Tomb Raider Legend

by Eidos

Product Features

• Lara is more realistic than ever - the sexy, dual-pistol wielding heroine has new graphics & animation sets
• Discover and explore living breathing, lost ancient realms that hold clues to the secrets of Lara's past
• Intuitive, fluid control system keeps Lara in continuous motion; handle any obstacle and interact with any surface
• Use strength and intelligence to uncover ancient treasures -- Use the grappling hook, an arsenal of new weapons, Communications devices, and other tools to achieve your goals
• Travel to the world's most exotic locales - Treacherous jungles, snowy mountain ranges, and much more

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B0009VRSJQ
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.8 x 0.5 inches ; 4 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: April 11, 2006
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #15,751 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Platform: Xbox

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend brings back the gaming world's sexiest and most intrepid adventurer. Follow Lara down a path of discovery as she travels the globe to remote, exotic locales in search of one of history's greatest artifacts that unleash unwelcome figures from Lara's mysterious past. Use her skills to explore vast, treacherous tombs, riddled with challenging puzzles and deadly traps. Physics, Water and Fire systems bring the perilous environments of Lara's world alive, and challenge the player to improvise solutions to obstacles. Jump into the future of adrenaline-fueled adventure.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty Short for a "Legend.", April 18, 2006

By 

B. Erickson "boycorrupted" (Overland Park, KS United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Tomb Raider Legend (Video Game)

I know, I know, nowadays the kids have been spoiled by open-ended RPGs that can take 70+ hours to complete, and you hear a lot of unfair complaints about the relative "brevity" of standard action-adventure fare. I'm not some video game shut-in with no life, so I couldn't spend 70 hours on a game even if I wanted to - and anyway that's not the point of an action game, nor should it be. When I hear people complaining about "short" games, I tend to take it with a grain of salt.

That said, "Tomb Raider: Legend" IS short, by any standard. "Leave 'em wanting more" was apparently the developers' philosophy here. If you ask me, that's preferable to the philosophy of the last TR installment, "Angel of Darkness," which was apparently "Frustrate 'em till they give up." Everything about "Legend" feels right, from the moment you take control of the newly-designed Lara as she scales the cliffs of Bolivia in the first level. It's actually fun rather than merely grueling to perform the various acrobatic stunts required to ascend the mountainside; and when you encounter enemies (the traditional generic bad guys and endangered cats), the ensuing battles are fairly satisfying, if not very difficult or technically sophisticated. Gone is the rigid grid upon which all prior TRs were based; gone is the clumsy control scheme that made navigating the grid such an unforgiving experience. Lara is finally a contender again in the world of game heroes. Of course, the fact that "Legend" is such a pleasure to play just means that you'll reach the end even faster.

"Legend" is essentially a 6-8 hour game. That's the bare-bones time to get through all the levels including the Croft Manor. If you really want to find all the "Rewards" (you knew them as "Secrets" before), you can probably tack on a few hours of replay; but there aren't any "extras" beyond that - no online, no mini-games, no unlockable "Tomb Raider" arcade or what-not. A lot of people will have a problem with that, and practically everybody will wish there was more here. But on balance, I have no qualms recommending "Legend." For me, what with my actual life and all, a 7 hour game is really a 7 day game at least; and I'm the type to replay a game I like over and over again just for the fun of it.

I mentioned the Croft Manor, which is one of many motifs from previous TR games to make a reappearance in "Legend." The developers - Crystal Dynamics rather than Core this time around, since the latter so conclusively botched "Angel of Darkness" - have truly done their homework, and "Legend" is packed with homages to classic moments from the series. Bolivia, for example, is like a wish-fulfillment version of Lara's very first Tomb Raiding excursion in Vilcabamba, while Ghana recalls TR3's South Pacific levels, and Kazakhstan brings up memories of Antarctica from TR2. But whereas before it took a definite act of imagination to believe in the blocky, pixelated environments, the sets in "Legend" are practically flawless. This is one of the most impressive games on XBox, graphically speaking. The levels are typically huge and exotic, the textures look great even close up (in most cases), and ambient effects like sunlight and mist are handled beautifully.

