Tomb Raider: Legend

GameShark

Fans of the original games and new comers to the series alike will all take to this new outing and know why Lara was and always will be gaming goddess she is.

Gaming Age

Between the plotting, level design, and gameplay, Tomb Raider: Legend does an admirable job of rescuing the franchise. Crystal Dynamics have torn down the franchise, consulted with the creator, and rebuilt it from the ground up as something significantly different…Something great.

Game Over Online

I wouldn't complain if they'd given us a little more, though, but this is definitely a stellar start.

Games Radar

Every second of this game screams skillful design and the result is a liberating game world that feels open and responsive. Nearly every object in the game reacts to Lara's influence, and this applies to the gamer holding the control pad as well - it's impossible to play this game and not fall under its tempting spell.

Cheat Code Central

Tomb Raider: Legend is the definitive sequel/prequel/quadquel to the Tomb Raider series. It's hard to imagine where it can go from here.

Next Level Gaming

Tomb Raider fans finally once again have that must-have.

Game Chronicles

With perfect controls, intuitive gameplay, stunning graphics, majestic music, and a totally engaging story, this is the type of adventure game Legends are made of.

Game Informer

Tomb Raider: Legend fails to be a reinvention of any genres, but succeeds in every way at reinventing itself. [May 2006, p.96]

Kombo

Incredible controls, solid gameplay, beautiful graphics, and an engaging storyline.

The New York Times

While it has modernized the gameplay mechanics, Legend feels like a walk down memory lane, recreating the feel of the original games. This is somehow comforting; no matter how many times Lara misses a ledge, is crushed by a boulder or dies in a hail of bullets, you feel she will always be there for you.

VGPub

This is how the series always SHOULD have played, and while there are some small hiccups in the overall product, much of it is fantastic.

Official Xbox Magazine UK

It's amazingly easy to play, user-friendly, good fun and looks great throughout, but you may still find yourself completing it in a couple of sittings... A classy game that's a joy from start to finish. [Apr 2006, p.54]

Gamers' Temple

Easy to recommend to adventure gaming fans. It is a great mix of puzzle solving and acrobatic platform action that makes for some great gaming fun. Finally, Tomb Raider has returned to the excitement that made it a legend in the first place.

GamingTrend

Don't let the shortness of the game dissuade you from the experience, it's worth just about every second of it.

eToychest

While the gameplay is serviceable, fun and current, the art design and visual production are head and shoulders above similar games in many respects.

Console Gameworld

This one plays out like a summer action blockbuster with exotic locales, motorcycle chases and intrigue.

ZTGameDomain

With a revamped control scheme, massive levels to explore, and tons of secrets to unlock Tomb Raider Legend will keep avid gamers busy for a very long time to come.

Worth Playing

Completing the entire game with a 100-percent rating should take competent gamers no more than 14 hours, which is a shame, as Tomb Raider: Legend is really enjoyable for the short time you have with it.

GameZone

It’s good to see Lara back in top form and while her adventure is a bit on the short side and combat could have been handled a lot better, it’s hard to say no to a pretty girl that still has what it takes to show us a really good time.

Gaming Target

There are absolutely no questions about the future of the franchise now; in fact, I can’t wait for the next sequel, which is something that fans haven’t been able to say for a long time.

Jolt Online Gaming UK

Crystal Dynamics has finally made Lara into the female Indiana Jones she’s always threatened to be, and even managed to fill the game with memorable moments, such as an incident with a motorbike on the rooftops of Japan, swan diving off a high cliff into a lake, and even base jumping into the middle of a combat zone.

Electronic Gaming Monthly

So while Legend may not innovate, it works, and I had a ball playing it. [May 2006, p.97]

The Onion (A.V. Club)

A crisply executed adventure that alternates among third-person shooting, platform-jumping, and environmental puzzles, Legend doesn't excel at any one in particular, but it rotates the elements smoothly and regularly enough that it compensates in variety.

Xbox World Australia

Despite taking the safe road Tomb Raider Legend is still a really good game and a solid return to form. The only bad thing is that it is extremely short. Lovers of long, intricate puzzle games may be left wanting here.

IGN

The cliffhanger story is well put together. The action is simple and effective. The controls not only work, they're fun...Best of all, the sense of discovery and adventure is captured with a fresh sensibility.

Team Xbox

With a renewed focus on adventure and the inclusion of a less restrictive control scheme, Crystal Dynamics has managed to rekindle the fading flame of the Tomb Raider franchise. Although it is a bit on the short side, a multitude of extras and the tough Time Trial mode will extends the Croft experience.

Gamer 2.0

If anything, Legend succeeds in assuaging frustration. Puzzles never encroach on the aggravation of yester incarnations due to a RAD (“Remote Analysis Device”) that identifies objects of note. It’s reminiscent of "Grim Fandango" in the sense that you’re not left to hunt around wildly for the key elements in a conundrum.

GameSpy

It took me just under 8 hours to complete 90% of the game, and it's not a terrible stretch to imagine someone rushing through it in 5 or 6. It's a good sign for a game when players want more, and it's further proof that the Tomb Raider series is back in a big way.

Pro-G

Most players probably able to breeze through in less than eight hours, but there's never a dull moment.

1UP

For the first time ever, Lara Croft controls fluidly -- her world isn't divided into little squares, and she can perform complex series of acrobatic maneuvers without a pause (and often has to, later in the game).

GamePro

If you value gameplay over graphics, there's no just beating the standard Xbox version of Legend -- it's just much, much smoother than its Xbox 360 counterpart.

Loaded Inc

Players who were turned off by Angel of Darkness will most-certainly find redemption here with this action-packed brain teaser.

DarkStation

Lara gets a total makeover, delivering what Angel of Darkness should have years ago.

Official Xbox Magazine

From the moment you leap, dive, or grapple your first cliff edge in Legend, you'll discover that this time around--things just feel right. [Apr 2006, p.70]

Times Online

Most importantly, the puzzles are back on track. Traps, levers, pulleys, chains, chasms, secret passges, underground lakes, rotating knives — there’s a cunning solution to each, designed to keep you puzzling for just long enough to gain satisfaction in the solving, but not long enough to make you want to hurl your own internal organs at the screen.

Edge Magazine

Some may argue over what the series should have become, but what’s important is that it has made that tough decision for itself, and established a rock solid foundation for inevitable, now justified successors. [May 2006, p.86]

GameSpot

A good return to the roots of the series. It doesn't do anything new or different, but it has a great blend of action and adventure that will always keep you moving and interested. The problem is that it moves a bit too fast, and it's all over way too soon.

games(TM)

Legend is the best Tomb Raider game that has yet been made. Despite the game’s few grating problems, that’s quite an accolade. [May 2006, p.102]

AceGamez

It's fun for a bit, and fans of Lara will welcome this new addition as a breath of fresh air.

Game Revolution

Feel free to take Lara out for the weekend, but don’t go looking for a long-term relationship.