisher Eidos Interactive
Release year 1996
What can I say. At first I thought that Tomb Raider would take me a couple of hours, and in general, when I started the game for the first time, I struggled with the controls for half an hour, trying to figure out what to do and how, and I wanted to quit. But still reconciled …
And my humility was short-lived, because Tomb Raider is really addictive. This is a great rpg game full of puzzles, loopholes, action. The levels are diverse, interesting and beautifully drawn, the game does not let you get bored for a second, constantly pushing you forward.
There is a lot of acrobatics in the game, you have to climb everywhere, explore locations, look for levers and passages to them, swim underwater in search of the same levers that open unknown doors. You must always be careful, any mistake threatens death, you can fall into a trap, you can easily fall into the abyss, slightly missing in the jump.
The whole game is one big puzzle.
But it is the atmosphere that is truly impressive, it is slightly oppressive, tense, and the music and sounds contribute to a growing sense of anxiety. The spirit of adventure is not so clearly felt here, rather, classic horror films. Most of the time, the heroine, alone in closed cramped rooms in gloomy silence, makes her way into the very depths of the mysterious tombs. The enemies are mostly wild animals and bats, but occasionally we are confronted with mercenaries who are on the trail of Lara to take away what she is looking for, as well as various monsters that are clearly guarding what Lara is looking for.
Closer to the end, the game acquires a truly creepy Barker atmosphere: here both vile skinless creatures and corridors are like the insides of a person, danger around every corner fills everything that happens with a feeling of hell and horror. Plus, the high complexity and the struggle with the management also makes itself felt.
The whole game took me 18 hours, and the ability to save anywhere saved me a lot.
8/10
Tomb Raider II
Developer Core Design
Publisher Eidos Interactive
Release year 1997
25 hours of play and thousands of saves, and now — Tomb Raider II . The game has become more beautiful, more dynamic, escaped from the bowels of the tombs to the open spaces. The locations have become simply huge, diverse, here are the canals of Venice, and the mountains of Tibet, and a sunken ship. The tasks are more difficult and dangerous, there is transport, there are many times more enemies, more action and acrobatics.
The second part is already a real blockbuster. Here, the now recognizable style of the entire series and the pronounced character of the heroine, the spirit of adventure and fantasy, are manifested. Lots of gunfights, big scope, increased pace, even vehicles that Lara handles effortlessly.
New opportunities for the heroine appeared, she learned to slide on cables, as well as climb stairs and, which is sometimes not obvious, on different walls and cabinets.
Of course, this is a great step forward, the game has developed and become much better, constantly throws something new and does not get bored. Is that prohibitively long, there are a lot of missions, and they all take a long time. The game is very demanding of itself and still does not tolerate mistakes. In all other respects, these are all the same adventures of Lara Croft, the tomb raider.
Looking ahead, we can say that this is the best part of all released, if not for its length. Other than that, Tomb Raider II is the perfect balance of all the things to love about Lara Croft.
9/10
Tomb Raider III: Adventures of Lara Croft
Developer Core Design
Publisher Eidos Interactive
Release year 1998
.
..and couldn’t think of a better one!
For a sequel to be as good, it must be better. That is, it is not enough to remain at the same level, the continuation must reach great heights and develop the ideas laid down by the previous parts. With this Tomb Raider III: Adventures of Lara Croft can hardly cope.
Yes, the game has become more pleasant in terms of graphics, but not so much that the difference is striking, but it’s still the same second part, only a little worse.
New: Lara learned to climb the ceiling and crawl. You have to crawl often, which greatly reduces the dynamics. But the game tries to compensate for this with action, of which there is a lot and even too much, and it seems that you are playing a shooter. Lara kills the guards, Lara kills the military police, Lara kills the local population in the Pacific Islands, Lara kills everyone who comes into her hand, turning into a bloodthirsty maniac. When Lara has no weapons at hand, she releases the prisoners to kill for her.
True lady. At this stage, the game turns into a kind of Manhunt , and instead of liking the heroine, you begin to feel disgust.