Gameplay is also leaps and bounds over the old titles, as should be expected; but considered against the backdrop of all the other excellent action games on XBox and PS2 (and now 360), it's nothing really exceptional. Enemies, as always in TR, are few and far between, and the combat segments are just convenient ways of breaking up the exploring and puzzle-solving sequences. When she encounters them, Lara can blast away at enemies with her trademark pistols or a single alternative high-powered firearm (shotgun, assault rifle, etc). She can also perform a special maneuver in which she vaults off an enemy's head and then litters him with bullets in slow-motion (a la Max Payne); and she has a grappling hook that occasionally comes in handy for some BloodRayne-esque snaring of foes from a distance. But that's pretty much all she wrote as far as combat. The "puzzles" themselves still revolve around pushing blocks and dodging rolling balls, but they're neither as difficult nor as tedious as they used to be, and you'll have no problem figuring out what to do next. Rope-swinging and pole-climbing are back, but fortunately with vastly-improved mechanics. As for wall climbing, let's just say Lara's taken some notes from Prince of Persia. She's much nimbler, and you can even make her "double-time" it by hitting Y in sync with her movements. Swimming also comes into play in a few of the levels (nothing as "involved" as those abysmal underwater portions of London in TR3), and the mechanic is simple and intuitive. To top it off, there are a few segments in which Lara takes off on a Ducati just to add some variety to the gameplay. All in all, she's a lot of fun to control - the only problem is that she feels like she could handle a lot more punishment than she's ever dealt in this game.

Basically, what we have in "Tomb Raider: Legend" is a beautiful game that finally brings the franchise up to date while remaining close to its roots. True, TR fans are used to MUCH harder games than this, and it's so short you could miss it if you blink. Still, it's nice to finally be able to say "Lara's Back!" - and mean it!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Glorious!, August 25, 2006

By 

Brandon Wells (FL, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Tomb Raider Legend (Video Game)

I'm not even remotely a Tomb Raider fan. In fact, I hated all the previous ones. But this latest installment proved to be worthy of a place among the finest games. Legend delivers in all aspects of greatness. The graphics are incredible, the environments are beautiful, and the gameplay is most definitely inspired by the new Prince of Persia titles, which means it resembles the best. The voice acting in English is good, but the German track is to die for (you'll have to set your XBOX to Deutsch to hear it - subtitles are available in English if needed). Although the game is short, it is quite re-playable, with all sorts of hidden stuff to find (or use gamefaqs to find...). I love this game, and have only two minor complaints. The first is the cliche: it's pretty short. About seven hours. The second is when you are trying to jump hanging from ledges, the directional control changes with the camera angle, causing occasional oops-I-just-jumped-into-oblivion moments. Luckily checkpoints keep you from losing too much progress. Anyway buy this game even if you've never played Tomb Raider or think the movies sucked (I won't express my opinion here), it is worth your money.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Game, But Too Short, April 17, 2006

By 

Morgan J. - See all my reviews

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Tomb Raider Legend (Video Game)

Don't get me wrong this game is by far a better buy then "Angel of Darkness." However for a "Tomb Raider" game it was too short of a storyline. I was hooked on this game, the controls are so much easier to understand and use. Lara moves so much better then in previous games and the graphics are awesome.

As I said the storyline was a disapointment. In "Tomb Raider Last Revelation" it took me about a month or more to finish the game completely. This game I was able to beat in 5 days and thats from 5 hours of game play each day about.

This is game is worth buying but dont be surprised about how short it is. Eidos needs to know for future games a much longer storyline for Lara Croft game is far better. To this day "Tomb Raider Last Revelation" is still by far my favorite.

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