8.2

aussiegamer

Lara Croft Tomb Raider Legend

Tomb Raider: Legend revives the athletic, intelligent and entertaining adventurer who won the hearts and minds of gamers worldwide. Lara comes alive with intricately animated expressions, moves and abilities. An arsenal of modern equipment, such as a magnetic grappling device, binoculars, frag grenades, personal lighting device and communications equipment, allows gamers to experience tomb raiding as never before.

Features

The story is a mix of present and past. Lara is sure that a friend of hers Amanda is still alive, despite being trapped under a pile of rubble underwater, an accident that Lara only just avoided herself. This all ties in with the disappearance of her mother as well, presumably into some kind of vortex as she tried to spare Lara from the same fate. Croft needs to find out what happened and it involves some sort of ancient sword relic that other parties are keen to get into their possession as well.

The tale takes you all over the world to some truly fantastic locales. The attention to detail is fabulous and in fact it is this game that has really shone to me in terms of the fact which shows the potential of the PSP. It simply looks amazing and there is very little to complain about graphically. The only draw back with the PSP version is that you are limited to how much control you have over the camera. This means that you can only reset the camera to which direction Lara is facing which does become annoying on harder levels.

The game has upped the ante from the puzzles in the past where you just had to pull across some blocks to get to a lever or something along those lines, you will actually have to think. Part of my thing was a series of slapping my forehead when you work out what you are meant to do, part of it was really enjoying the fact that this time round, the game is going to throw a number of spanners in your works. Traps and adventuring aside, there is plenty for those of us with itchy trigger fingers. Lara can handle a number of weapons with inclusion of throwing hand grenades.

Gymnastic moves abound in the title as Lara is possibly her most animated in any game in the series. In a great effort to make sure that the game runs as smoothly as possible, If you get Lara near an item that she can grab, that’s what happens. She’ll grab with both hands and if only one manages to hold on then it’s a press with the triangle that will allow her to rip the other hand up and make sure she is safe.

Locales in the game include Kazakhstan, England, Japan and loads more that Ms. Croft has to negotiate her way through. Everything looks highly polished even on the PSP and there are many interactive items that you can latch onto with your grappling hook, including your enemies in a Mortal Kombat “Get over here!” type way.

In a bit of a breakaway another thing that I enjoyed is the occasional side step into a Dragon’s lair mode where Lara is pre animated and you affect her movements by simple button pressing at the right time. It’s pretty cool and they’ve fitted it into the game really well. Unlike the PS2 or XBox 360 version, the PSP version is a tad harder to complete with the control system.

With a compelling storyline, drop dead gorgeous graphics and a real return to form, this is one game that if you had been put off the franchise then you simply owe it to yourself to find out why Lara and Tomb Raider was so awesome in the first place. I would have to give this one both thumbs up and say that it is a must have title for your PSP. If you want to see a game done right, then this one is for you .