Reviews// Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend (PS2)

Another update to the series that is long overdue is the ability to move things freely about the levels. The first game introduced us to the skill of moving blocks by pushing or dragging them in straight lines. This feature was kept the same throughout the entire series of games to date. Now with Legend, Lara is able to move things about very freely, turning by the slightest angle to push crates into exactly the right position. Rolling boulders has also been added, suddenly the historical enemy has become an ally. The boulders move as specified by the physics of planet Earth too, so do many other things that Lara can move by dragging, pushing or even by administering a swift kick from her shapely feet. Enemies drop convincingly, explosions throw debris through realistic looking arcs and we have yet to find any objects embedded into walls or floating in the air.

Tomb Raider II introduced Lara to vehicles for the first time, Legend continues this popular addition in a slightly different way than older games in the series. Previously vehicles were only used to get around levels in ways that Lara could not do on foot. Here, vehicles are also used in special stages. During these stages, Lara is attacked by yet more mercenaries, riding and driving alongside her in an attempt to bring their guns to bear on our plucky heroine. We are forced to guide Lara between boulders, over jumps and through crates in order to reach her goal. Of course, she can fire back at the nasty men as well. These sequences are amongst the weakest of the game since they feel almost bolted on to give a different aspect to the gameplay. They work well in and of themselves, but they don't integrate well with the rest of the game.

There are a few more niggles of course, it wouldn't be a SPOnG review if we only pointed out the good things. No matter how much is riding on the success of Legend, we need to be objective and fair.

The main issue is mentioned above, Lara has continued her move towards being a character from a John Woo film. The human body count on Legend is quite high and that is not what we at SPOnG see as the point of Tomb Raider games. Granted we don't like the killing of endangered animals either, but a middle ground could easily be reached. Indiana Jones managed quite well with a six-shooter and a whip, why does Lara need grenades, sub-machine guns and rifles? To make another movie-related analogy, compare the difference between the television version of Mission: Impossible and the movies that have spun off from the series - more flash and bang than think and plan.

Another gripe we have involves more retro-gaming inspired action that has found its way into the Tomb Raider experience. In several places throughout the game, we are asked to guide Lara through a difficult situation by quickly pressing buttons at the right time during what looks like a cut scene. This gameplay technique harks back to the original Dragon's Lair for inspiration and is just as frustrating when you get it wrong or don't react in time as it was in that older game. A similar issue occurs when you get to what we like to call a "Run Lara Run" sequence. These involve escaping from a pursuing threat such as a helicopter, boulder or supernatural enemy by just running and dodging obstacles. You have very little warning that you have entered one of these sequences and you can be killed after only a couple of seconds. Again frustration, and re-loading, can occur frequently.

So has it all worked? Has Eidos saved Lara from the second-hand basket at Gamestation? Turn over and find out...