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11/24/06 Written by Trevor Siemens
The Game:
First off I must mention I’m huge fan of the series and actually seeing it be brought to a Nintendo system makes me pretty happy.
This marks Lara Crofts debut on the Gamecube and we find her scurrying through darkened tombs, running across the rooftops of Japan, and of course swimming through murky waters in search for something that belonged to King Arthur
Gameplay:
You take control of the heroine Lara Croft in her latest adventure. Objectives are pretty simple, solve puzzles to progress through tombs, cities, building, locate hidden areas, and of course blast the bad guys on your search for a relic that, that ties into the disappearance of her mother all those years ago.
You get to travel through some pretty exotic local, from Peru to Japan, Ghana to Kazakhstan, and even relieve the faithful plain crash, which lead to her mother’s disappearance. Aside from exploring, and shooting things you get to rip around on a Motorbike, through some pretty extensive and intense fight scenes.
One nice part of the game was the flash back to Ashley’s death you actually get to play through the flash back and watch her archaeology team get wasted by the entity you’ve started hunting as opposed to just watching it. Some really cool stuff.
It’s a new adventure but at the same time you divulge into Lara’s past unlocking more information about her and why she is the way she is.
Visuals:
Breathtaking! Huge realistic areas, chalked full of gorgeous lighting effects, and water effects. The textures, shadowing and use of lighting really adds atmosphere to the game. Creating a nice mood for underground tombs, while the skyline of Japan is full of neon lighting.
The character models are gorgeous, Lara has never looked this good, ever! I also liked the fact if say you run through a waterfall and look at Lara you can see the water shine on her skin and bead up. The attention to detail is phenomenal.
Audio:
Nothing really ground breaking in this part, you have standard compositions and ambient noises. Its done very well, suits the game, but like I said nothing really stands out for me in this part
Control:
If you have played a Tomb Raider in the past, most specifically the second one you have no doubt found yourself in one situation or another cursing the guy who designed that part of the game, well I don’t blame you, cause it sucked.
In Legends the control scheme is completely revamped taking full use of the Gamecube wavebird control. I can honestly say its flawless, usually there is a bit of a learning curve to pretty much any game you play in regards to picking up the mechanism of the control. Legends just fits like a glove.
It really adds to the experience, not getting frustrated with controls in gameplay.
Replay Value:
Well there’s not much to do once your done the game, no multi player, nothing really to draw you back into the game. With that said based on level completion (time and difficulty) you do unlock special features, such as production stuff, behind the scenes content, but after that there nothing really there to make you want to relive the game, unless of you course you writing a review for the Gamecube version, but already played through the PS2, that’s a good enough reason.
Overall:
If your fan of the Tomb Raider franchise you will not be disappointed, Legends takes it to the next level, and every single enhancement from the previous incarnations are all pluses. Even if you’re not a fan give this game a chance, don’t listen to all the crap going around about how Tomb Raider games are shit, because that my friend is a lie. Legends has to be one of the best 3rd Person Action Adventure I’ve played in years, a true gem in the series, lets just hope we get more of them.
To sum up my thoughts, very solid gameplay, interesting story line, killer visuals, make for one amazing experience, an experience no gamer should go with out.
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