14 DAY TRIAL // 
In the world of male heroes, muscles, sweat and big guns, who's the femme fatale to kick their behinds? Yeah, you've got it, it's Lara Croft, the sexiest video game character ever. Do you remember how it all started? In 1996 gamers met Lara Croft, the bold British adventurer that rocked their imaginations and gamepads. The most famous gaming female hero is back to solve puzzles, shoot and ride bikes. Don't you just love her?
Story When a game series reaches its seventh title you start asking yourself "What more can they do?". Hasn't Lara explored the entire planet already? Hasn't she found tons of relics? What did she miss? The answer comes with Tomb Raider: Legend. The sexy heroine is set on finding artifacts in South America, at first. The game starts with a flashback of Lara and her mom flying on a plane that is about to crash. They escape the crash and land in a strange place. You'll find out details about the way Lara's mother died as you set on a quest to find pieces of King Arthur's sword. Along the way you'll battle not only the Yakuza, but also Amanda Evert, a supposedly dead old friend of our beloved female hero. Where could Lara go next? The moon? Heaven? It would be nice to see her solving puzzles in low gravity or pushing crates between seraphims.
Concept This is the first Tomb Raider game of the series designed by Crystal Dynamics, the makers of the Legacy of Kain series. You'll have the ball of your life with the 8 missions that the game offers you, as you travel to Africa, England, Japan or Bolivia. The levels are quite small comparing to the other Tomb Raider games. Something worth mentioning is that the ammo and health don't fall from the sky in the game and you'll find them next to the corpses of your foes. The presence of checkpoints is very inconsistent, some being too close to the previous, others too far. Lara is not as stone-cold as in previous parts of the series, acting human and the cutscenes will prove that.
Gameplay Any adventurer must have quite a bag of items and Miss Croft is not an exception as she carries binoculars, fragmentation grenades, a source of light, communication equipment and God knows what else. The puzzles of Tomb Raider: Legend are all physics-based, many of them relying on the weight of the used objects. All quests are quite simple, and none of them will give you a serious headache, except for the one in King Arthur's tomb. Binoculars help you in your adventure pointing towards the exact location of the objects you need to interact with in order to solve a puzzle.
These are rocks, crates, barrels and they shine to prove their utility. You should not only fear men when exploring tombs, as beasts want your scalp too, although the AI of tigers or pumas is very primitive. Miss Croft remained a fan of the dual pistol trend, carrying the trademark guns that seem to be with her wherever. Lara must change outfits according to weather or occasion. You'll watch her in a jacket traveling under the siege of blizzard, or in an evening dress when she's ready to attend a formal cocktail party. There will be a lot of jumping to do, and a lot of falling for that matter. Hanging on ropes, doing the Tarzan move we all know or climbing walls fits the new Lara's description.
You don't have to worry about the AI, because foes are either too stupid to kill you, or too busy missing you. However, bosses are kind of frustrating to defeat, specially the last one as you'll see. And a multi-headed Hydra shouldn't be as difficult to eliminate as a Yakuza boss, isn't it? The young lady will use a magnetic grappling-gun to get around the place by hanging on walls, spears or anything that can save her life when the floor opens up to swallow her tender body. Tired of shooting and shooting? Take aim and blow up a gas tank by pressing the triangle button to confuse the foes or simply dispose of them.
The player will drive a motorcycle twice in the game, in a mad rush with quite bad physics. You'll notice the speed is very high and the continuous shooting you have to do will get your adrenaline level higher. The game can be finished in approximately 7 hours, on a standard level of difficulty, unlocking costumes for Lara and missions in the Croft manor. Tomb Raider: Legend returns old gamers to their origins, to the dusty tombs and trap-packed ruins, with only one level set in urban environments. Lara must have been to lots of gymnastic classes in the past years as she swings and jumps like never before, using all sorts of exotic movements. The interaction with the surrounding environment is greater, because you can push boulders, carry or push crates, float on coffins. While shooting you can lock on your enemies and change target by pressing the right analog stick.
Video The graphics of this game is great and I'm not lying when I say that the detail difference between the gameplay and cutscenes is not noticeable. The FMV-s are very "James Bond" - like. Backgrounds are very well done, giving you the creepy tomb feeling we missed in the last 3 games of the series. Lara gets wet...when and after she swims. You'll notice shiny drops of water on her body minutes after she gets out of the "pool", because the light is reflected by the water that remains on her gorgeous feet.
Miss Croft has never been so sexy and well designed as she seems to have had a face-lift after Angel of Darkness. Camera angles are kind of confusing, especially in the swimming part of the missions. The graphics flow neatly when you ride a Ducati through the desert, shooting your way out of that dusty old place. Great lighting and fire effects in the depth of tombs will almost make you take your eyes of miss Croft's assets. The character animation never knew this kind of details, as you'll see very expressive eye movement; gestures and textures will be more realistic. The cocktail party in Japan was really something as getting to see Lara in a black evening dress is quite a pleasure for a fan of hers.
Sound Karima Adebibe, the new Lara doesn't do the voice for the game, as the adventurous heroine is voiced briliantly by the British actress Keely Hawes. Dialogs are good and the characters have the strength to keep you glued to the storyline. However, bosses sound like answering machines, having only two or three lines, a reason more to end their lives. The explosions and shots will detonate your speakers, or scare your neighbors while singing to your ears. Lara's voice is more pleasant and friendly while the background rhythms will lose you in the ancient tombs or jungle.
You'll hear oriental melodies throughout the game and I consider the soundtrack something worth listening to even when you're not playing Tomb Raider: Legend. After all the composer, Troels Folmann got a BAFTA award for this brilliant soundtrack. At some point in the game I thought I had hearing problems, but the echo I heard was indeed a realistic side of being in an underground cave filled with water. Let's not forget to mention the noises made by the waterfall and the birds in Africa; you'll swear that you're strolling through the jungle.
Conclusion Lara has become a phenomenon in the past 10 years with the Tomb Raider production, either movie or game. Fans of these kind of games never leave after failures like Angel of Darkness, but they complain and wait for a masterpiece, or at least an improvement. The good news is that the original Tomb Raider is back. The bad news? No more Angelina Jolie in the game or movie. The character was taken over by the actress Karima Adebibe, who doesn't convince me that she's crafty enough for the Croft throne. The game is very good, no major defects; it's a breath of fresh air in the Tomb Raider series, with good gameplay, and excellent graphics and sound. A reproach for Crystal Dinamics would be the game's length, but I guess I'll forgive them if the sequel comes sooner and it's at least as good as this game.
