Tombraider: Legend

[Dark_Raven]

I'm having trouble quelling my urge to reload the original and play it again ...!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Why resist? Do it, do it! You know you want to.

[metadigital]

Well, it would mean uninstalling Tombraider 3, which I am about 2/3 of the way through (but have stopped playing because it is so tedious: I'm just at the kayak bit).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hmmm.

 

 

 

 

You're right! (w00t)

[LadyCrimson]

There's a demo? *goes to check*

[Dark_Raven]

Well, it would mean uninstalling Tombraider 3, which I am about 2/3 of the way through (but have stopped playing because it is so tedious: I'm just at the kayak bit).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hmmm.

 

 

 

 

You're right! (w00t)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Oh no, I did not mean uninstall the game. I agreed with you about playing the first one.

[metadigital]

Here's a positive review from game

Legend's main problem is that it doesn't seem to know what to be. It's striving to be a massmarket IP which even your Mum will get into, to return Lara to her multimedia glory days, yet it's every inch a proper game, with like, challenges that any seasoned gamer will relish. The result is a bizarre difficulty curve, punctuated equally by moments when even the best will get completely stuck (oh so grenades don't blow up doors apart from that one?) and over-the-top hand-holding in the form of repeated on-screen help, which seems like a panicked reaction to discovering that perhaps it is too difficult for the kind of person that doesn't play many games.

 

At the end of the day Tomb Raider: Legend is best described as an enjoyable action-adventure romp, suffering from the odd design flaw which is just about the right side of acceptable, and punctuated by regular moments of pure brilliance. Seriously, when the game gets it right it does so with real class which matches Lady Croft's obvious good breeding.

...

Eidos sadly seems desperate to re-establish Lara as a valid cultural icon, not realising that (much like Buffy and The Spice Girls) her glory days are gone, and that it was this focus on those extraneous aspects of her phenomenon that was the reason the ball was dropped so badly in the past with the actual games - which to be fair is all we really care about. Forget the movies, the soft drinks, the Lad's Mags which are still stuck in the 90s, and all that other tosh - this here is a darn fine game and will place Lara back among the upper echelons of the medium simply because it deserves to.

No surprises that they give it a thumbsup; I don't remember them even reviewing other games before ...

 

I don't like this sound of this:

Whether you're riding a motorcycle across high-rise rooftops, swinging from building to building Spider-Man style in a ripped cοcktail dress, swan diving gracefully over the edge of a towering waterfall, or generally larking around with ancient puzzles guarding priceless treasures, Tomb Raider: Legend surprises and delights more often than we expected it to, and does a fine job of returning the series to the majestic locales, exploration and acrobatic movement which so appealed to people ten years ago.

... Too much like the pretentious nonsense that AoD was trying to be.

 

Verdict

[Pro]

+ A compelling mixture of styles that work well together.

+ Some gorgeous exotic locales to explore.

+ There's a moment where Lara...uh...alters her slinky black dress to allow for better mobility. It's good.

[et Contra]

- Swimming sections are not fun.

- Fighting animals tends to annoy.

- Losing two hours of gameplay on the X360 version because "Checkpoint" doesn't actually mean it's saved...

I think that just about sums it up ...

[Judge Hades]

I found Boob Raider an annoying action title that was only fun when the character jumps off a cliff and dies screaming in a pool of lava.

[Dark_Raven]

I found Boob Raider an annoying action title that was only fun when the character jumps off a cliff and dies screaming in a pool of lava.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

That would be worth playing, from a dark humor aspect.

[metadigital]

Oh, i just noticed that the version tested was XBox!

Jonny Austin [mailto:jon.austin@game.net]

Version tested: Xbox 360 | PS2

Review Published: 06.04.06

 

So there is still no definitive comment on the PC version!

[Haitoku]

I played the retail PC version for a bit.