The second part significantly surpassed the first, becoming larger, deeper, richer. Here, the locations no longer seem to be particularly interesting, the riddles are not always logical, you have to stray at one point for a very long time to find an unobvious exit. There are also few interesting game decisions, except, perhaps, an episode in prison, a small reference to aliens and shooting dinosaurs attacking from all sides. But this also does not go to any comparison with the variety in the second part.
The game seems to be slower and longer, it took as much as 33 hours to complete.
6/10
Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation
Developer Core Design
Publisher Eidos Interactive
Release year 1999
After a very mediocre Tomb Raider III Lara Croft returns, if not in triumph, then definitely with more adrenaline in The Last Revelation.
The fourth part turned out to be a real work on the bugs: firstly, the game has become juicier, the graphics have improved significantly, and we can say without a twinge of conscience that the game is very beautiful, the design is more interesting, and the colors are brighter; secondly, the dynamics has grown. The levels are now somewhat shorter, but more diverse, you don’t have to wander in one place for a long time, getting lost in the same corridors, game situations constantly offer something new, puzzles have become more logical and exciting. There are also chase levels where you have to keep up with the villain in a car while he throws bombs, and a strange amusement park where you need to aim at speed so as not to fall down on stakes, and win a coin with which you can activate the machine with snake charmer, which will give the opportunity to climb the rope to the janitor’s room (?!). And a memorable level on a moving train with gunfights.
There are also unkillable enemies that you can only run away from.
For example, mummies that cannot be taken by weapons, skeletons that resurrect after being shot if they are not blown up, scarabs that are ready to devour Lara in a matter of seconds, etc. But probably the scariest enemy in the game are the ropes that Lara clings to and swings around. You need to accurately calculate the jump in order to catch on, swing correctly and hope that there will be enough speed, and the direction has not gone astray a millimeter.
Also appeared a more or less tolerable plot, which in the previous parts was very conditional, and the characters gained character. And only an unintelligible ending, misleading, spoils the impression of the story. As a result, the heroine turns out to be dead (is she dead?) under the rubble, and her enemy with a drooping look goes into the distance, grieving for his loss.
TR4 was a breath of fresh air after the stuffy TR3 , giving 28 hours of real pleasure. Traps, riddles, acrobatics, interesting enemies and various situations — what else do you need? Minus some aspects, this is an honest 8/10
Tomb Raider: Chronicles
Developer Core Design
Publisher Eidos Interactive
Release year 2000
Alas, Lara Croft is not resurrected!
The fifth part, called Tomb Raider: Chronicles , can hardly be called a full-fledged sequel.
Before us is a slightly stretched addition, consisting of 4 incoherent episodes, very different in style: here you have a classic tomb raider, and a thunderstorm of bandits washing the streets of Rome with blood, and a very young Lara in some kind of phantasmagoric nightmare in the spirit of Lovecraft, and a completely insane level in the spirit of the «Matrix», full of laser traps and shootouts with cyborgs in a skyscraper.
In the story, Lara Croft’s loved ones come together to honor her memory, and remember the past, while the villain of the previous part is busy searching for her body and does not find a place for himself, trying to make amends.
The gameplay has not changed at all again, only the ability to walk on a tightrope has been added, which comes in handy exactly twice. The levels are small, there are not so many mysteries, the game does not shine with any variety, except for a change in style. Everything looks hastily cobbled together and without much enthusiasm.
The game is played quickly and leaves nothing behind.
Enter the Matrix
Resurrection did not happen. The previous part was really a revelation, giving a fresh breath to the series, but Lara Croft died, and her body remained buried in the pyramid.
It took 11 hours to complete, most of it on a stupid last level full of bad running around the same offices.
6/10
Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness
Developer Core Design
Publisher Eidos Interactive
Release year 2003
And here the amazing begins… Despite all its bad reputation and the rank of «worst game in the series», I liked Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness . This is a very good game with a lot of potential. Yes, a lot was cut out, something was hastily tailored due to the tight deadlines, due to the fact that the game had to be released right in time for the film. And that’s why it’s more offensive that a game that is essentially worthy has lost so much.
