You might notice another icon over there on my gamer card. Ms. Croft and I were just recently formally introduced. Unlike the hoardes of other red-blooded American males, I never found the buxom heroine enticing enough to pick up one of the Tomb Raider games and play it before. But then the 360 came along, with it's downloadable demos, so I figured I'd give the latest Tomb Raider offering a try.
As it turns out, the demo was half of the first level in the game, and damn was it bad-ass. Puzzle-solving, platform-jumping, and blowing people away in style. Plus, the environment was gorgeous.
So I rented the full game from Blockbuster today, and after playing for a few hours and finishing three levels, I think it's safe to say that this game is awesome. Probably not worth a purchase, since it looks like there are only 7 levels, so I should be able to finish it by tomorrow. Then there's a time-trial mode, which might be fun, but other than that, once I'm done with a game, I'm done with it. I'm not going to play back through it to collect all the hidden shit, unless it's something like GTA, where doing the side missions actually enhance the gameplay experience. I'll have to check a walkthrough once I'm done and see if any of the hidden stuff unlocks anything cool, or if it's just concept art and 3D models.
As I said, I won't be buying Tomb Raider: Legend, but it was definitely worth the rental. It really is a great game, it just doesn't seem like there's enough of it. I'll certainly be waiting for the next entry into the franchise.
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It was 97 or 98 when I played my first game of Tomb Raider. In the beginning I resisted on principle. "That game is about t-n-a and I'll have none of it," said I. Turns out I was only half right.
I was browsing in a movie place when I saw that TR2 was available for rent. "A sequel, hm? What the heck." It took about half a level to get me completely and utterly hooked on the pixel princess.
I later purchased TR1 and TR2 for Playstation - and I still have both games and both save games. Every once in a blue moon I'll want to relive old times or a favorite level and I'll play for half an hour or so.
The in-between games I never bothered with. TR3 was crap, graphically. I couldn't see anything to pick up. Similar story with TR4, but I bought that one anyway (and it's still unfinished).
I picked up Angel of Darkness for PC and while it was pretty, the controls were sluggish. So I didn't play it. Plus at the time my computer was giving me fits, so once I wiped the HD I never put AoD back on.
Which brings me to Legend. I downloaded the demo the day after it was available. I was, once again, hooked. The game looked good. Lara herself looks better than ever. And holy crap do the controls respond!
The replay value for me is unlocking as much as I can and playing at a higher difficulty. I consider this the best Tomb Raider since TR2, but that's just my opinion.
In the reviews I read, they were saying something about how the other TR games (besides AoD, I think) were built on a grid, so it was basically impossible to miss any jump unless you were an idiot. But with AoD, the controls sucked so much you could miss every jump even if you're not an idiot. I've missed jumps in Legend, but only because I was screwing around.
As for the replayability, I started Legend on Hard mode. The first "boss" was giving me fits until I realized what I needed to do to beat him, and he went down to China-town ("Where's whatsisname?" Lara's response: "That depends on whether he was naughty or nice."). So I really don't have anything to do once I finish it, outside of finding the reward icons, which I'll only do if they unlock something other than a costume change for Lara.
I wonder if I can find TR1 and 2 for the PS online somewhere. According to pretty much everyone, those were the only two games that were worth a damn.
Even being on a grid is no guarantee to making a successful jump. Believe me, I've had my share of frustrations with TR1 and TR2 from having to redo even simple jumps.
If you do succeed in finding them, I have but one word of advice: Remember to walk towards ledges. In Legend you don't have the luck of not walking off ledges. But as a trade-off, auto-grab is a nice feature. (Only a minor annoyance for us old timers getting used to that.)
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