What do you think of Tomb Raider Legend Demo Impressions?

January 30, 2006 - With a history as legendary and as checkered as Tomb Raider's, one must wonder how Eidos keeps the idea of another Tomb Raider fresh in anyone's head. The answer, at least for early January 2006, is to drop a little demo disc into the open hands of the online press corps. Tomb Raider Legend, due on Xbox, PS2, Xbox 360, PSP, and PC this spring, is the seventh Tomb Raider game in less than 10 years, and it's undergone the biggest transformation the series has seen to date. It's an old game Crystal Dynamics is hoping to renew and the biggest changes are both subtle yet instantly noticeable. They should greatly please old Tomb Raider fans such as me. But will new adventure-loving gamers who've played the likes of Prince of Persia instantly fall in love with Lara? Or will they still feel like Lara is a relic of the past?











The split-level demo we have is a consumer demo: It's coming to OPM in April on PS2 and then to retail stores in May. The demo doesn't even comprise an entire level, so the idea is more about whetting our appetites than giving us in-depth preview code. We took about 15-20 minutes to beat it and found the disc offered us a little of everything: rock climbing, rope swinging, shooting and combat, swimming, puzzle solving, and a few new tricks. What we learned from this demo is Tomb Raider still heavily focuses on adventuring. You're primary objective is to figure out how to get from point A to point B. A little gun action, some puzzle solving including occasional physics puzzles, and a little story progression fill in the gaps. Crystal Dynamics said the final game is split between about 75% adventure and 25% action.








Perfect posture.





After a long period of research, Crystal Dynamics felt that restoring Lara Croft and the Tomb Raider series to its roots was important. The focus, Crystal has told us, is to get Lara into a lot of adventuring scenarios, to solve puzzles that don't require you to pull hard-to-see levers on each side of London (see Tomb Raider 3 for that), and to include action and shooting sequences, but not to dwell on them. She's a spelunker, not Rambo; although if you saw the Tomb Raider movies starring Angelina Jolie, you might think differently.





In the demo you find yourself climbing mountainsides in Bolivia in search of an ornate stone dais. Crystal Dynamics has ditched the mathematical checkerboard controls that have haunted all the previous games in the series. Lara is now free to go where she wants. Her list of actions is larger than before too. You'll immediately notice how flexible and generally easy she is to control on any surface, whether it's simply walking or running around, climbing rocky ledges, swimming, or making precision jumps. The only problem I experienced happened when I tried to jump from a vine to a ledge. The animation I learned a little after my leg-breaking death actually shows you when to jump. While on a rope, vine, or chain, moving the controller to the left or the right starts Lara's animation. Let's say you want her to jump right. While using an Xbox or PS2 controller you point the analog stick right, after which she starts prepping. When she is fully extended in the right direction, press the jump button for a successful jump.








New lairs to thieve.





For anyone who's played the old games, this new control scheme is clearly smoother, more intuitive, and less rigid. Lara is capable of moving quickly and smoothly in numerous situations. If you press a button rapidly while shimmying across a cliff side, she will rhythmically and rapidly shift across the rocky surface. She no longer feels like her boots are magnetically stuck to the ground. Is she the next Prince of Persia? No, sir. But is she highly improved over her old bad self? Yes, sir.

What do you think of Tomb Raider Legend Demo Impressions?
I've tried it too. Not bad, for me at least. Indeed that Lara in TR Legends becoming more like Dante or the Prince, not an usual human being like in prev TR. But it's quite refreshing anyway, it's like playing a new TR. I like TR2 most, and original TR the second, but I don't quite like the rest (don't know why). I really hope I can like this TR Legends.


Btw, melee attacks are cool, since Lara is strong and agile, it's just strange that prev Lara can't do melee attacks...
Reply:Would love to try the demo...if its available and you know where to find it, please let us know! :)