After her death in the fourth part, Lara Croft is still alive and well, which is not explained in any way, but the events of the previous parts are mentioned. Moreover, the events begin with the fact that Von Croy, a longtime friend, and later an enemy, calls Lara to him for one important matter, but dies during their squabble. Lara does not know what happened, and the police are on her trail. Then begins a swirling heap of events associated with a secret order, genetic experiments and the resurrection of an ancient race. The place of Egypt and the ancient temples was taken by Europe, full of its secrets, gangs and secret communities.
The gameplay has not changed, except that it has become easier. Some of the features introduced in the previous parts have disappeared, or they simply did not find a place. But the elements for interaction began to be highlighted with the image of a “hand”, which is convenient. The graphics are worthy of the highest praise, everything looks beautiful, the models are smoothed, water, reflections, great detail — everything is great. The levels are varied and memorable.
And here are the cons. The game begins with a huge location in Paris, where you can look into any nook and cranny, meet a bunch of characters, pick up money for some reason (in Paris they are lying around just like that, but there is nowhere to spend them), carry out assignments, in a word, everything is like in some kind of quest . It can be seen that much more was planned than what was left in the end. There are many characters, but most of them are simply not needed, like Paris itself. After a little wandering around the city, quite habitually changing levels begin, and so on until the next city — Prague. But there is nowhere to wander around.
It can be seen that they planned something completely different, almost a full-fledged RPG. However, is it right to scold the game for the poor performance of what you don’t expect from it? In some dialogues, options for replicas appear, and even once it affects something. In one place in Paris, boxing sparring takes place, you can bet on one of the athletes and win a gold watch.
Another question is why? The game doesn’t answer this. The plot has also suffered, as if a good half is missing from it, and you have to guess what is happening. Therefore, the final twist, who is behind all the misadventures of Lara, is really unexpected. I immediately want to ask: “Who is this?”
Also added questionable stealth mechanics that just don’t work. Of course, you don’t want to kill the poor guards at the Louvre, they just do their job, but unfortunately, you can’t walk past them unnoticed.
Toward the end of the game, control suddenly changes to a new character, Curtis. An unusual hero with an adventurous appearance in the cut scenes famously controls some kind of disk with the power of thought and uses other superpowers that will not be tested in the game itself. Why the game needs it is not very clear, but the levels with it are very atmospheric and more like horror.
The gameplay and controls have not changed much, but it is noticeable that Lara has become slower on turns, runs hard, and for some reason they added pumping (absurd and stupid) and fatigue to her.
Now it is no longer possible to hang on a beam for several hours, Lara quickly gets tired and can break loose. On the other hand, this creates situations where you need to think over the route and have time to grab it before endurance runs out. The innovation is interesting, but one-time. Later it will not be used.
The rest of the game is quite typical Tomb Raider , only slightly changed tone. In some places it even resembles Max Payne . And the complexity has noticeably decreased, there are dozens of times fewer death traps, you can ignore many enemies, and the final boss is killed ridiculously easy, just for a long time. On the other hand, the game runs quite quickly and interestingly, immerses you in yourself, does not let you get bored, tries to surprise with something from what is left in the game, for which it gets an honest 8/10.
Tomb Raider: Legend
Developer Crystal Dynamics
Publisher Eidos Interactive
Release year 2006
Tomb Raider: Legend is the first reboot of Lara Croft games, now with new developers.
The story seems to start anew, but the heroine has not changed much: daring, brave, acrobatic, ready to kill all living things and plunder tombs.
Speaking to the point, only the management has changed, it has become more responsive and modern, with a free camera, although with its own difficulties. Sometimes it is very difficult to understand in which direction you need to press the jump so that Lara does not jump back into the abyss. The graphics are better, but nothing significant from the previous part.
A new feature has appeared, like a hook, with which Lara can either pull objects, or cling to ledges and fly like Spider-Man, or can hook the enemy. Otherwise, there is nothing new, even the previously available opportunities are absent here, such as, for example, clinging to the ceiling or walking along narrow beams, keeping balance. Only ledges, jumps and some ropes.
Interestingly, Legend is considered the salvation of the series, unlike Angel of Darkness , which in turn nearly ruined it.
