I have never been too big a fan of the tomb raider series. The idea of solving puzzles, climbing ledges, swinging from vines and the typical qualities you get with the adventure genre and games like this, to me, is good in small doses. What can I say? These things just don?t entice me. And to be honest, I?m not positive why it ever was so popular.

On the other hand, Lara is hot.

Isn?t that really what it comes down to? We?ve seen plenty of sequels to this game and I?m no mathematician, but I think it?s safe to assume that developers don?t make four or five sequels for any game unless they turn a profit. Not to mention, two movies have been made and Lara Croft has certainly become iconic in the video game world. I just think we need to be honest with ourselves here, guys; it might not be the games we?re crazy about ? I think were crazy about Lara.

With that said, Tomb Raider: Legend is still a cool game. It?s available for just about every console and a PSP release is slated for next month. If you?ve yet to save up enough money or receive your tax return to invest in an X360, then you?re missing out on the sharpest experience, but you won?t be missing out on too much if you have to settle for a lower tier console.

TRL takes you around the world to places in Bolivia, Africa, and England exploring environments of primordial jungles, desolate ruins, and colossal castles on a search for ancient artefacts. Like I said before: it?s all about climbing up and across cliffs and ledges, swinging and jumping from vines, swimming through moats and rivers and a list of other tests to conquer, simply too long to mention. The lethal gunmen that come along the way are a lot of fun to whoop. Compared to fighting enemies in predecessors, Lara still locks on and depends on her dual pistols ? I thought it?d be cool if they gave her a little bit of kung fu ? but she has much more freedom and agility this time around. Once you get the hang of it, you should have no trouble jumping and rolling around in order to dodge bullets. There are also times when an icon will pop up on the screen indicating that you can fire at a collapsible object in the environment, such as a boulder sitting on a ledge or a fragile column (how oddly convenient!), and enemies don?t stand a chance.

Graphics are smooth for the most part; I noticed a hiccup here and there on the PS2 version. In terms of sound, the music is pumping when it needs to be and the dialogue of Lara communicating on her headset with her crew has its moments.

While the game is challenging, I?d say a mature gamer won?t have too hard a time getting through it, thus, I?d recommend this game strictly as a rental.






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