Metascore

Generally favorable reviews - based on 43 Critics What's this?

User Score

Mixed or average reviews- based on 63 Ratings

  • Summary: Tomb Raider: Legend revives the athletic, intelligent and entertaining adventurer who won the hearts and minds of gamers worldwide. Lara comes alive with intricately animated expressions, moves and abilities. An arsenal of modern equipment, such as a magnetic grappling device, binoculars, frag grenades, personal lighting device and communications equipment, allows gamers to experience tomb raiding as never before. Eidos and Crystal Dynamics shaped Lara's look and movements to be an inherent extension of her skills, motivation and personality. Lara's character model features natural structure, realistic textures, detailed facial features, reactive eyes and fluid motion, all of which make her part of a living environment. New character animations and controls allow her to move through stunning environments with grace and precision, while an understanding of the game's original appeal reinvigorates the fundamental explore-and-solve adventure experience. [Eidos Interactive] Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 37 out of 43
  2. Negative: 0 out of 43
  1. 100
    The improved graphics make all of the environments you visit look lively and beautiful, both in and out of the jungle and in and out of water. Lighting and shadows are done quite well and provide a very noticeable visual improvement over the last few games as is the audio.
  2. While the gameplay is serviceable, fun and current, the art design and visual production are head and shoulders above similar games in many respects.
  3. The voice acting sounds good, and is made better because the dialogue is well written. The background music is solid and fits the game well.
  4. 72
    Over in a flash, Legend is great in parts, rubbish in others. There's simply not enough tomb raiding. In fact, there's not enough of anything. Despite some great moments, there's just not enough gameplay, leaving this sadly lacking. [Issue#139, p.66]

See all 43 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 27
  2. Negative: 2 out of 27
  1. This game is awesome I bought it from Gamestop for $5 and was totally surprised it's great it's kind of like prince of persia mixed with uncharted except you play as a hot chick instead of some dude with a beard. Expand
  2. People have started to lose interest in Tomb Raider in the last few years but once you play Legend, you'll soon be back into it again. The seventh instalment in the series that started way back in 1996 by Core Design, now in the hands of Crystal Dynamics brings you a new adventure that is finally worth playing and you don't need to worry about any flaws that suffered in the last instalment, Angel of Darkness. Lara Croft is searching for lost clues and to cover the truth what happened to her mother and her old friend Amanda. You are looking for the missing parts of Excalibur which are scattered in different countries around the world. There are also bronze, silver and gold relics to find that are hidden in every level, the more you find, the greater your rewards will be and you hear that classic old secret chime (from the old PS1 games) every time you find one. Most of Lara's actions are the same as before which includes, walking, jumping, sprinting and climbing, however you can perform some really cool gymnastic movements too. You can swing round a pole, jump from wall to wall and ledge to ledge when you're climbing up those really high walls and my personal favourite you can swing over those really big gaps with your zip line. There are some new weapons to carry as well (including the old automatic pistols - you remember those don't you) but you can't carry as many as you could in the PS1 games which is a shame but maybe this is to make it more realistic. I mean you couldn't possible carry up to 8 weapons and fit them in your backpack could you? One of my favourite action moves (that is new in the game) is the slow motion movies (a bit like from The Matrix), that take place during combat or when avoiding traps and falls, a bit like from The Matrix. Graphically the game has improved dramatically and I was really impressed at what these people have done, they definatly deserve some credit for bringing Tomb Raider back from the dead. There is sharper detail, better lighting and shiny surfaces. Some of the level designs are beautiful, especially the Bolivia one where you can see rocks and mountains from thousands of kilometres away. The water effects are great too, you can see the splash and movement of the waves perfectly. The only problems with the game is puzzles aren't as challenging as before, camera angles are a pain sometimes depending on where you stand and the game itself is short. Once you've completed it, you will be able to finish it again in a couple of hours. However Tomb Raider: Legend for me is of the best action/adventures we have seen on the PS2 for a while. Expand
  3. This is one of the best tomb raiders its a great game the controls work very well these are some of the best graphics on ps2 and the game play is fun but the problem is the game is to short and its the easiest tomb raider to date which might anger some hardcore fans despite those things this is still tomb raider and there is alot of fun to be had Expand
  4. Nickjitsu
    3
    What a disappointment! A bit like the modern Star Wars movies, not a patch on the original. Nice graphics and better combat don't make up for the lack of any real puzzles, challenges, freedom to explore or the very short lifespan of the game. You can't really call this a Tomb Raider game. It's more a Prince of Persia, with breasts, for 5 year olds! Expand

See all 27 User Reviews