 

Other then the controls (I'd say it's necessary to play it with a gamepad) and the auto-aim (I would have kept it installed if it played the same way Max Payne games did)... It looks like a really good port. FPS were fantastic with all the details maxed out and AA/AF x4 and the game doesn't look a bit PS2'ish. I had a few audio problems, but nothing major. Good visuals, good sounds, interesting level design... If it weren't for the actual shooting system... I might have bought it.

[metadigital]

What do you mean? (Aren't ALL Tombraiders auto-aim?)

[Haitoku]

What do you mean? (Aren't ALL Tombraiders auto-aim?)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I never claimed TRL did anything new or better from the old games. Never played those. Just pointing out that the way the movement worked, TRL could have been a real fun shoot'em up May Payne esque game.

[kirottu]

My main gripe is the blurriness of the picture though. Am I really imagining things?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Isn

Edited April 11, 2006 by kirottu

[Bokishi]

My main gripe is the blurriness of the picture though. Am I really imagining things?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Isn

[LadyCrimson]

This review claims it's actually closer to seven hours to 'romp' through the game.

[Bokishi]

They reccomend a 512 mb card for this game

[ShadowPaladin V1.0]

This review claims it's actually closer to seven hours to 'romp' through the game. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Sounds about right if you dont die or lot or ever get stuck.

[Craigboy2]

Lara is released today ... anyone bought / played it yet?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well apprently PSM said the game looked beutiful...on the ps2 and Stuff magizine gave it a 5/5. So not much good can be said about it.

[dufflover]

I just finished the game. Yeh it was short but I was really busy with Uni work so I dragged it out to like a weeks worth. Still, I'd rather take this "short" great game then something longer which may not have turned out as well.

 

The ending was...weird. Don't get me wrong, it made perfect sense to me and was more of an ending than say HL2 (at least expansion coming) or Halo 2 (which I haven't played) but still.... it was a bit like the ending of XIII (13, the cartoon-graphic-ky shooter), where the ending made perfect sense but still...made me think and I'm still dwelling on it =( (Legend, not XIII, although at night time it eerily resembles XIII flashback sequences *creepy* )

 

What I said was kinda drawn out/confusing; hard to be direct without spoiling it - lol, anybody wanna discuss the ending as well - lol, send a PM?

:ph34r:

Man, I'm gonna be sitting there thinking about it instead of doing my Uni work

[mkreku]

Too bad the "Next gen content" in the game is buggy as hell.. on Nvidia cards. Apparently it wortks fine on ATI but runs like a hog on Nvidia. Nvidia is supposed to fix it in their next patch. Eidos did their part in the latest Legend patch, but the graphics drivers need to be updated too for it to run/look like it should.

 

Sigh. Go Nvidia.

[Bokishi]

The new nvidia Beta drivers sort of fix it, but the FPS drops are still bad in areas. If you want to stop the hitching, you can go to the regstry via regedit and switch the shaders to SM 2.0.

 

All that's keeping me from using nextgen mode is the FPS drops in large areas and the flickering textures.

[mkreku]

On my Geforce 7800 GS the graphics look like crap with next gen turned on. I have no idea why, but it sure looks like something is buggy as hell. Weird patterns on her shirt and her face looks.. ugly. The patch fixed the framerate (somewhat) but not the artifacts.

 

 

Check out her right shoulder. Shadows are jagged beyond recognition. Check out her t-shirt (it's supposed to be smooth). Something's wrong.

[Bokishi]

Yea, the flickering/artifacting is really gay. I think X360 has these issues too, as well as the framedrops when @ HD settings. Who should patch it, I don't know.

[dufflover]

Well I was playing on an X800XL so I didn't have next gen content. Still looked bloody great for me and most of the "bad graphic" areas (like things looking bad/hair clipping/dodgy) would've occured with or without SM3.0 anyway.

 

btw it was 256MB X800XL so don't worry too about the 512MB card thing (well obviously the more and faster the card the merrier)