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 enlarge | From: Eidos Interactive
Category: Video Games
List Price: $19.99
Buy New: $8.49
You Save: $11.50 (58%)
New (29) Used (21) from $5.98
Avg. Customer Rating:  71 reviews
Sales Rank: 2567
Platform: Playstation2
ESRB: Teen
Media: Video Game
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Age: 12 - 20 years
Operating System: Playstation 2
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: 100730
Model: 50048
UPC: 788687500487
EAN: 0788687500487
ASIN: B0009VRSJ6
Release Date: April 11, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Tomb Raider: The Legend. Is the best among all Tomb Raider games. September 18, 2006
This game is INCREDIBLLY great. The graphics are the best I have ever seen in any games.. It all is so beautifully done. Especially the Bolivia level.
However, people wouldn't buy TRL just because of the graphics. But they do help a little.
The levels are really fun, also. But in the first one.. I didn't find it to be very challenging or fun.
The controls are WAY WAY WAY better than they have ever been in TR. It could not be any better. You don't even have to press the action button to grab onto another ledge. In all the older ones.. You had to. So that is pretty good.
And you can change the outfits.. Not by level. But you do have to unlock them. That's part of the fun. The Time Trials and everything. Now I wonder what will be in the next one.
And one of the cons are.. THAT this game is JUST too friggin short for forty dollars. I never finished a TR game before. Well, except for TRAD but that one sucked so I don't count that one as a TR game. There are only
Bolivia,
Peru,
Japan,
West Africa,
Kaziskhatan- Sorry about the spelling.
England,
Nepal,
Bolivia Redux.
There are only seven levels. But replay as Time Trials.. They are pretty challenging. Even the first level was SOO hard..
And I know.. This game isn't too adventurous like the other games were. But it is a great game no matter what.
And oh yeah it takes FOREVER for a pistol upgrade.
 Bad engines ruin games July 15, 2006
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
I can't understand why this series is so popular -- I guess just because the main character is a buxom woman with guns. Based on its wild popularity, I have tried to play several installments of this franchise. They all suffer from terrible engines. This one, at least, has abandoned the engine of the PS1 installments, which has a horribly counterintuitive movement system. This one is more natural, but the camera angles are awful and make it hard to perform any real-time actions. The puzzles -- so far as I got -- were OK. The graphics were pretty good. But there are too many types of controls. I stopped playing when I repeatedly died because I had no idea what button to press to take a particular action. A good game engine should have intuitive controls, and the difficulty should grow out of solving puzzles or perfecting movement. This one mostly just required memorizing lots of buttons that were only used intermittently. BTW this game was best when it was trying to imitate Prince of Persia. But that game has a better story, better controls, and better voice characterizations.
 One of the best in the series July 14, 2006
Well, Tomb Raider is fun again. I couldn't believe the steady decline of this game from its original masterpiece to one mediocre game after another culminating in the bomb, Angel of Darkness, the first release for PS2. Given it's history there was absolutely no reason to expect anything beyond mediocrity from this latest incarnation. Thankfully, I was wrong. This is a great game though it's no trendsetter the way its ancient ancestor was. Those who are avid fans of action/adventure games will immediately see the influence of such greats as Prince of Persia and God of War. Lara is much more acrobatic in this game performing stunts that Prince of Persia fans will recognize and overall control of her as well as graphics is akin to God of War.
The story line is intriguing but I really don't play videogames for their drama. I'm much more interested in the action and the quality of the puzzles. Tomb Raider delivers on both. The puzzles are clever and fun to figure out requiring all of Lara's extensive acrobatics that I never tired of watching. The action usually involves Lara in a shootout with a bunch of baddies at key spots in the game. She can dispatch of them with an arsenal of weapons and grenades that include her trusty pistols, shotguns, and machine guns. This time it's a little more realistic though. Along with her pistols and grenades she can only carry one other weapon which you have to choose from based upon the weapons dropped by your dead enemies. The choice could be a shotgun or one or another of an assortment of automatic rifles. Along with her weapons Lara also has a grappling hook which is absolutely the coolest accessory that's ever been added to her arsenal. She uses it for a variety of reasons both to solve puzzles and to dispatch of enemies.