And yes, at first the new part evokes the same sensations as The Last Revelation , the fourth part: a breath of fresh air, great dynamics, rhythm, action, constantly changing locations and situations, even a motorcycle chase and a train. But this quickly fades away. It is striking how much everything has become simpler and more emphasis on action, but there are fewer mysteries, interesting enemies that require a special approach. Even the stated feature of the part, when we see Lara through the eyes of a monster and must control her, is used exactly once for 30 seconds. There are a couple of fights with monsters, but they are also quite simple, you quickly understand what needs to be done. There are almost no traps in the game, and many are very easy to get around by simply pushing a stone cube in front of you, and then not a single saw from the walls is scary (where was it before ?!). But there were QTE. In terms of various situations, the game is inferior even to Angel of Darkness , which, although it lost its potential, tried to surprise with something new and was generally very interesting and intense.
The plot of Legend is based on the Arthurian legend, in particular about the sword in the stone (not to be confused with Excalibur). And just as the game begins to immerse in this atmosphere, as suddenly … ends. Yes, little can be said about the plot: as a child, Lara lost her mother because of a strange sword that she pulled out of a stone in one of the caves, and now, as an adult, she is looking for this sword, but the whole plot begins to take shape closer to the very end, breaking off not even in mid-sentence, but as if being just a prologue. Moreover, the game is full of characters who are not revealed in any way, although considerable emphasis is placed on their relationship with Lara. She is friendly with someone, with someone on knives, but what, how and why — for the most part remains behind the scenes.
In general, it is easy to play and is quite suitable for those who have never played Tomb Raider before and do not want to strain too much, but want to touch the legend with the least loss of nerves.
In terms of the passage time of Legend turned out to be the shortest so far, less than 7 hours, which is almost two times less than the most dull and hastily made part — Chronicles . Not so bad, but definitely not the best part.
7/10
Tomb Raider: Anniversary
Developer Crystal Dynamics
Publisher Eidos Interactive
Release year 2007
The remake of the first part, obviously, was supposed to be released a year earlier, but due to certain reasons, instead of the 10th anniversary, it turned out to be just an «anniversary».
They didn’t reinvent the game. The plot here is exactly the same, except with minor changes and a slight touch of depth: Lara commits a murder for the first time, which she seriously regrets. The authors seemed suddenly ashamed of the bloody past of the heroine and decided to ennoble her, only now it does not look very appropriate. Also, the action takes place all in the same 1996th, which means that in Legend and subsequent Underworld Lara is significantly older than she appears.
However, this is not so important.
The most important thing, as always, is the gameplay, and here it is much better than the previous Legend . Everything that was missing there was dumped here in a heap. True, not to the same extent as in the original itself, but still in the first place in the game are puzzles. Lara constantly has to climb high ledges, swing on beams and jump a lot. Collect different items and carry huge boxes. In general, all the entertainment of a young archaeologist.
The authors tried to transfer many elements of the original, retaining recognition, but at the same time not complicating it for the modern player. There are not so many enemies here, and therefore there are few skirmishes. Lara will have to face people only a few times, and the iconic shootout with three mercenaries from the first part is replaced here with a cut-scene, also very changed. And Lara no longer negotiates with her fellow associates, almost all the time she is presented to herself, and there is no one to share her feelings with.
On the whole, the game makes an ambiguous impression. It’s still enjoyable to play, but the approach feels lazy. And most of the puzzles are simplified, and the solutions are more than obvious. The oppressive closed atmosphere of the original seems to be in place, but it has also undergone changes, the locations have become freer, more spacious. The last most terrible level from the first part, when switching to modern graphics, looks decent, but not so impressive anymore, and skinless monsters are not so frightening either. The sound, which also previously created the right mood, now also seems quite ordinary and not attracting attention. But it’s all about comparisons. Anniversary loses compared to the original and wins compared to Legend , which is still better.
If you are wondering what Tomb Raider is like, but you are not going to play the first part, then it is best to familiarize yourself with Anniversary : the game is not too demanding for players, but provides much more interesting game situations than Legend , it is independent and relatively complex.
Not a bad addition to the main series, but by no means equal to the original. However, fans of the series will be pleased to walk through familiar places in a modern way.
