Xbox 360's Tomb Raider: Legend offering from Crystal Dynamics is the seventh installment in the Tomb Raider series, and it's hard for fans to explain the franchise's appeal - mostly because they're too busy watching Lara's breasts bounce up and down. For those less interested in mammaric polygon development, Legend is a great game with plenty of other things to enjoy.
Somebody seems to have noticed what the game's predecessor, Angel of Darkness, did wrong. Legend goes back to the tried and true for Lara, and there's nothing wrong with that. There's a stylish but minimal back-story about Lara's missing mother and - shock horror - an artifact in pieces scattered across the world that needs reassembling. So it's off to Peru, Tokyo, Kazakhstan, Ghana, etc, to jump, run, and swing your way through tombs and ruins. The game makes full use of the Xbox 360's higher graphical quality, and especially in HDTV it look stunning. The exotic locations play up the 360's strengths, but the game throws in a bit of variety, too, such as an abandoned research facility. The level of detail in the backgrounds makes it well worth just standing and looking for a couple of minutes - as does Lara's lovely stretching 'idle' animation.
Generally, the game is easier to drive than some of its predecessors. There's no more pixel-pushing to get a jump just right on the fifteenth try. As long as you're pointed in the right direction, Legend makes it easy for you, even if you end up clinging by your fingernails. Lara has something called a Remote Analysis Device which lets you know which bits of an environment you can interact with, so actually finding the puzzle is easier. Gun play is completely simplified: left trigger aims, right trigger fires, keep firing until everything falls down. Some people will find the lack of finesse annoying, but the trade-off is a very shallow learning curve. There are still odd problems with camera angles and not being able to get a good look at a jump, but you wont be spending too much time stuck looking at Lara's beautifully-rendered shorts.
Crystal Dynamics have added a grapple tool to Lara's arsenal which does add a different dimension to the gameplay. They do get their mileage out of it, though, and the novelty wears off. Likewise, you have the ability to leap off an enemy's head and shoot him in loving cinematic slow-mo, which everyone should do at least twice and not many times more - it's painfully slow. There are a couple of motorcycle sequences too, which is the only place where the game physics get seriously dodgy. Lara also has a chest-mounted torch, because... erm... a girl needs her hands. Yeah.
The biggest problem with the game is that there simply isn't enough of it. There's unlockable content in Croft Manor, and a Beat the Clock version, but even with all that, it's still just a weekend's play. Partly, that's because with more save points and less pixel-pushing, you're repeating yourself a lot less. And while the game is visually sumptuous, there are a few times when the frame-rate drops to a frustrating crawl.
Still, overall, Xbox 360's Tomb Raider: Legend is an experience worth having. Whether you're awed by vast jungle panoramas or the way Lara's skin glistens when she pulls herself out of the water, Legend makes it worth having all that grunt in your console. Lara might even be worth buying that new wide-screen for.
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