Tomb Raider : Legend - PC Game

[El Dingo]

Ah Laura Croft! She of the mighty sinews, loins like pneumatic pistons and ligaments of steel! Leaping vast distances to precarious 2-inch handholds and thne safely dropping four-stories suffering nought buut a nudge from your health bar! How do I sing thy praises?

Yep - everyone's favorite virtual female is back for more adventures. This time her exploits take her froom Bolivia to Japan via England and Africa. Her quest follows the myth of King Arthur and the sword Excalibur (really an ancient alien artifact of great power).

I've played the firsst 3 installments and found them to be of varying degrees of qualiity, but overall very enjoyable. This one was no different. The controls are fairly simple, run, jump,swing,shoot,repeat. A coouple of motorcycle chases break up the leap-fest, but this game is definately for those who enjoy Indiana Jones style exploration and puzzle solving.

Finding bonus items unlocks 'rewards' like...being able to view the cinematics again. yay.

The cut scenes are plentiful, but so are checkpoints and health packs.

I would give this game a solid 4 out of 5 except for one thing. The camera sucks arse. I haven't seen such bad camera behavior since, well, "Tomb Raider 3". Often Laura will be clinging to a wall and you cannot pan around her to look for the next handhold. As much fun as the rag-doll physics are when she falls screaming to her death, you do eventually want to jump safely.

I will recommend Tomb raider for those that enjoy slower-paced solo gaming. The environmental graphics are nice even if the character animations are a little dated. The boss battles can be tough though, so don't b expecting a total cakewalk.

And please, NO MORE MOVIES!