Tomb Raider: Legend - The Return of Lara Croft

In 1996, Toby Gard and CORE Design created a gaming icon in Lara Croft. While Gard departed due to creative differences, the series continued without him...to reasonable success. The second and third entries were met positively, although the third game was the lowest selling entry in the series at that time (1998).

By the time 1999 came around, Eidos Interactive's crushing annual release schedule, was causing some significant health problems. Additionally, general frustration with being stuck on one franchise led the team to a desperate move. They killed off Lara - much to the horror of both the fanbase and the execs at Eidos. Of course, it didn't really do much because Eidos insisted on another title (Chronicles).

It's safe to say, that the team at CORE was very unhappy and, by the time Angel of Darkness was released in 2003, they were pretty much done with Lara. That ended up being exactly the case, though, as the failure of Angel of Darkness led to Eidos seizing control of the IP and sending it over to their American studio - Crystal Dynamics.

Going to Crystal

I couldn’t find much on the transfer of the Tomb Raider IP, but here’s what I did find.

Core Design had been having a hard time getting things right for the new wave of consoles at the time. Several of their titles PS 2 titles sold poorly, and it appears that Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness was just the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.

Now, the Tomb Raider IP had already started its decline at this point. Chronicles did okay, sales-wise, but it had a number of game-breaking bugs which left gamers frustrated. With that in mind, the reviews weren’t exactly glowing.

Angel of Darkness, which was supposed to be a next-gen story for new hardware was practically unplayable at release. This was in spite of a two year delay - being released in 2003 instead of 2001.

Jeremy Heath-Smith stepped down as the managing director of Core Design while Eidos started making moves. The company soon released a statement that read in part:

“The Board has been conducting a review of the Tomb Raider franchise and the studio operations of Core Design. In recognition of the Company's need continually to enhance the value and maximize the commercial opportunity of one of its key franchises, for which all intellectual property rights belong to Eidos, the Board has concluded that it will transfer development of the franchise to its Crystal Dynamics studio in the US." - Statement by Eidos Interactive

Of course, a new, largely unknown developer (Crystal was best-known for Legacy of Kain and the Gex series), made the fanbase very, very uneasy. Crystal Dynamics was going to have to do something special to prove themselves.

A Creator's Comeback

To put the fans at ease, Crystal Dynamics brought back the one man who knew Lara better than anyone. They brought in Toby Gard.

Toby had, as we mentioned before, left the Tomb Raider franchise pretty early on due to creative differences over the marketing of the character. After TR 1, Lara became a sort of sex symbol and that wasn’t something that he liked at the time. Still, he agreed to come on board.

“My goal was to make the old girl look a bit different. Something more modern, more up-to-date.” - Toby Gard

Significant changes were made to Lara's look, and backstory. Additionally, the controls were updated. The whole idea was to make a Tomb Raider game that anyone could just pick up and play. Now, admittedly, I didn’t find much on the actual development cycle of the game, but I did find a few interviews that discussed the game. I’ll discuss what I can, based on those interviews. I’ll also share some development-related observations - stuff I noticed while playing.

Developing Tomb Raider: Legend, the team at Crystal Dynamics started out by getting away from the series’ grid system. The original games worked around a grid system, every square was the same size. For Legend, they built a new engine to create an open environment in which Lara can navigate. They were determined to do the series justice.

As the game’s development progressed, the fanbase began to speculate about who the new Lara Croft would be. It wasn’t long before it was announced that Keeley Hawes would be taking the role.

Lara got some new moves and toys. Crouching, for instance, is back, but you can also roll, kick objects and have a slow-mo instant headshot. Switching weapons is also easier, just a single button press. We also get some new equipment including:

• PDA
• Flashlight
• Grappling hook

Tomb Raider: Legend was met with positive reviews. Critics called it a return to form with the story, music, and controls being praised. Criticism was levelled, however, at the combat system for being shallow - which I can sort of understand, and I'll get to that in a bit.

The Story

Tomb Raider: Legend sees Lara Croft travelling around the world looking for specific artefacts. What are these artefacts? Why, pieces of Excalibur! Yes, this time around Lara's exploring the world of Arthurian mythology to discover the location of the land of Avalon.

She's not working alone either, this time she's got a tech guy named Zip and Alistair - whom I guess is a historian of some sort. Additionally, she's competing - in a manner of speaking - with James Rutland and an old friend of hers - Amanda Evert - to get the pieces.

What Works?

So, let's go over some of the stuff that works.

Starting with the music. The reboot trilogy brought on a new composer in one Troels Brun Folmann. Folmann's musical work is absolutely beautiful and I could seriously listen to it for ages! There's a lot of tribal instruments and vocals that really fit the vibe of the adventure story - without going into the bombastic Indiana Jones type stuff.

The voice work is great too with Keeley Hawes' portrayal being both classy and sexy - a difficult balancing act to work. Zip and Alistair provide some great comedy at times (although, in Zip's case, that's more cringe humor than anything else). One of my favorite exchanges between these two is in the England level. You're exploring an old King Arthur museum - similar to the Egyptian Adventure theme park in The Last Revelation.

While exploring, you can interact with certain exhibits. One of those exhibits talks about how Merlin took Arthur to the Lady of the Lake and she gave him Excalibur. Once the narration finishes, we get this lovely exchange:

Zip: I'm confused. Weren't Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone the same thing?

Alistair: They were two bloody different swords!

I replayed that level several times just for that, and that's just ONE example.

Visually, the game looks really, really good. There are a few visual hiccups here and there, but they don't detract from the experience too much.

Lastly, let's discuss the combat system. Critics called it shallow, which makes sense...kind of. It's not a complicated system with lots of button pushing. Draw your weapon, lock onto your target, shoot. That's it. Switching between weapons and healing are both simple tasks requiring only a single button press. I can't tell you how much easier that made things for me.

Okay, so What Didn't Work?

First, and this is actually more of a nitpick, there are some glitches here and there which can make for some...interesting visuals. Another nitpick is the inventory is extremely limited - no more magic, Mary Poppins backpack.

Second, the level design is very linear. Now, that's not really an issue as far as the story goes, it works really well with the combat system, and it gives casual players a fun time. On the other hand, there isn't a whole lot to do. In previous games, the Last Revelation, for instance, you had long levels that had side passages and tunnels to explore that would give you useful goodies and/or an interesting puzzle. Here...not so much. Now, I suspect that's to keep the pace moving steadily onward, but it does kind of weaken the experience of EXPLORING a tomb - which is what the previous games did so well.

Speaking of the puzzles, let's talk about those, shall we? This is another area where previous games shone. The puzzles in Legend are interesting, but many of them have solutions that are painfully obvious. Again, I suspect that was intentional.

A Great Experience for Newbies and Vets Alike

So, is Tomb Raider: Legend worth playing? Well, yeah, I'd say so. It isn't a perfect game, but if you're new to the franchise and just want to try it out, this is a pretty good starting point. On the other hand, if you're a Tomb Raider veteran looking for a more casual experience, well, Legend's got you covered.