It took twice as long to complete as Legend . 14 hours.
8/10
Tomb Raider: Underworld
Developer Crystal Dynamics
Publisher Eidos Interactive
Release year 2008
It seems that the new developers finally understood what they were dealing with, did some serious work on the bugs and learned the main thing. If the first part of the new trilogy, Legend , was a light action movie with a small share of mysteries, and Anniversary offered to plunge into the past of Lara, where there were mainly tombs, traps and other dangers, then Underworld feels the ground on both sides, but still prefers Anniversary , which competently reproduced the very first game in the series.
The plot is built around two parts of the series at once, we help the heroine find her mother, the search for which leads to Natla, the villain from Anniversary .
And it’s great that the sudden prequel that ends the plot of Legend is an important plot piece, Underworld holds the trilogy together. The script of the last part acquires seriousness and looks more and more like a movie. The lore of the game is rich, and I want to delve even deeper into it. However, here it is not without its drawbacks: a fast plot is replaced by a too fast climax, some characters remain unrevealed, and the tragic death of one of Lara’s relatives does not seem to affect anything and does not justify itself from a plot point of view.
Lara’s most dangerous enemy, herself, appears here as a new villain. Her dark reflection with fiery red hair, silent and deadly, is another developed idea of Anniversary and the original, where Lara faced her copy. Unfortunately, this line was not developed either, without even giving it a chance to fight.
Action has become much less in principle. As the game progresses, Lara meets animals, bats, huge spiders and a couple of mercenaries, but they all cause only a yawn.
Only closer to the finale, when the heroine manages to take Mjolnir, the action acquires new colors. But too little is given to use the hammer, a powerful and very effective weapon.
Almost the entire game here consists of puzzles, finding loopholes, solving puzzles and various acrobatic joys, and in this regard the game is very happy. All the abilities that Lara had in all previous parts finally appeared again in one game, Lara can almost everything: climb a rope, and walk along a beam, keeping her balance, and climb walls, holding on to small ledges just like in Assassin’s Creed , and bounce off walls like Prince of Persia. In some levels, they even let you ride a motorcycle, and not in arcade mode, like in Legend , but quite fully, studying the huge space of the map on it. The puzzles have become more difficult and interesting, which is already a definite plus. The game does not slow down the rhythm, constantly throwing more and more tests on Lara, forcing her to constantly perform unthinkable acrobatic somersaults, reaching its climax during the final fight.
And, of course, we can’t help but mention the graphics. Over the years, the series has become more and more beautiful, and this is no exception. Magnificent landscapes, the rays of the sun through the branches or the surface of the water, the water itself make a wonderful impression. Character models have become even more attractive, as well as Lara Croft’s outfits, not always practical, but more serious. The character design no longer gives them the fashionistas of the early 2000s, the characters began to look more believable and more interesting, even Amanda, the villain from Legend , sporting low-waisted leather pants, is now dressed to match the situation.
Physics also pleases, objects have a sense of weight, boxes and jugs are broken, the motorcycle is also controlled quite realistically. There are few places where you have to deal with physics, but in those places that are, it does not cause any complaints.
To sum it up, Underworld isn’t perfect, but it’s a very good game with a serious storyline that doesn’t quite fulfill its potential.
The finale again seems to break off in mid-sentence, not giving full satisfaction from the trilogy. It seems that with the proper approach, a great story could come out of this, worthy of completing the entire series of games. But, as is often the case, haste ruins everything.
Decent game with great gameplay but killer (literally) controls. Passes everything in 9 hours and gets 8/10.
And that’s it…
Back in the winter, I played Shadow of the Tomb Raider , the last part of the new reboot, which I definitely didn’t like, despite my love for Rise . The tombs have gone into the background, the puzzles have become crazy, and the game can only boast of beauty in front of the moles, it is so dark and nondescript. Even typical for Tomb Raider the plot became too absurd and uninteresting, although I liked Rise in terms of plot and gave a good start to the sequel. Having studied the main series, I realized that the new parts have lost almost everything that made Tomb Raider by itself, turning it into a banal action and running around with gathering.