Controlling Lara is as much fun as I've ever had with a character. She jumps gaps, climbs ropes, swings on them, does giant swings and "flyways" on limbs and bars, climbs poles, and scales walls, grabs ledges, grapples them, jumps from one to the other and shimmies along them. The environments created for her to exercise these moves are brilliantly laid out, beautiful to look at, and challenge you to a satisfying test of your dexterity with the controller while you marvel at her fluid executions of your commands. In combat, Lara is just as responsive. The patented auto aim is still present with some clever additions added. You can rush up close to your enemies and springboard off of them to enter a bullet time sequence where you somersault high into the air and dispatch of your enemies as you sail back to earth. You can also slide tackle them as you rush them, then finish them off as they struggle back to their feet.
Lara also rides a motorcycle in a couple of sequences that are a combination of a race against time and a survival test as bad guys show up on their own motorcycles, jeeps and armored vehicles to thwart you from arriving at your destination. On one occasion you're chasing a military convoy to rescue a friend, the other a train which has an ancient relic that you have to prevent the bad guys from holding onto.
There are only 8 levels in this game and that's its one shortcoming. It's clear there's a sequel to this game by the way it ends, but I think if the producers weren't so cheap they probably could have included the sequel in this game instead of breaking it up into 2 separate games which I suspect they did. Each level ends with a gratifying boss fight that requires a combination of action and puzzle solving. Don't expect to win on the first shot. It usually took me 2 or 3 attempts to kill a boss.
All in all, I would say this is the best Tomb Raider game since the second one after which they steadily declined through about 4 or 5 inceptions. This might even be the best since the original. I've already played through it twice and I have no doubt I will be playing it several more times in the future as the years pass by. I still play TR1 and TR2 every now and then as I do with all great games and this one is in their ranks. It is on my permanent shelf of best games ever and I am very particular about which games I store on that shelf.
Fun, intuitive, enjoyable July 10, 2006
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
I played a previous Tomb Raiders for about 5 minutes only to realize that the game really wasn't that good. Well, they corrected the problem by pretty much copying the control scheme and puzzle environments of the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, one of the best games in this current console generation.
The game is short but sweet. Rarely any frustration, rarely any repeating. Now hardcore gamers would be repulsed by that fact they you never have to repeat the same level over and over again or that you won't be struggle over and over again. However, for just fun, simple gameplay, it's pretty good.
You play in a few varied levels, an underground cave, in snow, in the jungle, ancient temple. All unique and a sight to behold. The levels have a tremendous amount of checkpoints, so there's no worries about killing the same people or making the same jump over and over again.
The gameplay consists of a mixture of action, adventure, and puzzle. In the puzzles, you'll have to move a certain rock of climb a certain rock to advance to the next stage. While not difficult, it will sometimes tingle the synaptic nerves now and again. The action is a simple third person shooter, with a few jumps and quite a few enemies. The weapons are standard, the shooting and auto-aim work pretty much like the standard fair. All in all, it's a standard game done very well.
It's not all perfect though. While this game flows well, there are a few moments where the games don't work well. Most notably, the bosses. The game falls into the trap where there has to be a giant creature where you have to find the "trick" to beat it, and then continuously repeat the "trick" or you'll have to repeat the whole ordeal again. Quite boring and annoying to say the least. Also, the motorcycle missions are extremely out of place as well.
All in all, it's a very good game. Everyone should at least rent this one.
Pros:
Intuitive
Varied, colored levels
Rarely has to repeat anything.
Puzzles
Cons:
Motorcycle missions were annoying
Bosses were boring, cliched, and ruined the flow
Difficulty Level (on easy): Easy
Time to Complete: 8 hours
An appropriate title July 4, 2006
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
First off, let's face a horrible fact: since about the second Tomb Raider game, the series has just plain sucked. Fortunately, with some key personnel back on board, the folks at Crystal Dynamics and Eidos have put together Tomb Raider Legend, a game that's much more true to what made the series actually attractive in the first place.
Of course, Lara Croft is back as the well-endowed and athletic protagonist, and this time she's going to delve into a mystery that involves her parents, long lost friends, and plenty of ancient ruins to explore through.
Unlike past Tomb Raider games, Legend goes back to its roots with a healthy does of exploration and puzzle-solving. You'll still use your dual pistols, complete with infinite ammo, to take out plenty of bad guys throughout the game, but the killing of various wildlife is pretty much gone. There will be a leopard or an attack dog to kill every once in a while, but mostly you're going to be fighting various commandos that also want whatever Lara's looking for in those ruins.
Combat is much more stylish than in the earlier games. Lara can still flip, dive, and roll while shooting, but now she's got even more acrobatic moves. Charge an enemy and slide at them while shooting, and you'll pop them up into the air, ragdoll-physics-style, and keep shooting them. Jump at an enemy and then jump again once your feet reach their face, and Lara will do a graceful, slow motion backflip off of the guy's head while shooting him simultaneously. We've seen this kind of stuff in games before, but the delivery here is very satisfying. And Lara isn't just limited to pistols; she can carry very powerful grenades, and she can carry an extra, limited ammo weapon on her back, like an assault rifle, grenade launcher, or shotgun.
Lara's got plenty of moves she can employ even when her guns are safely in their holsters. When it comes to acrobatic moves, Tomb Raider Legend has picked it up habits once again from the Prince of Persia series of games (the Tomb Raider games have borrowed plenty of platforming elements from the original Prince of Persia games from the late '80s and early '90s). Lara moves gracefully as she hops, climbs, flips, and shimmies around. The animations are great, and the situations Lara gets into can get intense. There are a few dramatically scripted sequences, complete with a "tap this button right now or Lara gets crushed or falls to her death" element, which will keep you on your toes. Some Tomb Raider purists might scoff at these part-Dragon's Lair, part-Shenmue moments, but I think it's a good way to make sure that players are paying attention to the action at all times, even if it's during a cutscene.
Mixed in with the platforming and action elements are some new sequences on a motorcycle. Although Lara can shoot from the bike, you will find quickly that you really have to watch the path in front of you. Every bump against the wall or a rock costs you plenty of health, so watch the road! Well, in this case, watch the dirt path. These sequences are kind of fun but leave something to be desired, especially the very, very short motorcycle sequence in Tokyo.
Most of Tomb Raider Legend's difficulty comes from the puzzles that are laid out in many of the ruins. Combat is usually pretty easy since everyone but Lara is a terrible shot, and most of your enemies stand still while you're flying around the room, and the controls are pretty sharp and easy to get used to. That leaves actually figuring out what to do when the game presents a puzzle, and the first major one will test your logic skills right from the start. Sure, Lara has some crazy binoculars that can "scan" items like what we saw in Metroid Prime, but the game still doesn't tell you how to solve anything. You'll have to figure them out for yourself.
The addition of a grappling hook makes for some interesting gameplay in Legend. You'll need to use it to pull things towards you, smash things open, pull yourself towards something else, or even swing from the ceiling like Indiana Jones on his whip. That last bit only happens in specific spots, though, so you can't just use it to go all Tarzan to escape an area.
While the developers seem to have tried to make sure that there aren't any major frame rate issues that pop up in mid-jump or during combat, it's a little disconcerting having the game slow down significantly just because you decided to swing the camera around a bit.
The locales you'll be visiting in Legend range from the Ghana rainforests to Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Tokyo, and even Peru. The developers have done a great job mixing up the pacing, sending you back into ruins just before you get tired of shimmying around the edge on a Tokyo skyscraper (and vice versa). While Lara's adventure this time around is pretty short, the exploration elements, great visuals that the Xbox 360 can produce, and even the surprisingly interesting story all come together to make a pretty solid game anyway. Those who aren't big on finding hidden bonus items or replaying levels in a "time attack" mode might find that the price is too high to pay for six to eight hours of gameplay, but there's plenty here to satisfy both those who like to rent or buy their games.
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